Share Your “Gear of the Year” Winners For 2025!

[Eastonsgrandpa]

The Carbon Express arrow squaring tool. I love building arrows but LOATHE the squaring part. Take forever on those sanding disc tools.

Now I silver sharpie the ends, slap this in my drill and it takes a second or less. I squared the ends on four dozen arrows last night in under ten minutes.

 

[SkunkCabbage]

Silky Saw Gomboy Outback - Took care of a moose and elk with pretty good ease. Also cleared a sketchy section out in a goat hunting spot. Highly recommend these saws.

Nightforce NXS Compact 2.5-10x42 Mil-R - I’ve played musical scopes since I’ve started hunting and the overall size, weight and package of this little guy is a scope I keep gravitating back to for my general purpose rifles. They just work. This is even comparing to having a baby atacr and 4-32 nx8 to compare it to. I don’t feel like I need a massive scope to get the job done. Only improvement they could have is a capped windage but I’ve yet to bump my windage out in the field even on long trips with this scope.

RSS - won a 223 tikka the other year and put it into a rokstock this summer. Been trying to put down rounds off the bench as much as I can and at this point it’s my most shot rifle. Fun as heck to shoot rocks. Highly highly highly recommend buying a tikka 223 and a flat of cheap 223/556 and just getting out to practice and shoot.

Kimber 280ai with 162 ELD-X - whatever I hunt I can with confidence grab this rifle and get the job done. I do not feel under gunned with it with what I primarily hunt. The more time goes on the ELD-X is a murderous bullet with no issues of penetration. It’s a messy bullet but it kills. It’s a bullet I tend to be gravitating towards for all my rifles.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Silky Saw Gomboy Outback - Took care of a moose and elk with pretty good ease. Also cleared a sketchy section out in a goat hunting spot. Highly recommend these saws.

Nightforce NXS Compact 2.5-10x42 Mil-R - I’ve played musical scopes since I’ve started hunting and the overall size, weight and package of this little guy is a scope I keep gravitating back to for my general purpose rifles. They just work. This is even comparing to having a baby atacr and 4-32 nx8 to compare it to. I don’t feel like I need a massive scope to get the job done. Only improvement they could have is a capped windage but I’ve yet to bump my windage out in the field even on long trips with this scope.

RSS - won a 223 tikka the other year and put it into a rokstock this summer. Been trying to put down rounds off the bench as much as I can and at this point it’s my most shot rifle. Fun as heck to shoot rocks. Highly highly highly recommend buying a tikka 223 and a flat of cheap 223/556 and just getting out to practice and shoot.

Kimber 280ai with 162 ELD-X - whatever I hunt I can with confidence grab this rifle and get the job done. I do not feel under gunned with it with what I primarily hunt. The more time goes on the ELD-X is a murderous bullet with no issues of penetration. It’s a messy bullet but it kills. It’s a bullet I tend to be gravitating towards for all my rifles.

162 and 175 ELDXs out of 7 mags and 7 Saums have been excellent killing bullets for me as well.

Are you shooting the factory hornady or loading?

 

[doverpack12]

Exofficio give n go sport boxer briefs. Merino doesn’t work for me unless I want to chaffe in 30 minutes and these Exofficio are fantastic. Used a bunch of others, look no further than these

MKC mini stoned goat. Really like this blade profile and size. It just cuts exactly where and how I want to.

Outdoor Vitals new pants. They just fit, performance is very good for non-snowy/cold hunts. I found myself continuously reaching for these over many other options.

 

[SkunkCabbage]

162 and 175 ELDXs out of 7 mags and 7 Saums have been excellent killing bullets for me as well.

Are you shooting the factory hornady or loading?

Handloads

 

[Chris Bull Whacker]

The Quick Stix by Wiser Precision has been a game changer for me. No more lugging around a tripod or bipod.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

The Quick Stix by Wiser Precision has been a game changer for me. No more lugging around a tripod or bipod.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've heard a lot of good things about the quick stix. Been meaning to give them more of a chance/try with some timed shot scenarios and in different shot angles...

I've been using the Spartan long legs for seated shots for around 5 or 6 years now I believe. I leave it pre-set to my seated shot height strapped to the outside of my pack. Sometimes you have to hunch or sit up straighter depending on the terrain, angle of the shot, and/or if you're trying to get through a window in brush/cactus like my photo in post #6 in this thread.

Post in thread 'Share Your “Gear of the Year” Winners For 2025!'

Saturday at 11:47 AM

I’ll play.

1. Stone glacier Grumman. This thing is WARM. Punches way above its cost when on sale. I used it in a white out blizzard and was impressed. Picture right before the blizzard rolled in at 12000 feet.

2. Exo k4. Man this thing fit me like a glove. I packed out an elk hind quarter and 2 front shoulders in a lightning storm (I wasn’t going back) and was amazed at how well it balanced the weight. 2 shoulder fit in the bag and the hind quarter on the meat shelf. Only issue I’ve had so far is a mouse/rat/wolverine chewing a hole in the lid to get to my jerky.

3. Outdoor...

• mxgsfmdpx

• 

Works with no rear rest other than elbows in thighs, or you can build a seated, fully supported position with backpack to help with rear rest and spartan long legs up front in seconds. You don't always need to be quick, but on that particular shot it was required to be very fast in order to make a kill.

 

[Chris Bull Whacker]

I've heard a lot of good things about the quick stix. Been meaning to give them more of a chance/try with some timed shot scenarios and in different shot angles...

I've been using the Spartan long legs for seated shots for around 5 or 6 years now I believe. I leave it pre-set to my seated shot height strapped to the outside of my pack. Sometimes you have to hunch or sit up straighter depending on the terrain, angle of the shot, and/or if you're trying to get through a window in brush/cactus like my photo in post #6 in this thread.

Post in thread 'Share Your “Gear of the Year” Winners For 2025!'

Saturday at 11:47 AM

I’ll play.

1. Stone glacier Grumman. This thing is WARM. Punches way above its cost when on sale. I used it in a white out blizzard and was impressed. Picture right before the blizzard rolled in at 12000 feet.

2. Exo k4. Man this thing fit me like a glove. I packed out an elk hind quarter and 2 front shoulders in a lightning storm (I wasn’t going back) and was amazed at how well it balanced the weight. 2 shoulder fit in the bag and the hind quarter on the meat shelf. Only issue I’ve had so far is a mouse/rat/wolverine chewing a hole in the lid to get to my jerky.

3. Outdoor...

• mxgsfmdpx

• 

Works with no rear rest other than elbows in thighs, or you can build a seated, fully supported position with backpack to help with rear rest and spartan long legs up front in seconds. You don't always need to be quick, but on that particular shot it was required to be very fast in order to make a kill.

Give them another try!
I was looking at getting the long legs before hearing of the quick stix on the Backcountry Hunting Podcast. I figured it was the best solution for me since I always already bring my trekking poles on every hunt. I put hockey tape around the poles above the quick stix so that when I rest my rifle on it there is no noise, plus it gives my rifle more grip. Another plus is that if my trekking poles are fully extended and the quick stix are installed high enough on the poles, I can still spread the poles enough to where I can get into a prone shooting position without retracting the legs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bobrobheimer]

I have been carrying the quick stix for a number of years - had not used them to shoot an animal but came to love them just as a way to keep my poles together either when I wanted a free hand or other instances - I hike a lot with poles. But this year they worked great to shoot my elk! I had ditched the tripod to be lighter on this particular mission and we got into elk where the cover/concealment area was on a steep side hill with loud ground and the shot was very steep uphill. Bipod wasn’t nearly tall enough and trying to get a pack to shoot off seemed like it was going to be really noisy - quick sticks worked great!

 

[Bobrobheimer]

Notable new gear for me this year was:

OV hybrid hoody - don’t generally rock a mid layer but that thing was great - was able to be pretty active and still keep it on while still being quite warm when things slowed down.

MLD bug bivy 2 - I am a big fan of my x mid 1 but with a clear forecast for third rifle this year the bivy set up was pretty great for a 4 nighter. The x mid 1 footprint isn’t giant but it’s still much more than just a bivy.

Also tried a quilt for the first time… I like that it’s lighter for the amount of down but when pushed to the edge I still like a sleeping bag. It’s the katabatic 15degree and I was pretty uncomfortable one of the nights in the upper teens. Was using the neo air xlite nxt as I had lent my xTherm to my buddy so maybe that would have helped. For the other nights it was nice.