Hunting Equipment

[sealhunter]

Guys. Is Expensive equipment, always the "best" equipment?
The most expensive GPS, Knife, Pack, Boots, Decoys, axe, Scope, Guns, Rings, stoves,....

Is it all necesarry, or do you believe it's for show sometimes?
Were there people hunting before Goretex and digital rangefinders?

Please see poll, multiple answers are fine andencouraged

 

[fogducker]

dont forget your truck and quad

 

[Ruger30-06]

If the cheap sh*t works fine, then use it.

 

[Murf]

It seems every year we "need" more items. Sometimes my truck looks like an optics warehouse. Scopes, binos, spotting scopes, cameras, All this not to mention 2 way radios, GPS, cell phones etc etc .

Every once in a while I like to get back to the basics. A rifle, ammo and a knife.

As for quality of equipment I believe in avoiding bottom end items but do not see a need for the highest priced items. over the years I have found that I can be become very interested in some of the shooting sports but because of time, money etc I may not follow through. I have found decent equipment will often hold a large proportion of its initial cost and this can be recaptured. Either very high end or bottom of the barrel level stuff can mean a considerable loss if one decides to drop out.

 

[crazy_davey]

Whatever works best for you, use it. I spent a very long time using whatever I could get my hands on. Now I am at a point in my life where I can buy and use what I want and what suits my hunting needs the best.

For the type of hunting I do buying better gear has proven to be a very good investment and has made my time in the outdoors much more enjoyable.

I wanted to vote for the fourth one down

 

[blargon]

Use whatever works for you, but don't make it work because you have it. If you have some gear you don't really like, trying to make do will sometimes annoy you to the point where its all you think about while using it. In my case it was a backpack. Didn't like it, and cursed it the whole time I wore it, then bought a new one.

BTW, I try to buy my gear when its on sale.

 

[sealhunter]

I buy higher end things that ae critical to "my" huntng experience.
I usually by quality boots, quality "warm" clothes, and pack.
as far as rifle? for me 1 inch or so at 100 yrds works fo me. I won't pay 2000$ to don a 3/4 at 100yrds. or even 1000$. (varmint rig is different)

I see some guys in the bush and the only thing missing is the microwave

i also have no problems with used gear, other than clothing, I'll buy quality used gear without a hesitation

 

[pharaoh2]

While I feel a beater rifle works great, and Wal-Mart boots will keep your feet dry, I still prefer a little better stuff. I used to think along the lines of buy more stuff and pay less. Now I prefer buying a little better gear, though not top of the line, and enjoying the fact that I now own quality over quantity.

A Sako rifle probably won't kill a deer faster than a .303 Enfield, but there is a certain pride in ownership that someone has when somebody asks to see it. And a good pair of boot's may cost alot of money now, but after all day of walking, weekend after weekend, year after year, you certainly don't mind splurging a little then.

But on that note, I think alot of people are using new technology to replace hunting skills of years past. I'm not saying new stuff is bad. Quite the contrary. If someone want's to use a .257 Weatherby or 7mm Ultra, fine. They certainly help with range mis-judging and can help put that first shot where it counts. But then it also gives people the chance to take too long of a shot because the rifle is flat shooting, and "There's no way to get closer"

Now if you melt the two together, you will have what the manufacturers intended...A responsible hunter who has modern equipment the finest the World has ever seen.

 

[Grizzlypeg]

I think the more skilled the hunter, the more frequently he finds himself in the right place at the right time, lowering the demands on his equipment. As for clothing though, I have to agree, good and appropriate clothes, boots, gloves, etc are essential. How expensive though is a good question. If you spend enough time in them, footware for instance, the extra money may well be worth it. Do you need a gps, two way radios, high buck knives, rangefinder, hell, even a scope? Seems to me for many years and many successful hunts they weren't in use. The trick is knowing and bringing the right stuff.

 

[Gibbs505]

Even more important is knowing where to hunt!!

 

[Gatehouse]

I use the best gear I can afford, for stuff that matters to me. I use a custom rifle, leupold scope, handloaded ammunition with premium bullets, good clothing, custom made boots, expensive pack, high end optics and a few other things that make me more comfortable or conveinient.

My buddy cringe when I tell him I spent $900 on my boots and just bougth a $900 backpack, but how much was his last trip to Mexico and his big screen TV? It depends on your priorities.

There is some hunters that like to point to people with expensive gear and claim they are trying to buy skill, but the cost of your gear has no influence on how good a hunter a person is. If cost was not an issue, and everyone could have whatever gear they wanted, can anyone honestly say they would choose a Stevens 200 and a Tasco scope over a Sako and a Ziess scope?

 

[crazy_davey]

Another thing to consider when it comes to gear is geographical location. I know for a fact that when I hunt the prairies the gear I use drastically changes from when I hunt the mountains. The demand that is put on my gear when in the mountains is far more. One year I wore out a $600 pair of mountaineering boots that would have lasted 10 or more if I was only hunting the prairies.

If hunting in an area that is easily accessible by a vehicle or a quad, a backpack that can hall two weeks worth of gear and 50 pounds of meat comfortably is obviously not needed either.

The gear I use totally depends on where I am going and what I am hunting.

 

[sgt.rock]

When I hunted in NFLD I didn't need much more than a Honda Big Red to get through the bog. I used waterproof boots, rain gear, a rifle, bullets, food, and matches. Now living in the NWT, My gear requirements are MUCH DIFFERENT. I now worry about freezing to death, and the elements are
100X less forgiving than my home province. I think that the quality of the gear you "have to use" depends greatly on the environment you hunt in. My clothing for a hunt here easily runs over 1000 bucks. While in NFLD, I could get by with a cheap Canadian Tire survival poncho and $10 rubber boots. I got locked in a meat locker for 15 minutes in NFLD and the temps were still alot more comfortable than they are here in the NWT on any average hunting trip. I do think that there is some "status seeking" with SOME hunters when they buy the best of the best, and I believe that some hunters think that if Mr so and so see's me with a $3000 custom rifle "I must be a good hunter to spend that much on a rifle" but the way I see it, he spent $2200 more than they needed to to bag that moose. Custom rifles are great on the range for punching paper, but cmon, does that 1/4 MOA really need to be bought for 2200 dollars. A kill zone on any moose/caribou/bear that I have ever seen is much larger than 1/4 inch. Hunting shouldn't be a fashion show, but I guess, if you are wiping your a$$ with 50 dollar bills, why not waste more on overpriced gear. Its your money, spend it how you like, I just prefer to spend mine on my wife and kid. If I can get the same amount of animals by spending 1000 and you decide to spend 4000, good for me, good for you.
More guff, less fluff.

 

[tracker]

Sometimes "best" meaning cost more, like a custom built gun is not better. After two custom barrels and nearly $5000 (best) my old $265 BDL (junk) out shot the $5000 gun? Game does not know what the gun cost before it was shot? You do need to buy good stuff for comfort and dependability and if you use your stuff you will know if it is junk. You need good equipment (ATV) if you go way off the beaten track and if you hunt in a farm yard, junk will do for some. (ATV made in China) The more stuff you own the more headaches.

 

[Gatehouse]

One of the reasons to have a custom rifle is consistently good accuracy, but it's far from being the most important reason, as most factory rifles these days shoot more than accurately enough to bring home game.

I think some people use hand me downs and cheap gear and use it as a status symbol to try to brag about how much smarter they are than the guy with the expensive gear.

I wonder why it's always the guy with the cheap stuff that looks for negatives in other hunters, where the guy with the pricey stuff doesn't go around dreaming up stuff to say about the red plaid guys hunting with the Lee Enfeild.

 

[beretta boy]

Where I hunt, "Minute of Deer" (or Moose) is more important than MOA ...
(but I must admit, I prefer guns that will shoot sub MOA)

Accurate enough & reliable, and always feeds - crucial ! ( andI'm a sucker for nice walnut in the same package) Good ammunition, well constructed bullets that do what they're supposed to do when put in the right place.

As to gear, you need what's going to keep you warm, dry & comfortable in a wide range of conditions for where & when you hunt.

Invariably, bargain basement & cheap gear just doesn't stand up to the criteria - whether it's guns, scopes, boots, pants, coats, raingear ... whatever !

 

[44fordy]

The most expensive is not the best. Ultimately, your gear doesn't do the hunting....you do!

Personally, I buy what I can afford and what works for me. To each his own..

 

[firejim]

I've never seen a direct correlation between price and being the "best", but the cheapest is oftentimes crap. I look for quality and fit (whether it be a firearm, clothing, or accessories) first and then decide whether I can afford it. If I can't afford it at the time, I try to hold off until I can.

 

[MiG25]

i dunno, i use some high end gear (optics), midrange (tent, sleeping bag) and some really cheap stuff (shoes, pants).

depends on your interests/priorities too, one friend of mine really likes my field glasses and wonders how i can afford them, but i pointed out that he has an RV lot at the lake.

it is human nature to want bigger and better stuff, the guys i get a kick out of are the ones that are all geared up and camo'ed up that never seem to leave their truck.

 

[popcan]

In cases where the most expensive item is cheaper in the long haul, I go for that. When I was poor I scrounged, adapted, made, borrowed what I needed. Now that I am doing a little better, I get what I need based on what I enjoy using and what makes the most sense for the application. If you can afford it, and you like it/want it/need it, then go for it! Why not?

My only thing is that I absolutely hate stuff that doesn't work, I don't care what it costs.
If it is the cheapest and it works, that's the one.