Hunting Pack Gear List

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What’s my hunting pack gear list? What do I take to the field? Let’s explore my must have gear in the hunting stand.

Take only the gear to the field that allows you to hunt longer, harder, smarter.
Fred Bear

Table of Contents

Hunting Pack

For years, I’ve carried the Alps Outdoor Traverse EPS Pack. It’s a great pack and I still use it on colder hunts for the additional space it has for extra clothes. Last year, I bought a Cabela’s Treestand Pack and I absolutely love it!

This Cabela’s pack is just the right size and even though it’s a smaller pack, it includes a hip belt to help take the weight off your shoulders while walking to your stand. It opens almost completely flat, so it’s easy to pack and find what you need from your pack.

I always had an issue with the Alps pack only opening about halfway and trying to dig down to the dark bottom of the pack to find something. Not an issue with the Cabela’s pack.

The pack material (durable tricot construction with 600-denier polyester oxford) is also very soft and quiet. No crackling sounds coming from the stand when you get into your pack.

I found it to be very comfortable carrying to the stand and back. It’s also holster or quiver compatible. I took advantage of this feature and had my sidearm readily accessible for any hog encounters on the way to or from the stand.

Binoculars & Rangefinder

I prefer having my binoculars and rangefinder in a chest harness for easy access. I’ve used the Horn Hunter harness for years and it’s great. It’s built with the hunter in mind – very quiet attachments and openings. It also has a back pocket that works great for my cell phone.

For binoculars, I try to buy the best glass I can afford. I don’t like to go too crazy in price and instead try to find that perfect middle ground. So far, the best “budget” binoculars I’ve found are the Redfield Rebel binoculars. At just over $100, they’re as clear or better than binoculars that cost twice as much. They now have them in a camo version – which they did not when I bought mine. I guess I’m getting some new binoculars. lol

For rangefinder, I just want them to work. I’ve had a Simmons rangefinder for years that still works perfectly. I think I paid about $60 for it. It’s no longer available (as you’ll see if you click on that link), but the point is that you don’t need to spend a fortune on a rangefinder. It just needs to work.

Field Wipes

I always have some type of field wipes in my hunting pack gear list. Cleaning up after field dressing a deer. Getting that sticky sugar from a Little Debbie snack off my fingers. Trying to reduce my scent after sweating my butt off getting to the stand. That emergency call of nature from the stand. They have so many uses. Recently, I’ve switched from Scent Killer brand wipes to unscented Dude Wipes. You get 3 times as many Dude Wipes for the same price and I can easily take a bunch out, put them in a Ziploc bag, and then they don’t make any sound when I’m getting one out in the stand. Plus, they’re flushable, so they probably degrade a bit faster than Scent Killer wipes if you use them for that call from Mother Nature.

Navigational Aids

My Garmin Fenix watch and the HuntStand app both have full navigation for getting to my hunting stands. I generally only use these if I end up lost in the deer woods at oh-dark-thirty. Otherwise, I use a lot of “old school” navigational aids to find my way to the stand in the dark and I keep extras in my pack.

Reflective thumb tacks and orange reflective trail markers guide me to most of my stand locations. These both provide excellent visual aid for finding your way in the deer woods. I prefer the trail markers in Texas where we don’t have a lot of tall, straight trees for the thumb tacks. In West Virginia, we use the thumb tacks.

Hand Muff

I started using a hand muff in 2019 and now, I won’t go hunting without it. I learned about using a hand muff from Whitetail Habitat Solutions – Jeff has a great channel and really good books that he’s written. Be sure to check him out.

At first, I tried a hand muff from Hot Shot with a window to use your cell phone while it’s inside the muff. I quickly learned that while it would be great to be able to use my cell phone from inside the muff, that little window lets a LOT of cold air pass through it.

I returned the Hot Shot hand muff and during a visit to Cabela’s I picked up their hand muff with a fluffy fleece lining and Gore-Tex shell. It cost a little more, but it’s been worth every penny. I don’t even need gloves on the coldest days. Just keep my hands in the muff until I need to use my binos or take a shot and they stay toasty warm.

Game Calls

I pretty much stick to a basic grunt call and a doe bleet for my game calls during the deer season. I used to pack a rattler, but I’ve found it’s redundant with the grunt call. If I hunted during the prime rut (which I rarely am able to do), I might add the rattle pack back into the list.

Wind Indicator

Many times in my hunting areas, we lack cell service so I’m not able to get a weather forecast with wind speed and direction. So, I have a small bottle of wind indicator in my pack to check the wind.

You can take all the “scent control” measures you want, but if the wind is wrong it won’t matter. You can always use baking soda to refill your wind indicator, too — that’s what I do.

Pack Organizers

Most hunting packs don’t have a lot of pockets (although the Cabela’s Tree Stand Pack does). I use smaller waterproof pouches to organize my pack when I’m lacking organization pockets (and even when I have all those pockets).

I have a “trailing deer” pouch with orange tape and reflective thumb tacks. A field dressing pouch with my field dressing knife, Butt Out, wipes, and Ziploc trash bag. A rope pouch with paracord. You get the idea.

I prefer waterproof pouches that can provide a double use of keeping electronics dry in rainy conditions.

Lights

“Two is one and one is none.” My mantra when it comes to lights. I always carry two. I’ve switched to a rechargeable headlamp from Nitecore, because I got tired of having issues with batteries dying or exploding inside my lights.

Obviously, I prefer red or green lights to avoid spooking deer with my bright, white light. Either way, a good, dependable light with a backup is critical for finding your way to and from the stand.

Ear Protection

Protect your ears! I used to use a pair of Walker’s Game Ears for my ear protection in the stand. I found that I would constantly hit the stock of my rifle with the hearing protection and potentially scare all the deer away. Plus, the Walker’s Game Ears were supposed to amplify the ambient sound, theoretically letting you hear deer coming. I found that they just increase the static noise of the woods.

Now, I just use my Bluetooth earbuds that work just as good as any hearing protection, plus they connect to my phone! The Jabra earbuds that I use also have an ambient noise function that works better than the Walker’s Game Ears, anyway.

Catch All Bag

I carry a “catch all” bag in my kit, as well. This is where I keep my hunting license, tape measure for measuring deer antlers, some extra ammo, bow string lubricant, extra trail markers, and a few other odds and ends.

Field Dressing Kit

As I mentioned above, I carry my field dressing kit in a small pouch for easy access when it’s time to field dress a deer. I love the Outdoor Edge Razor Pro with my Butt Out. This combo is the perfect field dressing kit, IMHO.