Using what you got- post it up.

[Rucker61]

I only started hunting a few years ago, and sold off some extra mountain bikes and guitars to fund it. I don't think I have anything I'm just "making do" with.

 

[neverquit]

Yep this was me just a few seasons ago. Keep in mind I was packing in Arizona for 4 days for an otc archery deer tag. In August. With no weather except hot in the 10day forecast. I had stashed 3 gallons of water two weeks prior. I would not even want to guess what I was carrying weight wise.

If my memory serves me correctly ...
Cabelas Alaskan guild frame pack
Eberlystock gun runner
Slik 824cf
Swarovski 15 Slc
Vortex viper hd 10's
Vortex spotter
Backside t1 one man tent
Some "lightweight "32deg bag
Rain gear
2 changes of clothing
8days of food and snacks
There's a ton of odds and ends I'm forgetting

Not terrible gear just way too much of it.
I backpack hunted like this for years before I figured things out.

My back hurts thinking about those days

 

[Jon Boy]

I have a video on here some where called back country on a budget. I cant seem to find it.

 

[dotman]

Great thread, I used to always bring a contractor garbage bag to use as a rain jacket or rain vest I guess. I used a Eureka Solitare for many many years and a cheap no name 25* bag during that time. Only camp I would use came off the clearance rack and I started out with a frame pack my dad bought at a pawn shop and handed down to my brother and I.

I don't use anything I started out with but I ran cheap of the cheap for many years.

 

[Cant hit em]

2 years ago or so

 

[Hunt365]

Great idea for a thread. It's not about what gear you have, it's about what you do with it.

 

[RCR]

My dad took me on my first trip to AK for moose and caribou when I was 16. I had an old no name Kmart pack and we used visqueen for our shelter. We were wet and sore, but we managed to kill 2 moose 2.5 miles from the lake on the 9th day of an 11 day hunt. We finally flew out on the 13th day. We were successful without the fancy gear, and I will never forget the awesome memories hunting with my dad. I still say thanks to some other hunters who lent me a decent pack frame after the shoulder straps ripped out on my pack.

 

[OR Archer]

That's my old Eureka Spitfire 1P tent that I have had for 8 years now. I still use it to this day. Its not let me down yet. Still I'd like to upgrade to a lighter 2p tent.

 

[Vids]

Great thread and it's so true. The desire to get after 'em is what's important, along with physical fitness and sharpening your skills.

My first real elk hunt in CO ten years ago found me in a Coleman tent with screen windows at 11,000 ft in mid October with two feet of snow on the ground. I was wearing old Rocky boots and cotton socks, along with cotton everything else. It was miserable, I could hardly sleep at night and hiking during the day was brutal.

Over the years I've slowly replaced gear as I could afford it but still don't have everything I want. Finally bought a Kifaru pack this year after 8 years of using a Black's Creek Alaskan pack (which packed out multiple elk just fine but started to fall apart). My goat tag in 2012 forced me to pony up and get some real mountain boots. I've got a few pieces of Sitka and wool base layers now. I still can't justify buying a new jacket though, my waterproof Redhead jacket works just fine for $100.

I'm still using my grandpa's old .308 lever action, no reason to replace a good all around rifle and I'm sure he'd be happy knowing I use it. I did put a better scope on it though.

 

[jlh42581]

I've not been a backcountry style hunter long. It took years and years of finding cheaper deals to have decent gear. My sleeping bag is my most expensive piece that's not used on every hunt. I bought my mountain hardware sprite on ebay for $60 shipped. My pad is the green thermarest with a coupon was $20. I bought my air mattress on a spring clearance. My stove is a pocket rocket knock off. My cook kit can be had from China for $11 on ebay.

I wanted ED glass and slowly got there buying a pair of vortex cheap and selling to go to vanguard ed binos which were on sale for half the market price of most others. They work great. I shot so many deer with my very first rifle that I never bought a new one myself until this year at 34 years old. My bow is a custom dipped gt500 that I did all the work myself.

First lite and core4 make up most of my gear with sitka and a few hiking pieces thrown in. I bought them all at half retail. I've been a hunter for 22 years. Froze with the best, packed stuff so heavy I swore I'd quit at times.

You don't have to pay retail for anything. Someone always wants better.

 

[Justin Crossley]

A couple pics from a few years back.

 

[Longstride12]

Muzzleloader hunt 2013. Just that morning my buddies told me I'd never see anything with my Mountain Smith green pack, blue denim jacket and walmart camo pants. Boots are old military style boots from a thrift store and the gun a Thompson Center was bought second hand off local classifieds. These were the two bucks shot that year and clearly the clothes don't make the hunter.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

This stuff was used last year.
$15 rei polar pod 25°

20 year old thermarest

Homemade pack bag. Can't find pics but there's a thread on it

Borrowed crappy $20 binos that actually fell apart.

This puffy is a heavy and ugly goodwill special but it is warm. The purple one.

 

[Longstride12]

This was my lunch and glassing seat while hunting late season cow elk. Not fancy gear, but it works for me.

And the result of that fine seat.

One shot at 150 yards with my Gramps old .300 savage lever action with a crappy scope.

 

[dog812]

I leave in 2 days for a 11 day diy fly in sheep hunt.... I normally love hike hunts but always use my wall tent... And due to limited funds I am using stuff that is really heavy and probably not designed for this but I will survive..

marmot 2p tent.. Just what I have for summer camping. 5#+
Eberlestock j34 pack... It's a good day pack with the expandability for packing out a animal but deff not designed to carry 11 days worth of stuff ha ha.
Marmot 0 degree sleeping bag.. Heavy :-[
20 year old spotter and a normal tri pod... Both really heavy....
Plus others I am sure... But those ones stand out.
My poor back ....

 

[Dos Perros]

Here's an Eddie Bauer tent I still use on occasion. I think these things went for $80 or something on a Christmas sale more than 10 years ago. It's fairly light (for a tent that old) and doesn't leak. I have a nicer MSR Fury 2 but the damn floor has a leak that I can't find. I've sealed the seams again, and then the entire floor and still can't get it fixed.

 

[Highcountry_Hellrazor]

Back in college days. Cabelas frame pack with a badlands day pack hanging off.

Killing elk in Carharts.

My dad still hunts in work boots and faded ass camo.

 

[Superkodiak38]

Awesome thread ! I started out with a treebark jacket and jeans with Vietnam era surplus boots that was for everything from doves to ducks, geese and deer ! Single shot H&R 12 gauge too and killed em all dead lol

 

[robby denning]

Awesome thread ! I started out with a treebark jacket and jeans with Vietnam era surplus boots that was for everything from doves to ducks, geese and deer ! Single shot H&R 12 gauge too and killed em all dead lol

And if worse came to worse, you could still kill 'em dead with all that gear


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Superkodiak38]

Sometimes you forget the camo jacket and still kill one, check out my dragging stick, didn't have rope ! lol

And Turkeys can be shot in a a tan Carhart Jacket, Camo is over rated, that's a 21 pound eastern