MUST HAVE in PACK annual list...

[Coach1310]

What do you HAVE to remember in your pack or on your person this weekend... this is other than the obvious... bullets, gun, knife, license....etc...

For me....

Wet wipes

Ziploc Bags

Zip ties(being optimistic!!)

[rumeye]

Latex gloves for gutting........

[walleyeking19]

Rope

Extra gloves/hat

Hand warmers (though it hasnt been cold enough for a few years)

[NEUT6899]

I carry a pair of binoculars, small first aid kit, compass, bottle water and a few snacks.. Might throw a good outdoor magazine in to pass the time as well..

[Monkster]

TP!

[NoWiser]

TP is critical.

I also bring (3) compasses. One for a spare and one for a tie-breaker. Twice I've had a compass reverse on me and I have trouble trusting just one now.

Also a spare pin for my climber stand.

[MUSKY18]

Grunt tube

Pack Rack

Latex Gloves

Pop tarts!

knife

zip ties

hand/feet warmers

extra gloves

range finder

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

In order:

1) Gun & ammo. I can figure everything else out on the fly, except for this one.

1a) Butt-out, zip ties, knife, gutting gloves, wet wipes, & paper towels.

1b) Lighter, matches, & fire sparker. If I'm ever lost, just look for the forest fire. That'll be me.

2) 3 sandwiches. 10am, noon, and 2pm. Structure is important for this one, or you'll have them all gone by 8am. Keep any mayo or mustard between the meat and cheese and not in direct contact with the bread.

3) Headlamp, extra batteries, trail tacks, chapstick.

4) Camelbak that holds about a gallon and fits in my backpack. Slicker than snot. I also have a stainless thermos that holds about 3 cups of coffee and keeps it hot until 2:00, warm all day. Combined with the coffee I had before I headed out to the woods last year, I pee'd off my stand 17 times opening day.

5) Snacks. I like beef jerky, milk duds, and small snickers. Sometimes gummy bears. No yellow ones. Those are for the squirrels.

6) A bunch of charcoal handwarmers. A small one goes in each glove when I leave in the morning. I usually end up with a couple of the big ones down my shirt during the day.

7) Spare battery pack for cell phone.

It's a pretty good hike in for us. We usually head out around 4am, and sit until after dark. It gets to be a long day, but as long as I'm not cold, hungry, or thirsty, I'm content. I always save room in my backpack to put the majority of my layers in, and I strap my jacket to my Summit. If I get sweated up in the morning, it's gonna be miserable.

[nofishfisherman]

Also a spare pin for my climber stand.

Yep that can be nice to have. I was setting my climber up one morning in the dark and dropped one of the pins. Its mighty hard to find in the dark in a mix of leaves and snow. I ended up having to pull a pin from another spot that was in place as a back up to a bolt in the base. It was smaller than then the one I lost but it worked in a pinch. Now I like to carry and extra so I don't have to sacrifice safety in order to hunt.

[Phunnyfarm]

"If I'm ever lost, just look for the forest fire." Haha!!!

Outside of the obvious (tag, bullets, knife), my MUST HAVES include leftover Almond Joys from Halloween, venison sandwiches from my mother-in-law (which I try to ration, but usually slam them all down once I open the bag!), and TP.

[Musky Buck]

Hating wet rusty gear I always pack a few zip-locks for my wallet/phone/time tables sheet/etc. and I bring 5 shells for gun and a spare 5 wrapped with a good rubber band, nothing sounds worse to me than clanging 30.06 rounds in your pack if they slide out of the box or whatever. I then also have a waterproof bag I put my pack in because frost,snow, the swamps I hunt in, I like to keep my sheath(s) for my knife and bone saw dry etc. or as dry as I can, keep a 5 gallon bucket handy to put my safety harness in etc. to keep mice out and red squirrels etc. You never know when grandma's chili is going to beat you up so you best be using tp and not poison oak.

[Kdog10]

GPS unit

I dont need it to find my stand, but have found it a useful tool in tracking wounded deer. My GPS has a tracking feature that shows the routes I have traveled. That "map" has really helped me in a few cases to see the route/direction the deer is headed.

[CrappieAttitude]

Pelvic bone saw. Once I used one, I will never be without one in the woods.

CA

[PurpleFloyd]

In my younger days it would be Blackberry Brandy. These days it's Pepsi.

[echotrail]

Basic 1st aid kit.

[yakfisher]

Basic first aid plus a small quick clot pack.

[boXCar JiggY]

an extra sock, I always forget TP. oh yeah, The license.

[boXCar JiggY]

zip tie for the site tage.

[bigbucks]

latex gloves for gutting

water

hand towel to dry off with after washing up at the end of a gut job

+1 on the pelvic saw

[RK]

My list, besides the obvious gun/ammo/knife...

Headlamp

safety harness

Paper towels

Ziploc bags

zip ties

handwarmers

spare gloves

Rope for raising/lowering gun out of the stand, thus allowing myself the chance to see a deer with my gun in mid-air half way to the ground

Scent/scent wicks

water

munchies like granola bars, trail mix and snickers. (Why do Snickers taste better in a tree stand? Someone should study this...)

Think that's it. Makes me wonder why my pack seems so heavy.

[Black_Bay]

Wet wipes, paper towels, MNT Dew, water, handkerchief, grunt tube, can call, cookies or muffin. I hate to say it but my phone goes with. It does come in handy being a GPS, camera, clock and weather radar in one.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

munchies like granola bars, trail mix and snickers. (Why do Snickers taste better in a tree stand? Someone should study this...)

I don't know why, but I won't even eat a Snickers outside of a tree stand. No joke.

[jbell1981]

Cigar, lighter and cutter to celebrate afterwards.

[rkhinrichs]

diet coke and grunt call. i call that the one two punch!

[Musky Buck]

Maybe warmer clothes than some years, check your areas forecast, single digits are a possibility in the AM's where I'm at teens most likely for most of the season.