LaClair Fransica Axe for hunting and camp

[longbow guy]

I have one on order, would like to know if any of you fellas or ladies   are into hawks for hunt camp or packing in for poling out animals.   If you are and have one , what are your thoughts on the axe ?

[nineworlds9]

The Francisca was one of the weapons of the ancient Frankish people who were indigenous to the lands comprising portions of France and Germany, who wielded it as a tool and weapon of war.  The Romans have accounts of it being a fearsome weapon that was sometimes thrown in such a way that would bounce up under the Roman shields and kill or maim whomever it struck.  The small size makes it a handy sidearm.

[BJP]

Sweet looking hawk I may have to put one on the Christmas list.

[Terry Green]

I remember long ago we were WAY back into a management area, and my friend Doug killed a 125# hog....I had an ax with me thank goodness...it was a mile and a half pole out.

[Ron LaClair]

The Francisca hawk on my web site is listed as a throwing hawk because historically that what it was used for. But it is also a great tool with multiple uses as a camp ax, blind building, deer dressing or just about anything you would use a regular hatchet of hawk for.

 http://www.shrewbows.com/Francisca/index.html

[Roger Norris]

I almost always have one of Ron's axes or 'hawks with me in the woods. Splitting a whitetails pelvis, brushing in a blind, trimming up those stray limbs in a treestand.....they are always handy. I have even used them as a skinning ax. The fun part is that Ron's cutting tools always have some neat historical flair to them. They are superb quality, always functional, but fun to use because of the history....just like our longbows and recurves.

You can't see it in this picture, but my son packed one of Ron's big Bowie knives up the mountain in his backpack every load out this summer (Wildland Firefighter). Every ounce mattered in his pack, and he thought highly enough of (and used regularly) Ron's big knife that he included it in his kit.Quality stuff.
 

[mjh]

I like it!   I think I'd like to trade my shrew hawk for one of those.  Don't have the extra funds at the moment to buy out right but something to start saving for, think about save the difference, whatever it might take that the budget can handle at the moment.

[ChuckC]

Although not so partial to the Francisca design, I also carry a Shrew hawk, all the time when I am at my place in da UP, and much of the time I am out in the woods anywhere.  I can't believe how often I use it.

Heck, I forgot my chain saw for the first time in many years, and of course, a tree was across the road getting in.  The Shrew hawk removed it.  Thank God it wasn't some huge oak tree, but it did the job.  I am always trimming up trails and marking areas.  Hundreds of uses.
ChuckC