how are gut strings made, and what are they made of?

Gut strings are made of... gut.
Sheep guts (intestines) in fact.
Check this site for info on gut string-making:

http://www.daniellarson.com/article.htm

Hope this helps.

The environmentally aware may regard it as recycling a dead sheep.

Ahh, there's nothing like the sound of a ribbon of Mongolian horse hair bound to a stick carved from rare Brazilian rain forest wood drawn over dried sheep intestines!

Thank You francois, that's a terrific page!!!

In order to keep everybody happy, this thread has been split so that the part of it that regards strings will be kept here...the part about hunting, etc. has been moved to Off Topic. I don't think anyone will have any trouble finding it.

Peace everyone.