Wolf's ear hood

[greyhunter]

This came up in a post about someone needing a hat recently.  Forgot about it til now when I saw a print on FB of a trapper wearing a wolf's ear hood.  The hood need is obvious, but why the wolf ears on it?

[Sir Michael]

It is my belief that the ears on hoods is the result of artistic license taken a long time ago.  I base this on the effect resulting in making a hood from a single piece of material stitched up with along back and short front sewn on both sides that is essentially flat.  When worn with the seams on each side of the head and pulled tight the two corners stick up like ears.  Also if you take two pieces of material one rectangle tall enough to reach from the top of the head to the shoulders and wide enough to extend around your head and one square about the size of the top of your head and sew the top edge of the rectangular piece to the three sides of the square piece when you put it on the back corners can stand up again like ears.  It may be that based on this appearance someone not understanding where they come from began to add triangular "ears" to the top of hoods because they liked the look.  Both of these hood designs are very different from hoods made by sewing two pieces of material together along two edges and wearing it with the seam running front to back.

Just a thought.

[prairie dog]

The most basic pattern I have seen is a simple "sack".  One piece of fabric folded over and stitched up the sides.  The sack is placed over the head and a buddy marks the fabric around the wearers face.  The face portion is cut out leaving an opening in the sack.  The "ears" are just the corners of the "sack" sticking out.  

These are the simplest type of head covering to make.

[Woodrock]

Native American hunters used capes of Wolf skin complete with head skin to stalk game. I would think our non native ancestors used the wolf ear hood for the same purpose.  I have tried the wolf ear hood on my own dogs.......each time with the dogs initially identifying me as animal.   Hunting in open country like Central Oregon, you can get very close to deer, antelope, and elk mounted on a horse.  As a one time experiment years back, my hunting partner, and I walked close together, with me in back, and keeping my head down to within fifteen yards of a group of deer. When we separated those deer just exploded. My personal take on the ears was to deliberately give the impression of four legged animal.  It is well know that large packs of wolves followed buffalo herds, and the buffalo paid them little heed.
Woody

[sse]

I like the concept and anecdotes...will get one sometime.

[Uncle Russ]

Native American hunters used capes of Wolf skin complete with head skin to stalk game. I would think our non native ancestors used the wolf ear hood for the same purpose.  I have tried the wolf ear hood on my own dogs.......each time with the dogs initially identifying me as animal.   Hunting in open country like Central Oregon, you can get very close to deer, antelope, and elk mounted on a horse.  As a one time experiment years back, my hunting partner, and I walked close together, with me in back, and keeping my head down to within fifteen yards of a group of deer. When we separated those deer just exploded. My personal take on the ears was to deliberately give the impression of four legged animal.  It is well know that large packs of wolves followed buffalo herds, and the buffalo paid them little heed.
Woody

I have read this before....seems it was something of a common practice of certain Plains Indians for two hunters, one with his head down and arms extended to the others shoulders with a "hide" or blanket covering his arms and back, to actually walk up to bow shooting distance of a herd.

In fact, I think that story is in one of A.B.Guthries books....Big Sky, maybe?

Hooded "Wolf-Ears" was once very popular in the Southwest, but that was years ago and I can't say what they are doing now.

Uncle Russ...