What are your daily essentials when packing in for a day mule deer hunt?

[Mightyhunter]

What are your daily essentials when packing in for a day mule deer hunt?

 

[MTJake]

2 liters of water, first aid kit (tourniquet, quick clot, tape), compass and fire starter and emergency/reflective blanket, puffy, kill kit (knife, game bags, preg checking gloves and nitrile gloves), snacks (dried cherries, granola bars, trail mix, apple(s)), spotter, five extra rounds, tripod, heavier gloves and rain jacket, lens cloth (I wear glasses), surveyors tape for marking and tracking if needed, 30 feet of paracord, headlight, inreach, batteries, and accordian zpad to sit on for glassing. If really cold I might include a vest or another layer and a warmer beanie.

 

[madtinker]

Rifle. Binoculars. Hat. Sunscreen. Stuff mentioned above.

 

[Poser]

In addition to all the usual stuff, If temps are warm, I may bring a tarp for the primary purpose of providing shade while skinning an animal out. Can also be used to ride out a storm.
I may also bring some citric acid if its fly/bee season.

 

[wapitibob]

Always on me:
Bino harness with range finder, wind detection and cow call. Release, calls, and gloves in the harness for archery, no binos.

Always in the pack:
1.5 liter water
Head lamp
Wipes in zip loc
Safety and extras, vac sealed
Kill kit vac sealed
Game bags vac sealed
Light rain jacket

For this years rifle elk/deer:
Binos
3 leg chair
Tripod

 

[hoodoo406]

Always on me:
Bino harness with range finder, wind detection and cow call. Release, calls, and gloves in the harness for archery, no binos.

Always in the pack:
1.5 liter water
Head lamp
Wipes in zip loc
Safety and extras, vac sealed
Kill kit vac sealed
Game bags vac sealed
Light rain jacket

For this years rifle elk/deer:
Binos
3 leg chair
Tripod

I like the idea of vacuum sealing your game bags. I've never thought of that.

 

[fisherman983]

I keep it a lot more simple than most people...
Gun, binos rangefinder.
Tripod and spotting scope.
Water
Lunch/snacks which may include a sandwich, couple granola bars fruit snacks/gummy bears.
Kill kit and some wet wipes and toilet paper.

And even that is too heavy most of the time.
I see lots of guys on the internet carrying around a pack full of shit they dont need just because someone else on the internet does it amd I just dont understand why. Mtn house/peak meals are cool but they take water and a stove and that stuffs heavy also. But im also day hunting from my truck. Front a tent in the woods may be a different story

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[justinspicher]

Everything I take fits in my MR daypack lid and my pack is basically empty.

Game bag and fixed knife/sharpener
Lunch/snacks
48oz nalgene
Possibles
Tripod

Binos in my harness with my bipod.

 

[Wacko]

I carry pretty much what everyone else said. I generally am out from before light until after dark. Tarp, first aid, clothes if needed, kill kit.....

I am also one of those guys that carries a small BRS stove, metal cup, 1 small container of fuel. Weighs under a pound and I like hot coffee, and hot cup o noodles......and I can boil water if I need to fill up or start a fire in very wet conditions.

I know...I'm crazy...

 

[HilltopHitman]

I take 3L of water everywhere I go and two days worth of food. Homemade egg carton fire starters. It can get western quick if you see a big buck a few miles out. Always be ready to cowboy camp.

 

[Marble]

One thing I dont see a lot of people carry is a big black hefty bag. Lots of uses for it.

But the lists above are fairly complete.

For mule deer I'll be carrying a tripod the majority of the time. I dont carry a spotter unless I'm on my horse and I'm not going far from it.

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[Marble]

I also carry enough food to last the night, 3-4 liters of water depending on the area, and one extra layer (usually a puffy of some kind) just in case I'm stranded out there, get something wet, or shit happens...

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[Mattskeen]

After using a tarp once, it now never leaves my pack. So mainly used for it! Provide shade, wind break, ride out a storm, and can provide protection for an unplanned night on the mountain.


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[Gato2]

A 16 oz katakana water bladder with filter. no weight or size penalty. Just put in a pocket or lid of pack. Have used more times that I ever thought I would

 

[Bradvr]

Headed out in my first mule deer hunt in November. Glad I saw this thread.

 

[chukar_chaser]

70 ounces of water, rain gear, first aid kit, inreach, phone, power bank, puffy, kill kit, food.

 

[TaperPin]

I use a cow call more often mule deer hunting than anything else. Time after time it is ideal to stop a deer from walking without scaring the beegeezers out of them. The fallacy of deer just standing around giving unlimited time for a shot costs a lot of deer every year. Some guys can do a good job of making a sound with their own mouth, but nothing I have tried is as effective and easy as a cow call.

I’ve had a deer at 70 yards going full speed stop at a moderately loud “mew” long enough for a shot. We all know deer often stop and look back before going over a ridge and a cow call can get them to stop a second time. It can get a bedded deer to stand up, or get a deer to turn a little to get a better look at his head gear.

The kid in me also likes anything that plays with the brains of animals. Over the years I’ve had a lot of fun with young deer testing the most effective ways to use it.

 

[grfox92]

One thing I dont see a lot of people carry is a big black hefty bag. Lots of uses for it.

But the lists above are fairly complete.

For mule deer I'll be carrying a tripod the majority of the time. I dont carry a spotter unless I'm on my horse and I'm not going far from it.

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I carry 6 kitchen garbage bags in my kill kit. I dont strap any meat to my pack unless it's in a garbage bag.

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[grfox92]

Some of you guys are carrying around 35lb packs for day hunts. I used to carry a ton of extra stuff.

My pack doesn't change for a day hunt regardless of the species I'm hunting, unless it's a cow tag, I won't carry a tripod.

Starting from the lid down:

-food for the day (rx bars, trail mix, energy drink packets, cliff bars, squeeze pouch of peanut butter, Lara Bars)
-Shit Kit (paper towels, baby wipes in a ziplock, hand sanitizer.
-Steripen
-rear bag (black sock filled with rice)
- First aid kit. All my tags inside the first aid kit.
- puffy jacket
-tripod
-kill kit (game bags, knife, blades, nitrile gloves, garbage bags, parachord)

That's it.

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[Seeknelk]

Kill kit
A heavy duty trash bag for meat, a lite duty one for head.
Binos
Rifle and ammo
Foam sit pad
Enough food for the day usually cold food, sometimes splurge a bring stove and a peak meal and coffee.
3 liters of water
Mulie hunts are usually cold snowy hunts for me.
Serious Sitka puffy, puffy pants if extra cold
Old snowboard mittens
Tripod
Kowa 88 always goes with even tho(especially because)it's gnarly, huge country. I've seen bucks at last light, that drove me nuts not knowing if they were worth taking Monday off to go after because I didn't have a real spotter)
Small first aid kit
Flare for fire starter emergency
Katoola K 10 crampons in certain places
Trekking poles