# Did Davey Crocket actually wear a coon skin cap and did they have any practical value? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857 "2016-01-22T04:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/21 "2016-01-22T15:34:04Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > More likely, Franklin just liked beaver. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/22 "2016-01-22T16:23:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Derleth** : > > But that had little to do with his sartorial decisions. I dunno… Playing up the image of “Ooh, you’re a wild American, from the fierce wilderness!” might have helped him a great deal in his, shall we say, castorian pursuits. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/23 "2016-01-22T16:42:13Z")
> [@Stinky\_Pete](#): > > Sorry if it disappoints but no, Crockett was not recorded as wearing a coon skin cap. So you have reason to think the quote from his daughter is false? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/24 "2016-01-22T17:12:45Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > fess Parker made it famous, but still, you meet up on the wide open plains after hundreds of mile and a few years. wouldn’t you be better off with a Grizzly, Wolf, or Eagle as your headgear? Crockett was - famously - from Tennessee. He was in Texas for all of four months. Where are you getting “wide open plains after hundreds of mile and a few years”? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/25 "2016-01-22T17:23:05Z")
While \*\*Davy Crockett \*\*really did wear a coonskin cap, **Daniel Boone** did not. Disney’s invention was to take Fess Parker, who had very successfully played Davy Crockett in several Disney T.V. movies, and create the Daniel Boone T.V. series around him, borrowing liberally from the earlier Davy Crockett movies, including the coonskin cap. Much of the confusion between Crockett and Boone comes from the conflation of the two characters. That said, Daniel Boone was himself quite famous while he was still alive, and may have been the first true American celebrity. A biography published during his lifetime which was largely made up became a bestseller in Europe, and there were Europeans who came to the U.S. to try to meet the real Daniel Boone. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/26 "2016-01-22T17:52:38Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Certianly, you must understand that Davey Crocket and Daniel Boone were separated by almost a century. Did the coonskin cap persist for that long? If they’re so great, I might buy one. I have a beautiful cross-fox fur hat I’ll sell you. They are indeed very warm. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/27 "2016-01-22T17:55:01Z")
My uncle was a taxidermist, and whenever my dad found a roadkill raccoon, off it would go to Uncle Shorty’s place to get turned into a hat. Surprisingly warm, but the dog and cat do get excited when I wear one of those things. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/28 "2016-01-22T18:01:33Z")
For some reason, carnivore fur in general seems to be better for cold-weather wear. I’ve heard that wolverine fur is also prized for some applications: Apparently, it doesn’t frost up as easily. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/29 "2016-01-22T18:07:10Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > **Did Davey Crocket actually wear a coon skin cap and did they have any practical value?** The practical value would be that it keeps your head warm, dry, shaded, etc. – the same practical value of any good hat. > [@](#): > > fess Parker made it famous, but still, you meet up on the wide open plains after hundreds of mile and a few years. wouldn’t you be better off with a Grizzly, Wolf, or Eagle as your headgear? Better off how or why? Although it’s recognizable where the coonskin hat comes from, it isn’t meant to portray a raccoon. Are you thinking of some ceremonial rite or some costume meant to make a statement? I’d venture that Crockett was thinking of keeping his head warm. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/30 "2016-01-22T18:13:52Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > While \*\*Davy Crockett \*\*really did wear a coonskin cap, **Daniel Boone** did not. Disney’s invention was to take Fess Parker, who had very successfully played Davy Crockett in several Disney T.V. movies, and create the Daniel Boone T.V. series around him, borrowing liberally from the earlier Davy Crockett movies, including the coonskin cap. Much of the confusion between Crockett and Boone comes from the conflation of the two characters. Actually, the _Daniel Boone_ TV series was produced by 20th Century Fox. They had attempted to buy the rights to produce a show based on Disney’s _Davy Crockett_ anthology, but Disney refused to sell, so 20th made Daniel Boone the title character and gave him elements of Davy Crockett instead. > [@](#): > > Efforts had been made to secure the rights to Crockett from Walt Disney, but Disney refused to sell, so the series wound up being about Boone instead. > **[Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Boone_(1964_TV_series))** > > Daniel Boone is an American action-adventure television series, starring Fess Parker as the frontiersman Daniel Boone, that aired from September 24, 1964, to May 7, 1970, on NBC for 165 episodes, and was produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Arcola Enterprises, and Fespar Corp. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Cherokee friend, for the first four seasons of the series. Albert Salmi portrayed Boone's companion Yadkin in season one only. Country Western singer-actor Jimmy Dean was a featu An... ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/31 "2016-01-22T18:20:39Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > Eagle as your headgear? How often is a bird turned into a hat? Sure, we’ve decorated hats with feathers probably since people started wearing hats, but I’ve never heard of bird skin in apparel aside from ostrich, and that’s probably because ostriches are so big. Birds don’t have fur and bird skin is generally not thick or strong (think of chickens here) so it’s not my first choice. Gutting a bald eagle and making it into a hat might be patriotic though. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/32 "2016-01-22T18:55:35Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Gutting a bald eagle and making it into a hat might be patriotic though. The eagle might disagree. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/33 "2016-01-22T19:29:28Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > The eagle might disagree. So would the Feds. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/34 "2016-01-22T19:54:47Z")
Per Michael Wallis’ _**[David Crockett: Lion of the West](http://www.amazon.com/David-Crockett-The-Lion-West/dp/0393342271)**_ (excellent book, btw), it was kind of a case of life imitating art. Crockett sometimes wore a coonskin cap, because the \*caricature \*of him was a guy wearing a coonskin cap, and he sometimes played up that image. In particular, there was a play called _ **Lion of the West** _, which was a folksy humorous play about a guy who was clearly a parody of Crockett. Lots of ‘canonical’ pieces of the Crockett legend go back to that play, which was performed during Crockett’s life (and attended by Crockett at least once). ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/35 "2016-01-22T19:59:03Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > How often is a bird turned into a hat? Well, Johnny Depp had that weird crow hat in The Lone Ranger. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![UncleFred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/36 "2016-01-23T15:04:57Z")
Going back to using a raccoon vs. a bear; wouldn’t a raccoon have been much easier to use? Just gut a properly sized raccoon and you’re most of the way there; making one out of bearskin would seem to be a lot more cutting and sewing. (I’m not a taxidermist or hunter) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/37 "2016-01-23T15:32:05Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > Going back to using a raccoon vs. a bear; wouldn’t a raccoon have been much easier to use? Just gut a properly sized raccoon and you’re most of the way there; making one out of bearskin would seem to be a lot more cutting and sewing. (I’m not a taxidermist or hunter) Use a bear leg to make a Lincolnesque stovepipe hat for formal hunts. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/38 "2016-01-23T16:18:25Z")
> [@UncleFred](#): > > Just gut a properly sized raccoon and you’re most of the way there Er, you need to do more than gut the animal - you have to remove and tan the skin unless you want your hat to smell rather unpleasant. And if you do this with a bearskin, you get the material for many hats. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/39 "2016-01-23T18:24:44Z")
The version we sang said “Killed in a bar when he was only three”. Those were some rough times. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857/40 "2016-01-23T19:16:47Z")
Apparently you can buy coonskin caps on [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Faux-Raccoon-Tail-Hat-Classic/dp/B004L840LW). Not real raccoon fur, but still! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-davey-crocket-actually-wear-a-coon-skin-cap-and-did-they-have-any-practical-value/743857.md?page=3)