What do you carry??

[biggamefish]

  I have my first aid kit with me when I am in the woods almost all the time.  I carry the usual gauze pads,tape band aides, butterfly bandages etc.  What do you guys carry.  I am always looking to carry more stuff! :  Actaully looking to make sure I have what I need. 

[nyslowhand]

Hunt only a max of 800yds from vehicle.

Carry bare min to pull off hunt.

Other than essentials, a couple bottles of water and few granola bars.

No more than a fanny pack and my jacket pockets will hold.

Do carry cell phone set on vibrate, just in case.

[wztirem]

As I hunt primarily from ground blinds, I carry a small back pack with the essentials for sitting the entire day along with a collapsible chair. To pass the day, I always have a book to read along with some crossword puzzles.

[nyslowhand]

As I hunt primarily from ground blinds, I carry a small back pack with the essentials for sitting the entire day along with a collapsible chair. To pass the day, I always have a book to read along with some crossword puzzles.

Really, a book & crossword puzzles?

Have heard of people with gameboys and cell phone apps.

Multi-tasking?

Not me! I'm staring out into the brush the entire time I'm there.

[Doc]

The backpack contains different things depending on whether I am bowhunting or gun hunting.

My gun ground stands usually have some built in seat (a few rocks stacked up or chunks of log so a stool isn't required normally. However, a lot of my gun-standing is designed around spending all or most of the day, so a large thermos of coffee, and a sandwich or two is in that pack. Also, most of the heavier clothing is in there too as I tend to dress fairly lightly on my way into the stand and I get dressed with the heavy stuff when I get there. Also, we have binoculars, a compass, toilet paper (for blood-trailing purposes of course) Latex gloves for the gutting task that is sure to occur. A plastic bag for the heart and liver. A drag rope, flashlight, a pen, my half of the walkie-talkies if I am hunting with someone. I think there are a lot of other things that I am not remembering. My back-pack gets sort of like a woman's purse. You can find just about anything in there you need to live.

The pack typically on a bow hunt is pretty much the same stuff except the food and coffee isn't required because I head back to the house around 11:00 or so for breakfast. A stool generally is packed for a bowhunt because I like to have a good seat to shoot from if I should get caught sitting down and have to shoot from that position. My bow stuff also includes a grunt tube or the can, and of course my rangefinder. I also carry some thread to hang from a nearby limb so I can monitor the wind direction as it swirls around covering every direction around my stand. Sometimes if I can remember it, I pack my camera for taking pictures of that huge trophy buck that I am sure that I will be getting. And again, whatever clothing I can pack instead of wearing is jammed into that pack to keep from getting sweated up on my way in. Here again, there are probably a lot of things that I am not remembering, but these are the things that immediately come to mind.

Doc

[nyslowhand]

A thread for wind direction...

Pretty ingenious!!

[ADKSasquatch]

I carry a backpack with some essentials, the most important being toilet paper.    It also has map, compass, water, water filter, snacks, first-aid kit, matches, garbage bags, headlamp, extra batteries, unscented babywipes, extra knife, and a survival kit in an altoids can.  I think that's it???

[wztirem]

A thread for wind direction...

Pretty ingenious!!

A thread, good idea. I carry an old plastic Dristan bottle filled with baking soda to check the wind.

[nyslowhand]

I've never hunted in a situation other than a treestand.

How do you guys use the info from your wind indicators if a deer is coming in to a still hunt loaction?

Never found the wind to be a factor, other than a deer's final approach to something they sense or were curious about.

Fill me in, am I missing something?

[wztirem]

I always check the wind when approaching or selecting my stand location for the day. If need be I will change stand locations if the wind is not favorable.

[Doc]

I generally monitor the weather forcast for predicted wind direction and choose my stand accordingly. However, I couldn't tell you all the times that I have gotten up the hill to my stand and found out the weatherman was wrong. Not only that but the weatherman is sitting up there 35 miles away in Rochester talking about what the wind is expected to be doing up there in that flatland country. That is not always the same thing that it is doing down here in the hils and valleys.

But even worse than finding out the wind is totally in an unfavorable direction, is the wind that is see-sawing back and forth or circling. There's been quite a few times when I have been watching those thermals working through the ravines and other features of the hill-country, sending the breezes in several different directions including those where I expect the deer to be coming from. When that happens, you really have no choice but to just pack up and head for another stand that has more stable wind direction. I would rather give up a morning or evening's stand than to sit there in a bad wind direction or condition, alerting every deer that comes to the stand that I am there. That tries to happen a lot, and without my string, I would never know that some of these more gentle breezes are sending my scent out across or up the trail that I am watching.

I have another little trick hidden in my pack. When ever I run across some milk-weed pods, I generally stuff them into a zip-lock bag and throw that in my pack. The individual seeds in a moderate breeze will almost act lighter than air. Letting a few of them go will send them on a pretty long voyage that you can watch and learn from. You would be amazed at what happens to wind direction as you get away from your stand. I have watched some of those seeds head out and then all of a sudden take a 90 degree turn and head off down the trail.

A word about scent out of a treestand. I know that we assume that when we are elevated, our scent generally stays above the deer. Back in the days when I used to smoke and I was still using treestands, I always watched the cigarette smoke because I knew that the same breezes that carried the smoke also carried my scent. The smoke really didn't stay up high. It never did anything predictable actually. But quite often it went out a ways and began to sink just like any molecules that are subject to gravity. And it didn't take a real long time for the smoke (and my scent molecules) to get down to ground level. Another thing I noticed was that damp days sent the smoke (and presumably my scent) downward quicker. So elevated stands do not mean that you can ignore wind direction or the subtleties of thermals and stray breezes. I suppose if you are up 20 or 30 feet, it may take long enough for the scent to reach the level of a deer's nose, perhaps to the extent that it is substantially diluted and dispersed. I'm not sure of that. But my stands averaged 10' - 15', and it didn't take a great amount of time for the cigarette smoke to get down there, and the plume of smoke was still pretty well in tact. There are still alot of things that I have to learn about the science of scent. A while back (maybe it was even on the old forum) I asked a whole bunch of questions about the physics of scent and the way it adhered and transferred and diffused and other things like that and the topic went nowhere. I may repeat some of those inquiries again because I think that scent-stuff should be of great interest to hunters.

Of course none of this has anything to do with the topic, but it just came up so I figured I would put my 2 cents in  . Whew!!! there I go again writing a novel ...... sorry.

Doc

[Dinsdale]

I always check the wind when approaching or selecting my stand location for the day. If need be I will change stand locations if the wind is not favorable.

+1

I hunt far from the roads and carry enough to spend the night if need be. Often I plan on an overnite bivy, if I get a deer late in the day its easier than a few miles in hilly terrain at night. If planned carefully I can do this out of a small pack with a light load.

All the time for an away from home all day affair;

First aid kit, headlamp and 2 extra batteries, fire starter kit(cotton balls and vasoline a mini-lighter, spare 1/2L platypus bottle(folds flat), victorinox paring knife, fixed skinning knife, 20' para cord, TP in plastic bag, water filter(Sweetwater), compass+map, puff bottle for wind(baking soda), a few feet of flagging tape to mark a blood trail if need be.

I'll take a ID sil-nylon tarp for shelter(7oz.) my 1lb Marmot bag, and a tyvek ground cloth (3oz) if I plan do overnight. Or just the tarp if I'm not sure. And I throw a HD survival mummy bag instead.

Extra ammo (5 round plastic clip), Binoculars are on me.

I have a lightened/cut down Jetboil for cooking(14oz with fuel)

Kahtoola microspikes if snow is coming for the hills depending on the forecast.

This all fits a smaller pack at around 7 lbs, add 750ml water and 2 1/2 lbs of food for 2 days...about 10 lbs.

[Doc]

I an amazed that after all these years I still have not developed a check list. I should put that on my "must do" list.

Doc

[nyslowhand]

A word about scent out of a treestand........ A while back (maybe it was even on the old forum) I asked a whole bunch of questions about the physics of scent and the way it adhered and transferred and diffused and other things like that and the topic went nowhere. I may repeat some of those inquiries again because I think that scent-stuff should be of great interest to hunters.

Doc

You did enlighten us about scent dispersion within the topic Do You Hunt in the Rain, or something like that.

[Doc]

You did enlighten us about scent dispersion within the topic Do You Hunt in the Rain, or something like that.

In a moderate to heavy rainstorm, I do not hunt in the rain at all with my bow. It doesn't really have anything to do with scent conditions, but rather it has to do with the realities of having difficulties bloodtrailing under such conditions. However, as far as scenting conditions, rain is a mixed factor. Moisture enhances a deer's reception of scent, but a heavy rain will knock scent down in a short distance. So they can detect scent better in moist conditions, but are not as likely to encounter it during a rain. This is based on some info that I gathered on studies done with tracking dogs. By the way, serious dog runners seem to be the only people that really worry about understanding the workings of scent. I find it strange that scent marketers and scent-proof clothing and chemicals manufacturers don't seem to have published anything on the properties of scent but there are hound organizations that have done some significant studies that are directly transferrable to the way deer recieve and process scent, and how various conditions impact their use of scent.

But anyway, getting back to your question, I tend not to hunt in the rain, but I will say that I have seen a lot of deer movement during drizzly wet days when I did get caught out there, and it always seems to me that the deer are walking around in some sort of funk, or really don't seem to be at the top of their game. Also, scent broadcasting range is shortened considerably during a rain. A hunter can take advantage of that and with a gun where you have a better chance of a short bloodtrail that probably makes a good reason to be out there, rain or shine during gun season. Of course being a creature concerned with my own comfort, I try to avoid rainstorms from that standpoint too..... lol.

There is a lot to be learned about the physics of scent and how it moves through the woods. I'll never understand why there is not more info published throughout the hunting community on a subject so central to what we do. However, I have noticed that when you ask detailed questions about the characteristics of scent and the effects of external factors on scent molecules, nobody seems to know anything at all about it. But if you are interested in the subject, check out what experts on tracking dogs (bloodhounds, search dogs, cadaver dogs, etc.) have to say. They seem to have taken the subject a whole lot more seriously that we hunters.

Doc

[UpStateRedNeck]

I only started carrying a backpack last year with my bow, as when I used to gun hunt exclusively I prefer 10 step, 10 second wait approach unless it is really damn cold out.  Cold = sit, always.

Backpack :  Peanut granola bars, coffee thermos, water bottle, empty gatorade bottle ( doesn't stay empty long! ), antlers for rattling, headlamp after the sun comes up, drag, gutting knife, skinning gloves, grunt tube, doe bleat can, turkey calls (always entertaining!), scent-away spray, buck lure (tinks), walkie talkie, heat packs, spare gloves..........  That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

On real cold days last year I rolled up my heavy bibs and snapped em onto the bottom my backpack and put them on once I got to the stand.

I really like Doc's milkweed pod idea, ingenious!

[Fantail]

Geezze some of you guys must look like your packing for a week walking through the woods. To each his own I guess. I like to bring along 2-3 folder paper towels. Never know when you might need to loaf one.

[UpStateRedNeck]

It's really only just a bunch of little things, you enjoy hanging out 20 ft. up in the air alot more when you are real comfy and can spend all of your time scanning the woods.

[burmjohn]

I always take a pack now.  I keep it light so you don't even know it on your back.  But its nice to have a few calls to play with, drinks, and snacks.  This year I'll have my Binocs, Walkie Talkie, range finder, and other stuff to play with. This year I'd love to bring along a video camera / camera to take some pictures.  I guess I could stuff that crap into pockets, but I tried that one year, and it drove me nuts. 

[bushnell]

I carry what I call the essentials. I have a buck knife, pens, string to attach carcass tag the the deer, small first aid kit, paper towels, hankie, flashlights, extra gloves, hand warmers, lighter, drag rope, extra ammo, water, soda, food, camera, walkie talkie, a multi-tool and my weapon.

[Nomad]

Pretty much the same as doc....

I'm a gear and survival guy though. My thinking is this, I don't know when I'll "need" it so I always carry it. I've been hunting farm land when one of the guys says,'hey lets go hunt my sisters camp this afternoon "Big woods unknown to me, glad to have my pack of stuff.

Heres goes.first aid kit,water,food,extra flashlight (headlamp and very bright hand held) extra batteries compass,dressing kit (pen,gloves butt out),fire starters,handwarmers,extra gloves, face mask as well as warm hat or ball cap (one is on head one in pack) Prusik knot. Haul line,(i don't leave them hanging from stands) extra tree steps. I often use tree step with Pursit tied to it to clip harness to on large trees .Large trash bag, for , emergency rain gear and so on.

Cell phone,one hand opening knife (spyderco) and one flashlight in pockets at all times .

Hey toss that TP and get a pack of baby wipes guys !! Much cleaner and good for washing hands after gutting.

Oh and I took a piece of sleeping pad and cut it to fit the shape of my pack and stuff it down inside the back of the pack. This way if i want to sit on say a rock or its wet out I can sit on the warm pad, plus in my pack its padding against my back .

[WNYBuckHunter]

I started taking a backpack with me last year because I do all day sits whenever I can. Heres what I usually take...

-TP (not a whole roll) in a zip-lock

-Thermos of Coffee

-Gatorade bottle (empty)

-Bottle of water or apple cider

-sandwich and a snack or two (cheese its, trailmix, etc)

-gutting knife

-extra 20ft of hoist rope

-spare safety strap

-zip ties

-pen

-extra screw in hanger, 2 steps

-headlamp

-small flashlight

-extra release (during bow)

-shooting stick (gun)

-hand/foot warmers

-scent/drag

It sounds like quite a bit, but its not much weight and it all keeps me comfortable. I can strap the pack onto the back of my climber when I use that.

[biggamefish]

  Doc is right with milkweed pods.  I take it one step father though.  I take all the seeds off of the white fluffy things then I mix them up and put them in a film canister (you know the old 35 mil.) I cut a cross in the top and stick a couple through works like those kleenx boxes.  They float for ever and the bag never rips.

[SteveMcD]

Iodine, sewing needle and thread, aspirin, snickers bars, extra socks, 2 compasses, map, flashlight, extra sweater and thinsulate coat (in winter), extra knives, whetstone, survey tape, rope, bottle of water. 

[Doc]

Iodine, sewing needle and thread, aspirin, snickers bars, extra socks, 2 compasses, map, flashlight, extra sweater and thinsulate coat (in winter), extra knives, whetstone, survey tape, rope, bottle of water.

And of course the most important item in all of that is that snickers bar (especially the kind with the dark chocolate).