Your gear upgrades/changes/additions for *2025*

[CodeMonkey]

Replacing all optics with sig zulu6 16x42


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please let me know how that works out. I have been tempted to do this myself, the weight savings is gigantic.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Down puffy. Picked up both the SG Grumman and the KUIU Super Down Pro. The KUIU ended up staying after trying both on. I could see the appeal of the Grumman, but the Super Down Pro fit a little better and seemed to have more loft.

This should save several ounces in my pack while giving me more warmth for those early morning glassing sessions where you really didn't want to get out of your sleeping bag since it's day 4, you haven't seen an animal worth a stalk, your homesick and wondering what your boys are doing, have the worst farts thanks to Mountain House, and just want to feel warm.

 

[loadsandlattes]

I ended up doing quite a bit of upgrading and rearranging this year.

Competitive Shooting:
- Sent off a Tikka 7RM to Unknown Munitions to be rebarreled into 7PRC for ELR. Moved it from an LSS chassis to a HNT26 chassis. Swapped the NF rings for Spuhr rings
- Built a second revision of a tac-table for my tripod. Learned a few things on that first run.

Local Texas Hunting:
- picked up a JP rifle in .223 wylde for coyotes, pigs, and other varmints

Western Hunting:
- swapped Zeiss 10x42 for Vectronix Vector X 10x42, ditching hand held range finder
- going from a Kuiu 30° bag to a Katabatic 22° quilt
- went from a regular to a wide size XTherm pad
- going from cheapo wrangler outdoor pants to a couple of different Stone Glacier pants
- water filtration switch from Sawyer to Hydrapak. My gosh, what a difference so far
- added a full custom lightweight 6.5PRC to the mix, will handle 95% of my hunts moving forward

 

[oldskool67]

I got a Kuiu 280 strong fleece and a peloton 200 on clearance. Really didn’t need them…Only thing I really need to upgrade is my binos

 

[Arithson]

Need a new pair of boots
Selling some shelters to buy an argali absoroka
dd enticer lti (on a new rifle I haven't hunted with)
arca plate on my rifle so I have the ability to shoot from a tripod although I don't really see myself needing to
new shoes for the pickup if that counts
need to buy a jump pack for my pickup


And dang I might need a boat for a tag I drew but I don't want to buy one. Anybody have a boat and live around fort peck that I could put on speed dial? Will pay cash for a ride if I need one.

I’m 3 hours away but you’re sure welcome to call if ya need help. I have a 20 for Boulton jet and have ran peck a fair amount

 

[PointlessArcher]

Get the SG De Havilland Lite's for the heat dump ability and am really impressed so far. Looking to upgrade sleeping bag to a lighter quilt and save some weight on a new 1P tent.

Best thing I did though was make an excel spreadsheet and add up every piece of gear. It makes a huge difference seeing how all the little things add up and helps prioritize what to bring and note where you can save weight.

 

[cumminsbassguy]

New things for this season.

Sitka ambient- steal of a deal for the pullover version and it works fantastic when paired with a wind shell.

Sitka jetstream- steal of a deal. Brought it with sheep hunting and I didn't need to as I only wore the ambient and wind shell. It'll get used more as the Temps get colder.

Lacrosse Atlas boots- worked fine for 3 days of moose season last year. Brought em on the sheep hunt this year and first creek crossing, wet feet. Dealt with that for 4 days amd constantly drying boots as I could in the sun. Got home and filled them with water. The membrane at the lower eyelet of both boots failed. Will be getting returned and going a different route.

Dehydrated my MRE meals to cut weight and boy did it cut weight. Knocked 8-9 oz off each dinner. Highly recommend dehydrating your own meals for a little $$ savings.

Spool of micro cords vs 550 cords. I can carry a spool of 125' of micro cords for the weight of 20' of p cord.

That's about all I can think of currently.

Would like to get a new fire maple heat sink pot for faster/ more efficient boils. But they don't ship to Alaska. Gotta work around that issue.

 

[PointlessArcher]

New things for this season.

Sitka ambient- steal of a deal for the pullover version and it works fantastic when paired with a wind shell.

Sitka jetstream- steal of a deal. Brought it with sheep hunting and I didn't need to as I only wore the ambient and wind shell. It'll get used more as the Temps get colder.

Lacrosse Atlas boots- worked fine for 3 days of moose season last year. Brought em on the sheep hunt this year and first creek crossing, wet feet. Dealt with that for 4 days amd constantly drying boots as I could in the sun. Got home and filled them with water. The membrane at the lower eyelet of both boots failed. Will be getting returned and going a different route.

Dehydrated my MRE meals to cut weight and boy did it cut weight. Knocked 8-9 oz off each dinner. Highly recommend dehydrating your own meals for a little $$ savings.

Spool of micro cords vs 550 cords. I can carry a spool of 125' of micro cords for the weight of 20' of p cord.

That's about all I can think of currently.

Would like to get a new fire maple heat sink pot for faster/ more efficient boils. But they don't ship to Alaska. Gotta work around that issue.

+1 for replacing paracord. It's overkill, bulky, and gets hung up on everything. Easy to find cordage that has a tensile strength over 300lbs for a fraction of thw weight and size

 

[Rufus]

New things for this season.

Sitka ambient- steal of a deal for the pullover version and it works fantastic when paired with a wind shell.

Sitka jetstream- steal of a deal. Brought it with sheep hunting and I didn't need to as I only wore the ambient and wind shell. It'll get used more as the Temps get colder.

Lacrosse Atlas boots- worked fine for 3 days of moose season last year. Brought em on the sheep hunt this year and first creek crossing, wet feet. Dealt with that for 4 days amd constantly drying boots as I could in the sun. Got home and filled them with water. The membrane at the lower eyelet of both boots failed. Will be getting returned and going a different route.

Dehydrated my MRE meals to cut weight and boy did it cut weight. Knocked 8-9 oz off each dinner. Highly recommend dehydrating your own meals for a little $$ savings.

Spool of micro cords vs 550 cords. I can carry a spool of 125' of micro cords for the weight of 20' of p cord.

That's about all I can think of currently.

Would like to get a new fire maple heat sink pot for faster/ more efficient boils. But they don't ship to Alaska. Gotta work around that issue.

Which cord did you switch to? Thanks. -Rufus

 

[cumminsbassguy]

Which cord did you switch to? Thanks. -Rufus

1.18mm Micro Cord - Urban Camo – Atwood Rope MFG

Urban in the sense that the colors that make up the rope accurately reflect the camo pattern in the urban style. 1.18mm diameter. Made in the USA

atwoodrope.com

Bought it to redo the zipper pulls on my jetstream. Ended up using it as my guylines for my tipi along with some homemade ranger bands out of an old bike inner tube for shock absorbing. Should also add in bike inner tube ranger bands for securing things from rattling around

 

[waspocrew]

Upgraded binos to the 12x NL Pures due to the current sale. Absolutely awesome glass.

Will try binos with a tripod for the first time this year. The RRS Cinch seems to work well.

Outside of that, nothing else new. May upgrade packs next season but for now I’ll make mine work.

 

[SikaHuntaa]

Got a WM Badger and a WM Astralite to cover my year round hunting
Got a KUIU Stormstar for Autumn/Winter and a Rincon for Spring/Summer
Got a Swarovski STX 85mm to help age tahr and chamois
Got a Aziak Backcountry Tripod
Got a Arca Rail Mounted to my rifle so I can shoot off the tripod as well as pack/bipod
Got a heap of Sitka gear- really loving the Ambient line

Wanting to get either the new Mini Kowa or the ATC- currently have the Mini Vortex and the eye piece just doesn't suit me as well.


Have spent a heap the past 6-8mnths to upgrade from the basic fleece farming gear I was hunting in to try lighten the load and improve my time out in the hills after 16 odd years slogging it out in average gear

 

[ganngus]

Lathrop & Sons Boots.

 

[justinspicher]

I added a new KRG Bravo to my Ruger American Ranch rifle and started using a new app for my dope (chairgunner elite). So far both are pretty rad.

 

[cumminsbassguy]

Sea to summit trailhead 2, 30° sleeping bag. Steal of a deal on it and it worked great for what I needed. Closest we got was close to 32° as there was frost on the berries in the morning. And with my timberlines still on and an ambient over my shirt, I was comfy.

 

[Mattyq17]

Upgraded to SLC 10x42 from Vortex Diamondbacks
Crispi Lapponia II's
Maven Rangefinder
Davis 16x20 tent (my brother and I split the cost for our group)

 

[jpmulk]

Got rid of my super stiff boots and went back to a more minimalist flexible boot.

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

After listening to the meateater close calls book on audible. Immediately thought of my joke of a med kit.

Figured it was time to updrgrade from a couple bandaids and benidrill. Ha

Not bad for a couple Oz and a little more peace of mind.

 

[Decker9]

The two changes I made this year, walnut on my sheep rifle and a glassing chair.

20 years or so sheep hunting, I can’t believe I waited so long to try a glassing chair. Was a complete game changer. Stayed on glass longer, and seen more game because of it.

Didn’t get to test the walnut, but it made me smile every time I looked at it, so I’ll take it as an upgrade lol.

I did pack a Tricer pan head this year, im not sure if it’s a good or bad yet. I need another trip or two with it.

 

[100%DIYazCOUES]

Theme for me is cutting weight with quality gear for my longer pack in hunts, as efficiently as possible cost wise.ive managed to drop several lbs from my pack, and almost every upgrade I’ve made has been bought at 20-40% off.
Exo k4 5000-absolutely amazing. $600
Durston x mid 2-amazing $200
ZenBivy core 25,light sheet-unproven but seems great $210
Therm-a-Rest neoair nxt L/W- unproven but seems perfect $120
Camptime pack stool for glassing. Unproven but a lb lighter then my walkstool $25
OR helium rain jacket.-so far so good, huge weight savings $45
KUIU peloton 97-unproven but huge weight savings for what should be similar performance of my current mid layers $55
Tricer lp- like it so far, good enough to sacrifice a tiny bit of performance to drop almost a lb.

Packs at 48 lbs including rifle, half gallon of water, food for 6 days, and layering assuming the coldest weather our hunts could possibly be, so there’s room to drop more weight.
Love that!