the minimalist approach
06-08-2021, 10:23 PM
#21
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Lawton, OK
Posts: 121
My comments below in blue to maintain context.
Big uncle is correct IMHO on gutting a buck on the ground. It's much easier than hanging it up on a deer gambrel in the field or on some hoist attached to your truck. You still have the issue of getting your buck into your truck but there are several methods for doing that. Currently, I have a half sheet of 3/4 plywood in the back of my truck that helps me a lot. That works for me and my specific type of hunting and vehicle access and may not work at all for the next guy. The trick is to think your way all the way through your hunt at the location you're hunting. How close can you get your truck to your downed buck? Do you have a truck? Or can you borrow one? If you can get a truck near your downed buck, then you can leave most of that gear in your truck. And go hunt with your rifle, ammo, license, tags, binos, hunter orange if required and some method for carrying water (I prefer hydration bladders but most hunter do just fine with a water bottle).
Jake (Bocajnala) has given you excellent advice to get out there and hunt. Each time you hunt, you will find your gear list changes a bit. And that's okay. It means you're learning and figuring out what you really need and what can be left behind in your truck or not purchased in the first place. It's a process but a fun one.
Big uncle is correct IMHO on gutting a buck on the ground. It's much easier than hanging it up on a deer gambrel in the field or on some hoist attached to your truck. You still have the issue of getting your buck into your truck but there are several methods for doing that. Currently, I have a half sheet of 3/4 plywood in the back of my truck that helps me a lot. That works for me and my specific type of hunting and vehicle access and may not work at all for the next guy. The trick is to think your way all the way through your hunt at the location you're hunting. How close can you get your truck to your downed buck? Do you have a truck? Or can you borrow one? If you can get a truck near your downed buck, then you can leave most of that gear in your truck. And go hunt with your rifle, ammo, license, tags, binos, hunter orange if required and some method for carrying water (I prefer hydration bladders but most hunter do just fine with a water bottle).
Jake (Bocajnala) has given you excellent advice to get out there and hunt. Each time you hunt, you will find your gear list changes a bit. And that's okay. It means you're learning and figuring out what you really need and what can be left behind in your truck or not purchased in the first place. It's a process but a fun one.
06-09-2021, 06:42 AM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,743
see two links below as j there are many sites that provide hunting locations in OK!
and best of luck on the new forum site
just keep in mind NO one is going to tell you WHERE to hunt as in specific places, as if they did that on an open forum, that GOOD spot will soon NOT be so good ! this is why no one will give away THERE spots or suggest near where they hunt, as things on the world wide web, can get seen by thousands and then some may show up at given locations and take a nice place into a crowded place!
https://huntinglocator.com/public-hu...state/Oklahoma
or
https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/wma
06-09-2021, 12:27 PM
#25
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Lawton, OK
Posts: 121
finding a place to hunt isn't hard, there are thousands and thousands of acres to hunt in OK that are open to the public
see two links below as j there are many sites that provide hunting locations in OK!
and best of luck on the new forum site
just keep in mind NO one is going to tell you WHERE to hunt as in specific places, as if they did that on an open forum, that GOOD spot will soon NOT be so good ! this is why no one will give away THERE spots or suggest near where they hunt, as things on the world wide web, can get seen by thousands and then some may show up at given locations and take a nice place into a crowded place!
https://huntinglocator.com/public-hu...state/Oklahoma
or
https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/wma
see two links below as j there are many sites that provide hunting locations in OK!
and best of luck on the new forum site
just keep in mind NO one is going to tell you WHERE to hunt as in specific places, as if they did that on an open forum, that GOOD spot will soon NOT be so good ! this is why no one will give away THERE spots or suggest near where they hunt, as things on the world wide web, can get seen by thousands and then some may show up at given locations and take a nice place into a crowded place!
https://huntinglocator.com/public-hu...state/Oklahoma
or
https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/hunting/wma
Yes, I expect hunters and fishermen with favorite spots, honey holes, to keep those places a secret. Who wants more competition? Hunting these day is tough enough as it is with progressive tougher regulations and less land available.
06-09-2021, 04:11 PM
#26
Super Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Northern California
Posts: 18,381
You might be surprised at how much land there is to hunt. Take your home and start researching what lands are available to hunt within an hour or so of driving. Within that basic range, find all WMA's, BLM property, any federal forests, private forests (corporations will often allow hunting as long as it doesn't interfere with their business use of the land. Then call your local Game Warden(s) and ask for recommendations. They patrol all of those areas and know which ones have animals or not and which ones have lots of hunters or not. Don't worry so much about how crowded a place is. If you can find a nice high spot, all of those people may push animals towards you.
Check with your county AG department and see which farmers & ranchers are having problems with ground squirrels. Start checking with those landowners about hunting ground squirrels (they're not the kind of squirrel you eat but you'll be feeding many predators). After that, ask about predator hunting. Cattle and sheep ranchers don't like having coyotes around, especially during calving season. It's okay if every rancher only allows you to hunt squirrels and predators. But after a while, you may get permission for a few of them for hunting deer, turkey or other critters you're interested in. Just remember, those ranchers and farmers are on their property a lot because it's their day job and they often know what critters are where on their property. They can be a gold mine of information about their property and neighboring properties, even if they're next to some WMA, etc.
If you put just this amount of effort in (and there's other things you could do), you're going to get outside a lot, find places to hunt and find game to hunt. If you go at this hard for a year, it will be fun to see your growth as a hunter and outdoorsman.
Check with your county AG department and see which farmers & ranchers are having problems with ground squirrels. Start checking with those landowners about hunting ground squirrels (they're not the kind of squirrel you eat but you'll be feeding many predators). After that, ask about predator hunting. Cattle and sheep ranchers don't like having coyotes around, especially during calving season. It's okay if every rancher only allows you to hunt squirrels and predators. But after a while, you may get permission for a few of them for hunting deer, turkey or other critters you're interested in. Just remember, those ranchers and farmers are on their property a lot because it's their day job and they often know what critters are where on their property. They can be a gold mine of information about their property and neighboring properties, even if they're next to some WMA, etc.
If you put just this amount of effort in (and there's other things you could do), you're going to get outside a lot, find places to hunt and find game to hunt. If you go at this hard for a year, it will be fun to see your growth as a hunter and outdoorsman.
06-09-2021, 07:51 PM
#28
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
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.
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.
06-10-2021, 01:59 PM
#29
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2021
Location: Lawton, OK
Posts: 121
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.
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.
Last edited by AlongCameJones; 06-10-2021 at 02:11 PM.
06-10-2021, 07:50 PM
#30
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
Maybe “one” of us here thinks that way. Speaking as the undisputed harshest mouth in the room for many years around here, I’ll tell you it’s poor form to walk around like your chain hangs low, and so casually casting rocks at other users. Even by my standards.
I - for “one” - have never considered dove hunting to be lazy by any stretch, and largely, it’s as cheap as you make it.
But then again, WTF would I know. I mean, heck, I’ve actually hunted dove in the real world, for decades, so I’m naturally going to fall short on the subject to someone who read a book and some Google articles on the topic.
I - for “one” - have never considered dove hunting to be lazy by any stretch, and largely, it’s as cheap as you make it.
But then again, WTF would I know. I mean, heck, I’ve actually hunted dove in the real world, for decades, so I’m naturally going to fall short on the subject to someone who read a book and some Google articles on the topic.