The crappiest gear you have is better then the best gear you don’t

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daniel craig

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When it comes to hunting, the ‘gear’ industry is huge. Operates on the same business model that Apple does in hopes that people will buy next year‘s product just because their fan of the company because they think they need it. Well guess what it works people to buy that. And It makes a lot of people think getting into hunting is too expensive.

Let me tell you a lesson that I learned that I think can be useful in this situation. Whatever gear you have regardless of quality is better than the best gear you don’t have. It doesn’t matter how good that equipment is you don’t have it you do you have the equipment you currently have and it works. You don’t need to spend that money to enjoy the past time.

Don’t ever forget to pass that along to people you’re teaching to hunt. Hunting isn’t a fashion, cool kid, who has the best gear hobby. Have fun and don’t let the gear snobs take the enjoyment out of it for you.

EDIT: I think a lot of y’all are missing the point I’m not saying you shouldn’t have good gear and that you shouldn’t spend money a good gear. What I’m saying is once you’ve bought good gear or gear that works for you it’s foolish to envy the new year simply because it’s new. When you do find quality you’ll never be happy with it if you constantly think that it’s inferior do that stuff that just came out no matter how good the gear you have is.The good stuff you have right now you’re better than that good stuff that’s in the store because you currently have it right now. That’s the point I’m trying to make.
 
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I agree and disagree... :D

On one hand I love using old, out of date/fashion, equipment and still getting the job done. I have repaired my current hunting boots more times than I care to admit. But then again I am a gear junky and love trying new (and new old) things. I have been hunting deer for 20+ years and probably have never used the same gun for more than two or three seasons in a row. Even within a season I will change guns from weekend to weekend and even within a single weekend I have been known to change. You don't need to buy the latest and greatest to have fun hunting but at least for me variety is the spice of life and I like using different equipment frequently. For me personally, hunting is as much reason to take equipment into the field and test it as it is a chance to hunt. YMMV.
 
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Old doesn't mean crappy. I have and use 3 Bausch & Lomb scopes from the '60s. I see no reason to upgrade. On the other hand I got a fairly new Simmons scope that is a piece of crap. I have a newish Tasco scope that is almost as bad.

There is more craftsmanship in older products that aren't plastic or made in China. On the other hand, crappy stuff IS crappy no matter where or when it was made.
 
Old doesn't mean crappy. I have and use 3 Bausch & Lomb scopes from the '60s. I see no reason to upgrade. On the other hand I got a fairly new Simmons scope that is a piece of crap. I have a newish Tasco scope that is almost as bad.

There is more craftsmanship in older products that aren't plastic or made in China. On the other hand, crappy stuff IS crappy no matter where or when it was made.
That’s part of what I’m getting at. Maybe I should have said the gear you have is better than the best gear in the world that you don’t have.
 
I started off with a $50 Western Auto 12ga pump and killed a bunch of stuff with it too. I then started seeing all these cool, modern pump actions with cantilever scope mounts, etc. I traded it for a new pump gun and after a year or two realized that I liked that old piece of crap more and now I regret it. I still use a 16yo compound, cheap arrows, medium cost crossbow and medium cost arrows. My hunting buddy is literally a hunting machine. He has hundreds if not a thousand acres to hunt, killed several deer over 150'' including one over 200'' and when his Horton crossbow finally broke a few years ago he bought a S/A sports crossbow off sportsman guide and killed deer with it. Now, I do get a little uneasy when we shoot doves and stuff and he breaks out a Benelli auto loader or Browning O/U.

I try and buy middle of the road stuff. Broadheads and bullets I wont cheap on. Arrows are always middle of the road. Honestly I think its plain assinine to spend $100 on 6 arrows. I spend money on safety, scopes, tree stands and boots. I have had too many Bushnell Walmart specials break and while I ran Nikon Prostaff for years most my deer are pressured and come out right with 30min of light left so I need a good scope. I am a large man 6ft6 300lbs so I need expensive tree stands. I learned after my buddy taking me under his wing I don't need to spend $100 on scents, calls, etc. Find the food, find the doe and sit and wait and don't move. Not one gun cost over $500 and not one scope over $300. I still kill deer.
 
It depends. I don't cut corners on boots. I'd won't bat an eye at spending $300+ for a pair of boots and can't think of anything made under $200 that I'd want to use But I wear Walmart camo most of the time here in GA.

The scopes that I tend to prefer are in the $300-$500 range. But there are a lot of $200 scopes I'd be perfectly content to use. But much below $200 and you are wasting your money IMO. I can afford something a little better than $200 though and the extra money is worth it to me. But if advising someone on a tighter budget would highly recommend several $200 scopes.

I've had a chance to hunt Colorado a couple of times and plan to go back. When 5-7 miles from a road, at 11,000' in November with a foot of snow on the ground my gear choices are more important than when hunting here in GA. It has to work, it has to be lightweight, and the clothes have to be warm. Getting all of those features in one item isn't going to be cheap.

But in principle I agree with you. For someone just starting out buy the best gear you need and can afford. Over time you will accumulate more and better stuff. And I'd not stay home just because I didn't have a matching camo outfit.
 
Whatever gear you have regardless of quality is better than the best gear you don’t have.

As long as it doesn’t give you a false sense of security then leave you up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.

My Grandfather always said, “Four wheel drive, just gets you stuck further from help.” Obviously also not always the case, same as your premise, but food for thought.

That said, lots of folks have taken game with my loaner/beater guns that do the jobs they are intended for just fine even if they don’t look “cool” they are functionally superior to lots of stuff that looks “cooler” or they wouldn’t get used as much as they do.
 
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Yes, THAT time. Tape comes loose just when you don't want it to. I'd rather not comment on the Simmons scope.

Actually it had over 15 year of use, from roughly age 20 to 38.

I guess I should jump into my time machine and tell the broke college student version of myself that a trip to Cabela's in Sydney and a maxed-out credit card was necessary to hunt elk.

How many elk has your superior set-up taken?
 
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My hunting mentors have had some great advice on this. Buy what you can get away with to get started when you don't know any better anyways. After you know more and how you like to hunt save up for the nice stuff. The key though is do what it takes to get started because that is the hard part, upgrading binoculars, boots, and whatever is easier down the road.
 
I'm so sorry, :uhoh: guess I'm a victim of the Madison Avenue Marketing machine, do enjoy the latest in technology......but I'm not going back to hunting with a spear dressed in a loin cloth.
 
as long as they don’t make my butt look big
Ive been told that a "ranger" sized alice pack loaded to the brim makes ones rear look quite slim by comparison.......If its loaded with something as dense as muscle tissue, well give it a few miles and ones rear will be well worn, and shrinking lol.

I crappy knife is better than a sharp rock....Carrying in a bad backpack, beats dragging out a good animal.....Ive got a few i could come up with, most from personal experience....
and Actually I have a Badlands 2200, and unless im POSITIVE im going to be carrying a heavy load of meat, ill carry something smaller and lighter....and usually "junkier"
 
I'm so sorry, :uhoh: guess I'm a victim of the Madison Avenue Marketing machine, do enjoy the latest in technology......but I'm not going back to hunting with a spear dressed in a loin cloth.
How bout some Vietnam era boots, and fatigues, and a really sharp butter knife?

I know more "anti" gear snobs, than gear snobs. Personally Ill use the best gear ive got for the situation, with less care given to who made it or what its is than not.
 
I'm a big fan of simple but not a fan of gear that will fail. Spent too much time in places where that may get one killed. I would rather not have something than have something that isn't going to work when needed.

Simple and non-name brand is fine, but it has to work when needed.
 
I dont like spending money on myself. It seems selfish.
I spend fortunes on machinery and land. (It may get me yet)
My deer hunting gear is an H&R slug gun with a Bushnell scope, Bushnell 10x42 binos, old UA bibs with the pant legs worn off,and a mid '70s Buck 105, and ONE (1) Summit climber.


[I have a bunch of other crap too, but that's what I like to hunt with]
 
I use the best gear I can afford. Most of it is nonconventional gear. Example:
I use a Jan Sport fanny pack to carry my shells for Dove season.
I put my birds in a shopping bag hooking around the handle of my hunting knife.
My bird gun it a single shot break open shotgun.
 
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When it comes to hunting, the ‘gear’ industry is huge.

It's as bad as GOLFING (imho) There is always a new gadget, you MUST have or your game will be craptastic. With hunting there is always something new you gotta have or you simply will not see nor bag any game....

So nobody ever killed any deer until the past few years and those improvements? Was it all luck until now? OH wait, the deer have improved more rapidly than Darwin would've ever predicted, so you need all the new stuff.

Your scent must match the forest, your appearance must match the forest, your breath must match the forest, your farts must be contained or you must use suppositories so they match the forest, your rifle must match the forest and must be in the latest tripple-deadly-spent uranium projectile-ultra-long-range-minute of angle shooting-shoulder bruising-jacketed hollow point boat tail-custom hand loaded by Elves from Middle Earth round....OR you cannot kill anything. :confused: OH and don't forget the GPS......,

Yet without a modern scent cover (except possibly woodsmoke) and with dull colored garments, and a very outdated rifle system (by today's standards) a lot of deer have filled the bellies of a whole lot of people, as well as harvesting bear, antelope, elk, moose, etc. Then there are the fellows and ladies who use more modern methods, with fixed all weather ammo, but simple rifles of vintage designs with cartridges born perhaps a century ago. One author saw the same as we see now, when he wrote...
"When you get into the real wilderness, far away from rich men's preserves and summer hotels, you find there some mighty hunters who make mighty kills with guns that would bring only the price of scrap iron in New York."
Horace Kephart Camping and Woodcraft 1917

I wonder at all the gadgetry. I like gadgets, and I hope inventors make lots of money..., but it usually won't be my money that they get. I like gadgets in my kitchen...OK so those inventors will get my money....but not so much in the field. :)

OH I wish we'd see a year of the TV series "Alone" where the winner or one of the close runner-up, went into the bush with a carbon steel butcher knife, flint & steel, a forged tomahawk with a hammer poll, a smaller carbon steel skinning knife, a fine file to keep all sharp, A tin canteen, a copper, lidded pot, some fishhooks and some wire, and a 10' x 10' oil skin tarp, and tried the old gear out.

LD
 
I forgot to add this yesterday. I started doing this around 2002ish and didn't kill my first deer until maybe 8yrs ago. It was gut shot and I didn't know what I was doing. We took a city slicker who literally had never been more than 10ft in the woods to a national forest, up at 4am and hike for an hour. He showed up with a brand new Ruger Super Redhawk, UA clothes from head to toe, $150 sleeping bag, expensive boots, knives, etc. I told him I had clothes for him, gun for him, boots, etc. but he wanted his own. When I found the deer that had been hit twice with 12ga slugs he was queasy. When I began gutting the deer he walked away and threw up. I couldn't even get him to touch the deer to help me drag it the miles out. Later that week he sold everything at a loss or gave it away. We told him not to buy expensive stuff he sees on TV or a magazine and he did it anyways.
 
You won't find many people who consider electrical tape adequate for holding anything together for long.

Amazing that it worked perfectly for the application I was using it for. My family also us electrical tape for protective muzzle covers to keep out snow, dirt, mud, sticks while hunting.
 
Reminds me of a trip to New Brunswick in the early 90’s. Several of us friends and gun club buddies would book a yearly deer trip. One Year a nephew joined us. On opening morning the nephew came into the kitchen decked out head to toe in the latest Hunting fashion. High tech something or the other with thinsulate linings and Rocky boots. Took one look at My Woolwich red plaid hunting suit with plaid hunting cap with ear flaps and LL Bean rubber bottom hunting boots, smiled broadly and walked out the door.
That gear still hangs in a locker in the basement unused for the past 20 years. But I guess it would still suffice today if I could still get in it.
 
That’s part of what I’m getting at. Maybe I should have said the gear you have is better than the best gear in the world that you don’t have.
I agree to a point. My things I don't want to scrimp on is my pack, my scope and my boots.
This doesn't mean it has to be super expensive.
Everything else is nice, but not mandatory for me.
I've used my pocket knife to gut deer, pigs, rabbits, etc. It's slower, but works.
 
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