Do you use ice axe, climbing harness or crampons in your hunting?

[Bughalli]

Hey guys, I'm cleaning out the garage and getting rid of gear I haven't used. A lot of it is mountaineering oriented. There's a couple items I'm debating about keeping, because hypothetically I "might" use them for hunting some day, but I just don't know if that's true. Do you use an ice axe, climbing harness or crampons in your hunts? If so, what kind of hunts? I'm curious if you do use them, would it only be for the once in a lifetime sheep or goat hunts, which in that case I would probably have a guide and he might provide them. Thoughts?

 

[kodiakfly]

I know of roping up for recovering a goat that fell to a spot that can't be easily accessed. I know of a few guys personally who've had to do it. I keep all of my climbing gear just in case.

That said, I don't do much rappelling to and from my hunting locations...

 

[Cripler]

Used a pair of crampons for late season sheep hunting. Made life way easier. Figured I could use them for early season shed hunting where the hills ice up in the river valley

 

[kaboku68]

Every year.

 

[colonel00]

I enjoy that the OP is from NorCal and gets replies from Alaska, Alberta and Alaska Admittedly, I have a hard time letting go of "what if" gear as well unless I'm upgrading to something better. My view is that I already have the gear, it will cost more to buy it again than what I would get for selling it now, I may now seek out adventures to put the gear to use that I wouldn't necessarily do if I didn't have it (packraft is a great example here). Anyway, I think crampons are a no brainer if you are doing any later season hunts. An ice axe is a great tool so I don't know why you would ever get rid of it. For a climbing harness, I could have used one this year as it would have made getting down to my deer a whole lot easier (getting back up might have sucked though).

From up top:

From below:

 

[Poser]

I could never bring myself to get rid of my climbing gear. I have TONS of it: portaledge, haul bags (original A5 brand), crampons, ice tools, ropes, ice screws, cams, bolt kit.... I had to put myself on belay to work on the roof of the house recently. -used a grigri and an ascender. Just like old times.

 

[larryschwartz]

I could never bring myself to get rid of my climbing gear. I have TONS of it: portaledge, haul bags (original A5 brand), crampons, ice tools, ropes, ice screws, cams, bolt kit.... I had to put myself on belay to work on the roof of the house recently. -used a grigri and an ascender. Just like old times.

Poser, it is definitely interesting how old skills come into play in unusual situations. I still have my rope harness and carabiner from my Infantry days. I've used it in tree stands as a safety belt going up and down and as a block and tackle to haul a bear bag of smellables up to a branch.

 

[Poser]

Poser, it is definitely interesting how old skills come into play in unusual situations. I still have my rope harness and carabiner from my Infantry days. I've used it in tree stands as a safety belt going up and down and as a block and tackle to haul a bear bag of smellables up to a branch.

I'm definitely seeing more and more guys using rock climbing harnesses for treestand safety harnesses. These safety harness companies had a pretty good run selling overpriced safety gear. I once saw a carabiner and a piece of static rope selling for $40 as a "treestand safety system."
I'm pretty certain that if Black Diamond entered the treestand safety market, or better yet, the actual treestand market, a lot of these hunting companies would be done for.

 

[Bughalli]

Thanks for all the feedback. Yeah, I'll probably keep them and hope some day I'll need to pull them out. The challenge is knowing ahead of time when you'll need them and have them handy. I did a late season archery hunt a number of years ago in Idaho and took some nasty slide/bumbles due to two feet of fresh snow on steep slopes.....but of course all this gear was at home.