Any special item go with you on hunts?
I started with this thing in 1969. It's a haul line made from parachute cord my hunting partner gave me from his job at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and it's wrapped around a "Deer Me Tree Steps" package and it has a coat hanger hook to lower stuff down from the tree and fish up dropped items. It's gone in my pocket every season since. Weird, but I keep on hanging on to it out of nostalgia.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/reddogge/Archery/IMG_0576.jpg)
I always have a short candle (and matches) in my pack or pocket.
I cut a short piece of the base of a small antler, drilled a hole and filed it with some of my Dad's ashes. Epoxied a cap of osage to seal it and now he comes with me on every hunt. Got the idea from my buddy Tippit, and thought it was pretty cool.
Awesome, Whip!
whip, that's an awesome idea!
I take a baseball for luck. every step of the way. have for years
Nothing stranger on my hunts than myself.
For awhile I carried a dropped stuff fisher -- filed the barbs off a large treble. Works greaton dropped hats, clothes.
I take a small stuffed bear, wears a camo vest and orange hat......came home one night in January of 1996 after work and it was on the kitchen table with a note that said, "you screwed up the rut".....my son Hunter was born that October
David
Right out of college I worked a commercial salmon site off the west side of Kodiak Island, in Alaska. While I was there an old Aleut fella that owned the site across the bay gave me an Aleutian fishhook, carved out of whale bone. I've worn it around my neck from that moment forth. We worked in some nasty weather and always made it back to land. These days my brother has married into our former skippers family, and runs the fish site now. I wear it still hoping it will bring him the same good luck it has brought me.
Thanks to the internet I have another one now, that hangs off my quiver, just a little good luck charm.
Cool thread!
Jake
That's really cool Whip.
Whip. I would have done the same had my dad not been buried. Good for you for keeping your dads memory on your hunts.
I try not to do anything strange. I used to carry a whole lot of stuff, including some gimmicks, but in recent years I have been trying to greatly simplify.
Not a strange item but I carry my grandfathers hunting knife that he bought back in the late 40's. It is a small western metal handled knife that holds an edge. I remember him cleaning fish with this knife when I was 5 years old and I am now pushing 63.
My boonie hat. Gave to me from my son when he got back from the big sand box. Something really strange would be me.
An old friends knife and a old Irish rosary ring from Ireland.
My "Medicine bag", a small buckskin pouch that I wear on a thong around my neck. It contains small things from past successful hunts. It can't be told whats in the bag and no one besides myself can touch it.
Some years ago in a store, before I could react, a female clerk out of curiosity reached out and touched the bag. My luck was terrible that fall and I killed no deer that year...coincidence? :dunno:
What strange item do you take on each hunt?
I take my Black Widow PLGA longbow and 6 arrows. It's perfectly natural to me and everybody here. But to all my family and friends....that's the STRANGEST thing in the world to bring hunting. Especially when they all shoot crossbows and compounds.
I sold my compound to a good friend 2 weeks ago. He came by to shoot with me on Friday. I outshot him with my longbow while he was shooting my old compound (it isn't old, nearly new Hoyt, 340 fps). Then he GOT IT! He understood why I love the stick bows so much. He also tried to trade my compound back for my longbow. Of course, that wasn't happening.
Not strange necessarily, but I always take lip balm. It doesn't matter what time of year. I didn't take any on a multi day hunt several years back and got my lips severly burnt. It really made the hunt less enjoyable, so I alway pack some with me now.
Two items that I try to never leave behind in the outdoors, and it makes no difference whether I am fishing or hunting, are a merino wool neck gater and a merino wool balaclava. Both together weigh about the same as a pair of heavy gloves but will change my perception of the temp by at least 15 degrees. I can't count the times I have used one or the other or even both to be warm and comfortable when the temps dropped lower than expected.
Always have some ziplock bags for the heart and liver.
Haven't used them for several years now, but "Hope springs eternal". This year I WILL harvest a deer. I can feel it in my string hand.
My brother gave me a Buckeye Nut 30 years ago, I carried it for a few years. 8 years ago my friend in Ohio gave me one while we were hunting his place. I found some last year when we were hunting in Kentucky.. I gave them to my hunting Buddy's. My brother told me it was good luck to be given one..
A rubber chicken....
Robertfishes....from what I have always heard, for a buckeye to be "lucky" it has to be given to you by someone else. I ALWAYS have a "lucky" buckeye in my pocket...doesn't mater if I'm going hunting or to work or to WalMart. I figure a little extra luck can never hurt.
Pdk25,
Lip balm...
In a bar in Alaska and my lips were cracked bloody and hurtin. I noticed all the natives had no problems so I inquired. A local took me out to his dog team and he said "this is what we do". He lifted the tail of a dog swiped his finger down there then rubbed his lips.
"My goodness that is just disgusting", I said.
"Yep " said the native. " But you won't lick your lips". :goldtooth:
I've got a medicine bag as well. In addition, I have the green jasper arrowhead my wife got me. It's good medicine as well.
Medicine bag for me.
My dad swears up and down by carrying a Payday candy bar for deer hunting. We have other superstitions but my old man has the only item that he hasn't changed in 20 something years.
Matthew, your dad is spot on. A Payday candy bar or two is a hunting essential.
Visine eye drops and Red Man are in my pockets every time I have a bow in my hand.
My dad goes with me. If we are lucky enough harvest something, he gets to stay in the woods which he loved and taught me to love it too! tippit
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v110/tippit/Quebec%20Quest%202010/BearQuest2010011-1.jpg)
Tippit and Whip,
Super cool guys. That is really, really, great.
Jake
I have a flight glove from my time in the military that goes with me. It is the only uniform item that I have left from that time long ago, and it is for my bow hand. It is olive drab, so it works well in hunting situations.
I carry a funeral card with the 23rd psalm from a hunting buddy who died of cancer.
Tampons.
Yeah, you read it right.
1. To stop bleeding other than that for which they are designed. Think: Scary sharp broadheads and a constantly solo hunter. Now you get it.
2. To start a fire. They come in a waterproof container and weigh nothing. Not nearly as fragrant as cedar shavings (which I also carry), but very effective as tinder.
I have a lucky buckeye nresiding in the bottom of my haversack. It goes wherever I go.
I found it the morning I killed 2 does from the same stand the same morning, an hour apart.
Lucky rocks!! My daughters gave me some lucky rocks to take along on my spot and stalk black bear hunt. (They were like 4 and 6 yrs old). I killed a 465# bear on the first day of the hunt. My buddy got to day 4 and was starting to get concerned. I joking said you need to use my lucky rocks. He was desparate enough that he said I will try anything. Within 1 hr he had a 400# bear on the ground. Carry them ever since.
That's really odd because a payday is what I usually grab when havin a snack when hunting. They do make me thirsty though.
For the longest time I work a necklace that was from a deers leg bone that shattered on a shot from me. I cleaned it and scrim shawed a arrow and a deer hoof print on it and wore it with a sinue cordage. I wore It for hunting for years n years.
A buckeye is a mineral deposit in a deers stomach correct? Or am I mistaking it for something else?
http://www.ohio-nature.com/image-files/buckeye-tree-nut-lg.jpg
This is a Buckeye Redshaft.
My Grandpa always carried one in his pocket also.
bretto
I have and old Cheveron that my daughter put on one of my hats from the Marines, I wear it because that day seen the most deer ever, and has her with me.
I don't know if this would be considered strange but here it is. Last season I started bringing Snickers candy and a jar of Mandarin Oranges. I'm a diabetic. Everything I bring I've been bringing with me for years.
This hat has always been with me since I was 12...that was a few years ago. Goes in my pack on warm days for good luck.
(http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h138/oliverstacy/IMG00068.jpg)
Not sure it's weird though. Old yes...
A Hank of paracord in every pack. A needle is nearly every hat I own along with a small length of cotton string in the band. those have been used to repair stuff and even put a temp stitch in my hand
QuoteOriginally posted by bretto:
http://www.ohio-nature.com/image-files/buckeye-tree-nut-lg.jpg
This is a Buckeye Redshaft.
My Grandpa always carried one in his pocket also.
bretto
Thanks for the link. Yes I was way off.
A St. Hubert medal and an upper tusk of a wild boar I shot goes with me on every hunt
Harmonica for evenings - mostly entertain myself.
I carry a buckeye given to me by a good hunting partner and a Sog tanto knife given to me by a dear, departed friend.
I love all the similarities in this thread. I wouldn't have guessed that so many of you crusty hunters were sentimental at heart!
I really love Whip's idea. Wish my dad had been cremated. I do talk to him when I'm hunting. I always hope he'll scare the deer my way or guide my shots.
Maybe not that strange but I carry 4 or 5 paper towels. I have used them for TP, stopping blood, cleaning glasses, drying off wet arrows, bow etc. wiping out carcasses.