Pro Tips and Hacks thread

[paulgibbs01]

Don't cover your hunting vehicle in hunting bumper stickers. It's like putting up a huge sign, DECENT BUCKS RIGHT OVER THIS HILL COME JOIN ME

That was a huge learning lesson for me. Having an incognito or “bird watcher” rig to show up to my hunting spots in especially if you hunt local to your hometown. People can so easily recognize the cool distinct truck and stickers, I’ve had several people in the past during conversation after season bring up that they saw my rig in a certain spot and it always bummed me out.

 

[5MilesBack]

What's the difference between a "tip" and a "hack" in new age lingo??

 

[doc holiday13]

Even better.

Freeze one gallon water jugs after you’ve poured the top 10% out of them. Fill the cooler all the way up with jugs even if you don’t have room for them once the meat is in there.

They last WAY longer than bagged ice, don’t make a watery mess, and you don’t have to buy ice anymore.

Did this last year

 

[Poser]

What's the difference between a "tip" and a "hack" in new age lingo??

Tip: A piece of advice, a suggestion, or a small bit of information that helps you do something more easily, efficiently, or effectively. It's usually a best practice or a learned technique.

Hack: A clever trick, shortcut, or ingenious method for solving a problem, improving a situation, or achieving a goal, often in an unconventional or non-obvious way. It frequently involves using something in a way it wasn't originally intended, or exploiting a loophole.

A tip helps you do something better within the established rules, while a hack helps you do something smarter by bending or bypassing the usual rules in an unexpected way.

 

[rayporter]

did you ever get mad opening the door on the tipi when nature calls? tie a string on the zipper to open the door. have a problem with closing the door afterwords? keep a forked stick laying by the door so you can hold the string and use the stick to get the zipper all the way to the ground.

 

[Backyard]

Even better.

Freeze one gallon water jugs after you’ve poured the top 10% out of them. Fill the cooler all the way up with jugs even if you don’t have room for them once the meat is in there.

They last WAY longer than bagged ice, don’t make a watery mess, and you don’t have to buy ice anymore.

Or just reuse one gallon milk jugs. I’ve always got a few in the freezer or empty on the shelf. The half gallons work too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Poser]

did you ever get mad opening the door on the tipi when nature calls? tie a string on the zipper to open the door. have a problem with closing the door afterwords? keep a forked stick laying by the door so you can hold the string and use the stick to get the zipper all the way to the ground.

I wish there were a way to easily unzip and "throw" the door open and have it stay at least partially open without having to manually roll it up. When the tent is wet, its not an issue as there is enough friction, but when its dry, I get annoyed with it. I've thought about trying some small magnets or velcro, but never gone so far as to experiment with it.

 

[Beendare]

Instead of jumping on every new piece of gear, elk bugles, newfangled gadget, etc- work on improving your hunter skillset and being a better woodsman.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Instead of jumping on every new piece of gear, elk bugles, newfangled gadget, etc- work on improving your hunter skillset and being a better woodsman.

Great idea! What app or subscription do I need for that?

Take a picture through your spotter of where the animal is bedded before the stalk, can look back a reference it for landmarks

I keep an UL tarp in my kill kit, keeps meat clean if you need to debone and lay out. I’ve also used it for a quick shelter, wrapped myself in it on a really windy point and can use to cover legs if you don’t carry rain pants.

If you don’t keep your bow in your tent with you, at least hang it somewhere off the ground at night. Critters like to chew strings.

 

[svivian]

I wish there were a way to easily unzip and "throw" the door open and have it stay at least partially open without having to manually roll it up. When the tent is wet, its not an issue as there is enough friction, but when its dry, I get annoyed with it. I've thought about trying some small magnets or velcro, but never gone so far as to experiment with it.

Two tiny magnets work fine

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Or just reuse one gallon milk jugs. I’ve always got a few in the freezer or empty on the shelf. The half gallons work too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use all kinds of jugs. Milk, vinegar, bleach, cranberry juice, etc. I throw a couple in my large coolers the night before I leave to cool them down. Then fill them up before I leave. My buddies are always happy/thankful when they knock something down and don't have to drive an hour each way to get some emergency ice.

 

[TaperPin]

When electrical taping the muzzle to keep water out, adding a foot of dental floss makes a nice wind indicator. If nothing else it reminds me to watch the wind.

I looked and looked for a quiet way to carry a few extra cartridges in a pant pocket, and ran into someone who electrical tapes three of them together with a long tag end so they unwrap quickly. Not too bulky, quiet, always there. It worked so good now I keep all spare cartridges wrapped in threes in the pack.

The reflective tent cord is so easy to see at night, since changing it on all my tents it’s been over a decade since tripping over a tie down, vs once a trip before.

Before taking a rangefinder reading I automatically take a guess at the yardage to keep estimation skills sharp in case there’s no time to range as a buck is about to walk over the ridge or into the trees.

He who has a label maker thinks everything needs a label. On the scope there’s a small one that says “mark the shot” because my brain goes to mush at the shot and too often I’ve rushed down, didn’t see a body, and had to retrace my steps to know where to start tracking from, only to see the body once I was standing where it was hit. lol

 

[Macintosh]

If you’re struggling to find a place to store all that hunting equipment, follow these steps for a perfect, organized solution.
1) Take all your gear and stuff it in a closet for the moment.
2) go to home depot or lowes and get big set of shelving.
3) as you use equipment, when unpacking it put it on the shelves, not in the closet.
4) at the end of the season, take everything that you didnt use out of the closet and get rid of it.
5) fill the remaining space in the shelves with photos, books, maybe a spider plant.

 

[rogerdoger]

Some things that improved my camp experience last year:

Boil food in a bag - take food from home like taco meat, chilli, eggs, lasagna etc put 1 serving into freezer bags (important), bring a 2qt pot, boil enough water to cover the contents of the bag, once its boiling, put the bag in for 10 minutes, and you're done. A lot less mess to clean up. My favorite was 3 egg omlete in a bag, with feta, bacon bits, pre-cooked peppers and onions and Mexican seasoning.

Turn your tent into a bed roll - I used a BA copper spur UL2 for camping by the jeep last year, and just rolled up the sleeping bag, pad, pillow into the inner fly, and used some bungees to hold it together. I can just get to a spot, put on the tent poles and inflate the pad and i'm ready for bed.

Make a dehydrated meal cozy out of reflectix material - pretty easy to do, many youtubes on this, and it works well.

Started doing this a few years ago, now I hardly ever cook food any other way when camping. During the winter we will cook a bunch of food for the summer and freeze it in the bags. Grab it out of the freezer and toss in cooler, stays longer in cooler and helps keep cold.

 

[ahawk116]

Hawaiian Punch bottles make a solid choice for a semi collapsible water bottle/bladder.

If your carry two knives and aren’t into the replaceable blade knives you can use the steel on the other knife just like you would in your kitchen with a honing steel.

If your gutting a critter my buddy from NZ showed me this. His first cuts are on either side of the esophagus then through the esophagus. Next when you get into the guts it’ll all just pull right out. No idea why I’d never seen an American do that.

 

[rogerdoger]

Don’t buy ultra light gear, by normal gear that is more durable. I then drop a few pounds off my body weight. Now I am healthier, gear will withstand more abuse, and I have more cash in my pocket.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

If your gutting a critter my buddy from NZ showed me this. His first cuts are on either side of the esophagus then through the esophagus. Next when you get into the guts it’ll all just pull right out. No idea why I’d never seen an American do that.

That makes perfect sense.

 

[ahawk116]

That makes perfect sense.

Yeah the moment I saw him do that I was like huh…well that changes things. They get to mountain hunt year round so when I see Jon O do something I take note.

 

[FlyGuy]

The reflective tent cord is so easy to see at night, since changing it on all my tents it’s been over a decade since tripping over a tie down, vs once a trip before.

Good stuff! You made me think of one more. After I switched all my guy lines to reflective paracord, I also replaced all the zipper pulls on my Kifaru pack from ranger green to reflective orange. Makes it much easier to relocate your pack if you drop it and don’t make it back before dark!

 

[SonnyDay]

Bring chapstick