First Season hunting - need help with gear

First off, I hunt solo. Having somebody on my elbow would just cramp my style.

I honestly do not know how to use a compass. I own 2, and always take one with me, but I'm not really sure why I do. I've never actually pulled it out of my pack.

I navigate by instinct, following the lay of the land. I always travel the deer trails, cuz they know the easiest routes in any terrain.

I've never been lost, always end up right where I expected to.

And I do a lot of traveling in the bush.

I do not recommend this, please don't consider this as advice!

It just is how I have operated, hunting Alberta Swan Hills foothills since 1980.

As far as gear, I make everything for myself possible, and anything I have to buy I look for the absolute cheapest stuff possible.

Eons ago, I bought a pattern for sweat pants and a hoodie, with zippered front. Then bought el-cheapo fleece military camo fabric. The wife sewed up that, and I've had that same green-brown-black camo fleece for 30 years.

For winter, I bought 4XL ladies (yes) white sweat pants and hoodie. I took spray paint (yes) and created a camo pattern on the white, which has almost faded to nothing after wearing that stuff for pretty close to 30 years.

About 10-12 years back Walmart had all their camo on sale after hunting season, like 75% off and I scored a pretty decent winter camo jacket and pants.

One of the best pieces of 'gear' I have is a simple one-legged hiking stool that I made with scrap plywood, a 16" piece of 2"x4" and a foam seat cushion glued on it.

Another killer piece of gear I made is a white polar fleece blanket, that I cut out a neck-hole, which the wife sewed to reinforce it, which created a poncho. Amazingly effective for extra warmth plus camo, when taking a stand in the bush, or when I am up in my Summit Goliath climbing stand.

Somebody earlier in this thread mentioned the Repeat Boutique. Great idea. Amazing the stuff you can get there for low cost.
 
A couple pics of my uber-cheap ladies 4XL white camo, cost me hardly anything.

And my hiking stool, pretty much the greatest hunting gadget I have next to my rifle and toilet paper.





 
dand883 said:
Are you using the kind with the foamy plug that goes into your ear or the ones with with the rubbery flanges? Mine have the flanges and i've never noticed them taking 30 seconds to seal in to your ear, just push them in and you're good to go right away
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact I am using the version with the foam canal tips that you need to roll and allow to expand in order to form a seal. Because they are so affordable I think I may pickup a pair of the standard plugs with the rubber flanges you describe to see if they are better. That would be a good idea regardless as I could keep one pair with my range bag for recreational shooting and another in my hunting kit, that way I won't forget my ear pro again LOL
 
Demonical said:
First off, I hunt solo. Having somebody on my elbow would just cramp my style.

I honestly do not know how to use a compass. I own 2, and always take one with me, but I'm not really sure why I do. I've never actually pulled it out of my pack.

I navigate by instinct, following the lay of the land. I always travel the deer trails, cuz they know the easiest routes in any terrain.

I've never been lost, always end up right where I expected to.

And I do a lot of traveling in the bush.

I do not recommend this, please don't consider this as advice!

It just is how I have operated, hunting Alberta Swan Hills foothills since 1980.

As far as gear, I make everything for myself possible, and anything I have to buy I look for the absolute cheapest stuff possible.

Eons ago, I bought a pattern for sweat pants and a hoodie, with zippered front. Then bought el-cheapo fleece military camo fabric. The wife sewed up that, and I've had that same green-brown-black camo fleece for 30 years.

For winter, I bought 4XL ladies (yes) white sweat pants and hoodie. I took spray paint (yes) and created a camo pattern on the white, which has almost faded to nothing after wearing that stuff for pretty close to 30 years.

About 10-12 years back Walmart had all their camo on sale after hunting season, like 75% off and I scored a pretty decent winter camo jacket and pants.

One of the best pieces of 'gear' I have is a simple one-legged hiking stool that I made with scrap plywood, a 16" piece of 2"x4" and a foam seat cushion glued on it.

Another killer piece of gear I made is a white polar fleece blanket, that I cut out a neck-hole, which the wife sewed to reinforce it, which created a poncho. Amazingly effective for extra warmth plus camo, when taking a stand in the bush, or when I am up in my Summit Goliath climbing stand.

Somebody earlier in this thread mentioned the Repeat Boutique. Great idea. Amazing the stuff you can get there for low cost.
Click to expand...

Demonical said:
A couple pics of my uber-cheap ladies 4XL white camo, cost me hardly anything.

And my hiking stool, pretty much the greatest hunting gadget I have next to my rifle and toilet paper.





Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experiences, there is something to be said for navigating instinctually and looking at what the animals in your area are telling you, especially in an area you know and have been travelling in for a long time. I would still highly recommend you take the time to learn basic land navigation, not that I think I have the experience to tell you how to hunt but it's a good life skill to have and could save your life in an emergency or survival situation. I'm not very skilled with a map myself but I taught myself how to use a map and compass (and read a grid coordinate) in the event my GPS fails or I'm lost without one.

The fact that you've made a lot of your own gear is quite commendable, unless it was my only option I don't have the patience to sew much more than a small rip/tear! I like that stool you made for yourself and it seems like a great piece of kit, I may have to consider making one for myself if my situation requires it. Right now most of the hunting I foresee doing is on private agricultural land in the open prairie so while the opportunity for "still" hunting is there it is definitely more limited and I imagine I'll probably doing mostly "road" and "spot and stalk" hunting. Once I become more experienced I think I might try to get into the backcountry in other areas of the province to get a different experience.

P.S. Those are some nice bucks!
 
Thanks Izzy.

As to the stool, I have a simple nylon strap with clip on it, so I can easily snap it on/off.

What I didn't mention is that it is a fantastic shooting rest. Being a righthand shot, the stool is always hanging on my left side. I have the length of the strap just so that if I see an animal, my left elbow goes onto that foam pad, and the rifle swings up and I have a dead steady shooting rest. It's almost like how the marines wrap the rifle sling tight.
And when I am sitting on the stool, same thing. My knees are flexed just the right height, that if an animal walks out, I have an instant rock-steady rest on my knee, with my left elbow.

If you build one, you must staple thin plastic on the foot. I cut plastic from a milk jug and staple it with a heavy duty stapler, so that the plastic is smooth and tight on the foot.

What's the plastic for? It's to prevent snow from freezing to it, so that it doesn't make any 'scrunching' sounds, if you move, and it allows me to pivot 180 any direction, quickly and quietly.

You can see the edge of the plastic in the pic if curious.

That stool is about 30 years old, and it's on about the third leg, I've worn out several trust me!



Back to the OP gear question. Best extra commercial gear you can carry is headlamp(s) and an extra set(s) of AA batteries.
 
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