alleyyooper

The gutting knife goes on the belt around the waist that holds the holster for the pistol. The drag rope is duck taped to the thermos and can be made longer or shorter with the gutting knife. A handle for the drag rope can be cut with the little portable pruning saw that is in one of the cargo pockets with the pruning shears and some jute cord used if I want to make a blind out of some cedar limbs.
Enough TP for one emergency potty call, a book of matches a tiny bit of candle, half a dozen wet ones and a half dozen paper towels (can also be used as TP) go in a large size freezer bag Which later can hold a heart and liver. That bag resides in the left leg cargo pocket.
ID, and deer tag are in a buttoned up shirt pocket.
The thermos has the drag rope duck taped to it and is used as a sling to carry over the shoulder.
A buck 5" folding knife fits in a front pocket with the compass.

I carry a little bottle with a pain reliever Motrin and a dozen anti acids along with a couple band aids in one of the coat pockets. Cell phone and Radio fit in another coat pocket.

And even that load is a bunch of crap to carry in the woods hunting.

Al

Valentine

I use a school day pack, designed for books, in green. Worked with the deer. They must have been all scholarly.
And it was very inexpensive. It wasn't made for deer.
Still making them, inexpensive and all.

Been using it for more than 15 years. No need to get a fancy day pack. Use one not made exactly for deer.

rockport

I'd say that is a couple great packs to go put your hands on if possible and see what you think.

Barefoot Friar

I'm a backpacker before a hunter, so I've learned to pack light. I've used a school book bag, a dayhiking pack, and a full army ruck. None of them were exactly what I wanted, although the school book bag came closest. I now use a MOLLE butt pack if I'm going to be within a couple miles of the truck. It carries all the various things I want to be certain I have. I carry my big hunting knife on the belt next to the pack, and on the other side is my canteen.

If I need to carry more than that, I'll go back to the school bag. I can stuff a ponch liner, a backpacker's tarp, and my camping stove inside it in case I have to spend the night in the woods.

rockport

It sure varies a lot from one user to the next.

I know it seems logical on the surface that the further and longer your going the more you want to take but I find that to be the opposite quite often. For example if I only have to carry the thing a couple hundred yards hell I might take more stuff. The truck is right there but I can't be getting out of my stand to run to the truck.

Most importantly for my area would be preparing for changing weather.

Extra layers,rain gear,rattling antlers,grunt call, binos,knife,tags,ammo,gloves,stocking hat,range finder I mean the list goes on and why not have it if Ive only got to carry the pack a couple hundred yards?

For the record I don't carry all that stuff but there has been a lot of times I wished I had.

Barefoot Friar

Well, my thinking is more like this: I don't need to take an emergency shelter if I'm close to the truck. The further away from it I am, the more likely I am to get caught out. I also carry a slightly different first aid kit if I'm going to be further away. The odds are very slim I will ever need anything like that, but I got into trouble once when I was backpacking and decided that I would be prepared the next time.

rockport

Right, I get that but my point is if you don't have to go far over preparing doesn't really have a downside.