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From the BBC - Sporran wearers with animal skin sporrans may need a licence in Scotland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6234290.stm

It says that the law applies to badgers - just when they are trying to decimate the badger population in certain parts of England. Talk about consistency>

Sorry ignore this one - something went wrong with the display and a load of old articles showed up and I didn't notice. The comment is still relevant although it doesn't appear that the licensing happened.

Oh bugger! I suppose my sealskin sporran will need a license, or can I just add it to my current driving license? Cars, motorbikes, tractors and sporrans. Hmm!

I recently took a raccoon "out of season" because it was getting into my barn everynight, washing it's hands in the cat water, then eating the cat's food... (the cats were just standing by each night waiting for it to finish)... It's legal in OH to take out a pest like that even if out of season... In fact, they don't give you many options, you can either release it somewhere else on your own property (like that's gonna work) or kill it. You are not permitted to drive it a mile or two away and release it... hence, it will be going to good use, it's hide will be tanned and once ready, I plan on making a sporran with it.. I can't imagine carrying a raccoon license with it, but you never know, it may be coming here too...

Well, JR, Will that be the only racoon hide sporran on the Planet?

I've never seen a racoon so I don't know anything about what the sporran's appearance will be.

T.

Kirbstone wrote:Well, JR, Will that be the only racoon hide sporran on the Planet?

It probably won't, but it'll be in a very select group.

I've never seen a racoon so I don't know anything about what the sporran's appearance will be.

See Wikipedia's entry on raccoons for more information. They're omnivorous and intelligent critters with remarkable dexterity when it comes to manipulating things -- and can get into almost anything that isn't very tightly nailed down.

Sadly, in the parts where I live, they can be a vector for rabies.

crfriend wrote:

Kirbstone wrote:Well, JR, Will that be the only racoon hide sporran on the Planet?

It probably won't, but it'll be in a very select group.

I've never seen a racoon so I don't know anything about what the sporran's appearance will be.

See Wikipedia's entry on raccoons for more information. They're omnivorous and intelligent critters with remarkable dexterity when it comes to manipulating things -- and can get into almost anything that isn't very tightly nailed down.

Sadly, in the parts where I live, they can be a vector for rabies.

They're also very adaptable. I've seen a couple on the sidewalks of San Francisco, including one walking down the sidewalk one evening a half block from my apartment. They have a very distinctive gait.

There are raccoons in Central Park NY - seen a couple there. And as for a sporran made from its pelt, it could look like this one:-

Well, I am not sure "how" to make this sporran except that it's pretty clear that it will be bag shaped and I want his face to form the front "flap", I was thinking of putting the "latch" in his nose.... seems fitting.

My biggest concern is how to provide for the interior framework, this will be a very soft and pliable pelt and I need to put it over something to give it form... Otherwise, it will just be a sack.... Any ideas?

JRMILLER wrote:My biggest concern is how to provide for the interior framework, this will be a very soft and pliable pelt and I need to put it over something to give it form... Otherwise, it will just be a sack.... Any ideas?

You'll almost certainly want to provide a robust internal carrying system so the pelt proper is not taking the strain of things, and you'll probably want something softer inside that to protect things that are being carried from getting scratched up by said carrying system (most likely some very heavy fabric).

If you want more rigidity than the above would supply, one could use moderately heavy leather as the internal structure and then put the 'coon pelt over that -- that could get you what you're after. Anything beyond that might require metal armatures, frameworks, and spring-steel.

Speaking of internal structures maintaining shape and taking the strain off stretched pelts or animal skins, the avid devourer of all publications nautical in me can't help remembering one Tim Severin who went to considerable lengths to demonstrate that Irish monks [Could Have] sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland in animal skin-covered boats.
He had a large currach built of a flexible bent saplings perimeter frame as per tradition used to this day, and covered it with cowhides stitched together & caulked with grease. Over two seasons he and a crew of tough young volunteers sailed it starting at Brendan's Cove Co. Kerry via Shetland, Spitzbergen, Iceland & Greenland to somewhere in Labrador.

I expect JR's sporran will have a gentler ride on his lap!

T.

I saw a display of mini backpacks made from leather pouches fastened to turtle shells. I spoke to them about designing a sporran along those same lines. They said they've done it before. They weren't cheap. I think I could make one myself if I could find the shell.