Re: Elk Hunt

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: : : 	I have been watching the film again to see some of the things that have been mentioned here, and I have noticed several other things that have not been mentioned.  Has anyone else heard the elk bugleing during the chase?  It was just before Hawkeye took that giant leap off of the embankment.  It is possible I had heard it before and it didn't register,but it was a great touch, very "subtle"   Also, all you romantics out there never mention the look Alexandria Cameron gives John at the dinner table that night, there was a lot of meaning in that look and his return look too.  The first few times I watched that scene I thought that she had a "Thing" for Hawkeye but after watching it again last night I can see the love she had for John. 
: : : 	About those bedrolls,  this is the only really non-period correct item I saw in the film, they are called "The New-Invented  Knapsack of 1776" in my Collector's Encyclopedia of the Revolutionary War, so they wouldn't have had them in 1757.(or they wouldn't have been called "New") Joe   

: : Joe,
: : Thank you so much for all the info in the "Even More Mohican Musings" about the bedrolls, or the "ditty bags". (For those of you who have not seen this page, check it out!!!)  I do have one more slight question about it; I remember listening to a presentation on Black Powder Shooting  given by a gentlemen at my son's Cub Scout Day camp.  He had all kinds of muskets, rifles, pistols (excuse me if I didn't name these right); and he also had a bag which held the accouterments for the firearms which he called a "possibilities" bag.  Did I hear right?  Does this make any sense to you?  It was more of a leather pouch than a bedroll type of bag; as Hawkeye, if I remember right, has a leather pouch, I thought that was his "possibilities/ditty" bag. I did ask the Blackpowder gentlemen, (between attending to several eight year old boys) why none of his rifles were as long as the one in LOTM; he stated it was a belief then that the longer barrel gave a more true aim; it was the style then.  (Certainly didn't hurt Hawkeye's aim!!!)  Anyway, just wondering, and you certainly know more of this than I!!!  Figure the green stuff out yet?
: : Oh, yes, I always thought Alexandria was looking at Uncas, but after repeated viewings and my sister's arguments, we concluded it WAS John she was so lovingly looking at.
: : Jo

: : Hi Jo,  Yes you heard right at some times they were called "possibles" bags because you carried all your "possibles" in it.  This was the usual name for them in the "Fur Trade Era" around 1824-1836 and later.  The rifles you saw at this demonstration were probably patterned after a "Hawken" Rifle.  The hawken was a lot shorter than the earlier long rifles. Usually a34" barrel 
: instead of 42"-48".  The shorter barrels were because the western mountain man usually was riding a horse and the shorter barrel was more convenient.  They were usually of larger caliber also, the average long rifle was a smaller caliber because a man on foot could carry more balls to the pound of lead with the smaller bore size.  In fact this is what "gauge" means, as in 12 gauge shotgun,  you can pore 12 balls from a pound of lead to fit the bore size on this shotgun.  That means that Hawkeye could pore about 39 balls out of one pound of lead for a 50 cal. Killdeer
: a much better shot ratio when you are on an extended hunt.  The mountain man needed the larger caliber because of the size of the game he encountered out west.
: I hope I haven't rambled on past your question.  Oh! yeah the Green stuff.  I watched the scene again yesterday, I beleave it is a spare green shirt, possibly with some fringe on it like a hunting shirt, not a blanket like Hawkeye's.  It hangs out to a point like it has fringe is the best I can describe it.  Also I think he dumped it at the massacre because of the way they were makeing him carry it.  Over the shoulder like a purse, try running through the woods with a 9 or 10 pound purse under your arm, you will want to put the strap over your head like Hawkeye carries his. 
: :  Joe


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