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Hunting Abo

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crooketarrow:
  Climb aloff ever again. I hav'nt progressed back to bare foot and skins yet. You'd diffently have to have skins and mockens here. But if I wore a hat it be off to you.
  GO FOR IT

4dog:
My guess is there are no grassburrs there,cuz i will never hunt barefoot in texas, scorpions,centipedes,grassburrs and fireants,all make for a crappy day in the thicket,but good luck to ya,a bigger man than i.....lol

Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive:
Yeah we have tons of fire ants and centipedes and a fair amount of scorpions... and what we call sandpurs which are likely the same as your grass spurs....violent little balls of thorns. My feet are tough enough now that I know when I step on one, but they don't dig deep like they used to. I can just brush them off now... but yeah the first few sucked.. Growing up I never wore shoes around the house and my feet were tough enough.. but the last decade or so my feet got soft. since going back to barefoot, I have been able to walk summer time blacktop, step on spurs and thorns without too much worry.  I am actually really enjoying having tough feet again.  not wearing through shoes nearly as fast and laundry is was down too..lol I also have socks now when I need them.  Anyone can do it they try..just take s few weeks to toughen up.. when I started back to barefeet I couldn't walk across the yard without limping from a stick or tiny pebble.  after a few months I find that I traverse rocky parking lots littered with broken glass without so much as a hobble...pretty handy at the boat ramp

nclonghunter:
Wow, you have opened a lot of mental doors with this one. First, let me say congrats on your focus and purpose. What you describe in a short story is a big commitment and you are literally "walking the walk".
I am not certain how far back in time you are trying to go, or how far ABO needs to go to. One mental door views the discovery of Otzi in the mountains wearing fiber sandals or shoes, with goat hide leggings and other articles of woven clothing. He also carried a bow and stone tipped arrows. Looking at Otzi, I would feel comfortable wearing woven fiber clothing and brain tanned leggings, which cap'n all be reproduced today.
I have down a considerable amou t of 18th century reenactments, making skin leggings and cent ssem moccasins from deer hides. I have trekked many miles wearing the leggings and mocs while wearing a breech cloth. Many Native Americans from Florida to Canada wore the basic style of clothing. Brain tanned deer hides tied loosely are cool and protect you. It is also interesting to look at Otzi's clothing and gear and see that even though he was on another continent and many moons separated from a 18th century Creek Indian, what they wore and carried are greatly similar.
Daniel Boone and many 18th Century people did not wear shoes and had feet tough as leather. It was said wearing mocs was just a decent way of going barefoot. Native Americans had tough feet but carried mocs with them. I suspect it just kept small twigs and briers from becoming  wedged between the toes and causing damage. Around camp I would not wear mocs, but when traveling I wore them. You can make your own woodland style mocs and decorate them for wearing at special times.
There, you have some new projects to brain tan and make some useful items. Maybe even a bag to carry your needed fire kit in. Two brain tanned hides sewn at the top with a neck hole can give some additional protection to the upper body as well.
Just some things I look at when viewing history...

Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive:
thanks nclonghunter.  yup I agree with you for sure.  there are times I might wear mocs especially if hunting a briar patch!!  I made a couple pairs of mocs last year. A braintain set and a commerically tanned set.  also have a set of skins to wear when the weather gets cool enough.   One thing I have noticed about myself is. I wear shoes out super quick. I could buy a $150 pair of boots and walk the soles off them within 6 months. I used to struggle to force myself to "buy" mocs with hard bottoms just to keep myself in a good pair.  Since making these and only wearing them when I need to and not just all the time, I am not going through footwear nearly as fast.

that being said i think that primitive peoples would have wanted to save their mocs for when they were truly needed and not wear em just to wear em. This way they would last much longer. It wasn't as simple as going to the store getting new ones, so I imagine they wanted them to last as long as possible.   So when you need them I believe in using them, but I also want my feet tough enough to go without when I dont need them.  now that my feet are good and tough, walking in mocs feels like a really comfortable pair or socks! It should be an interesting hunting year though, I hope to learn a little more by walking a few miles in their....no shoes.

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