Have you ever put together a hunting trip away from home and pretty much forgotten a bunch of your equipment? Or maybe left your thermals in the drawer at home only to find the temperature is 10 degrees in the place you want to hunt. I am sure I am not the only one that has ever done this! Although I may be the only one to admit it on the internet or anywhere else for that matter!
There is probably nothing more frustrating to a hunter than scouting an area for over 2 months to create a plan of harvesting their favorite big game animal, only to find that on opening day they left their rangefinder or binoculars at home. What is worse, they left them next to their insulated boots and had put their tags in the binoculars case for safe keeping. So much for the 2 month plan, just wait till next year!
I, like so many of us, struggled with this type of dilemma for many years until I discovered a simple checklist can eliminate all of this and it only takes a little time to put it together. You do not want to wait until the morning of your hunt to create this list, but you can wait until the week before if necessary. Everybody has their own methods of remembering things but for me a simple piece of paper with a breakdown of all my hunting equipment hung on the refrigerator works the best.
My breakdown usually looks something like this:
o Backpack
1. Knives
2. Rangefinder
3. Binoculars
4. Flashlight
5. Licenses and tags
6. Etc.
o Large Clothing Bag
1. Thermals
2. Camos
3. Hunting boots
4. Socks
5. Coveralls
6. Etc.
o Rifle Case
1. Rifle
2. Shells
3. Scope cleaners & covers
4. Tripods
5. Etc.
Then if you are going to be in a hunting camp:
o Tent
o All tent accessories
o Sleeping bag
o Cot or air mattress
o Lanterns
o Camp stove
o Food
o Etc.
There are many more things that can be added to the lists but I am sure everyone can figure that out. The point I am trying to get across is that if you start your list like this and add to it as time goes on, you will eventually have everything on your list so when you get ready to leave for hunting camp nothing gets left out.
With this type of planning, you can have things ready to load in your truck with plenty of time to spare and makes camp set up so much easier because you are not spending a lot of time looking for something that may or may not be in your gear. Once you are to the point of making all of this stuff easy, all you have to think about is getting to your tree stand or blind and getting the perfect shot at the animal you have been dreaming about.
This type of planning is not limited to hunting trips either as I use it for fishing trips or camping trips as well. Somebody once said "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". I kind of see what they mean now. The biggest problem is, it was my 5th grade teacher that said it to me and I have not seen her in almost 40 years!
Which reminds me... make sure to put your list on the refrigerator, or your rifle cabinet, or somewhere obvious, so you do not forget where you put it!
Bob Darrah, hunting and outdoor enthusiast. For more information on the hunting equipment mentioned in this article visit http://www.huntingforoptics.com
Thanks To : Tactical Knifes Tactical Knife Review Fighting Knife Review
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