Y'all's hunting gear

I wear what fits lol, I normally use a small backpack to hold my stuff. I'll have old pair of binoculars grunt call, some rope to drag deer, pens some string for deer tags. A spare knife spare ammo hunting reg book, flashlight and spare batteries.

on real cold days or snowing out I bring a wool blanket helps a Lot more so if the ground is wet. There's some things I'm sure I'm missing to. Sound heavy but never feels heavy.

Sometimes nothing other than what I need to bag what I am after. Other trips, seems like I take everything except the kitchen sink.

I take a small backpack with a few things.
Binos, a book, bottle of water, maybe some snacks.
If I'm hunting in a ground blind or permanent blind, I always take a thermos of coffee.
I usually have a pipe and tobacco. It makes the time go by faster, and while some have told me I'm crazy, I've had to set it down when deer walked into my shooting lane.
I make sure my cell battery is fully charged.

I don't hunt rough country so I don't need much. Heck, one of my stands, you can see the light on the pole at camp. It's not 500 yards from the bunk house. The other is only about a mile away. I ride my 4 wheeler to about a quarter of a mile and walk the rest of the way in.

Gun, ammo, knife, permit, binos....but I'm only 10 minutes from my house on a Honda.

Armored farmer said:

Gun, ammo, knife, permit,

Click to expand...

That's my ideal, I usually forget something........

Oh boots

I try to carry as little gear as possible other than the clothes I’m wearing, a knife, some water and my hunting implement. I wear whatever clothes fit. During bow season usually army OCPs because that’s what I have, in the winter usually army cold weather gear, Orange bibs a camo coat, a hand knitted neck gaiter and a hat. I wear a pair of insulated rubber Lacrosse hunting boots I got for a birthday almost a decade ago. Oh also, I alternate my gloves based on temp. Sometimes it’s light underarmor material sometimes it’s US military arctic mittens.

I take a backpack and usually leave it on the ATV until I need it. It will have a light, batteries, snack or lunch, water, folding saw, card reader, and maybe light rain gear. Usually just take my gun or bow, climbing harness, range finder and binoculars to my stand. I'll have 4 or 5 climbers and 2 or 3 blinds already placed.

What about a first aid kit of some kind?

Weird things happen..

I take it we're talking big game hunting? Cause I don't carry the same chit chasing ditch chickens....

Backpack here.

Last season I experimented with a "technical" vest, that carried a hydration bladder and large enough pouches for all my crap. Didn't work all that well due to our "swing" temperatures. I spend quite a bit of time taking off and putting on clothing, so a Backpack is pretty much a requirement. I normally head out for the whole day in a combination of sitting and stalking. My favorite hunting pack; Eberlestock X2



Normal packing list includes:

Binos
Lens Cleaning "stuff"
Tag(s)
GPS
Headlamp (another light I carry on my person)
Compass
Extra ammo
Toilet paper
Orange flagging tape, wrapped around a pen; for marking blood trails and downed animals.
Spare knife (Blaze Orange Mora)
Tripod
Laser Range Finder
Water
Snacks
Spare socks
Paracord
Small 1st Aid kit with Quickclot
Old Credit card with electrical and 100MPH tape wrapped on it, to fix chit.
Seasonal Snivel Gear: hand muff, face mask, gaiter, hand-warmers, orange knit cap

Deer dressing kit: Blue nitrile gloves, Vet artificial insemination gloves (go up to shoulder, keep my shirt/jacket clean), ziplock bag for backstrap, deer drag rope, Wyoming Saw, flex ties for putting tag on animal

Hog huntin Harry said:

I imagine a good addition to one's pack would be a snake bite kit.

(Just read on a .gov website that commercial snake bite kits are useless and can actually be harmful. So I guess just learn what to do if bit by different species of venomous snake.)

Click to expand...

Years ago my Father in Law and buddies we’re hunting in Wyoming a long way from a doctors office when one fella cut his hand severely with his knife.
Lucky they had a small kit in the Jeep to get bye until they made it to town.

When I lived in WV as a young man the elders spoke of snake weed as a thing

You already know more than I do about it.

South Prairie Jim said:

What about a first aid kit of some kind?

Weird things happen..

Click to expand...

There is one in the truck. I guess that I should add an extra flashlight, knife. rope, air compressor (for ATV tires) and extra water are there too.

Times have changed.....now carry a fully charged cell phone.

Rembrandt said:

Times have changed.....now carry a fully charged cell phone.

Click to expand...

I have to leave mine in the truck. No reception where I go.

Wow, big question. I'll scratch the surface RE a basic "close to the truck" deer hunt. We're more of "you guys" or "yous" country, here, pretty close to "eh?" country, so the clothing will differ significantly, especially footwear. We have to get a bit specialized here on the tundra.

Lets start at the feet. -20 or better rated pack boots. This is for a General November hunt. Silk undersock, heavy Alpaca oversock. If it's really cold, I'll wear my -60 rated Viking Kevlar composite rigger boots. For unseasonably warm weather, and a dry walking hunt, my Red Wing pull on non-insulated boots with a cotton/wool sock layering will suffice.

Going up, Silk bottoms, Polypropylene/wool composite longies, wool pants are standard fare for seasonable November weather. Add snowmobile bibs if it's below average. Swedish ECW snow bibs if it's really nasty. If a bout of 'Southen weather breaks out, delete the Poly/wool longies and substitute Duluth fire hose pants.

Top layer, Silk top, Poly/wool longies, heavy cotton flannel, heavy wool shirt, wind shell blaze orange coat. I have various heavy underlayers to add for severe cold. In warmer weather, a heavy cotton quilted flannel or hoodie with a blaze vest overtop works.

My stand hunting hat is rabbit fur. I have a couple of quilted poly "Fudd" ballcaps for warmer weather. Blaze ball cap for a real heat wave or dragging out a deer.

Gloves are wool finger mitts, with US military leather/canvas trigger mits overtop. Beaver fur choppers over the wool for severe cold. Leather work gloves in warm weather.

Misc gear. Mora field knife. Deer carrier or sled in the truck or at the cabin. 50' of polyester/fiberglass cable pulling tape (commonly called mule tape) for rigging deer to carrier and other cordage uses. Really amazing stuff, you can triple wrap it and pull a light truck out of the ditch, but it rolls up smaller than a jersey glove in the pocket. Small roll of flourescent flagging tape. Small flashlight with red beam filter. Compass. Small fire kit. Coffee, snacks (usually sugar/fat based for fast heat and calories).

That's the basics, I'm sure I could think of more.

Most often it is my 30-06, backpack with extra hats, gloves, blankets, butchering knives/saws, wallet w tags and license, duck tape, first aid kit, zipties and most important... SNACKS, I'm talking anything and everything delicious comes with me. I am the epitome of a snack hunter, my blinds and stands turn into a buffet. As you can tell I typically don't walk all that far at most its around 15 miles in a day.

Maybe Duct tape also, oh I suppose that’s in the truck..

I usually park my SxS close to the blind or stand, I carry what I feel is needed in them and leave everything else in the SxS. With me usually snacks, water, coffee, blankets, Mr Buddy propane heater, binoculars, range finder, headlamp and cell phone (to pass the time and here in GA that is how we can "tag" our deer). On the SxS, I carry everything plus in a plastic tote, spare clothing, anything to help retrieve, skin and quarter a deer, anything to help winch out the SxS WHEN I get stuck, an oversized first-aid kit. The last couple of years we've been lucky that we've backed the truck up to the deer and lowered the tailgate at the deer. I carry WAY to much in the SxS but it always seems I've forgotten something.

I use to carry near nothing but a knife, cord, bone saw, rifle and compass. Of course plenty of cigarettes’ maybe that’s why I rarely seen any game to shoot under about 500 yards . Oh well....

South Prairie Jim said:

What about a first aid kit of some kind?

Weird things happen..

Click to expand...

CAT tourniquet and a bandana. You can service most of your medical needs with those two light weight items until you get back to camp

I have a backpack along everywhere, we call them our “travel bag”, usually with stuff to stay out over night in a pinch.
The contents vary with the season and what I'm gonna do, but my possibles bag for hunting, a spare knife or two, a stone and compass, some wire, a fire making kit, some length of 1/4 inch rope or 550 cord, a gun tool/cleaning kit, first aid kit, mech tools for my ride, in winter, a couple days food, maybe an MRE and a can of beef, a canteen and a seperate water bottle, about 1 gallon, a rubberized poncho snd something to read. Some spare ammo too.
When I make camp, I lighten and modify the load, then its the basics in my pockets, fire (Zippo and a candle), ammo, knife and stone, compass and toilet paper, and something to munch.
I might take a lunch and fresh water, a tarp and sleeping bag if it looks like a long day or iffy weather. Theres always room in the boat of sled for those things.