What’s In My Pack During Deer Season
By Kent Boucher
This is an Article Kent wrote for The Iowa Sportsman Magazine. Subscribe to the magazine to see more of Kent’s work in print.
A maxim I have adopted as a hunter is “The intersection of comfort and good hunting is not frequent.” This phrase can be applied to many aspects of planning a successful hunt, ranging from putting in the effort to gain hunting permission on the best possible property to limiting gear and equipment to only the necessities to avoid being hindered by surplus stuff. Whatever the extra toil is, there just seems to be a strong correlation between embracing the uncomfortable aspects of a hunt and more successful outcomes. So with this gear pruning guideline applied, here’s what survives the cut.
The Nonnegotiables: My tag, hunting license (on the Go Outdoors Iowa App on my phone), cell phone, and my wallet with my ID.
Tag Filling Equipment: Extra bow release, extra ammunition/powder for my muzzleloader, and a pen for recording the harvest confirmation information on my tag.
Field Dressing Equipment: Field dressing knife with replaceable blades, butt-out tool, field dressing gloves and sleeves, wet wipes (for cleaning up blood for grip and grin photos, and also handy for early morning coffee gut punches).
Comfort Needs: Warm gloves and hat, rain gear and hand warmers (if the weather calls for it).
Energy and Drink Needs: I don’t bring food along unless I am gearing up for an all day sit. In that case I bring minimal scent food like granola bars, Stinger Waffles, or pistachios. I also don’t bring water unless it’s a hot early season hunt, or an all day hunt. In most cases I hydrate before the hunt. The same rules apply for coffee. When I do bring liquids into the field, it's in a soft/flexible plastic Nalgene bottle. Loud metal bottles prone to clanging on bows, guns and tree stands, and crunchy plastic water bottles are for people not interested in filling tags.
Optics: Binos (12x50) with the harness, and my rangefinder with its case.
Entertainment Needs: I bring a copy of my favorite hunting magazine (Iowa Sportsman Magazine of course!), or a small hunting book like Fair Chase by Jim Posewitz, or Good Hunting by Teddy Roosevelt. And before you think I’m a liar, I bring a phone charger for the all day sits because yes, I am a hopeless addict just like you.
Scent Control: I bring a can of Nose Jammer to spray down if I get sweaty and smelly on my hike to the stand, or if I’m playing the wind aggressively.
Survival Equipment: The bare essentials for first aid (when I’m really responsible, but this should be every hunt). This includes a CAT style tourniquet, gauze and bandages (MyMedic carries the best first aid gear for outdoors people). I also bring a pocket knife, windproof lighter, flashlight, headlamp, and 550 paracord.
The Pack Itself: This actually varies based on the time of year, and the duration of the hunt as well. During the early archery seasons when I don’t need as many clothing layers, I streamline my gear to fit into a fanny pack. When it’s the time of year for all day sits I upgrade my baggage size to a small backpack to carry food, more clothing layers, and water. I recommend choosing baggage that is easy to access from the stand, and won’t become a liability for being detected by deer due to loud velcro and zippers, or by being made from super smelly materials.
So this is my method. Remember that. There is no one way to prepare for going into the deer woods, so if you have your own system that works for you- great! No need to fix what ain’t broke. However, if you do find yourself being held back by hauling around your creature comforts, then you need to reassess what your objectives are for hunting. For those who want to fill more tags there are several principles that I think all of us should work into our gear plans. Don’t sacrifice stealth and opportunity for comfort. Don’t bring things that won’t get used (survival equipment being the exception of course). Don’t worry about food for a hunt that lasts less than five hours. Only bring rain gear and cold gear when the weather demands it. Practicing these gear pruning principles will lead to smaller backpacks and farther hikes to where the big bucks can be tagged.