I hunt the southern Wisconsin opener as well and this is exactly what I wear for most of October. Permethrin treated so works pretty well with bugs too
-Two ways to filter water (have had a sawyer squeeze freeze on me for a bit)
-Two ways to start fire plus a bunch of cotton balls dipped in Vaseline
-Two headlamps and some batteries (keep one headlamp in first aid kit)
-Two knives and spare set of socks. Sometimes 2 pairs if on longer trips
Hunting small water/marshes mimic the group size of ducks you commonly see on the water. If that’s 3-6 ducks throw that many decoys out. It may look unnatural having even a full dozen out there if birds are not commonly in groups that large. Especially earlier in the season. I will increase the...
A couple months after 9/11 was flying back from hunting in Texas with my Mom. I was about 11-12 at the time and didn’t know the severity of the whole airport situation. Flew home with my hunting backpack as a carry on that had 2 skinning knives, a pair of shears, and a leatherman. Got through no...
I shoot a Mossberg 930 and it feeds everything put into it. Just takes more maintenance like any other gas gun. My Dad shoots a Stoeger and swapped out some parts for Benelli parts ( like the recoil spring) and it’s basically a Turkish made Benelli now but for half the price. That gun has been...
I had a similar issue with a new pair of Crispi boots and thought I just had to break them in more but the problem still persisted after about 50 miles of ruck hiking. Felt terrible spending that kind of money on boots that I dreaded wearing. Looked up some different ways to lace and tie boots...
My current lab had it bad as a pup and always seemed to express it on the couch or the rug. Asked the breeder what to do about it and she said mix in a good scoop of canned pumpkin with her food every night. Never had a problem since then in 7 years and never had to have the vet do it
Process engineer in manufacturing here so I can’t design anything and I’m bad at math. So I get to tell people how I think is the best way to do their job. If I didn’t have a good sense of humor I think I would get beat up in the parking lot everyday walking back to my truck
I shot at my first TAC event in Michigan last year and like you had no idea what I was getting into. It was warmer out so I just wore what I would wear in an early September western hunt. There is a good amount of walking/hiking so make sure you have good comfortable boots at the very least. A...
My Dad was a firefighter for 30 years near a major city and to see what it’s done to his body post retirement I would say firemen are grossly underpaid regardless of the pension benefits. Terrible lungs, a knee surgery, a shoulder surgery, back issues and an awful sleep schedule which he still...
This has been successful hunting feeders in south Texas with my family. Spread the corn around in a larger surface area around it and not in one big pile to create that competition for food. Make them want to hit the area sooner before other deer or animals start hitting it. Timer on the feeder...
Mound City is now the snow goose capital I believe. If you’ve never hunted any geese before take a guide to go shoot snows somewhere instead of shooting Canadas. You can always shoot Canada geese in the Midwest with a couple floaters sitting on a small pond but snows require a ton of decoys and...
At least for my outer layer it’s a must have now. And I have multiple outer layers depending on the time of year and later when the temps drop those early season outer layers may turn into mid layers for me. The biggest benefit for me was being able to access my pockets on my outer layer when...
I think it’s a great feature like mentioned before I can walk in with just my baselayer and midlayer. Throw on a vest/ next layer with the same feature at the base of the tree and climb in/hang my set. If needed I have my heavy jacket strapped to my pack I can throw on later.
Without the pass...
I started journaling my hunts at a young age. I wrote about my first deer kill when I was 8 and Buckmasters ended up having a kids writing contest about hunting memories shortly after so I sent it in. Ended up winning a coyote hunt in SD. I’ve always brought a physical small notebook in a tree...