I used my Leatherman Wave to do the work in fashioning a hook. The walls of the wishbone are thin but usually one side of the bone is a little thicker so you will want to favor that side when cutting away the material to form the point of the hook. Although the portion where the two sides meet is important for strength, it needs to be reduced in size to slip bait over it in order to be secured to the hook.

In order to fasten cordage to the hook I ruffed up the upper shank area to produce some friction on the smooth bone surface. I use plain dental floss as the cordage to fasten to the hook using a whipping knot normally used to secure rope ends. This knot provides a lot of surface area on the roughened area and is very tight and secure.

As with conventional fishing hooks it’s important to match the appropriate size to the type of fish that you are angling for. I have made hooks from chicken bones for use with smaller fish. When I mount the worm bait I skewer it lengthwise past the hook’s bend then poke the point through the the side and pull the pierced area down to the middle of the hook. For other bait I poke the hook through the side and slide it down to the bend.

Although you can use a fishing pole I like to hold the line in my hand when fishing off of a dock. There’s something unique and exciting about hand fishing. Because the hook is barb-less you need to know when to pull the line to keep tension long enough to land the fish on the dock or the bank. A barb could be fashioned but I question the structural integrity of the bone’s point and its subsequent durability.

If you haven’t made a hook in the past, now is a good time to try. If the bone should break, you can always use it for a fish gorge… that works too!

I wrote an article called “Crossover Tools And Applications” where I described my experience of shopping in a beauty supply store and found resources that worked well as survival tools. Similarly I stopped in a pet store and was surprised to find items that could be used for primitive tools and associated projects.

There were elk antler pieces stocked for prairie dog chews that I could use for flint knapping billets and points for pressure flaking. Short to long tendons were stocked as dog chews that could be hydrated and stripped for binding cordage or for stitching thread. Different sized bones were stocked that could be used as tools for digging or as a weapon such as a club or broken into shards for use as projectile points or as a fish gorge. There were also cattle and sheep hooves meant as dog chews that could be used for primitive ornamentation or made into a bell for ceremonies or as a trip line motion alarm. Raw hide sticks (not shown) can be re-hydrated and cut into strips for lashing or for forming knife sheaths.

These are a few suggestions for resource applications. I would love to hear about your applications for these resources or suggestions for other similar resources not mentioned.

Primitive crafts traditionally use primitive tools, materials and methods, but if you understand the construction process, you can speed up the process with modern day counter counterparts. This is the path that I chose while constructing the wing bone turkey call that is illustrated in the photo.

I used the cooked bones from my Thanksgiving Dinner turkey. After cleaning off the meat, I used a band-saw to cut the knobby ends off. I suppose that a hacksaw or multi-tool saw would work too. Next I cleaned out the bone marrow using a break-off blade utility knife and a “Hercules hook” that is used for hanging objects on drywall material. The hook has a sharpened point on a log shaft that works well in the narrow bone.

The three bones of graduated diameters will nest in consecutive fashion and may need to be trimmed to accommodate bone circumference irregularities. I chose epoxy putty to seal and glue each joint. A primitive approach would be “abo epoxy” made of pine pitch mixed with carbon ashes.

To operate the turkey call place your puckered lips on the tip of the small diameter bone and make a sucking squeak sound similar to the sound that you may make to call a squirrel or small pet. The graduated bone segments act like a megaphone and amplifies the sound so that it is remarkably loud.

If you would like to pursue making one of your own calls, Click HERE to view detailed instructions that are excellently written and illustrated by Bernard Dunn.

These bones have been traditionally used for a socket in the bow and spindle fire method, and are very durable. They are prized for their authentic part of traditional primitive fire kits, as well as great performance. Sockets are not so easy to come by naturally. You can find some rocks, shells, etc., and you can just use another block of hard wood with a hollowed pivot point, but the socket depth and durability of these materials may make it difficult or limited in their use.

Once removed from the leg, they can be boiled to harden and any connective tissue is more easily removed from the bone.