Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How you carry hunting accessories

The what worked and what didn’t thread got me to thinking about the things that always go with me to the woods, a kind of possibles bag of items. I’m decidedly a vest man! After 28 years of being a forester, the vest is second nature and just works for me. I’ve tried just about every general type of sling bag, day pack, fanny pack, possible bag, etc I can find and I do use one but keep it in my truck. The vest just works for me.

So, what works for me are two orange vests that I’m required by law to wear anyways: a Filson cruiser vest I’ve had for 25 years and a new Primos gun Hunter best I got last year for Christmas. The Filson works great and is a lot lighter, trimmer but with less laid out pockets. The primos has much deeper larger pockets, large interior zipper pockets, and a nice layout, just heavy/bulkier. The items that are always in my vest are:
1. 9 round bubba butt cuff trimmed down to just the cartridge holders (no rattles and easy to change out if I change chambering)
2. Folding knife (even though I prefer a fixed blade, working on that change now)
3. Lighter
4. Small Streamlight handheld light and headlamp
5. Small compass
6. TP in ziplock bag
7. Grunt call
8. Bottle of water
9. Beanie and neck gaiter plus gloves
10. Small length of paracord
11. Optional - can carry a sandwich and snacks in rear pouch if need be

I can carry my binos in the vest but typically they are on a harness already.

With all that said, what do you carry and how? Just curious

One other thing…

The Filson works better in warmer weather but is equally fine in the cold. The Primos is for colder weather only and does include a couple buckled straps that make carrying an extra layer or jacket rolled up on my back much easier.

I carry enough stuff as is and just need a modicum of organization. It is very very hard to get further than 1.5-2 miles from a road. I’m sure my kit is much different than the guys hunting out west or in the North Woods.

I also have one of those Primos Gun Vests with all the pockets. Range finder, coyote call, compass, leatherman, orange marking tape, etc. Good place for water bottle as well. All I need to carry is my rifle.

I have 2 daypacks. One for warm weather and one for cold weather. A lot of the gear in them is duplicated but the packs have what I need so all I have to grab is rifle and binos.

Day pack! memtb

Here are a few things we can add to the list to have close by in the woods, in your pack.

Save your empty medicine bottles: They work great for caring your fire stater, cotton balls saturated in Vaseline, Matches, Lighter. They are also great for caring extra batteries for your flashlights.

Just a helpful hint.

Take care

yowsir!


GWB

Pockets

🤣

My first years of hunting were fairly near home. We had the last house where the road turned away from the river and went up a ridge to the next canyon. Also were the final house with outside power rather than having to run on generators. My hunting area was about a 6 mile by 6 mile square with one side along the river, one along the ridge dividing that river from the next one north, another side going more or less up the ridge from the house to the top of the hill, and a similar line maybe 6 miles upriver.

With decent weather I'd generally pack what I needed in vest pockets and pants pockets. Didn't know any better so I drank from the creeks. Maybe a piece of jerky. Couple small-medium folding knives. Ammo. If I shot a deer, I'd gut it, leave skin on, make a pack out of it by crossing the legs diagonally, climb in .. fleas, ticks, and all .. stand up, and walk straight down the mountain to the river or, if higher on the hill, down to the one road that cut diagonally across much of it. Cache the deer, throw a shirt or jacket over it for some stink to keep the bears away (we lived in a bear preserve so this was a real constant thing), haul ass home as best I could, grab jet sled or truck, and go back for the deer.

I've moved away, family politics change, some of the old roads have slid shut and will never be reopened, my dad sold his guide service so I don't have the jet sled anymore .. and so on. Today I pack more stuff. Cell phone (electronic tagging), maybe small digital camera, meat sacks at times, a bit of 550 cord, and lug it in a day pack or a meat pack depending on distance. If I get a deer I skin and quarter, bag the quarters, and hang each as I cut loose those remaining to let the heat out at least a bit. I pack a filter if there will be any water sources at all and a water bladder or bottles, bit of food, maybe a poncho.

It was simpler in older days .. but there were also fewer problem situations to consider ... and some basic dumbness about the problem situations that might exist.

Back pack

I'm old enough now that I don't get all that far from the road. When I was younger, I always carried what I needed to stay out overnight in any weather if necessary. It never happened to me but enough guys have been caught out over night with bad results to convince me that I wouldn't be one of them. You don't need a tent and sleeping bag to spend the night out but you do need a way to stay dry, stay out of the wind, and conserve body heat. How to do that is a thread all of it's own.

Packs make my back sweaty. If I'll be walking all day, then I use something like the web gear I wore in the Army. I use a vest if I'll be in and out of a vehicle.


Okie John

I use an Eberlestock day pack, I think it's an X2. Love it, It carries everything I need and more i case I have to overnight .
I can carry it all day, and it has a great achor belt with pouches as well
Before that I used a Trapper Nelson #2.
I could be gone all day when I am hunting on foot, and we often get some strange temperature changes up here so I like to be prepared.
For hunting birds however I use a vest
Cat

When I watch hunting shows on TV I feel I must be missing something. The host always wear a backpack...bigger than a daypack, even if he is only going to climb into a Texas box blind. Likewise the "guide" never has a backpack, even in real hunting situations like Africa, yet he manages to survive and thrive. When I was doing a lot of hunting where I might get stuck out for a night, I carried a fanny pack, and managed to survive. Maybe I should write a book.

In the Rockies a KUIU backpack and home made chest rig. The chest rig carries a gun/holster, small binos, range finder, calls, and chapstick. The backpack, everything else, except a folder and zippo in my pants pocket.

In the midwest, I carry almost nothing. Usually not even extra ammo, if the 3-5 in the gun isn't enough, I'll walk back to the cabin and grab more.

Former forester here too. I still have my vest and it worked well for its purpose, but I couldn't imagine using it for hunting. Not enough modularity or security, as in pockets that just snap shut, no zippers. A vest is a great option, but I'd have to go all-in tacticool mall-ninja to get it to work for me and then the look...not my style.

Yep. Most carry entirely too much schitt on this shows.

Small Fanny pack is about all I need for all day.
With, of course, my rifle and a pistol. 👍🏻

Same, except I leave the pistol at home while hunting. I figure if I cant kill it with the rifle Im carrying I damn sure won't hit it and kill it with a pistol!

I also feel bad that I dont have one of those nifty chest cases for my binocs, and one of those training bra harnesses to hold the whole thing up. And I see you can get the kind with more pockets for your other stuff, like the wind detector bottle of talcum for those who dont know which way the wind blows...

LOL. I don't know whether to congratulate that company for its ability to make money off stupid people, or laugh at the people that need the bottle to determine wind direction.