What not to take hunting

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Less is More.

Just depends. . .
There's things I carry on a daily basis such
as knives, cord, bandana/handkerchief,
fresnel lens, etc. that aren't any extra burden
when out hunting, hiking, etc.
Toilet paper doesn't really weigh anything,
and even though I can improvise, I don't
really care to. Rope isn't really heavy, and
even though I got my merit badge for
making some, I don't care to make one
out in the woods. I'm not carving any cups
or utensils, or looking for medicinal plants
when I fall ill , or building a log Ponderosa
cabin with an exacto knife. All those
yoofloob "survivors " do all that " bushcraft "
stuff as entertainment. Some of it might be
applicable if you were a plane crash survivor
without any resources, but I'd as soon bring
my own spoon as to carve one, and I'll
bring something to wipe with and use
leaves only if I run out of paper
 
A lot depends on where and how one is hunting.

Ground blinds, tree stands, never used them. Walking out my back porch in my jammers, slippers and a cup of coffee with rifle slung to my kids treehouse to harvest the deer I’ve been graining up the past month, again never been a part of it. Nothing wrong with any of the above just not my type of hunting.

Any of the above and I wouldn’t bother with much of anything but warm clothes, a rifle and the keys to the Kubota.

I use my truck to get to trails (early morning 45 minutes before daylight) then it’s on foot from there sometimes miles from the truck in steep and sometimes slightly treacherous terrain. I’m not heading back to the truck for lunch and stay till dark. A lot can happen in the course of the day in mountains where weather can be unpredictable and harsh in a late season hunt. We have lions, wolves black bears and the elusive grizzly bear, or the potential moose that would want to stomp a mud hole in ya.

With the above being my hunting scenario I pack the following in a large lumbar pack with shoulder straps and a simple camel back pouch attached above the lumbar pack to the shoulder straps.

1. First Aid - bandages, antiseptic, Benadryl, Advil, butterfly bandages.
2. 4 ways to start a fire - flint and steel, waterproof matches, bic lighter, small road flare.
3. Vaseline cotton balls
4. Topo map of the area in ziploc
5. Headlamp with extra batteries
6. Water in camel back
7. Titanium folding stove stand (folds flat and lightweight
8. Titanium cup with sterno can inside
9. Tea bags
10. 2 granola type bars
11. Mountain house meal or MRE
12. Fixed blade knife
13. Small thin diamond sharpener
14. Game bag for quartered deer, ziploc for organs
15. Glock 40MOS
16. Rifle with a few extra loose cartridges
17. Lightweight poncho
18. Small 12” square inflatable cushion rolls up small weighs nothing
19. Compass
20. Cell phone, and watch
21. Some lashing material, small straps and paracord

So based on my style of hunting the majority of the time I take all the above. Only on specific hunts, such as predator hunting on BLM from a SXS or truck would I carry less on myself.
 
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I get called Inspector Gadget for all the stuff I carry with me while hunting, but everything I carry I use or have used, except the tourniquet. The high speed, low drag, cool dude hunters that have given me the hardest time tend to be the ones that are the first to ask to borrow this or that.
 
Pack (Eberlstock J-34) a bit chunky for a day pack but expands to where you can carry out a full size whitetail buck quartered in one trip. I just did it twice in the last week.

Knife with several extra blades (Outdoor Edge)

Very bright headlamp with extra battery (rechargeable) because blood trailing at night with a dim light suxs!

Fire starter, (cotton balls in Vaseline) lighter, Swedish fire stick.

Two pairs of gloves one light fleece one heavier pair.

Helenbac first aide kit with the addition of sutures .
Surgical gloves

Toilet paper

6 to 10 extra shells

Light weight compass because the sun doesn’t always shine and the worst I’ve ever been disoriented was in thick fog and mist.

shooting sticks and or a tripod. Because at long range having both to make a quad pod to get above the grass is awesome!

Javlin bi-pod. Weighs nothing.

Spare warm jacket and a waterproof shell, you never know when you’ll have to spend a night out.

I always slip my cell phone into my pocket because it’s a good camera. Plus onyx maps. Of course some people can’t stay off the dang thing and that’s annoying but I’m not that guy.

Light weight cell phone tripod for hero pictures.

Staying fit to the point that carrying that load on my back for multiple miles a day in steep country isn’t even the tiniest inconvenience.

Edited to add that this fits my style of hunting it might be a horrible load out for the way you hunt.
 
Don't you PLAN on carrying A LOT MORE back out?
Ha! That's probably why neither my wife nor I got a deer this year - not enough "positive thinking." I mean, we only hoped to carry a deer back out this year. If we would have planned to carry a deer back out, we might have gotten one.;)
 
Yeah, we got one of those ^^^^ last year. All we've used it for so far is hauling it around in the back of our truck.:(
Oh, I take that back - I was loading the rest of our hunting and camping equipment into the back of our truck this year, and after I filled a couple of 5-gallon jugs with water, I used the cart to wheel them out to the driveway. After I got the jugs loaded in the truck, I put the cart in after them.
It was no problem at all hauling two 5 gallon jugs of water around the house and across the yard in that cart. And 10 gallons of water is what - a little better than 80lbs, isn't it?:D
 
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I got one of these
Veegoshop seems to have a slightly xenophobic access policy for visitors from outside the US. Care to link the "cart-guide-deer-gear" from somewhere else, please? After all the corny wheelbarrow pics I've posted to hunting picture threads over the years I probably need something a bit more appropriate to haul the deer and this sounds like a candidate... :)
 
Veegoshop seems to have a slightly xenophobic access policy for visitors from outside the US. Care to link the "cart-guide-deer-gear" from somewhere else, please?
We got ours at Cabela's/Bass Pro. It's looks like the same thing exactly, and I think $55 or $60 is about what we paid for it.
On the other hand, years ago we used a similar cart that belonged to a friend of ours to haul out a large mule deer buck - once! That darning thing had tube type tires (the tires on ours are solid rubber) and they went flat long before we got back to the truck.
It was a fiasco.:mad: I replaced the tubes in the tires on our friend's cart before I took it back to him, and I never asked to borrow it again.:uhoh:
 
We got ours at Cabela's/Bass Pro. It's looks like the same thing exactly, and I think $55 or $60 is about what we paid for it.
Thanks! I've been Cabela's and Basspro club member for a long time but the cost for shipping anything that doesn't fit in a shoebox or at most a suitcase is a bit prohibitive. I simply want to see what it looks like so I can see where I can find something similar in Europe.
 
One that will get your through "Hell and Back"
Personal M*A*S*H unit

Hahahaha, got it.
I have a pretty good kit put together, but thought that was a specific brand.
Me being the gear hoo-er I am, I am always looking for new stuff. :D

I usually carry more than I need, but one never knows what one will need.
 
What is a Helenbac first aid kit?
It was the first aide kit I was issued when I was on a SAR team. It’s a very extensive kit that’s designed for extended back country stays that’s meant to carried in a pack so it’s light. It used to be sold by NOLS. I’ve added sutures and combat gauze. Not quite a trauma kit more of an extensive backcountry general first aide kit.
 
I have hunted upstate New York whitetails for close to fifty years. All I ever take is a small fanny pack with two knives, a zip lock baggie with paper towels to wipe my azz or hands after gutting a deer, a pair of harbor freight rubber gloves, a plastic grocery bag for the heart & liver, and my drag lanyard.

I can't believe the garbage people lug around these days.
A big waste in my opinion, but carry on.
 
I have hunted upstate New York whitetails for close to fifty years. All I ever take is a small fanny pack with two knives, a zip lock baggie with paper towels to wipe my azz or hands after gutting a deer, a pair of harbor freight rubber gloves, a plastic grocery bag for the heart & liver, and my drag lanyard.

I can't believe the garbage people lug around these days.
A big waste in my opinion, but carry on.
What works in upstate NY may well not be the best for the Rockies or the desert. Just a thought.
 
a zip lock baggie with paper towels to wipe my azz or hands after gutting a deer, a pair of harbor freight rubber gloves
Even though this thread is about what NOT to take hunting, this reminds me of something: DISPOSABLE FULL-SLEEVE VETERINARY GLOVES (insemination gloves). The best invention ever. You just have to take your jacket off and put on a pair of these to gut a 1000lb+ moose without getting a single drop of blood on you or your clothes.

Nowadays I pack 3-4 pairs in my big game backpack. Not that washing your hands in a creek is a big nuisance but having to take your fleece, mid-layer and possibly even your long-sleeved shirt off in freezing weather to avoid a pile of difficult laundry is a right PITA, and avoiding all that by a pair of suitable gloves is nothing short of fantastic.
 
Every area has different needs and supplies, I am one that only carry what I need for where I hunt.
My ex brother in-law use to take an aluminum framed backpack full of bullcrap for a morning hunt right behind his house in Central northern Pennsylvania after eating a full breakfast at 5am.

I never ate breakfast at his place and only took my small fanny pack like I will be doing tomorrow morning on our southern zone opener for deer.
 
DISPOSABLE FULL-SLEEVE VETERINARY GLOVES (insemination gloves)
Nowadays I pack 3-4 pairs in my big game backpack.
Now THAT sounds like a plan, hq! I'll be picking a few pairs of those gloves up the next time I'm in CAL Ranch - the farm and ranch supply store in town.:thumbup:
In the areas we usually hunt, there aren't very many creeks around to wash the blood off in, and I hate wasting drinking water from our canteens because, as Walter Houston says in my favorite movie (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), "Water's precious. More precious than gold sometimes.":D
Besides, we always carried a gallon zipper bag for the liver. I'm wondering if we could just drop the liver down inside one of those used veterinary gloves (turned inside out of course) and tie it shut.:cool:
 
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