The first: What do you bring with you when you are 'day hunting'? we've a local state park that's 20 minutes away. What does he/we need to bring withonce we walk away from the car?
I don't take much with me. My stand is a mere 20 minutes from the house.
A good knife, iPhone and maybe some water or a snack.
Plus, if you're only 20 minutes from home, you don't need to be Daniel Boone. Make sure you're comfortable and don't weigh yourself down.
You should keep a few things in the truck for field dressing purposes.
- Some plastic surgical gloves come in handy
- A few gallon jugs of water (just for rinsing out the cavity of the animal. Creek water is plenty acceptable. lol)
- Heavy duty trash bags for guts/entrails
The second: It's the field dressing and packing it out of the woods and getting it to the processor. What are the minimums, and what are the 'this will make it a WHOLE lot easier' items and techniques?
I'm not the best dresser of deer, so I don't have tips for techniques that will make it easier on you. However, I'll say the minimum would be to gut it. The longer the guts stay in the animal, the more strong and "gamey" the meat will taste.
Gut as soon as possible and get it to the processor.
We butcher our own, so if we kill one during the evening hunt we'll gut it and hang it overnight at the camp (providing the weather is cold enough) and butcher the next day.
Getting those guts out in the first hour or two is key to quality tasting venison though.