Otter Pouch & Buffalo Horn Set by Matthew Fennewald & Alec Fourman

Matthew Fennewald and Alec Fourman have combined their efforts to produce this outstanding historically correct otter pouch and buffalo horn set for the 2015 CLF Fundraising Auction. You may remember Matt’s hand crafted bow commemorating Choctaw Chief Pushmataha. It sold very well in the 2013 auction. Matt and Alec are both stickers for thorough research and authenticity.

Matt and Alec relied on a quote by James Adair as the inspiration for this work. Adair came to America in 1735, and spent the following forty years of his life as a trader among the Indians of Georgia and the two Carolinas. He is recognized as a reliable authority on the culture of the Southern Tribes. Adair made the following observation relating to Native American hunting pouches “all the savages sit cross-legged, so my visitors did, and held their guns on their knee, or kept them very near, with their otter-skin shot pouch over one of their shoulders.”

Based on this quote Matt brain tanned the otter hide and sewed up the pouch with linen thread. It has a red wool edge binding and an appropriate narrow strap from brain tanned deer hide. A river cane powder measure and wire vent pick are attached to the pouch. Matt built the buffalo powder horn based on an original and used a pine stopper and plug. The shape, moldings and finish of the horn are perfectly suited for this application.

Alec Fourman created the finger woven horn strap from wool yarn with glass beads incorporated in the weave. The strap colors and style are based on several southern Native American examples. The strap and horn together have great visual impact.

This pouch speaks of the Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees and other tribes of the mountains and valleys of Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee. Shot pouches like this were in use for a hundred years of frontier conflict. Choctaw Chief Piomingo, who wanted Thomas Simpson to build him a rifle like Kasper Mansker’s, would have liked this set to go with that rifle. This is a perfect pouch and horn for the Southern Native-American re-enactor. It would also be a striking accoutrement for one of those high styled Southern rifles.