Packing in - what shooting specific gear do you pack

[Deleted member 107666]

Curious what shooting "crutches" other folks do or dont pack in on a hunt. When weight is a factor, specifically. What do you find useful and what do you leave behind when you take to the field vs the range.

Rangefinder? (assuming that's a given to pack)
Paper drop chart or electronic like AB?
Weather meter?
Cosign indicator?
Cheater cards for wind calls and mil ranging as a backup?
Am I leaving anything out?

Interested to hear what you more experienced folks rely on and what you leave behind for the field vs the range.

 

[BallisticsGuy]

Range finder. Mil-Dot master. BallisticXLR wrist data card. Toe bag, butt (gluteus maximus) pillow (actually for this I use a seat cushion floatation device from a boat covered in camo fabric). Hunting distances, even longish range for hunting, still isn't that far.

Air temperature won't matter enough to need more equipment than the mark 1 human skin sensor. Barometric pressure just use standard pressure at your elevation, won't matter if you're a full inch (which is equal to ~1000ft of elevation too) off on hunting distances, even long range hunting distances.

The rangefinder is probably the most important thing unless you think you can confidently mil out a game animal's distance. Might even have a backup rangefinder in your bag. Bad distance makes for the easiest way to miss or wound an animal. All the rest of the toys are just that, toys.

 

[Hand Skills]

Just shooting sticks, rangefinder and rangecard really.

If I can, I'll use a prone position, pack as a front rest, bivvy sack as the rear rest.

More often than not I'm sitting, in which case the sticks become the front rest, pack (between my thigh and armpit) becomes the rear rest.

The most important thing to take into the field is practice (for me, shooting from a bench does not qualify as practice)!

 

[Bdubose]

*I tape my drop chart to my range finder.
*Use pack for bags when shooting prone.
*Good GPS because I hunt 2 days journey from truck - gives elevation
*Lots of real time shooting and bullet performance testing

 

[dmj]

Range finder
2 Trekking poles, walking sticks. Can use these for make shift bipod for shooting in sitting positions. Also help with extended periods of glassing.
Phone. Have ballistic calculator, onyx maps.
Use backpack for prone shooting.

 

[BigGrizz]

Gun & ammo

 

[Deleted member 107666]

Gun & ammo

No knife in the teeth....weak

 

[Comancheria]

Does anyone carry in a tripod and Hog Saddle or equivalent?

 

[dfanonymous]

Does anyone carry in a tripod and Hog Saddle or equivalent?

I do.
Manfrotto carbon fiber w/ hog saddle. Use it for the spotting scope too, so that's in the pack as well.
I use to be big on analog items but things have changed now I just carry spare batteries. Kestrel, range finder which actually is on the side of my bino harness, and gps.

I DO still carry a actual dope book with my dope, a DA card at 50% and my mirage indicators being the big one. Having been a sniper, I don't need any of the mil formulas on me, it'd take me a few seconds to figure out if need be, with a pencil but I rather not mil a deer or whatever. If my rangefinder is out for whatever reason then I probably be hiking back to the truck to conduct another op check on gear

 

[codyadams]

We have installed swiss arca rails on our rifles (usually under 5 oz) and use our carbon fiber tripod used for the spotting scope for front rest, along with pack or coat/jaclet for the rear. The tripod can go from 2.5" off the ground to 6.5 feet, and we pack it anyway for glassing, very stable, and can be used in any position.

Two Kilo 2200 rangefinders, my cousin and myself both have one.

My cellphone on airplane mode so the battery lasts 4 or 5 days, and use applied ballistics. For our long trips we also have a battery pack and solar panel charger that we usually bring, total extra wieght of about 2.5 lbs. Used for charging phones, our little Garmin GPS, headlamps, and camera.

If the cellphone fails or breaks, I have two or three range cards for the different elevations we will be at, usually from 7,000-10,000 feet, calculated with temps and baro pressure averages that we have observed and documented from previous trips.

And a shooting buddy. My cousin is almost always with me, so we are never alone when we go way back in where it is becoming more and more grizzly country. We also help eachother out with doping wind too ha ha

 

[Greyfox]

My basic items are a ballistic RF, Kestral, rear bag, collapsable shooting sticks, wind dust, compact shooting mat(for prone on cactus, snow, mud), ammo, lens wipes, hand wipes. Spare batteries. Pen/paper. compass, water bottle, spare ear plugs.

 

[Danehunter]

SHOOTING specific:
Extra magazine with ammo, 4 cleaning patches & cord W/brass patch holder, lens cleaning pen/brush, Kifaru Gun Bearer rifle holder (lightest rig on the market that permits you to carry with both hands free).

Eric B.
BTW, my walking poles are my shooting sticks. I know how to quickly cross the handles and overlap the straps for a good rest.

 

[Elkeater]

For shooting. A set of light weight shooting sticks. A Caldwell rear bag if antelope are the target. Deer or elk hunting no rear bag since I'll just use my pack for rear support. Kestrel, Sig Kilo 2200 rangefinder, range cards for different elevations, phone with ballistic app, bipod on rifle.

 

[Mackinaw BOB]

Bipod,gps with onx hunts.i carry 11 rounds of ammo, if I can't get it done with that many round I didn't do my homework. Wind direction checker(little bottle of silica powder)and my binos.