Gear versus Go

[husky390]

The place I work for only gives me 10 days of vacation. After this years hunting season it'll be time for me to get a new job. I've had enough.

 

[mt100gr.]

For me, "gear" is more of a season, I guess. In the winter when I have spare time, I am a gear junkie for sure. Buying and trying anything I can get my hands on and seeking any and all info about new stuff. In the spring I get out with some new, but mostly old tried and true stuff. By summer I have my system pretty well pegged and come fall I dedicate as much free time as possible to hunting. For me it more an issue of leaving my wife and girls. I have gotta go some but definitely don't want to go to much. It's a tough balance and both "home" and "hunt" pull hard. I always budget for plenty of time away and if there some left over because I stayed back or shortened trips, it gets spent on gear in the months after hunting season.

I do forego some spring and winter adventures to bank my hours with the family and save money. Elk season is what my year revolves around.

 

[gonhunting247]

I say go hunt! Get the gear as $$$ allows. Obviously spend as much time with family as possible, cause you never get that back, but go hunt!

 

[tater]

I appreciate the great responses to my question to keep my brain going. The balance can be tough to maintain, and it seems we all have to shuffle to make it work as best we can.
2Rocky, i've gotta keep that pic out of my wife's view!

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

2Rocky, i've gotta keep that pic out of my wife's view!

Absolutely never let them know that you can get by with less!!! Make that $1500 bow or $1000 rain gear imperative to your survival and success when explaining them.

 

[5MilesBack]

2Rocky, i've gotta keep that pic out of my wife's view!

When I first started big game hunting 34 years ago, my pack was worse than what that guy is wearing. But my clothes were probably similar.

The funny thing is.........my base camp which includes a 14x16 canvas wall tent, cots, sleeping bags, pads, lanterns, stove, daypack, etc (which I call the Ritz Canvas), cost me less than my little measly backcountry gear setup that fits inside a pack. It's all what you want to get out of it, and what you're willing to spend. You don't need all of this stuff to go on a hunt.......but some of it sure does make that hunt more enjoyable.

 

[robby denning]

Never sacrifice go for gear unless gear limits go.

Get the best you can afford. If you pay cash, you'll know what you can afford.

Loved the pic 2rocky

 

[ishootdasmallones]

More gear=heavier packs. I would say most people carry more than they need. There are a few essentials that you need to keep you alive (food/water, clothing, shelter, weapon), but most packs are filled with luxury items. Gas is my biggest annual expense for hunting.....

 

[300WSM]

I don't think people sacrifice go time I just think they do not have the opportunity. I am very lucky to live 20 min from good hunting and I get a lot of vacation. This year I have about 35 day scheduled to hunt between elk and deer seasons and probably about 20 scouting trips on nights and weekends. With gear I think I am like most guys I stick to the cycle of buy it try it sell it or lately can't find it so I build it.

 

[Sooner]

I'm grateful for the job I have. I work less than half a year an earn dang good money too. Plus my wife lets me buy all the gear I want. I will be traveling to CO from OK to scout the first of july for 12 days(none of which I have to take any vacation). Ill try an make another trip out the first of august then of course will be there the opening 12 days. So at this point in my life I dont have to sacrifice either.

 

[Manosteel]

Always the go before gear, when I was in high school hunting my gear was rubber boots, army jacket, jeans, buck knife, school backpack, 308 savage, $3 rain poncho, a small emergency bag, pillow cases and green tarp: killed a lot of moose and deer using that set for years. Upgraded to a Bear bow (best guess was it shot a blistering 170-80 fps) my final year in high school. No bino's unless my uncle lent me his. Slowly.. very slowly upgraded through colloge and university.

Now I have the luxury of buying what I need when I need it, age and a career, while time consuming, dose have its perks.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Oh I had gear, just not what we have today. More like a raid on the Army Surplus Store.
But still had lots of fun and was successful all the same. Honestly, gear wise, we didn't have much of a choice.
You young gun today have it so much nicer & easier.
In my day it was mule pads for cushion and manti tarps for a bivy....oh YEA (read w/ sarcasm).







But today I see so many young guns obsessed w/ having all the right gear, looking a certain part, that have little, to no go in them.
I seen it this last year when my buddy (10yrs younger than I) was wanting to do a wilderness archery hunt. I'm not an archery guy, so I encouraged him to seek out another younger archery hunter online. Big mistake. A couple scouting trips and it was obvious he was all talk and no go. So I stepped in. Mind you I'm not in the best of shape as some of you know, but there is no quit in me.

Needless to say this is what the young Gen X hunter missed out on.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I see a lot of posts w/ "I only get X number of days vacation".
What you can't take time off WITHOUT pay?
My first couple jobs I got NO vacation. Didn't stop me from doing what I loved.
Hunt'nFish

 

[jmez]

Like most others it is time for me not gear. I live 12 hours from where I hunt in Co, and 6 hours from where I hunt in MT. My family takes up most of my free time in the off season and I have no problems with that. When my boys get older I will take them on scouting camping missions in the summer but right now they are too little so I scout when I hunt.

 

[quackaddict]

I see a lot of posts w/ "I only get X number of days vacation".
What you can't take time off WITHOUT pay?
My first couple jobs I got NO vacation. Didn't stop me from doing what I loved.
Hunt'nFish

I guess I could, but I've got bills to pay.

 

[Sooner]

I see a lot of posts w/ "I only get X number of days vacation".
What you can't take time off WITHOUT pay?
My first couple jobs I got NO vacation. Didn't stop me from doing what I loved.
Hunt'nFish

I did this my first year with my company(been here over 9 now). Leaving without pay sucked as far as bills go. But that week an a half in CO on my first Elk hunt was one hell of a trip.

 

[tater]

When it comes to work/life balance philosophy i still remember being thirteen years old sitting in a steel fab shop with one of my mentors and being asked if when i was on my deathbead as an old man i would really be going "Damn, sure wished i'd worked more and hunted less".
I've never forgotten that. Liver cancer took him almost fifteen years ago, but i still think of all of the things i learned from the cranky old b*st**d.

 

[Gwoodak]

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”
Thoreau

 

[ZDR]

I look at this picture before I purchase new gear....

But in all seriousness, even in our everyday lives balancing operations expenses with Capital expenditures is a battle.

I have to remind my self that people killed animals in the 60's and 70's with slower bows, heavier arrows, brass pin sights, external frame packs, cotton flannel shirts, no goretex, and canned food. It can be done.

It is more of a mind set of what is good enough vs. "the Best for now"

FYI that is a photo of a Klondike gold rusher.

You do know that guy is only 25 years old?...

 

[MTbowhunter36]

No problem with the gear or the go. It's the time with my wife and kids that get my time and that's my priority.

However, I live exactly 1.5 hours from my front door to my elk hunting grounds so I can easily sneak up there on weekends, but I always take at least two weeks off during the rut. I'm certainly blessed to live in an area that has a blue ribbon trout stream running through town and being so close to a trophy bull unit. I can sneak away during my lunch hour to go fly fishing.