Chances are if you are a hunter you love telling the stories of your epic or not so epic adventures over and over. Stories about the time you hunted the coldest day of the year or how you spent three days being cold, wet, and hungry before you shot the biggest buck of your life. These are the stories hunters love to tell over and over again and never tire of. 

I certainly fall in this category and love telling stories of both my successes and failures, but at some point every conversation turns to gear. We love the gear we use just as much as doing the activity itself. After many seasons some gear comes and goes while other pieces survive years and even decades. Those pieces that do survive and weather each storm without fail are the pieces that bring back the strongest memories. They are so strong that even others who are with us will remember your "signature" piece of gear. 

Unfortunately, the gear used by many hunters is made from cheap materials and built overseas by people who don't share common interests or values. Hunters have since then limited their "gear stories" to things like rifles and knives, and sometimes not even knives. Yet, everyone is still looking for quality gear that lasts. 

At Old Northwest Leather I set out to make not just slings, belts or other leather gear, but gear that will bring back memories from long ago while lasting long enough to be passed down. 

No other material can tell a story like good quality leather. Leather wears the scars of it's past and through those scars it bears a story. If a rifle stirs memories, so should the sling. Leather products should be heirloom quality and not break after a season or two of hard use.

For that reason: Old Northwest Leather brings to you high quality leather gear that carries the proof of the stories you tell. 

Before it was the Midwest, it was the Northwest. Before Lewis and Clark made their

legendary journey to find a passage to the Pacific: frontiersman, hunters, trappers, and traders first went into the territory North and west of the Ohio River in search for animal hides (or leathers). This territory now includes: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota. We honor history by recognizing that for hunters and trappers, this region was the frontier from the earliest days of America. 

The traders who took on the dangers of living in America's first frontier were after pelts like: deer, otter, bear, bison and elk. But their primary target were beaver pelts. Beaver pelts were considered premium hides used in European fashion and therefore highly desirable. The beaver is another symbol used to connect us with history and those early hunters who paved the way by adopting new hunting techniques, exploring unknown areas, and settling wild places.