Your 5 most essential things?

[Stick]

I don't know about you all but ever once in a while going to the deer stand or up the side of a mountain, I wonder is all this stuff I'm carrying REALLY necessary! Obviously I think it is or I would not have it but I wonder then what the early mountain men carried and my mind tells me they were traveling much lighter.

So my question is, if you could only carry 5 things with you on your elk hunt. What would they be???

Not talking camping equipment just on the hunt?

[_rj_]

Bow
Arrows
Release
Knife
Water

[elkaholic]

Water, knife and extra blades or sharpener, meet sacks, cord, food.

[the weasel]

do I get any "givens" ?? like already packing my bow and arrows? so now I get 5 more?

[WYO_ELK]

I would say a bow and arrow or rifle is a given. Mine would have to be a knife, binos, flashlight, snacks, water.

[Stick]

Weasel, yeah besides your weapon of choice! What would be essential to you?

[WapitiTalk1]

Geez, only five that's tough. I'd have to go with pack, calls, knife, water, chow.

[barber111]

Water... Calls... GPS... Knives... flashlights...

(( extra release... Thermos... food... more water... Ribbon... batteries... rangefinder... tags... cord... ect... ))

This year I'll be adding my playbook...

Thanks, Barber

[Fridaythe13th]

#1 water
#2 Knife
#3 food
#4 water filter love my water
#5 calls

[Huntrgathr]

Kinda hard to answer that one. Are we talking about 5 non-essential items or " if you could only take five items" ? I've got my gear list down to essentials only at this point. Other than optics and calls there is nothing in my pack I could do without...and it's definitely more than 5 items...

[Tigger]

I see that no one has included any kind of first aid or survival items. that is because most of us have never needed them. However, some basics are probably pretty important even though you probably wont use them. For the few that find themselves hurt or having to spend the night, safety stuff is pretty important. my personal opinion is that if you are in good enough shape to go hunting in the mountains, you are in good enough shape to tote another half pound of safety stuff. Depending on where you hunt, survival items may not be warranted, but everyone shlould carry a few modest 1st aid items. None of us are immune to accidents in the wild.

For example, I once followed a logger out of the woods. He was in the woods every single day and knew the area really well. He would jump from log to log like a billy goat. I saw him jump on a log and it shifted but didnt move too much. I took a break there and happened to look at that log. Another log stopped the first log from moving any further but was invisible from where he was at the time. If that hadnt stopped it, he would have had a really nasty fall and probably got impaled. Pure luck.

Other thoughts on this?

[Lark Bunting]

Water
Windicator
GPS
Knife
Comfortable boots

[elkstalker]

- Water
- Knife
- Food
- Binos
- Calls

[_rj_]

You can improvise a lot of first aid items. For example; I used to race downhill mountain bikes. I was doing practice runs the day before the race. No emergency crews around then. I overshot a jump that had a quick corner right after the landing. Plowed right into a tree. I completely broke my full face helmet and snapped my radius and ulna in half and shoved them into the palm of my hand. I wasn't alone, but my friends didn't know how to react. Once I came to; I realized what was wrong and improvised a splint with sticks and my shoe lace and made a sling with my spare tire tube. And got off the mountain before the adrenaline wore off

[Stick]

This is super interesting. Everyone one is including one of life's basics but not the other.

Water and Fire!

Why do you think we are not including something to start a fire with???

[the weasel]

Water filter system.
Knife (mine has a sharpener in the sheath also).
Fire starter kit.
Energy bar (food).
Headlight.

[welcher83]

Great thread!

1) Water
2) Food
3) Knife and Wyoming saw (cheating little bit and calling this one item)
4) Headlamp
5) Gore-Tex jacket

I went the route of safety here but had so many other ideas that I thought of - GPS/Map, Binos, Calls, Game bags, etc., etc.

[wawhitey]

1 water
2 knife
3 headlamp
4 spare batteries
5 phone so i can call in some assistance if i get an animal down and need an extra pair of hands

[elkstalker]

I wonder if our list differ due to the different situations/seasons/locations/styles we all hunt. For example, is it a morning hunt? All day? Potential to be out multiple days? Early September vs. November? The possibilities are endless and each presents a little different set of tools

[Stick]

Alright my original question was partly curiosity and partly because I know me. The longer I'm in elk country the lighter I travel. So I shed stuff daily it seems till I'm just carrying a fanny pack most of the time. Thus the 5 items.

Here's my list.

Steripen...for water
Compass
Fire starter
Light
Food

I struggle with that last one because it is probably not an essential. You could provide your own in a pinch. Also I have several personal friends that have went 40 days with nothing but water!!! that is not a typo error

[brun]

1. Water purification or filter system
2. Waterproof matches
3. Food
4. Headlamp
5. Knife

[GoldToyBox]

Like others have said, not sure about what is essential without knowing the variables.
If I'm out in the weather, the list is much different than a Blue Bird day.
If you're hunting in July in the Southwest the list would be much different than Big
Belts of Montana in December! Hunted areas where insect repellant was the most important item. Also areas where you were nuts not to carry a snake bite kit.
But no matter what, you want; food water compass light & a coat IMHO
We all know people who went out without these items and paid the price.

[Trophyhill]

If a pack and weapon are a given, water, knife, GPS, game bags, calls........my holster is sewn into my pack so the Taurus is part of my pack and I'd sure feel blind without my headlamps.

[Lefty]

this year
bear deterrent
wind check
water
binos
calls

[foxvalley]

SPOT
knife
lighter
headlamp
GPS

[RichM]

water
food
knife
jacket
flashlight

I'm no "mountain man".

[2Rivers]

Rifle
Licsense
Map
Knife
Headlamp

[Lefty]

Ive killed game without a knife, compass/gps, jacket, head lamp, food, first aid kit, survival kit/fire and lots of other items. I generally know where Im at, no longer have cell reception, seldom have problems walking in the dark, I can go hungry for a while or spend a rough night with out fire, jacket

I will say the five items I listed are always with me and a few more

[_rj_]

Maybe what's your 5 most essential, non-essential items?

[dukie1877]

Water,fire,compas,knife,light. Im assuming you are not counting the bow as one of the 5.