Your favorite old hunting gear

O

OldMan

Guest
A few recent posts about all the great improvements in gear these days got me thinking. What piece of gear have you had a long time that you will not replace or leave home for any reason. I still use the first hunting knife that my dad gave me many years ago. I was browsing through some pics the other day and noticed I'm wearing the same wool hunting shirt in lots of them - the shirt is over 30.
 
Well!

Some of you have seen Her & some of you haven't!

About 25 or so years ago My Dad gave me a Bushnell(Yes I said Bushnell!)Spotting Scope for Christmas!

She's been scattered down the road a few times!(3 or 4 I can think of after falling off the window)

She's on window mount # 4 now!

She's been re-tapped a couple times to a bigger bolt size for another window mount due to use & abuse!

She's been laughed at!(REDDOG & stinkbug!)

She's seen alot of Game in her day!

She's gettin a little rough around the edges!

Oh She's No Swaro!

But She's done everything I wanted & then some!





God is Great!
Life is Good!
And People are Crazy!
I love not acting my age,
Damn I love my NASCAR race,
And Hell yes I love my Truck!
And a good BBQ!
I am Medicine And I am Poison!
 
I got a old raggedy red bandana I have taken with me for 20 years now. Looks like moths have eaten it with all the holes but still serves many a functional purposes. 2 year ago I didn't take it along on our big game hunt as just couldn't connect with an animal. During a conversation my wife she mentioned to me about my gear and if I had it will with me, I am touch superstitious(sp), and I'll be danged if I didn't leave that old rag out. Next day I threw it in my pocket and WHAMMO animal down. It's back in my pocket once more...

BTW
Merry Christmas everyone,
Al
 
I have a knife I won at a Minnesota Deer Hunters banquet when I was 12. I have carried that knife every year and it has helped clean every big game animal I have shot except one. If I seen it in a store I wouldn't pay $3 for it because it can't hold a edge on warm butter. So I have to always carry two knives with me cause I'm a little scared to leave it at home and not shoot anything.
Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"
 
Bessy, funny you should mention your spotting scope. I too have a old Bushnell spotter. Bought my first and only one back in the 70's and had certainly got my moneys worth outa that dandy piece of equipment. After still using it these past 5-6 years knowing that it had seen it's better days, i finally bought a new scope last year, another Bushnell. And i like it, good to go another 30 years or so!!

Joey
 
I have an old canvas and goose down coat that I bought in the 70s. I'll put that coat up against any of the new high tech crap on the market today. It wouldn't do good in the rain, but if it's raining, it's too warm to wear anyway.

Eel
 
I have a pair of winchester binsos thatI have had for the last five years. They have seen there fair share of abuse. From myself and a two and five year old. I always close one eye to look threw any binos always have always will. But on this pair you really don't have a choice no matter who you are. Scratched to high hell and one eye piece is broke which is the eye hole I look threw and its not comfortable. But there my only pair and probably will be for a long time. But I love em they have been good to me. Thats sad I have nicer things to say about a broken pair of shitty binos, over my ex wife who got them for me.
 
My Uncle Henry buck knife. I have used it the last 31 years. Still holds an edge and can't find any reason to change. Cleans a few animals each year then I wash and sharpen it for next time.
 
>I have an old canvas and
>goose down coat that I
>bought in the 70s. I'll
>put that coat up against
>any of the new high
>tech crap on the market
>today. It wouldn't do good
>in the rain, but if
>it's raining, it's too warm
>to wear anyway.
>
>Eel


1870's ?
 
"Thats sad I have nicer things to say about a broken pair of shitty binos, over my ex wife who got them for me."

LMFAO!
 
A piece of nylon rope that I have carried for many years and have tied several deer on my four wheeler to haul to camp! Since 2005 I also carry dirt from my big brothers grave who died in 2005 from cancer. He was a big influence on my hunting and he loved to hunt! I have killed some nice mule deer since his death and each time after I field dress my deer, I spread the dirt on the mountain! I think he is has had a lot to do with the nice deer that I have killed. Two years ago I got a 197 2/8 and this past Oct a 185.
 
I had this old can of Spam that i have carried around for many years now. It's kinda like that canary that miners used to carry down in the mines with them... If the cannary dies, the miners had better get out, fast!!

When hunting and with that can of Spam, if i want to or do eat that vile conglomerate, i'll know that something is bad wrong and i had better get out, fast!

:) :)

Joey
 
>I had this old can of
>Spam that i have carried
>around for many years now.
>It's kinda like that canary
>that miners used to carry
>down in the mines with
>them... If the cannary dies,
>the miners had better get
>out, fast!!
>
> When hunting and with that
>can of Spam, if i
>want to or do eat
>that vile conglomerate, i'll know
>that something is bad wrong
>and i had better get
>out, fast!
>
>:) :)
>
>Joey

Ok, you say "I had". Now out with the rest of this tall tale.
 
OK! My hunting rig is a 4X4 but only a 1/2 ton. Couple years ago i got me a deal on a used pop-up camper. I really liked the way that camper made me a mobile hunting unit but she was a bit heavy for my truck.

So, i lightened up all i could on what i was packing around, that old can of spam was one of the first things to go! :)

Joey
 
My Wyoming Saw I bought back 12 years ago when I first got to Wyoming and its seen lots of use...replaced the blades once...I do pack it with me all the time while hunting..
 
remington mod 700 bdl bought
new in 1969wide ang. weaver scope.used every year since. son daughter two grand kids and two nephews have killed thier first deer with this gun.paid i think around 200 for gun sling scope.dealer gave me a box of 3006'
 
I have an old knife that I got for Christmas in 1956. It still holds a great edge and I dare not leave home without it.

I use the Havalon system for most blood work, but my old knife does the heavy stuff......and my steak at dinner.

I also have a sporterized, 1914 Eddystone '06, that I always take, at least as a backup on deer hunts. It is my first choice on elk.....and I have MANY options. Got that in about 1958. My gunsmith Grandfather, paid $16 for it from govt surplus in 1950 and I will put it up against many custom guns of today, for style and beauty. It won't drive tacks, but shoots "minute of coyote". Several million Japs and Nazis', cannot dispute it's efficiency either.

It has a BALVAR 2x7 scope, which I doubt most guys on here have ever seen. It was the "Swaro" of it's day.

Lot's of modern stuff I never even consider; range finders, trailcams, gps, scent blockers, etc, etc, etc. I am too old to bother with learning about that stuff, when I have done fine without it all these years. But it's all great if YOU want to use it. I can barely operate a cell phone.

..I do have Swaro binos however, and there is NOTHING on the planet that I would trade them for!
 
..I do have Swaro binos however, and there is NOTHING on the planet that I would trade them for!

Not even my Nicely Verily Broke in Bushnell Spotter?:D

God is Great!
Life is Good!
And People are Crazy!
I love not acting my age,
Damn I love my NASCAR race,
And Hell yes I love my Truck!
And a good BBQ!
I am Medicine And I am Poison!
 
Just as another "old hunting gear" item. In the early 50's, military surplus ammo was $6 for a crate of 250 rounds. My Grandfather had about a pallet of the stuff.

My whole family shot it at EVERYTHING, for as long as I can remember. I will bet that, counting all my living relatives, there are 25, 30-06 rifles in safes, closets and under beds.

When the Fish & Game made the rule about soft point or hollow point ammo for hunting, my Grandfather simply chucked the ball ammo into a drill press and drilled a hole in it. I still have some of it. It kills chit!

I doubt that I ever bought a box of shells for the '06 until about 1979......I take that back. I forgot my shells in my junior year of high school, on a trip to Idaho and had to pay $4.29 for a box of Silvertips in Nampa! What a ripoff!
 
We've got an old ruger 10/22 that has been on about every hunting, trapping, fishing, camping, anything trip for years and years. The sling consists of a piece of leather that was just chopped off a big sheet of leather and tied around the barrel and then again around the stock. It has a little four power leupold on it, that I'm amazed even shoots straight anymore. It has been ran over a couple times. Dropped numerous times. Tied to a fourwheeler rack in the winter everytime. Hell one time we lost it out on a trapline in about february, and with a ton of luck, one of our friends found it out messing around june and returned it to us. Can't lose it. Can't kill it.
 
An old old pair of woolrich wool hunting pants. They belonged to my father in law then me now my son.
 
Mine is a pair of Leitz 8x40 BA Trinovid binocs that I purchased in 1987 prior to an Alaskan Dall Sheep, Caribou and Moose hunt. These binoculars have gone with me everywhere since then including three Alaskan hunts and big game hunts in every Rocky Mtn. state from AZ to MT. These are the old, small Trinovids that weigh less that 21 oz. and have marvelous resolution, brightness and unbelievable depth of field. Focus on an object at 100 yds. and everything to infinity is in forcus. I have never gone on a hunting/scouting trip without them...don't know if I could.

Now I am an optic nut of the first order...at one time or another I've had 5 pairs of Leica binocs, 4 pair of Swaros, Zeiss 10x40's, 2 pairs of Leupold Wind River Olympics, Pentax 16x50's (used when I got my Desert Big Horn sheep), Nikon's. and others I can't remember. Currently I do most all my hunting with these 8x40's when I'm bushin' it through the mountains or my Leica 10x42 BA's on a tripod when I'm sitting and spotting.

I have sent these binocs back to Leica once for cleaning after years of rugged backpack and horseback hunts. One thing that gets my goat is why do todays binocs have to weigh so much? These little Leitz are as durable as any out there and optically are better than most any on the market today, in a much smaller/lighter package.
 
I still use an old Ackley 270. My dad who's memory is not as good as it use to be at the age of 84 still tells me he had P.O. Ackley in Trinadad Co build him the rifle in 1961. The barrel has his name stamped on it. I was born in 61 and shot my first deer with it at the age of 12. Have taken many deer, pronghorn, predators and elk with it. It still has the old 4x weaver on it. Have been thinking about upgrading the scope but have yet to change anything. That old rifle has been used for 50 years and my boys have taken a few big game animals with it. Hope to some day pass it on to one of them.
 
I have had an old long sleeve Greatful Dead tye dyed shirt that ive killed many of animals in along with my old wool hat with holes all over it.Somethings are just hard to let go.LOL
 
152z.jpg


~Z~
 
I have an old marlin 22, my grandpa left me. Well my dad found it in the rafters of his old house when my grandpa passed. It was packed full of sand and grit when I got it about ten years ago. I cleaned it and shot the hell out of it. I named it the bunny buster it dont miss.
 
Joining the crowd, I also have a Bushnell Spotting Scope I bought in 1976. Still works great. I also carry a Case Trapper pocket knife. I bought it in 1970, and it goes along on every trip. It's gutted a pile of animals.

Oh, and I don't have a blow-up hunting buddy.
 
I have a pair of black gloves that have been with me on every kill for the last 18 years Killed my first Elk with them. They have holes worn in them and really aren't functional anymore but I still wear them for every hunt. I also have a Browning knife with a gut hook and boning saw for the last ten years. It goes on every hunt with me and has skinned , quartered, and deboned a bunch of critters, even a few that weren't mine.

GBA
 

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