doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Your vital equipment list for upland hunting...

The board seems a bit slow the last couple days so I will attempt to spark a conversation. Besides your favorite double, what gear/gadgets to you just have to pack for a 3 or 4 hr hunting trip on a Saturday morning? I would say that my dog, and all the various items that go with a dog are necessary, this is not the answer I am looking for however. Do any of you have a particular item that makes the hunt more enjoyable that may be out of the norm? For me it's a hat pin made for me from the tail feather of the first wild rooster pheasant I ever killed. I switch it from hat to hat depending on the day but it's always there. Kind of a good luck charm I guess. I with the population of birds in Iowa I believe it is wearing out....

I like to take a couple good old paper shells for first bird.

My Small Munsterlander Pointer


My hunt'in buddy


A shotgun and some polywad spreader 7 1/2's

Everything else is not that important

Gary

Chocolate

My Beans waxed cotton game vest. After a couple seasons of hard use it looks and feels like a vest brought to life from an old black and white pic of an old hand proud of his days upland hunting achievements.

-Chris

Calf skin fingerless gloves to ward off thorns from multi-flora rose. They have saved me from many a scratch, I know this because I've regretted everytime I've forgotten them over the years.

Also every once in a while I'll take some black powder loads with me for the heck of it. I bought a couple of boxes of GOEX loaded 7.5's years ago and use them for practical jokes when someone wants to borrow a shell too.

Muck Boots! No laces to bend over and lace; slip on and slip off; keep my feet warm&dry in the swamps; Used to be Cheap too...Geo

Plenty of "John Wayne" paper.

Mike

Old fashioned lined wicker picnic basket with sandwiches, nuts, and fruit.



Paper shells loaded with nitro for my later doubles

Magtech brass hull black powder loads for my earlier doubles.

Waxed cotton vest.

I have younger dogs and have been putting a GPS locator collar on them until they will hold point for fifteen minutes which my Molly did last week. After that it is back to the old fashioned way of looking for the dog - scratch my head. I have a two collar set and on those days my shooting student Joe wood is having a near full time senior moment I put one of him just in case.

Battery booster in case the Expedition battery goes south. My main hunting buddy and shooting student Joe Wood is going senile and sometimes leaves things turned on on the truck.

First Aid Kit

A roll of stick on Velcro.

Garmin GPS for the navigating the truck.

"Roads of Texas", "Roads of Kansas", "Roads of New Mexico" and BLM maps

Gun cleaning kit

Back up doublegun to the one I am carrying.

Surgical tools for dog injuries, particulary porcupine encounters of the third kind

Spare shells in five gauges for my guests who forget theirs, I usually get about $5 per cartridge.

Spare vest for my guests that forget theirs, $50 per day rental

Spare batteries for the GPSs, walky talkys

My shooting student Joe Wood usually brings walky talkys so he can ask me what he needs to do when he gets in a jam and I am out of hearing range.

Duct tape

Spare socks

Filson waxed overalls for hunting in cold wet thorny country. In my opinion that is all they are good for.

Extra fleeces, agiain for rental to my guests

I like the Nike "Cold damp weather golf gloves" that someone on here recommende. I usually carry a spare pair.

A fluffy down filled coat. Fleece is nice but the down has insulating properties well beyone a couple of layered fleeces.

20 or thirty bottle of bottled water - in a cooler without ice

6 gallon gas can full of tap water for the dogs

The stainless steel dog bowls Walmart sells, have a rubber ring on the bottom to keep them from sliding around. One for each dog.

Dog food with measuring cup for the dogs - in a plastic container with a screwon lid.

Full tank of gas.

Duct tape, motorcycle innertubes, scissors and bandage scissors for dog boots.

Compass for the one day a season we have that it is foggy.

Rain coat.

Alleve and Aspirin for my guests, $2 per pill.

That is about half the crap I carry in my Expedition

Best,

Mike

A hair pick and Leatherman tool with pliers are absolutely as essential as toilet paper. The pick is used to flick cholla burrs off myself and the French Brittany and the leatherman pliers are used to get any left over spines out of me and the dog. I just find it hard to walk with my hunting pants nailed to my shin bone by cholla cactus spines. Hunters from areas without cholla just haven't seen anything as nasty.