Squirrel season starts on August 15th here in Indiana. As I thought about getting my gun sighted in I was also thinking about the last season and how it became difficult to carry around the squirrels I harvested. I would have to carry them around throughout the hunt, which made it slightly difficult as I went along. With that being said, I began to think of how I could resolve that situation.

The first thing I tried was a small packable backpack I purchased at Walmart about five years ago. It worked, but I wasn’t completley satisfied with that idea. I had to take it off anytime I wanted to put something in or take something out; too much hassle and fumbling around in the woods for me.

A guy I worked with last year got a doe and I asked if I could have the hide. He was more than happy to get rid of it. After I got it home the idea hit me to make a haversack with a piece of the deer hide.

So, that brings me to the first step of this project; cutting out the piece to use. I don’t have an abundance of room for these kinds of projects so I only tanned the piece that I needed to complete what I wanted.

As far as tanning the hide, I can’t say if I did it right or not. I did watch some videos to get an idea of how to do it. I decided to scrape the hide then salt it. I repeated that process a few times. After that I let it sit for almost a year to dry out and shape it as the time passed.

Once the hide felt, and looked, like it was ready to continue the project, I used a punch and hammer to put even holes down both sides of the hide piece. These I would use to weave the leather strips to each side creating the shape of the bag. I didn’t want the haversack to be totally floppy so I only worked it enough to get the desired shape I wanted.

Attaching the sides was surprisingly simple. It only took me about five minutes on each side. After I had that complete I added keychain rings to each side to attach the strap.

The strap I used is an old ammo belt my father gave me. This thing will make a pretty cool addition to the haversack because it will also allow me to carry extra shotgun shells.

The most time-consuming part of this entire project is the tanning process. Other than that, it’s a fairly simple thing to put together. I found a lot of joy in doing this project and it turned out really cool. The next step is to get it out in the woods and see how it performs in the field.

If you liked this idea let me know in the comments. I am considering making these on an order basis. Just a thought at the moment, I would like to see the reaction it gets before I decide to actually do it. So let me know what you think!

Materials:

Deer hide

Leather strips

Keychain rings

Shotgun shell belt