Wildebeast bag

[leatherman]

I just made this bag for a friend who shot a wildebeast in South Africa in 2007 and had the hide laying around not knowing what to do with it. The long black hair is the mane that runs down the middle of the back.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I was wondering if you were the same "Leatherman" that I met at Dixon's in '07...this proves it!  Great bag, and welcome to this site.

[rich pierce]

That's a bad-a++ bag all right!  Nice work.

[Trkdriver99]

That is beautiful. Makes me want to go to Africa and shoot some exotic animal and make a bag out of the skin. I really do like that and being an espiring bag maker it gives more to shoot for. 

Ronnie

[David Rase]

Great looking bag and A+ workmanship to boot. 
DMR

[BrownBear]

Great looking bag!  I worked for a taxidermist in the 60's and always admired the African capes we saw.  It's almost too bad they went into mounts!

[leatherman]

Thanks. I thought you guys would get a kick out of it. I have made quite alot of bags with exotic animal hides over the years. I just made some motorcycle bags useing a guys Zebra hide he supplied. Really looked sharp on his black bike.  I have seven plains game hides of my own coming back from Africa I will have some fun with and make some stuff for myself.

[dannybb55]

Now what rifle did those Boer farmers carry on the frontiers to fight the Zulu? Furguson, Baker or did they carry a Trade gun or a Ketland fowler?

[Robby]

Who Gnu? Great job as always!
Robby ( The horn guy, from a ways back.)

[leatherman]

Now what rifle did those Boer farmers carry on the frontiers to fight the Zulu? Furguson, Baker or did they carry a Trade gun or a Ketland fowler?

Actually their history was later than ours. The guns they had were brought in by the Dutch. They call them Bobbejaanboud . Or shortened to BBJBD. They are usally large bore smooth and rifled with some up to 8 and 5 bore monsters. The favorite load was buck and ball back then. I was lucky to have a day to spend with some Blackpowder enthusists on a Ranch I was hunting in Southern South Africa in August of this year. They brought their original BBJBD's for us to look at. One was a 8 bore with a barrel that had a 1" flat on the top but then turned into a round barrel almost looking like a flat rib on a shotgun. It then had at least 5 graduated flip up sights like the modern safari guns. The load for that gun was 250 grains of BP!! We took a Ken Netting rifle over to present to the ranch owner which made him quite happy. He shot a babboon the next week with it. My buddy shot two Kudu bulls with his .58 Ken Netting English rifle that week. I am building a Chambers .58 English Sporting rifle for a trip in 2012.Here are pics of some examples of Bobbejaanboud's

[leatherman]

There is a small group of blackpowder shooters in South Africa. Unfortunate for them Real Black Powder is very hard to get, is very restrictive to own ( only one pound allowed in your total possesion) and one pound cost about $100 US dollars. They have a substitute called Sanadex but it is like our Sustitutes and is not very good in Flintlocks. Hopefully we wont have this problem in our future. They love our long rifles and history and are trying to get a growing interest in building long guns both American and their BBJBD's. Problem is the shipping costs and taxes they have to pay to get parts into the country. Then there is also the problem with the scarcity and high costs of Real Black powder. So right now they are limited to percussion Pedersoli and other comercial made guns like Thompson Center and CVA. They have a blackpowder club and forum called White smoke. And get together for shoots and reinacting as often as they can. Here ia a picture of two reinactors having just shot a springbuc for camp meat with their BBJBD's.

[dannybb55]

Wow, I love the tiny Indian pattern Bess at the bottom for scale. These boys shoulder wall guns! I bet they would get a kick out of Hudson Valley Fowlers. The game is twitchier in Afrika, more adapted to humans etc.

[leatherman]

Yes their rifles had very long barrels like Hudson Bay Rifles. As far as Twitchy animals, The plains game  are the same as any wild animal goes. where they are hunted frequently they are extremly hard to get close to and can be as challengeing as any North American big game. I am going over again in 2012 with a flintlock just for the challenge of getting up close enough to take some with a flintlock. Anyone interested in going over, I have conections with great rates.