My father in his youth was very poor and used rabbit skins as socks in winter in rubber boots, constantly had to replace them as they wear poorly. they were snaring rabbits all winter just to keep themselves from getting frost bite.
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My father in his youth was very poor and used rabbit skins as socks in winter in rubber boots, constantly had to replace them as they wear poorly. they were snaring rabbits all winter just to keep themselves from getting frost bite.
I came across this old thread and hope it isn't too old to reply to. Rabbit skin blankets are light and warm. The cree and ojibwa still use them. The rabbit is not tanned but is fleshed well and cut in to strips, it will curl into a fur rope. the strips are woven into a blanket. Kinda sorta like making a net but tight. They were in very common use years back, I think if memory serves during the early 1900s a rabbit skin blanket could be purchased from the natives for about 6 dollars, that seems like a lot of money for the times.
Has seen a couple of those blankets at Rondy......were the woven strips.
Never tried one....
A couple of my fondest memories was at my grandfathers house. He was full blooded Cherokee. He had a HUGE buffalo pelt on the bed in his spare room. Bed was a queen size and the pelt hung almost down to the floor on three sides of it. He said he had killed the buffalo when he was a young man while visiting relatives on the Res out west. One of the last ceremonial hunts they had. Loved to curl up and nap on it.
He also had a long coat made from a bear hide trimmed with wolf pelt. His father had made it. Thing was huge on a 10 year old me!:innocent: But I loved it! Tried for years to get it from him. Sadly shortly after I turned 12 he passed away and a couple months later his wife, ( my step grandma) went to a nursing home and her kids went to clean up the house and mysteriously all my grandpas "Indian Junk" disappeared.
But I remember grandpa talking about how extremely warm both of them were. While they wouldn't have been his I thought about buying some but at a starting price of well over $1,000 each...............:blink:
I will add to this zombie thread that a rabbit blanket will not be sufficient in 20 below, much less 30 below if you don't have proper gear on.
I'll bet those naked rabbits won't be too thrilled about that 20 below weather either.
Native Dude! Man, this is an old thread. :)
Yeah, we wax nostalgic from time to time.
When I was a kid, we were poor. had some pet rabbits out back in a hutch. One day momma says hey what about butchering one of those rabbits? So big brother does. I'm eating stew one day, and ask hey was this skippy?
Next thing we know there are a few rabbits done been butchered. Big brother tries to do something with the hides, but doesn't know what to do. None of us do. We were lucky that we even butchered the rabbits for food in the first place. So the clothes line at some point has several rabbit hides hanging from it, all stiff as a board. I think he just cut them off, scraped them some maybe, then just hung them up.
My best knowledge of rabbit fur is from being told that it sheds easily relative to other hides, so isn't really that desirable for anything long term or valuable.
We all need our nostalgic shined up, from time to time.....Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
The traders (venders) used to sell rabbit tanned commercial hides for about $1 at Rondy....the kids had a pile of them.....they mostly used them for rubbing on your face.....
Still a few around here ....somewhere.
The bad part of that is you never know what part of the rabbit is getting rubbed in your face.
I used to use them as doilies.
20 below vs 30 below....seriously?....anything under 10 below falls under of "Kee bird cold"Quote:
Originally Posted by 1stimestar
I am beginning to suspect that the rabbits skined to make the blanket were related to the Energizer Bunny as this thread keeps going and going and going . Then again with the age of the thread it must be a rechargeable Energizer Bunny .
Things have been slow.......What's new with you?
Lol you'd be amazed at the difference in those ten little degrees. I think it is the ten degrees that are the most different out of them all! -20 is easy. Heck, our kids go out to recess down to -20. -30 though is a whole other thing. Sure you CAN go out in in. But no one wants to.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter63
I am not even comfortable staying inside at -30!
I have even been known to skip going to check the mailbox when it is zero, much less lower.
Nothing out there I need to know about if it is zero.
I hear you guys. I have to bundle up when it drops to 60.
Yea, but for you bundling up means wearing socks with your flip flops!
Yeahbutt. Our glasses don't fog up the minute we walk out the door either. And then there is the list......