Backcountry “Jerry Rig” Setups

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
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Oct 22, 2019
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Outside
Alright who else has had to pull a MacGyver out in the field? Over the years I’ve used everything from duct tape, to JB weld, to boot laces to get me off the mountain.

I realized after Christmas that I somehow lost my top screw/mount on my tripod. I have no way of mounting my pan head now… I have to leave first thing tomorrow morning for a hunt, and glassing here in AZ where we are hunting without a tripod is damn tough.

I went down to the local Ace hardware and found an automotive stud. A little blue loctite and $3 later, I’m ready to go! I bought an extra one that will stay in my tripod accessories pouch forever now.

Any other cool tricks for fixing gear in a pinch? Anything weird stay in your pack or bino harness?

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Joined
Apr 8, 2020
Messages
335
Not hunting, but fishing one time I lost a prop nut and managed to get back to the dock with it held on with duck tape.

Tore a piece of the plastic on the bottom of my front bumper off in a mud hole- tied it up with rope and had it that way for over a year before ripping the whole thing off in a different mud hole.
 
Joined
May 26, 2020
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589
Probably doesn't count as Jerry rigging but I had a strap break on my mystery ranch during a day hunt. Because it was only a day hunt i didnt have extra paracord or other means of strapping my deer head on. I was in a hurry considering it was 90 degrees and I wasn't going to let the loose velvet on a 200" deer get messed up l, so I carried the head, neck, and half the cape in my arms all the way to the truck. The back pain was immense. I now understand why breast reductions are a thing.
 

fngTony

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Jan 18, 2016
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Somehow I mixed up my quiver and the mount so I used a couple radiator hose clamps to secure it to my bow.
 
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Dec 7, 2014
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Me and a buddy made our first trip to fly fish for musky, about 4 hours from home. Fished all day the first day with nothing.

The second day my buddy caught his first musky and in the madness we ended up breaking his rod. About 30 minutes later, I had my fly line get caught in a trolling motor in a fast flowing area of river and had to cutt off about 15-20 feet from the head. Because we had broken another fly rod that day we didn’t have another spare rod. I used the broken tip section from the other rod as a nail knot tool to tie a rough looking nail knot at the end of my now broken fly line, and about 10 minutes later caught this guy:



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CorbLand

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Mar 16, 2016
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Used a Bobby pin to hold the steering together on a Jeep hunting deer. We were headed to check an area and clipping along a gravel road. The road has a 90 degree turn in it and when I went to turn, nothing was there. About 10 minutes before we were driving a two track along a canyon, that is a long ways to the bottom. We got lucky on that one to be honest.
 
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Wrench

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Aug 23, 2018
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WA
15 below zero, dead elk and I just want to get somewhere warm....and the switch for the gear selector freezes up and locks me out of 4wd.

I hiked up the mtn for service and downloaded the schematic. I had made up jumper cables out of 10ga wire.....so I sacrificed one side at one end and built a jumper to fool the machine. It has been like this for a few years now. Screenshot_20231226-214804_Photos.jpg
 

Fatcamp

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Used a ramrod and an aluminum tripod with the head removed to hike out a very, very heavy pack this year. Does that count?
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
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Feb 27, 2012
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Colorado Springs
15 below zero, dead elk and I just want to get somewhere warm....and the switch for the gear selector freezes up and locks me out of 4wd.
Back when I used to hunt the later rifle seasons, I learned real quick to just leave the truck in 4wd........and that was with a manual transfer case shifter. Even that would freeze up when it got well below zero. I can't imagine these switch 4wd systems in the extreme cold.
 

7mm-08

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Joined
Oct 31, 2016
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824
Location
Idaho
15 below zero, dead elk and I just want to get somewhere warm....and the switch for the gear selector freezes up and locks me out of 4wd.

I hiked up the mtn for service and downloaded the schematic. I had made up jumper cables out of 10ga wire.....so I sacrificed one side at one end and built a jumper to fool the machine. It has been like this for a few years now. View attachment 647499
You're the kind of guy I need to hunt with. They'd have found my frozen corpse on the mountain the following spring...
 

Wrench

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Aug 23, 2018
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You're the kind of guy I need to hunt with. They'd have found my frozen corpse on the mountain the following spring...
I keep a tampon in my oh shit kit.....just incase I need to dip the tank and light the sumbitch on fire.....for survival of course.
 

87TT

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Mar 13, 2019
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Idaho
I’ve hunted, fished and just explored some serious rough places in the Sammy. Off the top of my head.………………
1) ratchet strap holding a broken leaf spring together to get me back home out of a crap hole canyon.
2) rope sling holding up the transfer case when the mount weld broke.
3) lost a motor mount once. Completely fell off and was missing. Had a spare steering rubber rag joint and some bolts. Used a large branch to pry up the motor and secured it and drove home.
4) gas pedal arm bent then broke and drove home with some paracord to pull the throttle cable by hand to give her gas.

Probably more over the years spent off reading and exploring but those come to mind.
 

robtattoo

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Mar 22, 2014
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Tullahoma, TN
I've used a couple of (bullet pulled) .22LR cases as fuses before now. The priming compound makes for a very handy overload warning. 😁

Once lashed a windshield wiper blade to a trekking pole when my wiper motor seized up on me coming through Nebraska. My left arm about froze, but I didn't crash!

There's been plenty of other instances of 'field expedient' repairs, but I'm damned if I can remember them!
 
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