I vote for fire also.... You need to have one of those magnesium flint starter things. You never know if you get stranded somewhere and end up having to spend the night in the woods!

Butch A.

Quote:"My backpack. That way I can bring everything! "

Very creative Fillae.

#1 A knife -- Ever have to gut a deer with a broadhead?? It's an ugly scene.

#2 I bought a gear retrieving ropeabout 10 years ago, it looks like a chalk-box. I think it's called "strapper retriever." Anyway, it's a plastic housing that'sgot 25 feet of nylon rope inside and never gets tangled. You just reel in the cord. That's my personal favorite that isn't "a necessity." It saves so much time and aggrevation.

#3Walkman - The ability to listen to ESPN Sports Talk radio allows me to remain on stand between 10-3 without getting bored sick. That stupid walkman's got me a few deer now. Without it, I'd be out scouting around or eating lunch at the car. Now, I sit dark to dark and it goes pretty smooth. If you use one earbud, and keep the volume low, you can hear bothMark Madden and the sounds of nature.

TP

I'd have to go with quicksilver and take a walkman.

Space Blanket...

Some have said Toilet paper would be thier choice. But vegetation and water do as well as toilet paper, albeit with more hassle. Some have said Fire., but if you have a gun and ammo you can make fire easily (I will explain at the end of my post). .308hunter would take his GPS, but what happens when you run out of batteries? (maybe a compass woud be better? But only, I guess if you had a map or some idea of the terrain.
I also thought about a stone to sharpen the knife. Or a tarp. Also I was considering fishhooks and twine.
But, when it comes down to it, cordage is the toughest thing to do without when staying out of doors for a long time. And it is hard to make from natural materials on site.
SO I WOULD HAVE TO SAY ROPE OR CORD! Something small and thin but still with just enough tensile strength to hold me (175 lbs) in case i need to trust my weight to it.
As for the fire from a gun, I have done this several times. This is from Horace Kephardt's "Camping and Woodcraft" first published in 1903.
You take a cartridge (shotgun shells are easiest but you do this with centerfire), and "worry the bullet out with your knife by prying out of it's seat. It is toughbut doable. Pour most of the powder on your tinder, leaving a few grains in the cartridge. Stuff some cotton from your shirt in the cartridge and reload itinto your chamber. Fire into the air. The cotton patch will only go a little way. When you pick it up, it will be smoldering or even burning.. With this you can get a carefully laid fire going.
okcmco
PS. I have to say that a lb. of Columbian roast coffee came in a close second.!!

We have a guy deer hunting with us who always does a ground blind. He brings all these paperback books out to read (to fight the boredom he says). He's never gotten a deer. I put him in GREAT areas that I consider "old faithfuls". He still doesn't get deer! Places a blind man with no legs ao arms could get a deer - he gets nothing. If deer hunting just makes you bored - why do it?

There's no way in the world you could be holding a paperback and be ready to shoulder your gun at the same time. So I think we all know what's going on. Hands on paperback and gun on your lap, ground or leaning on tree. He happens to glance up and HEY! There's a deer. When he's trying to put his book marker and pick up his gun, the deer sees him (I once heard deer have very keen eyesight, anyone else ever hear that?) and makes for the next county.

Other guys have shot alot of deer on the farm that come from his direction. We mostly feel that he doesn't even see them because he never says anything like he did see them.

Last year he was awarded a new camp name! I went out to pick him up on an ATV and he was packing all his things into his little folding camp seat with a zippered pouch under it. He had like 3 paperbacks and one of them was like a romance novel (???) with a sexy/racy picture on the front. It looked like porn. So his new nickname was born........."F*@#book".

He hates it and all the guys love it! "Hey F*@#book, it's your turn to cook tonight."
"F*@#book, turn over and stop that snoring." "I don't know, ask F*@#book."

But it's all just fun-he's a really good guy.

I don't think reading a book or listening to the walkman is necessarily an outlet for boredom. Instead, I use a good book or a radio show to keep me from doing something stupid (like leaving the stand to take a walk, scout around, eat lunch, etc.). When you sit dark-to-dark, you get kinda anxious for some action around noon. A good book or a college football game keeps you content in your stand just in case that wily old buck decides to get up andstretch his legs at 12:30.

Don't hold it against a guy for reading. Hunting is what you make of it. That guy obviously places more value on just the solitude and relaxation of the wilderness. He evidently gets so engrossed in his reading that he doesn't pay enough attention to the passing deer, but that's his own prerogative.

I'd recommend buying and reading "Huckleberry Finn" for the opener. I read it last bow season for a couple hours a day, and it's a fantastic novel, and really puts you in a great mood to be in the outdoors. You'll be waiting to see the ghost of Tom Sawyer when you're finished.

I got "Angels and Demons" for this season. I hope it lives up to the hype.

Yep I think NT was the only other one to catch it, BINOCS!!! Show's how many hunters think of binocs as "extras" instead of THE most used tool in hunting. I am CONSTANTLY using my binocs. I rarely go without seeing deer, even if it is just a flicker of an ear at 200yds through the woods. I saw it because I was paying attention and was using my binocs.

Interesting topic,
RA

ps
I also agree about the walkman, my cellphone is a radio as well and when I simply plug in a common earbud it's "FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE"... Just what the doctor ordered during the rut when you need to "be there" daylight too dark!!!