Originally Posted by Nomercy448

I’m certainly not a “minimalist hunter” by any stretch of the imagination, nor by any intention, but I don’t see much point in carrying too much crap into the stand and back, if my hands won’t touch it, or if it really don’t need it.

I’ll start with acknowledgement of carcass transportation. When I’m hunting at home, or on property (private or public) which allows motorized vehicles, I take a little 150cc 4 wheeler which fits easily within the bed of my truck and is light enough for me to lift out of mud if I ever get stuck. I haul a little two wheeled game cart behind that to dolly out my deer. In that instance, I’ll shoot my deer, hike out to the truck, then ride the 4 wheeler back while I wait for them to expire. On back country hunts, I use gutless method and break them down to be hauled out in my pack. I keep most of my field dressing tools with the four Wheeler, as I don’t need either when I’m hunting, until something is dead on the ground. On some properties, I’ll walk back for the game cart without the 4 wheeler. I also have one of those roll up polypropylene drag sleds which works well. It doesn’t take someone built like Rambo to haul a deer out, even without a cart. I have a small winch and gambrel to hang on the 4 wheeler if I want to hang a deer for dressing, but I never end up using it - just not worth the trouble.

Shooting deer in Midwest and southern states many times, I don’t bother with ice, even in early bow season where it might be 70 or even 90 degrees on the day we shoot a deer. By the time I walk out to get the cart and back, then break them down, I’m only about an hour in, and I’m only a half hour or so to a gas station to get ice, another half hour to one of my processing options, and another hour to my other processing option I like to use. The meat is cooling plenty fast, even on those hot fall days. I do haul a tarp or plastic painters drop cloth to lay out beneath my deer to keep some of the grass out of my way, but it’s really just a nicety for me - again, that lives with the field dressing bag in the truck until it is needed.

I have used a 5.11 Push Pack for somewhere around a decade now as my primary whitetail hunting pack. It’s just large enough to fit one 8lb jug of reloading powder, TIGHTLY in the bag, with two water bottle pouches on the side. Effectively, it’s a tactical purse - frankly, it’s smaller than my wife’s purse, which isn’t terribly large itself... But the Push Pack it’s more than large enough for everything I need.

In my pack:

• rifle & ammo or bow, arrows, and release

• Primos shooting stick

• tag, zip ties, and pen

• laser range finder

• kestrel wind/weather meter & ballistic calculator

• headlamp & small LED flashlight

• two fixed blade knives, both Benchmade Saddle Mountain Skinners - one a gut hook and one not

• knife sharpener

• three pair nitrile gloves

• battery pack and cord to charge my phone (Ravpower solar pack)

• two bottles of water, small lunch, and snacks

• hot hands body and foot warmers, and a Mylar blanket (about the size of my wallet) in case things get rather rough

• In “not bear country” I carry a SilencerCo Maxim 9 pistol on my hip. In “bear country,” I carry a Ruger Super Redhawk Toklat 454 Casull across my chest

I’ve also started carrying my iPad most seasons rather than carrying a paper book. The advantage, for me, is the ability to read, watch downloaded movies if I like, play games, or even answer work emails during the midday lull while the sun and heat are high. I used to haul books, now I haul the iPad. I stay longer during the day and hunt more days in a season when I can distract myself through the midday lulls. It’s 2021 after all.

I only take my GPS unit if I’m going off grid far enough I know my cell service won’t work, and that’s really only for communication in event of emergency - I use a Garmin Map 66i satellite communicator. Costs a lot for the connection, but I have people counting on me to not die on the side of a mountain 20hrs from home, at least not without messaging them first to let them know to call the lawyer and execute my will. I haven’t used this in any part of TX or OK, as I tend to have service out there everywhere I have hunted, and typically I’m never more than an hour’s hike from my truck. High mountain back country - or especially deep mountain valleys - where I’m a 6hr hike outside of cell coverage is why I own it. Not for hunting in my backyard a half mile from the truck, so I don’t waste the weight. If I get lost a half mile from my truck in Flatlandia, I deserve to walk around for a while until I find myself, and find myself...

So all in all, everything I pack for ambush whitetail hunting is about the size of a single tennis shoe.