Trail Camera
Binoculars
Deer Decoy
Portable Ground Blind

If you could take (or use) ONLY 1 of these items for the upcoming deer season (archery or gun), which would you choose and why?

Well if you mean during the actual hunt. I wouldn't take an trail cam with me because that would be pointless lol....Wouldn't take an portable groundblind because can use an natural means of concealment...Decoy is a good idea but i would take Binos. because if i was a good point of view, i could sneak up and set up in a good cover, but still glass up ahead so see if the deer is heading my way.

if you are sayin that you have everything else that you need for season and would like to pick up something else i would choose the trail cam. i am thinking about buying one of ebay in a day or two. second i would go with the ground blind then the binocs and last would be the decoy.

Of the things you listed above, the only thing I think is "vital" is the bino's. I'd take a good set of bino's hands down over the other stuff.

You'll also use the those bino's more than all the other stuff combined. No contest in my opinion.

Tough call. I have bought a ground blind, binos and a trail cam within the last year and have found each of the three to be very useful in certain situations.

I get the most "enjoyment" all year round out of the trail cam though the blind came in very handy during nasty weather last season and my binos go with me whenever I leave the house.

I say trail cam.

Hands down, DECOY

A trail camera will only tell you what the animal is doing at a particular moment. Over time you can piece the information together to get a good pattern but you can do that very same thing with maps, scouting, and learned ability. Trail cameras are for fun.

Binoculars are a great tool but IMO unneccessary (since I can only use 1 from your list.)

I hunt from a portable ground blind and absolutely love it! But like Red Hawk said, you can use natural surroundings, climb a tree, go commando style on your belly, etc.

My experiences with a Decoy have been amazing. Bucks, Does, and Fawns will come to a properly set up decoy without calls or any other lure. As long as they can see it and it doesn't smell offensive, they'll walk right up to it. In fact, if I could only take 1 thing (other than my bow) in the woods, it'd be a Decoy. I'd even choose the Decoy over camo hunting clothes.

BINOS

Follow-up.

For those of you that answered Binos...I am curious why you think that these are so important.

Do you spot a deer through the binos, do you then call/rattle to get them closer?

Are you using the binos to rate their racks to see if they are a shooter?

Are you using them as "in-the-hunt" scouting tools so that you might get enough information that leads you to move your stand to another location?

What power and diameter do you use?

How heavy are they?

Anyone use a combination range finder/binocular?

Thanks in advance.


I actually thought that the overwhelming response would be decoy.