EOY - What Equipment Worked, What Didn't?

Welp, it's that time of year, and I'm not talking about turkey and pies. It's the time of year I try to take stock of what worked and what didn't during the hunting season. It was a big year for the wife and I, moved back to Idahome, pregnancy (3 weeks out from our due date), and our first backpacking and hunting seasons back home in 6 years! There's plenty beyond this list, but I'm talking about gear, practices, ideas, etc...

First what worked:
1. New Backpack - I've been using the same Gregory backpack for the last 18 years. It's seen countless miles of backpacking, a year of living/working in Haiti, and it's at the point where it almost as much repairs and patches as it is original. I ended up splurging and getting a Kifaru Reckoning. Of course the pricetag was difficult to swallow, but I received a generous profit sharing buy-out from my former employer so I splurged. Glad I did. Hands down, bar none, the best pack I've ever owned (tops of a list of 4 dating back to 1988.) I like how it can be compacted down for a day trip, handle a 5 day backpacking trip with ease, and has enough room plus a meat shelf to really pack a load.
2. Big Agnes AXL sleeping pad - The Mrs. got me this as an early birthday present. Spent 12 nights in a row on it during rifle elk season, and have never slept better on the ground.
3. Merino Wool long underwear/socks - I wasn't happy with the funk coming off my old synthetic long underwear, so last spring I got some less expensive knock-off brand merino long underwear off Amazon, and 2 pair of Merino wool socks. So very happy I made the switch, and so is anybody in a mile radius of me. I swapped socks every other day during the two week elk season, and swapped long underwear after a week. I gave it all a test sniff when I got home and was throwing them in the wash, and couldn't smell a thing. Juxtapose that to the stick that would knock a buzzard off a gut wagon that would come from those synthetics after 2 days, and I'm astounded.

What didn't work:
1. My water system - I've been running with the same MSR pump/filter (I forget which one) for about 10 years. Screws to the top of a nalgene and I'm off and running. It's worked great for me, and me + wife, but this year we were trying to keep 4 guys in potable drinking water and the pump got real old, real quick. I'm sure I'll keep the pump/filter as a back-up (in the truck) but I'm thinking with the expanding family I need to look at something involving a 10L bag and gravity feed it through a filter. Mixed reviews for both the Katadyne and LifeStraw systems on Amazon, anybody got any good suggestions? Maybe just get the 10L bags, plus a Sawyer Squeeze with a quick connect?

2. Backpacking stove - I got my current stove about the same time I did my filter, it's the older pump style with the separate liquid fuel tank. It's an MSR as well. One of my buddies had a JetBoil in camp this year, and I was astounded by how much quicker he was into his coffee than I was. Plus, it's a hell of a lot lighter... negative point is he was basically unable to cook anything in it other than boil water, heat soup etc. I want the lighter weight, and quick boil features, but still like to actually cook while backpacking, not just make water for a Mtn. House.

3. Backpacking Tent - I had a thread on here a while back looking for advice on a backpacking shelter for a family +2 dogs... Hilleberg Kaitum 4 or an 8 Person Teepee type shelter. I haven't pulled the trigger on either one, but the squirrel fund money is just sitting there mocking me. It's about time I got off the fence and got to it. I'm 80% leaning towards the Hilleberg, but the weight and the price tag keep pulling me back. Not that and 8 man teepee plus a stove is any lighter, or less expensive, but either way it's a chunk of change.

4. My Preseason Fitness - Ya, I didn't do enough. I was sucking wind. It wasn't as bad as my buddies that came up from TX (800' above sea level) but still, I wasn't happy with where I was at. Time to get back on the horse and spend more time doing evening hikes, and hitting the gym early morning.

So that's my big hitters for this year... How about ya'll? What worked and what didn't?

Worked:

1. Mystery Ranch Pintler-Picked it up this spring off Camofire to replace my other pack. It carried elk, moose, mt. goat, and bighorn this fall without complaint!

2. Zamberlan Lynx boots-These things fit great at the store and only got better. I didn't get so much as a hot spot all fall, much less a blister.

the hunting seasons are far from over, but so far, I've really liked
Meindl Denali and Perfekt boots
Marsupial bino harness (pretty good, not great)
Winchester .38-72, adequate, not perfect
Home made rifle harness
Rapala filet knives

Not impressed with
trekking poles. The poles themselves were fine. I just didn't find them all that useful or helpful to my gimpy left knee and ankle.
Slik 500 tripod. It is nice and light but the head sucks

Worked:

1. Outdoorsmans Optics Pack. This was my first full season with it. I used it to haul out 4 different animals and on two backcountry trips. It's just the right size for up to 7 days or so.

2. Sea to Summit pillow. Love that thing.

3. Thermorest glassing pad. I'll never not have it in my pack. It's super light, but waterproof, comfortable, and insulates me from the coldness of the ground.

4. Vorex tripod...the little one. I usually glass while sitting. This tripod is small, compacts down to just over a foot, and is light. It worked for my style of hunting perfectly.

What didn't work:

1. My M70 300 Win Mag. I love that rifle, but it's a beast. It's around 12 pounds when hunt ready. I picked up a Tikka Superlite a few weeks ago. I'll shave more than 4 pounds next season.

2. Sawyer Squeeze. While it worked well, it took too long to filter through. That being said, we used it on an elk hunt where we'd stock up on a few days worth of water while hiking in. We were getting 15 Liters of water at a time, and the little squeeze took longer than expected.

3. Meal planning. I had sufficient calories per ounce and calories per day, but it was the same every day! That was a mistake. I need more variety per day.

Worked Great:

Australian Outback Ammo .308 165 grain gamekings - These are my new go to for big game. Completely dropped my mule deer at 327 yards. I had a similar situation last trip with 150 grain Hornady SSTs (my rifle didn't like the 165 grain), and while it took the deer down it was nowhere comparable to the Outback Ammo.

Mystery Ranch Marshall - We were packed in about 6 miles for a 7 day trip, and the Marshall worked great. No problems cinching it down for a day pack either. At first I didn't like all the straps, but when it came time to pack out my deer they worked great! I have a 23" torso, and it fit better than the Stone Glacier pack I tried. (I'm sure that's a nice pack too, but just didn't fit well.)

Trailbuddy Trekking Poles - For cheap $35 trekking poles they worked like a charm. I felt they made a big difference.

SnugPak Jungle Blanket - I used this during my scouting trip in August instead of my sleeping bag, and it was great.

Meindl Denali Boots - Big upgrade over my Danner High Grounds.

Preseason Fitness - I felt in great shape. I did a lot of road biking, and walking the dog with 50lbs pack and ankle weights. Only bad thing was I used a sack of corn in my pack and it got weevils.

Worked OK But....

Pnuma Selkirk Jacket - Very warm and comfortable jacket, and it comes in tall sizes which is great for me. The only problem was that it is very heavy, and takes up a lot of room in the pack. It easily took up a quarter of the room in my Marshall. I'll keep it for day hunts, but I'm going to look into a down jacket and rain shell for backpacking.

What worked:

Clothing system. During archery and muzzle-loader I was wearing the new Sitka Apex pant and the raved about core lightweight hoody. That combo was great. I stayed cool and dry the entire time. During the rifle seasons the tried but true combo of the timberline pant and jetstream jacket was once again fantastic.

New tires. I was due for new tires right before rifle season and dropped a ton of coin on the new Cooper Discover AT3 XLT's for my dodge 2500. Man they were great. I only got stuck once on a steep slope and skidded on some ice down to a snow patch. That's what chains are for. I am very pleased with them.

Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls system. The bull I took during muzzle-loader came right in with a diagram call with a bugle tube.

Kifaru Internal Frame w/ Timberline 2 bag. No issues packing out 4 elk this season. I dragged all 3 deer I was apart of to the truck, so it wasn't need for that.

Davis Wall Tent. Bought a used 16 by 14 wall tent this summer. 1st season and 3rd season were very cold and had lots of snow. I was able to dry my gear out every night and have a nice warm place to hang out and tell stories about the day.

Finding animals. I was apart of 4 elk kills and 3 mule deer kills. A season to remember!


What didn't:

Boots. I have 4 pair of boots that I switch between. All but one of them got wet during rifle season. I really need to just buy once and cry once on a quality pair of boots.

Rangefinder. I cannot get this thing to get a distance past 300 yards unless the light conditions are perfect. This season that happened very little. I have a Vortex and will start looking for a Sig. I hear great things.

Getting into a comfortable distance with my bow to a pronghorn. I seem to always have a shot opportunity at 70 yards. I am not comfortable shooting that far with my bow. Nevertheless it was a fun 3 weekends.

Bring ursus major bag instead of trying to hang bear bag due to lack of trees.

Use my mini sawyer more instead of my 4 hour water tabs so I can carry less weight in water.

Carry less food.

Have tripod for binos.

To be honest, training thoroughly before the trip reduces the severity of your surprises considerably.

Miendl Perfect Extremes were outstanding. Great comfort, kept me dry and warm, and kept my feet in good shape.

Black Diamond trekking poles were a huge help as well. I could tell the difference in my exertion level and they saved me from a nasty fall.

Finally, the Kifaru gunbearer. Soooo, much better than hiking with the sling.

New Hornhunter Mainbeam worked well for packing out 2 antelope. Trekking poles definitely took some fatigue out of the hike. I second the Kifaru gunbearer. Can’t imagine ever slinging a rifle again.

1. My EXO pack. This was one my biggest investments for my start to western hunting. Got to pack out my first elk with it and it worked great.

2. ON-X. That was the best $30 I spent for the entire trip

3. Sawyer mini filter. Picked one up at Walmart and cheap bag from campfire and filtered water into my platypus bladder. Rigged them all up to work together and it was quick and fairly cheap.

4. Sitka clothing. Not sure which line I bought, but I picked it all up used on another forum. It was for hunting warm weather. I ran that stuff through some pretty nasty thick brushy country for 12 days and it held up great.

I’ve found that people are as different as opinions and what necessarily is perfect for one persons style of hunting/pleasure is not anyway suited for the next.

ol_spark said:

I’ve found that people are as different as opinions and what necessarily is perfect for one persons style of hunting/pleasure is not anyway suited for the next.

Click to expand...

+1 and in my opinion the main reason is that your exact gear is less important than your tactics surrounding it. People of lore survived all their lives in the wilderness as hunter gatherers without any of our modern stuff.

Worked:

First year with OnX. Loved it.

Boots. 6th year of hard use with my favorite Lowa Tibet Pro GTXs. The sole started delaminating.....I recently discovered Lowa will rebuild the entire bottom end of the boot for $95. Sent them back to Germany today. I have high hopes.

First year using a 7stw loaded with Eld-x's. They worked fine. Can't say they work better than anything else I've used.

Thor muzzleloader bullets work great! I've always been part of the heavy conical crowd with muzzleloaders. The lack of recoil with the 250 grain Thors is very noticeable.

Worked- Hornady InterLock 140Gr 270 Win factory ammo. Shot 3 deer and an antelope between 50 yards and 255 yards and bullets performed well. Tikka T3 also worked with old series Nikon Buckmaster 3X9 scope. Harris adjustable leg, swivel bipod allowed me to shoot from sitting position in tall grass.

Didn't work- My brain, one morning I hiked a mile before discovering I had left the bolt to my rifle in my gun case....

T Bone said:

Worked:

Boots. 6th year of hard use with my favorite Lowa Tibet Pro GTXs. The sole started delaminating.....I recently discovered Lowa will rebuild the entire bottom end of the boot for $95. Sent them back to Germany today. I have high hopes.
.

Click to expand...

Interesting! I've got a 4 year old set with a ton of miles on them that the soles are getting a little bald. Leather is still pretty good and $95 bucks is way less than a new pair.

The big breakthrough for me this year was getting a marsupial rangefinder pouch for my GPS. Sometimes I look at it regularly and it's nice to be able to pull it out easily with no latches or hooks to deal with. Now I need to get one more for my actual rangefinder.

Maven B2 optics worked great, no eye fatigue, spotted more game than ever.

Mixed reviews - Upgrading from the Dakota GPS to the Colorado. Much easier to use but still goes through the batteries faster than I would like.

Didn't work.

Me- After shooting 120 grain loads in my muzzleloader in Sept I developed a flinch that I am still dealing with. Never again will I shoot something like that as it kicked the piss out of me and left bruises as proof.

Kifaru gunbearer was just ok for me. Nice to not deal with the sling, but after many days afield, still couldn't get used to how it sits and having it in my sight. Probably right back to the sling next year. Just a personal preference, I guess.

What did work? OnX was great. First year using the app vs GPS and loved it.

TheTone said:

Interesting! I've got a 4 year old set with a ton of miles on them that the soles are getting a little bald. Leather is still pretty good and $95 bucks is way less than a new pair.

Click to expand...

for warm fuzzies on the Lowa rebuild, watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1_ZzWwGRek

A few new things made a huge difference this year.

Worked:
* Trekking Poles made packing two elk out of cliffy, godforsaken steepness possible.
* Mystery Ranch Metcalf was remarkably comfortable with loads heavier than anything I've carried before.
* OnX App on my phone. Damn that thing's handy.
* Sharp-ass knives. I suck at sharpening so I took my knives to a pro to do it this year. Huge difference. Was able to break down an entire elk with ease with a single, fixed-blade.

Minor Bummer:
* My Meindl Perfekt Hunters are starting to leak after three seasons.
* I didn't bring enough Peanut M&Ms into the field one day.

Great thread.

I went on a 4-day javelina hunt in Texas’ Big Bend in September. The weather was mostly hot and dry until the final two days, when a front came through with wind and rain.

What worked:
1. Garmin Oregon handheld GPS. Without it, I’d still be wandering the desert.
2. Jeep Patriot 4x4. Some “roads” in Big Bend are accessible only via 4-wheel drive. The little Patriot handled everything valiantly.
3. Red Wing Irish Setter snake boots. They’re well worn in, and I suffered no blisters or chafing. A bonus was no snake bites or cactus issues.
4. Pull-top cans of ravioli and mac & cheese. Surprisingly, with the heat and fatigue I had little appetite, and these high-calorie goodies were the only things that sounded good.
5. M1 carbine. It’s less than 6 pounds fully loaded, great for carrying when you’re walking 10+ miles per day. It might be the perfect javelina gun.

What didn’t work:
1. My old tent. It would have been fine if it hadn’t rained, but it did. They tent blew over and got swamped. Fortunately I had secured the important gear in plastic bags beforehand.
2. Almost forgot: I lugged a spotting scope around on Day 1 as I climbed up mountainsides to glass, but everything was so steep the scope was too cumbersome to set up, so I ditched it at camp and just used binoculars the rest of the trip.