(Yes, this is an affiliate blog, buying from our affiliate links is certainly not required but does help us continue to provide you with great free content)
Whether you’re looking to go west for the first time and need an elk hunting gear list for rifle or archery; or maybe you’re looking to go on your first pronghorn hunt. Regardless, there’s a universal set of items that every hunter needs to have in their pack. In a day where information is more available than ever, it seems the only “gear lists” published are pushing the latest and greatest gadgets and many have glossed over the fact that a huge number of hunters are starting from the beginning. So here’s a list of items that should always be in your pack.
TP (Not part of the 6 but may be the most important piece of gear)
It may go without saying, but mother nature calls at the most inconvenient times. Take it from a guy whose had multiple gut surgeries, something to wipe the back side is always the first thing to go in my pack. Many opt for wet wipes but I find the good ol’ roll of Charmin is lighter and doesn’t freeze on those late season adventures. Regardless of your choice, skip the bow of pine needles and put something soft for that precious tuckus in the top pouch of your pack. Pro tip: put it in a ziplock bag because a soaking wet roll of poo tickets is just gross.
1) Headlamp
Don’t forget extra batteries! No matter if you’re planning on being out in the dark or not, we can’t always control what happens in the woods. I personally keep a small headlamp in my bino chest harness so that it’s with me all of the time, with or without my pack. There’s no worse feeling then being a mile or two or three from the truck and watching the battery on your phone go form white to yellow to red when it’s your only light source. Or walking around a dark grain field tripping over decoys you’ve already set because your light is back at home.
I’m generally not too particular about head lamps, keeping with the Weekend Warrior Outdoors theme, spend your hard earned cash on gas and tags, not gear. However, headlamps that do lock off can save batteries and the headache of pulling a dead light out of your pack in the dark of night. Some models of Black Diamond head lamps allow easy locking by holding the mode and power button at the same time like this model that I use here.
I also keep a few “cheapies” laying around. An extra in my pack as a spare (used it this year when I harvested a bull at the end of shooting light and neither my dad or son had a light, it was supposed to be quick last minute hunt), there’s one in the glove box of my truck, one in my duck bag, etc. It’s amazing how many times I end up grabbing the cheapie to set up decoys in the dark, water the chickens after a long day, look at a lion track before daylight, etc. The one constant is there is always one in my pack and one my chest rig, and always extra batteries in my pack for both. A two pack like this is just fine.
Just the other day I ran across some newer rechargeable lamps and I must admit, I was not impressed, at least with some of them. If you can’t replace the batteries then I’m not down. It looked like some of the rechargeable ones did also allow the use of AAA’s in addition to the rechargeable battery which would be fine; but some did not and that seems like trouble waiting to happen.
2) Lighters
This one is simple. I preach to my boys over and over and over again, fire saves lives. Buy a multi pack of bic lighters and stuff one in every pocket, pouch and pack. Cold during a mid day lunch break? Build a fire. Camp stove won’t light (because those stove lighter deals never work)? Grab a bic. Wind puffer is out of dust, a lighter can be a back up wind indicator. We often build fires when we’re field dressing game as well. It doesn’t take much, a tiny fire of twigs can warm the hands and more importantly heat the soul. If you happen to get lost one of the easiest ways for searchers to find you also to build a fire.
3) Basic First Aid Kit
The flat out truth is nobody, that I’ve found, really makes a good back country hunter first aid kit. The all-in-one kits marketed as light weight backpacker options really don’t have anything you need in an a true emergency. Sure, they have a band aid for cuts and scrapes, some inspect bite cream, but that isn’t going to do much if you have a profusely bleeding laceration. More robust trauma kits are huge and just not practical to carry. So, most hunters I know, including myself, end up building their own. Most of the items you probably already have laying around the house.
I throw in a few Pain relievers (aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, whatever you want). When I was guiding I started carrying a few Bayer Asprin also in case someone was to have heart problems (in case of heart attack signs, chew before swallowing to get it working faster). A couple cough drops and a few cold/flu type gel caps as well as a couple Benadryl (allergic reaction like a bee sting) are all in a small plastic bag in my little first aid pouch. Just a few of each type, not the whole bottles. Also be aware of any special medications you may individually need (I personally have Chron’s and carry a Dr prescribed prednisone pack in case of a really bad flare up that could allow me to at least get out). A small tube of Neosporin, sunscreen and stick of chap stick too.
My kit also has a few band aids, a roll of Leukotape, and some electrical tape that can solve an incredible amount of backcountry issues, medical and otherwise. Leukotape is a magical mystery of the universe that can work on blisters, split tent seems, rips in clothing, wounds and a hundred other uses. I start each season off with a whole roll in my kit. For electrical tape, I just spin a few wraps around an extra flashlight or a trekking pole, etc vs. taking a roll. It can come in handy in so many ways from fixing up tent poles, shooting sticks, I’ve even used it to help hold antlers to my pack and tape a melted shoe back together.
Last but most important is the trauma stuff. Really just quick clot and a tourniquet. These are the things you carry for hundreds of miles and never use, but if/when you do it can save a life. Dump quick clot in the gash, stuff a t-shirt in/on it and wrap that sucker with one of the tapes noted above. If more padding is needed, keep piling it on, don’t take off layers! If it’s really bad, put the tourniquet between the wound and the heart. I can hear the haters now talking about infection and how crude and that’s not what my dr said, etc.
Look, you’re in the backcountry. You’re not trying to permanently cure the aliment or wound. In this case you’re just trying to get out alive. Stop the bleeding, get out and then let the professionals worry about the other stuff. If you try to carry everything you could possibly need, it’s going to be big and bulky and heavy and you’re going to leave it in the truck which will be of precisely zero help when you really need it. Carry the things you need to get out if the proverbial poop hits the fan, a few items you’ll use more often like Tylenol and roll aids, and call it good. (I’m not a Dr., this is not medical advice and I’m not giving medical advice. This is simply what I carry when I hunt.)
4) Hat/Gloves
This one is short and sweet. I don’t care if it’s August, the mountains can get cold. One of the coldest hunts I’ve ever been on was a sheep hunt in early September. Those above timberline exposed ridges are always cold. A beanie cap and simple pair of gloves are always in my pack.
5) Water
Water is a must. Hunting out west is physical work and getting dehydrated can happen fast. Even when you don’t feel like drinking water, you need to drink water. One of the top causes of altitude sickness is dehydration too.
However, water is heavy. Most of the season from August through late fall water is usually pretty available in the Rockies (scout water sources before you jam out!!).
As such, I’ve carried this squeezable water filter from Katadyn for the last few hunting seasons. It’s super simple, keeps out the bad bugs that can make you feel like you want to die, and best of all it’s light weight. It holds a liter of water an when paired with standard Nalgene bottle you have the ability to carry approx. 64 ounces of water.
I also carry flavor-less Potable Aqua purifying tablets as part of my first aid kit. They’re incredible small, light weight and just a back up if the water filter happens to get a hole in it or to use as an additional layer of protection if you’re only water source looks nasty. These are just a back up for me and I rarely use them. Don’t be fooled, the term flavor-less is relative. It’ll get you through, but you’re not exactly going to be excited to add them to your tap water. If you’re going to rely solely on the drops, the small pouches of flavored powder is probably a good idea.
6) Knife and Game Bags
It may be obvious, but you’re in the woods with the intent to harvest an animal. Don’t be caught off guard when things work out. Quite a few years ago my cousin had drawn a coveted late season mule deer tag. He coaches high school basketball and I officiate. We both had games the night before season so we didn’t hit the road until near midnight after our respective games. It was a few hour drive to his unit.
Needless to say we didn’t have a lot of energy opening day. Late in the evening we were driving out two track roads on ridges, parking and walking the few hundred yards to peek over the edge. Towards the end of the evening hunt, on one such “peek” we found a stomper of a buck chasing does. With the end of legal shooting light looming, we didn’t waste a second. Without hesitation, off the edge and down into the canyon we went. Well things worked out and when we got to the downed buck we looked at each other, both pack-less, and said “ you have a knife?” “Nope, you?”. We gutted that buck with a 1 1/2" pocketknife I had rattling around in the pocket of my jeans, in the dark, with no flashlight (see the headlamp section above). Not ideal. To top it off, we got to crawl back out of that rim rock mtn. lion filled canyon in the pitch dark too (this was in the flip phone days).
I was introduced to the outdoor edge version of a gut hook when I started guiding elk hunters in New Mexico over a decade ago and to this day is still my favorite knife. Best I can figure mine’s worked on close to 100 elk and many other mule deer, pronghorn, turkeys, geese, etc. The typical gut hook notched on the back of a drop point knife just doesn’t work on these big western critters. They gum up and you essentially have to cut the hide with the blade first in order to use the gut hook on the membrane between the hide and the internal organs. This swing blade design, in my opinion, is the best option because you can open up the cavity or run the starting dorsal and leg cuts in one go without dulling your actual knife.
I’ve also become a fan over the last few years of the replaceable blade knifes, coincidentally also by Outdoor Edge. I’ve just found that the Havalon type knife blades are too flimsy and brittle for the way I use them. The reinforced backing of the outdoor edge knife just makes it much stronger. Hot tip; when replacing the blades, jam the tip of the used blade, while still attached to the knife, into a dead tree. Then push the release button and the old blade pulls right out left stuck in the tree (obviously don’t leave the blade, I put the old blade in the new blades packaging to take home and dispose of). This allows you to have a very sharp knife all of the time while only packing a few very light weight blades. One or two blades will get you through an entire elk. My uncle often jokes they should sell these knives
with band aids because they’re so dang sharp.
I also always carry a small pocket sharpener (much lighter than another knife). This can either sharpen the blade of the fixed swing blade knife above or extend the life of the replaceable blades. A few quick swipes and you’re off and running. Here’s a good one by Work Sharp.
You’ll need something to keep your meat clean and the flies off in the earlier seasons. There is ALWAYS a set of game bags in my pack. I’m not a fan of the $2-$4 one packs sold like at Walmart. They’re wimpy and rip easily. I’ve also not choked down the cost of the newer $100-$200 reusable bags though it probably would have been wise in the long run. I still run a mid range, heavier duty mulit-pack set of bags. Make sure they are elk sized. “Deer” sized
bags just aren’t big enough for elk and mule deer quarters in my experience. They’ll work fine for Pronghorn and Whitetails, but then again so do the elk sized ones. So, I just run the elk sized ones, $20-$30 for a 4 or 5 pack (the fifth bag comes in really handy for the extra meat like backstraps and neck roasts). I usually get a few uses out of a set before I tear them up to bad. Hose them off when you get home, run them through the washing machine and run’m again.
7) I know, I said a list of 6,
but don’t forget your tag. It’s kind of the reason you’re there.
The bottom line is, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get out in the woods. But there is a bare minimum few things you’re going to need. Use the gear you already have, even if it’s not the right color or the latest and greatest. Take what you need to be safe and get after it. It’s hard to kill’m from the couch and no amount of gear will overcome hard work. Success follows the guy (or gal) that works harder than the next, not typically the guy with the designer camo or name brand entire get ‘up.
Also, learn about drawing a tag in our blog What are preference point systems and how to draw an elk tag / draw a Mule Deer Tag in the West
Ryan Johnson has spent his entire life in the Colorado Rockies. He’s hunted elk, mule deer, pronghorn and many other critters with bow and rifle from the very beginning is now sharing his experiences, success’ and failures for new and experienced hunters alike to enjoy and learn from.
Comments