Deer season opens in much of Wyoming today, and apparently has for awhile, which brings us to this interesting item from 1943.
Today In Wyoming's History: October 14:
October 14
1943 Hunters were asked to donate animal skins to the war effort. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
A Wisconsin deer camp in 1943. I couldn't find a Wyoming example and this one was available for use. The rifle on the wall appears to be a nice Mauser with a set trigger, perhaps a rebuild of a World War One prize rifle. Photograph courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Fish and Game, which retains all rights to the same.
If this seems like an unusual request, we have to keep in mind that the leather requirements for the service during World War Two were quite high, and moreover various uniform items used different types of leather. Cowhide was the most common leather in use, of course, but elk hide was specifically required for mounted service boots, which were used by cavalrymen, horse artillerymen and other mounted soldiers. While its common to believe that mounted soldiers did not exist in the U.S. Army during the Second World War, this is in fact incorrect and only horse artillery was actually phased out during the war. Mounted service boots continued to be made for service use as late as the late 1940s.
As noted in the entry above, leather was a serious war material during World War Two. Indeed, I could have gone into more detail than I did. As noted, cowhide was to be found in regular Army combat boots, service shoes (an ankle high boot) and shoes, but also in such things as tanker's helmets. Horsehide formed the original leather for the famous A2 flight jacket, but apparently due to shortages that was changed to goat hide fairly early on. Those who received the early A2 jackets were lucky as horse hide is incredibly tough, although the goat hide jackets were loved by those who were issued them. Most of those soldier were airmen, but not all of them were, as they were also a semi dress item for paratroopers, showing in part how many were made.
Sheepskin was the material for an early series of high altitude flight jackets mistakenly remembered today as "bomber jackets". Like A2s, they were general issue for pilots in Europe until mid war when a synthetic flight jacket began to replace it. They remain a popular item today, as does the A2, on the civilian market.
So I can see where deer and elk hides would have been in demand.
What's a little more puzzling, actually, in this photograph, is the presence of the young men in the photo. We tend to think of every available man of service age being in the service during World War Two, and as the war went on those eligible for conscription definitely increased as service standards decreased, strained by the war as they were. But here we see at least a couple of men of service age in the photo. Of course any number of explanations could explain what we're seeing. They could have been service men on leave, or who had been discharged for wounds. Or ineligible due to health. Or in war vital jobs where they were exempt from conscription, or otherwise so exempt.
Hunting in World War Two, I recall my father telling me (who was in his early to mid teens at the time) was made a bit difficult because of cartridge shortages. Of course, reloading already existed so some may have had prewar stocks of supplies. Otherwise, shells were hard to get. Gasoline to get to the game fields was as well, which might have increased the need to have a camp like these folks (who obviously had one before the war, however, as we can see the years that they've occupied it written on the wall).
Of course meat and other foods were also rationed during the war, which would have made a camp like this all the more attractive for other reasons as well.
Lots to ponder and consider in this one.
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