Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What's in your hunting pack?

I thought that this might be a fun thread, as well as giving others some great ideas.

What are some key items that you include in your hunting pack when you head out the field (besides the typical hunting knife, matches, spare ammo, etc.?

While hunting for moose/elk in the Canadian boreal forest & foothills I will pack:
- zip ties
- small tarp
- thin paracord
- headlamp & spare batteries
- surgical gloves
- small first aid kit
- hand sanitizer
- cotton balls covered in Vaseline in a 35 mm film canister
- flagging tape
- hotel mending kit
- emergency blanket
- Occasionally my MSR Pocket Rocket and fuel, but bulky.
- Water in Platypus bladder

Any other items that people put in? Include the type of area you hunt too if you don't mind.

SS

What, no butt out tool?

Otherwise known as the Obama tool.

I have a list that I could copy and paste, but it would bore most of you, and it often changes from hunt to hunt, not to mention year to year.

I thought that was a given, like a knife and matches...

SS

Lots of stuff I rarely need but am glad to have when I do.

Wrapped in my 2 game bags lashed to my pack frame one will find lunch, some extra snacks if I must overnight, and a water bottle. Knives in pockets or on the belt with a flashlight. Fire starters in a pocket.

Mostly elk and deer with the potential to overnight in Or, Id, Wy. In Alaska, GPS is included.

Knife
Ammo
Small towel
Sht tickets
Moistwipes
Pencil
License
Tags
Lunch
Deer drag
Water bladder
Spare gloves
Lighter
Small med kit
Multitool
Rangefinder.
Zip ties
Paracord
Compass
Sometimes GPS
Sometimes rain gear

Very good lists. I also carry snacks, lunch, two way radio and Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) just in case.

I mostly hunt the delta / swamps down here on the coast. Typically cover 1 to 4 miles on foot each day. I either drag my game out (if close) or gut / debone and pack it out. Pretty basic day hunts and home that night. Every couple of years I make it to North Idaho for a hunt with my wife’s family…much different scenery but same premise and practice.

- gloves, beanie, neck gaiter and a jacket I usually put on once I get out but don’t want to wear on the hike
- knife
- TP
- paracord (about 30 feet worth)
- water bladder
- protein bar and a small bag of jerky and nuts
- game bags / plastic bags
- drop cloth (plastic sheet that gives me a place to lay meat and avoid sticks / leaves / dirt; easier to fold, stow and deal with than an actual tarp)
- 1 water bottle and small towel for cleanup after field dressing
- compass
- map
- emergency blanket, mini-Bic lighter, little tinder bits in a small tin
- minimal med kit
- flashlight and headlamp
- Leatherman multi-tool
- 6x30 binos (swap to 10x40s in ID)
- phone, keys and wallet go in the pack (dedicated pocket) as soon as I leave the truck or boat.
- add a GPS in ID


I occasionally make it up to some club land with my step-father (mostly food plots and box blinds) and only in the field a few hours in the morning and a few hours again in the evening. Much more minimal list…probably shouldn’t carry a pack but can’t stand putting stuff in my pockets…or trying to tote clothes in one hand and my rifle in another.

Depends on when I'm hunting, what and where I'm hunting.
For instance, we are about to open the early Mtn Quail and Blue Grouse seasons. So, I'll have 2L's or water, about 1000 calores in trail bars, a warm cap, gloves and a very light soft shell parka.
I'll have basic first aide stuff like an ace bandage, some heavier pads with clotting agents, and some "Vitiamin I." About 8-10 lbs. in all.
Headlamp and a small flashlight. Lighter, small game pocket knife, camera, TP, etc.
But for november elk hunts, I've got lots of extra warm clothing, two binoculars or a binocular and spotting scope, treking pole, multi blade knife, heavy duty rubber gloves, folding bone saw, etc. All in a much larger pack that can carry up to 70 lbs. off trail. About 25-28 lbs. in all. E

For the purpose of this response, I will assume that you are talking about a big game hunt in Colorado.
I carry the following items in my day pack:

Magazine for Rifle - extra
Bullets - 10
Hunting License
Binoculars - Leupold BX-3 Mojave 12x50
Lazer Range Finder - Leupold RX 1200i
GPS - Garmin GPSMAP 64st
Maps - USGS, MyTopo.com

Gloves - lightweight
Parka with Hood - Cabelas, Dry Plus
Puffer Jacket - Dockers, goose down
Hat - knitted cap, orange
Socks - extra (wool/synthetic blend)
Canteen - 1 liter Nalgene (2)
Water Filter - Sawyer Squeeze Filter + extras
8'x 10' Siltarp
Camera - charged batteries

FIRST AID KIT (personal):
Bandaids, Moleskin, etc.
Insect Repellent & Sun Block
Chap Stick
Ace Bandage & Battle Dressing

FIELD DRESSING KIT:
6" Buck Knife & sharpener
Havalon Scalpel & extra blades
Game Bags
Gerber Gator Saw

DITTY KIT:
Bandanna
Compass
Toilet Paper
Swiss Army Knife
Headlamp + new batteries

FIRE KIT (personal):
Matches, waterproof (2)
Butane Lighters (2)
Fire Sticks
Hemp Rope
Phone Book Pages
Hand Sanitizer

KC

Daypack stuff for hunts ranging from rain forest coast to Rockies.Mine is pretty compact but always has enough in it to make it through a night with a bit more comfort and safety. Besides the usuals, I carry a 1/3 cup stainless steel measuring cup. Have heated soup and drinks on that, gotten water to drink from a mere drip, melted snow to drink.

Depending on the hunt, I often carry a fist sized ball of silk weight camo cloth (4'x9') and a half dozen clothes pins to make an impromptu blind. I call every kind of game that I hunt at times and like to take advantage if I come across a good calling set up and conditions.

DeLorme inReach satellite communicator. I don't always take my gps but always take the Delorme.

Flagging tape cut around the roll into third or half width and then pulled off of the center roll into a ziploc. It goes a lot farther and I recognize my own.

A second tiny flashlight so I can see to change batteries in my headlamp in the dark.

Always a pad to sit on in wet or frozen conditions, our norm for Fall.

Almost exactly the same as my pack.

Huggies (and ONLY Huggies) brand wipes in a stout Ziplock bag.

In addition to the usual stuff in a 1st aid kit, mine has Visine, Immodium, Tylenol cold/flu, & Benadryl tabs. These things weight about nothing, take up little space, & can really save a hunt. Come to think of it, I oughta throw in a few chewable aspirin, in case a heart attack should happen in the hunting party.

Additional stuff = lens kit, small-ish Leatherman tool, 1 meal bar, couple 55 gal contractor garbage bags, drag rope on a pvc handle, 2 coffee filters, tiny iodine bottle.

Assuredly more than I need, but not yet more than I can carry. I figure if I can't make through an unexpected night or 2 in the field, the problem will be what's between my ears, rather than what's not in my pack.

FC

I hunt in Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. I don't go real heavy, but could survive a night out if I needed to.

Daysack
2 bottles water
small thermos of coffee
compass
drag rope
emergency poncho
emergency blanket
2 sandwiches, misc. candy and a couple apples
MRE
matches
fire starter tinder and strike stick
small first kit
socks
gloves
stocking cap
ammo
gut bag
canoe tickets (toilet paper)
moist towlettes
a spare knife
G.I. can opener
a G.I. field coat liner if I've got room.