Not so much on what you buy, but what you actually use while hunting. I'm usually a sucker for new products/camo/scents, but towards the end of last year I realized something. I hate carrying all that crap to the stand. [&:]My "must have" gear has grown so much over the past 8-10 years that I now need a back pack to carry my "essentials". 3 grunt calls, a can call, scents, handwarmers, gloves, flashlight, rope, trail markers, tp, saw, chew ( trying to cut that out completely)....plus spares of some things.10+ lbs of junk. No more.

This year is bare bones. Bow hanger, bow, release knife, and permit. Everything else is staying either in the truck or in the garage ( I hunt behind my house most of the time)[8D]

I have definitely cut back. I restrict myself now to what I can fit into my Summit side bags, which is plenty of crap!

I hit my epiphany a couple years back. I almost tossed everything I was carrying and left it there. I've done much more ground hunting and was also a big reason I went to trad gear.
There are way too many straps & gadgets that I need anymore.

Thats how I have always done it, I have a lot of stuff back at camp but I have never been one to carry everything to the stand with me....Of course I don't hunt back country like a lot of folks here....

I carry a huge Fieldline backpack around full of junk.I feel naked without it.

My bad buttonbuck.. I'm an idiot and didn't read you right.

I am cutting back, that was the original list.

Now its just the essentials.

I learned the hard way while hunting in Africa, I hate carrying a bunch of crap around that I don't need, so I'm down to barebones as of a couple of years ago! I don't need any of the gadgets or gimmicks! I guess I jumped onto the "no gimmicks - no gadgets bandwagon", does that make me a bad person?

Heck yes! I usually am a sucker for all the buck rut crap / doe urine junk etc. i swear most of it doesn't work. So this year all i'm using besides carryingmy old military backpack for scent stuff is some spray scent eliminator, the HS specialties brand. No more doe urine or of that kind of junk. I don't think I have ever lured a buck in with that scent stuff, maybe but doubtful. Most of the stuff that i've tried is old fake and outdated. I used code blue last year and if i was to use anything it would be that in the gel form. I got a 8pt. a fewyears ago using the all game attractant from Fitzgerald, that might have worked i suspect. How do you know for sure. Am i throwing money away?

I carry my pack with some essentials, i don't think it is heavy to pack around.

Anybody using code blue or Fitzgerald brand products? what's your thoughts?

Yes, Im cutting back on gadgets...I take that back. Now let me get back to my Bass Pro Archery catalog.