Lined shooting bags.

[walks with gun]

  I'm wondering, if there are any advantages to a lined bag.  The only thing I can possibly see, is that the bag may not stretch as much after being soaked through with rain or a good dunking during a crossing. I'm debating whether I should restitch my old deerskin bag and install a pillow tick lining.

[KentSmith]

I wouldn't.  I keep getting things caught in the lining. It gets dirty and eventually tears.  It seems to collect any oil or grease that I have - my fault and if you are tidy may not be a problem, but I take my bag hunting and try to reduce my scent which is nigh impossible with my lined bag.  I made a new unlined bag and retired the old one.

But they do tend to plump up or fill out a bag and make it look nicer.  I can't imagine them being that popular 200 years ago.

[Curt Lyles]

  walks with gun

   I make alot of bags using bark tanned wood chuck hide .The younger ones have a thinner belly than the back so linning them with hemp or fustion or old feed sack really helps stiffen them up and makes them very usable.I line the flap also just for looks.Some might say this was never done years ago but i dont know either .This type of bag isnt for every one but you have to work with what you have and it is a way to salvage what you have at hand.
  Curt

[walks with gun]

  I started think, that in many area's maybe most, that fabric was a pretty valuable item before and for years after the revolution so lining a bag, might have been a rarity.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

I do the same thing as Mr. Lyles.  If a particular piece of leather is thin I use the lining the beef it up a bit.  I also like to line a flap that is thin, it seems to make it fall back into place better. 

I have only examined a dozen or so original bags in person and have never seen one lined.  So it is probably not a proper choice historically speaking. 

Coryjoe