Running Water Podcast with Jordan Budd

Beginners Hunting Gear: A Comprehensive Guide to Gear and Clothing

• Jordan Budd • Episode 3

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I'm diving into hunting gear for beginners this week. This is a 2 part podcast, in the next part we'll pick up on camping/backpacking gear. 

From boots and backpacks to binoculars and tripods, every piece of gear has its own purpose. I'll share my insights on the different styles and materials, and how customizing your gear can significantly enhance your hunting experience. Moreover, we'll discuss how to choose the right model for your needs and suggest ways to budget for these essential items. 

We then delve into the topic of clothing and gear, covering the importance of layering, the benefits of different types of jackets, and how to prepare for different weather conditions. We'll touch on bow setups and satellite messengers, and stress the importance of having a reliable emergency plan. Wrapping up, we'll discuss the various tools you'll need for a successful hunt - from knives to fire starters. So, gear up and let's hit the trail on this enthralling hunting adventure.


Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, jordan Budd here with the Toolkit, and today I'm gonna do, I'm gonna start a two-part series. This is gonna be part one of the hunting gear portion, the beginner's guide. So a question that I get a lot is like hey, I'm coming out west for the first time. I drew a deer tag, I drew an elk tag usually, and I know that I need some stuff, but I there's so many options and it's just it's hard to sort through it all. What do I really need and what do I not really need? What is the marketing kind of getting me on? So I thought I'd do that today. I actually went way back to the 1990s and built a slide show here that we can kind of go through together, and it's just a really good thing for some visuals. I thought so, before we get into that, a little recap on the Utah hunt that I just went on this last week. I'm actually going back here in a few days.

Speaker 1:

We found a good buck. I stalked him two, three times. He has nine other buddies with him and it just made it really, really difficult. But good buck, nice, four by four, really looking forward to getting back down there. He's gonna be hardhorned by the time I get down there. Probably I really wanted to shoot him in the in the velvet. I haven't shot a velvet buck yet with my bow. I shot a velvet caribou last year in Alaska but haven't got a buck yet. And Mule Deer is just my favorite thing and I really wanted to do that. But with so many eyes is just it's gonna be really tough. So I'm hoping when I go back down there he'll be split off from a couple of his buddies, but something I ran into.

Speaker 1:

So on the last episode, episode two, I went through the or actually it was episode one I went through the gear that I was using to go on the Utah hunt and when it came to boots I said that I was gonna take the crispy altitude boot, which I did. So here she is here, this boot. I wanted to take it because it's like pretty like high desert, but it didn't look too like it was too rough of terrain to me. It looked like for the most part we were gonna be walking on fairly flat ground. It was rocky. So I just I wanted a little more flexible, like really good breathability of a boot, but still could handle the mountains. And I'm not saying that this can't Flex is really good.

Speaker 1:

This direction and torsionally is what you need you want for side healing. It's pretty stiff but making those stocks I had to make about a mile approach, all on one steep hillside. So side healing the whole way and that was like a bit much for these boots only doing that. If I was just walking on top and it was flat it would be fine. But doing the side healing kind of hurt me on the way back a little bit and I think basically what was happening and you get on the side hill and you want that boot to be able to plant itself and not flex, so you have a good platform here like a stair to keep walking on. What was happening was my I felt like my the back of my heel, let's see here, the back of my heel was planting but the front of my foot was still rolling and you can kind of see it as I do it there. Still it was rolling and what it was doing is it was making a little bit of a friction spot on the ball of my foot. Just the more I did it it wasn't awful, but I had to stop and release one time to try to fix it and I would not say at all that this boot failed.

Speaker 1:

I just probably didn't choose the best boot for, like, that side healing circumstance, which, like who can take 100 pairs of boots with them for every single thing that comes along. But I did take my crispy brickstalls with me. These things fit my foot really, really well and so I took these with me as well, just in case something goofy happened. And those other altitude boots are out of a five on the flex scale. They're they call them a 2.5. So they're right in there, kind of in the middle of everything, and we're going to talk about boots here in a little bit too, but this is just going to get a little bit of a jump start on it. This boot is a four on the flex ratings to go out of five, so quite a bit more. So it is like you can see it's doesn't flex as much this direction and it definitely doesn't flex. It definitely doesn't flex as much torsionally. So I literally put these things on. I went on the next stock across that hillside and I felt like I was a rocket being propelled across the hill just because that that platform was so much better for the side healing. And then it just. It just like propelled me across. I wasn't nearly as tired when I got back, still deflated because the stock didn't work, but nonetheless my feet felt a lot better. So that's just a little update there.

Speaker 1:

With all that being said, let's dive into the toolkit and beginner's guide to hunting gear, part one. Okay, so we're going to pop over here to my PowerPoint. I thought I did a pretty good job on it actually. So here we go. We have hunting gear here with our little tagline gear is great, experience is key. I want to talk about that again real quick. I feel like one thing we can really control is gear. Like we can buy that and can control what we get, and for a gear head like me, it's fun, whatever. But like getting in the field and getting experience under your belt is just going to be far more superior or key, as I wrote, because gear is not going to like kill stuff for you, right? Or it's not going to fill a tag for you. It's going to maybe let you stay out there longer, let you be a little more comfortable out there, but in the end, like gear is, they are tools to help us do certain things. They're not going to fill tags for us.

Speaker 1:

Okay, boots, footwear, same thing. So get the right boot for the job. There are so many different styles of boots out there. I mean just in general. There's a lot of brands of boots, let alone all the different styles that each one of those brands comes out with for different things. So look at what you're doing. You're going on a mountain hunt, like I just explained. Like I experienced on the Utah hunt last week, that stiffer set of boots was like probably what I should have always been using down there, because that's what I should have planned on using because it's steep. I'm going to be side healing a lot.

Speaker 1:

The big thing is try a bunch on, see what fits. You Don't just take somebody's word for it, including mine probably. Try to go to a store where you can try stuff on. Or like order a set of boots from somebody, order a few different sets that you're interested in, get them to your house, try them on. I mean, the living room certainly isn't going to replicate the back country being in the field, but it's definitely going to. It's going to help you out. You're going to be able to tell fairly quickly of like one boot to the next, comparing them right beside each other of like man. I just don't like. I already see problems that might happen with this, so that's a good way to do it as well and then just return the ones that you don't like.

Speaker 1:

Another thing you're going to, you're going to go into, is you're going to see synthetic versus leather. And now it's really interesting because there used to be like all leather boots and then there used to be all synthetic boots and a lot of times those synthetic boots were like really stiff mountaineering companies were making them and all different colors, like you could see here, the Las Portiva Equilibrium, which I do have a set. I wore them last year and I do like those. They are fancy colors. That's because they're not making them really for hunters or making them for just the regular backpacking crowd. But that is a. That is a synthetic boot you go over here. This next one over this is the Crispy Brickstall Mountain SF. So there are some components of it that are synthetic, some components of it are also leather, so that's kind of a hybrid, like a combination.

Speaker 1:

Down here in the right corner if you're listening to this, this is the Crispy Altitude Boot that I just talked about a little bit ago. It has leather here on the side for, like high abrasion areas which, like that is something to certainly consider, like in rocky terrain. Rocks and synthetic materials in my, in my experience, haven't really gone well together, especially when it's on the sides of the boot. Leather is just more abrasion resistant, just kind of the way it is Synthetic, depending on the material, like it might just shred faster. And I would say in general, your synthetic boot is going to not last as long as a leather boot and then also in general your synthetic boots are going to be cheaper than a full leather boot, kind of just in general. So you can let that help you a little bit as well in like choosing a boot.

Speaker 1:

Down here in the bottom left hand corner I have the Mountain Hunter Elite boots from Lathrop and Sons. I haven't got a chance to use those yet in the field, but I have them right here. I actually I went through the whole thing with these guys and when I say the whole thing, they make custom insoles, they can shape the boot to your foot, they can make some modifications with the boot itself. So it's not just totally out of the box although you can get it that way as well and then their custom, their custom orthotics, their custom insoles. But the thing about those guys is you can call them and they will really talk to you and like go through like a quick fit.

Speaker 1:

Or if you're a person that has trouble with your feet I really am not I haven't had that much trouble with my feet in boots. Some of it is. I've tried enough to just kind of know what I tend to like. So I think that that helps a little bit. But, like, if you are a person who really has trouble with your feet in boots and things, like you really should go to lathe rip and suns, just give them a call.

Speaker 1:

So again, with this first style of hunting I'm kind of talking about, we're not talking about backpacking right now, we're just talking about the basic, like core hunt, things you need. And I'm rolling that right into, assuming that you're doing like a base camp style hunt, where you're like a base camp style hunt, where you're like day hunting, and this isn't just for western. This is geared a little bit more towards western just because that's what I do and like to do. But I also grew up in Nebraska. I hunt a bunch out there, so I can counter, relate to the Midwest side of things as well. So backpacks, same thing it's going to be. It's going to kind of depend on how you know how much of a Ferrari of packs you need, depending on the style of hunt you're going.

Speaker 1:

If you're going on an elk hunt and you're, you know, you think you're going to have to pack an elk out a mile plus, like you're going to want one of the big names of packs If you're going. If you're in Nebraska on, you know if you're hunting yourself or whatever, or you got some private access or you're outfitting whatever, like you don't really need a big pack pack that's going to be able to haul an elk quarter. You don't really need it and the reality of it is is like the big brands are awesome, but yeah, if you're doing stuff where you can pretty much drive the vehicle to it, you don't really need to haul meat. So you can get a little bit. I want to call it a lesser of a pack. You can just get a pack that's less load hauling. It's not really made, maybe, for load hauling as much as just hauling your own stuff around. So a couple of different ways you can do this. If you are in the mountains. You know you're going to be packing elk out or something like that.

Speaker 1:

I think going with a pack that is like there's kind of two separate sections, there's like external frame packs and internal frame packs, and external frame packs basically just means that you buy the frame, some of these like you can combo together, but basically you buy the frame and the suspension system that fits your body and then you can put different bags on top of that so you can put a small bag on it and then you can have another big bag that you can take the small bag off and put the big bag on. So that is like really modular, which I really like. That gets you from, you know, western backpack hunting to Midwestern Definitely not backpack hunting so you can switch bags around like that. But obviously, like I was just saying, sometimes you don't need that. So this, this bag down here, is actually, I think, the first I would say like good backpack that I bought when I was growing up. It's the Eberly stock X2. And I liked it for Nebraska. There's side pockets that I put spotting scope in and a tripod in the other side and there's the wings fold open.

Speaker 1:

You can put different things in different places and it was just. It was a nice, functional and like, well built, like heavy hitter type backpack. I took it on my first backpacking trip ever to the mountains with my dad and it was, I won't say miserable, but it wasn't really that fun, knowing what I know now with different pack styles and things like that and all kind of get into fit just a little bit in the next frame, just to give you an idea of like why one style is a little better for some things than the other style is. But here on the top, as far as packs go, this is the Stone Glacier approach 2800. It's the day pack that I've been using this year.

Speaker 1:

I literally walked into Sheels one day and they had it on display and I just really liked the way that the pockets and everything was set up for day hunting, especially if you carry a lot of optics. So here on the back you can see there's like a big pocket that's a spotting scope pocket or whatever you want. I always put my spotting scope in there. And then also on the back there's a little sleeve that you can slip tripods, tripod legs into, trekking pole legs, whatever, and then there's a couple of buckles up the back to strap your tripod on to, and those are independent of your side compression straps. So what that lets you do is you have all your main stuff inside the bag, your extra clothes, game bag, whatever inside, and you have that all strapped in nice. Usually when you carry your tripod up the side of a pack you will have to unclip all that stuff, unclip like three clips to get your tripod off this one. You technically only have to do two, and you would really only have to do one if you got rid of the other strap that goes around the spotting scope. But all of your other six three on each side compression straps that are sucking the load to the bag are still there. So it's just, it seems to be really quick to get your spotter and tripod out, which is usually what I'm trying to do is trying to speed that process up a little bit.

Speaker 1:

And then here on the right we have the kafaru 22 mag. So real quick. The stone glaciers on a crux frame. That fits me really well. And then the kafaru is just on your regular hunter light frame. So something else real quick as well.

Speaker 1:

The other one you have is like a modular frame, like I was saying, and then an internal frame and the X2 would be an internal frame. So basically that means like your frame and your bag are married together. You can't swap them. It just is what it is there just isn't the modularity. What you get there usually is a little cheaper price and yeah. So let me see here Okay, bag size, so that approach 2800, 2800 cubic inches, the 22 mag, 2200 cubic inches about. You know, on the 22 mag you can see you have a bunch of, basically it's a molly panel. It has a bunch of webbing on it so you can attach different pockets and different things and just kafaru, in general you can kind of kit them out however you want them, but right in there and then, like the X2, I think was right in like the 1900 to 2000 cubic inch mark or something like that, but all those packs are right in about the 3000 cubic inch mark. That's kind of where I like to stay. But just like boots, try on different frames. Order some of these backpacks, get them in your house, put 30 pounds in them, see how they feel and, yeah, see which ones you like and the ones that you don't think are for you. You can just send them back Now to some fit and function type stuff, which I think is I don't want to make.

Speaker 1:

This isn't picking on Everly stock in general or anybody in general. This just gives you like a good. This gives you a good idea of like why it's better to haul elk out with like one of the the packs that has like a true like a load carrying lifting type suspension system. So here what we have and yeah, what the hell are load lifters. So we have a guy with an elk strapped on the back of an Everly stock pack. It's an.

Speaker 1:

This specific one is the X2, I think it's an internal frame. You can see right here the backpack strap where it goes from the pack over the shoulder. There's another strap above that. It goes from the very top of the frame to the shoulder strap and it should go right about line up, right about on your clavicle. So you can see here that that's kind of loose Like. Even if it was tight it would be where I'm trying to explain this. Where that strap goes into the top of the frame is gonna be below your shoulders. That's just like it's basically just stabilizing the load to you, bringing your frame closer to your back. That's not really transferring any load off of your shoulder straps down onto your hips and you can see like he's kind of facing forward, like bent over a little bit forward.

Speaker 1:

And then come over here to Jake with XO. He doesn't have an elk on his back. I bet there's pillow I'm sure there's pillows in there, but this gives you a good idea. It's a little hard to see with his hood there. But you see, you have your shoulder strap going over a shoulder and it goes into the bag, actually goes onto the frame and then the bag goes onto the frame. But anyways, right above that you can see at an angle there's another strap coming from the top of the shoulder strap to the top of the frame. That angle you can imagine.

Speaker 1:

As you tighten that and you don't wanna tighten them a lot, but you kinda wanna snug them and you can mess them like, especially when you have a heavy load on, you're gonna wanna be kind of playing with these straps sort of all the time, like transferring a little more weight to your hips and then, all right, your shoulders start feeling better, like I'm gonna transfer more to my shoulders for a little while and you screwed around. But having this little, this strap, which is essentially called like a low lifter strap is what companies refer to it as. Basically, what it does is where it goes into your shoulder, your backpack strap, by your clavicle. As you tighten it or snug it up, it pulls that backpack strap actually right towards the frame, so it'll transfer some weight off of your shoulders down into your hips. So that is like making the load hauling experience one hell of a lot better, because it's not just absolutely smoking your shoulders, smoking your traps, making you bend all the way forward. You can see Jake standing up here, nice and tall. Again, there's probably pillows in there, but yeah, that's still the way you should look, even if the thing is full of stuff. So that's a little on backpack fit and function. That's why functioning load lifters are a lot better than load stabilizers, and we're gonna get into fit in a different episode. All right, the next one your optics.

Speaker 1:

So most of us have a set of binoculars already, folks coming from back east or coming out west. Do you need to upgrade your binoculars? Kinda depends, and I think it depends on what you're looking to do, seems like if you're gonna be in an area where you're like archery, elk hunting, and if you're in timber and you're not gonna be able to see that far, like you probably don't need to upgrade your binoculars, but like if you're going on a high country mule deer hunt where you're just gonna be glossing all the time, I would consider upgrading your binoculars if you feel like it's applicable. So a good set of 10 power binoculars.

Speaker 1:

I have gone all over the map as far as powers of binos. I've done 10s and 15s in a spotter. I've tried to ditch the 15s and go with 12s in a spotter and it just seems like the 12 powers are too much to handhold. They don't have quite as good a field of view but they didn't have quite enough power when I was on a tripod, as much as I wanted anyways, when I was like looking for something more comparable to the 15s. So I have done the entire wagon wheel circle and I have gotten back to where just a set of 10 by 42s and then a tripod with a spotter and a tripod for the binoculars as well. Again, I think spotting scope kind of depends on budget and the hunt that you're going on.

Speaker 1:

This one's really tough because these are big ticket items right here. These are expensive. Some of these binoculars they're dipping In my opinion, you wanna stay in the $800 and up range of binoculars and it might sound a little nuts, but the difference from a $300 pair to a $600 pair and up from that or an $800 pair and up, is huge. That gap is big. The Sig Sauer Zulu 6 image stabilizing binoculars they're the ones down here. They look a little star trekky, but there's this little button right here that turns on your image stabilizer and basically what that is is a gyro inside and it turns on and it stabilizes Like and actually like the more you move, the more stable it gets. They're amazing and really, for what they are, they're pretty cheap. They're like a thousand bucks and they have like 16 power, 20 power, so like that is if you don't really wanna get a spying scope like you. Just I'm trying not to be like a salesman here, but what you're doing with those things is pretty, it's pretty incredible. So my advice just go check them out somewhere in a store. Just go try them. Like I don't care if you buy them, but go try them. I literally, like all of clients, come out to Nebraska and my most favorite thing is just handing them to them and then telling them to flip them on, and it's like they're all super, super excited about it. So, yeah, there you go with that Kind of a hard to hard question to answer. These are my binoculars here. These are the Zulu 10, 10 by 42s. You see me there with a tripod setup. I was glassing in Utah also Big thing here, though use a rangefinder.

Speaker 1:

If you don't have a rangefinder, you're coming out West, buy one like 100% hands down. We've had some folks, like some clients from back East, that usually don't need to use a rangefinder, just cause they're in such close quarters and they're good at guesstimating. They get out here and it's so open and flat that they're just like can't handle it. And there's like one guy in particular told me like within the first day he's like I really need a rangefinder. So I loaned him one and then he came back the next year with a rangefinder, which was nice.

Speaker 1:

Last thing, a little just a touch on Bino harness and like a pocket for your rangefinder, super nice to have. They do make really cheap ones that just go around your shoulders and clip in. You can really kind of go as crazy modular on that as you want, and as least as you want. The good thing about a harness is it protects your binos. If you get a fully enclosed one keeps the dust out of them, just protects them. You're spending a lot of money on it, so that's something there. This one that I'm wearing here can't really see it very good is the FOB from FHF gear.

Speaker 1:

That's their new harness that came out with this last year. Tripods so get a dive into tripods just a little bit more. I thought about keeping it out but I like them and I have a bunch of them sitting behind me that I can show you. So again, with the Archery L cunning, if you're not gonna have a spying scope with you and you're gonna be kind of on the go a lot, just probably leave a tripod as well, just kind of get that completely out. Just with that in general, like you're gonna save some good cash. But tripods in general, the one thing I think it's overlooked a little bit is there's kind of two parts to them, right. So there's your tripod legs that's actually like the things that extend and then there's your tripod head. In my opinion it is you are gonna be better off getting the best head that you can afford in an okay set of legs. So this tripod, this see if it'll focus here. This is the Manifrotto B-Free Carbon Fiber Tripod. Quite.

Speaker 1:

A few years ago I did a review on this thing for Black Ovis through Rock Slide and I don't mind this tripod. It is folds down, twist lock legs. They do you a little sticky. I could undo it a little bit more and it'll get easier. One quick thing this center post, how it extends, uses this. I guess it'd be like a compression ring system. I don't like that. It just takes longer. I would rather that there was a knob right here, like a lot of these other tripods that I'm using.

Speaker 1:

But before I get too deep down that rabbit hole, one thing I wanted to talk about was this also has an aluminum counterpart to it, so there's the Manifrotto B-Free Carbon Fiber and there's Manifrotto B-Free Aluminum. The weight difference, let me see here the Carbon Fiber one is 3.04 ounces, as listed on the website. The Carbon or, yes, the aluminum version is 3.2 ounces. Sorry, I did not mean ounces, I meant pounds. I meant 3.04 pounds and 3.2 pounds, not ounces. Sorry about that. So not that much more at all, really. The price difference, though, is 130 bucks, so that's a big thing with Carbon Fiber. I mean, it's gonna be a thing with a lot of different gear items that we talk about 130 bucks to save. Not that much weight.

Speaker 1:

So that's something you gotta think about as well as we dive into this. But Carbon Fiber like Carbon Fiber is nice because it doesn't really clink. Aluminum clinks I'll show you in a second and then. But carbon fiber can break for the most part. I'm gonna show you something pretty cool in a second that kind of contradicts that a little bit Technically. Also something to think about. As you get lighter and lighter in weight, you're talking about a really lightweight set of legs with a heavy, bigger optic on top and expecting that thing to be super stable. So they just don't go together sometimes, right? So that is something to think about. Aluminum just is, you know, usually is a little more heavy than the carbon fiber, but it could also give you some more stability with that heaviness, if that makes sense. Aluminum doesn't break like carbon fiber. It can bend. It is cold when you touch it in the mornings with your hands. This is an aluminum tripod and actually one of the only aluminum tripods that I own. It is an outdoorsman's. You can hear it. It's a little more, it's just a little louder. It is certainly cooler even in this air condition, like even in this room in my house. It's cooler than the carbon fiber to the touch.

Speaker 1:

Here's another carbon fiber tripod, come on, that I have. This is the Slick 634. I also have the Slick 624, is what I've been using this year for the most part, but this is the 634. I've had this for a really, really long time, like we're like running up on 10 years now. We did replace one of the twist lock. Things broke and so the guides at SNS Archery helped us fix that. And then Leah has been running this and she really likes the micro pan head from outdoorsman's. But overall, like really good tripod, nice to put in the pack, and then the one that I have been using this year other than that 624 is for a tripod head I got the new outdoorsman's pan head 2.0. I've been running the original pan head for a long time and I actually I did a review on it. Gosh, it's been a long time now, but they came out with the 2.0.

Speaker 1:

And the one thing that's super cool about this is this can accept two different types of plates. So it can accept the outdoorsman's I don't know whether you'd call that proprietary one or not, but it fits the outdoorsman's plate and also above it it fits an Arca Swiss plate. So two different plates you can put on the same head is super badass. And another thing they did with this head is they from the original I think it had like a six pound or seven pound recommended weight limit. This one has a 20 pound recommended weight limit. So overall big upgrade. One downside that's a little hard to tell folks that are just trying to get into it is it's $500. So that can be a little bit tough. But I've had my original one for a really long time now. It's still kicking. I'd still be using it if they hadn't come out with, like, the Arca deal as well, which is super cool.

Speaker 1:

Last thing about the well, almost last thing about tripods this is the new carbon fiber outdoorsman's tripod that took over the aluminum. It didn't take over the aluminum version, but it's been added to it. It's $1,000. I think it's a little over a thousand. So that's like for a lot of people that's crazy. But this has something in it that's not just carbon fiber. They have a component in here. I think it's interwoven in with the carbon fiber. It's called enegra and that will keep the carbon fibers like shape and integrity. So they talked to me about. They put a clamp on these things, clamped it. So it basically everything. The leg collapsed on itself and then they took the clamp off and with that enegra it made the carbon fiber go back to a regular circle leg and, like they said, some of the carbon fiber I think it was cracked or could have been cracked, but with that enegra it won't break. Still so crazy.

Speaker 1:

Couple of other recommendations here. I guess SNS Archery has some really cool. They have some really good tripods on their website. I saw this set up. It is a SURE it looks like SiriU too also, but they pronounce it SURE tripod and head system for like 280.

Speaker 1:

This is an interesting new tripod that I actually just purchased yesterday. It's on its way to add to the collection I already have, apparently, but this was like kind of an innovative enough thing. I was like I have to try it. Like if I'm gonna do this gear podcast, I have to try it. So I bought it through Labor Day sale so I'll save a little bit of cash that way. But I don't really know anybody from Tricer, but I got the BC, which is the Bat Country tripod, and one thing that's interesting that they did let me give a tripod here. So on most tripods well, all of them this your first leg up here is the biggest. As you go down in tripod sections, your tripod legs get smaller, and some people say that that decreases the it like makes them a little more flexible, so like they're less stable when everything is extended out. So what this Tricer company did is they flipped them backwards. So now the largest diameter leg is not at the very top, it's at the very bottom, and so they really flipped everything around. So I'm gonna get one of those and just see what I think.

Speaker 1:

Bino adapters the outdoorsman's is what we use because it's just compatible with absolutely everything that we have now. But there is a company I have one here called Azac Equipment. I think I talked about it actually on the last podcast, but it's a ring that goes around the barrel of your binoculars, clamps onto. It has an arc plate on the bottom of that so you can just slide them right onto the head that you're using. I had to get a spin drift and drink real quick, all right.

Speaker 1:

So clothing and layering you probably have a lot of this stuff already. So what I wanted to talk about was let's just talk about a basic layering system. I think of it as like a four core layering system. You have your first layer, which is your base layer. It's next to your skin. You wanna stay away from cotton. When you're doing that, you're gonna be looking at lightweight marina wools and synthetic type like polyesters and things for next to your skin. The second one is your mid-layer. That's gonna be like some kind of like a grid fleece, like a soft shell, something that's like fairly thin, adds a little bit of warmth, cuts a little bit of the wind, is like that good comfort piece. And then your third is gonna be your insulation layer.

Speaker 1:

That is like a puffy jacket or a down jacket. That is a must have. If you're coming out west or you're going on a late season hunt in the Midwest or something like that and you don't have a puffy jacket, 100% buy one. Even if it's a lightweight one, like 100% buy it. They're fantastic. And there's a couple of different things we can talk about there. Some of the jackets are gonna be like a goose or a duck down. Some jackets are gonna be something like a. It's basically what I'm trying to say. It's a synthetic insulation. So that's gonna be like a primal off gold, like an apex insulation.

Speaker 1:

They make synthetic insulations as well. Those are a couple that are pretty widely used in the industry Quick things like your duck down and your goose down. A lot of them are treated now with like something that's hydrophobic coating so it repels water. But if you truly that will help with dampness. But if you truly get that jacket wet and those little delicate down feathers collapse, that is all of your insulating value like gone, it's not there anymore. And if you're not in a place where you can dry it out, like it's just not gonna get better very quickly. So that's where we're like the synthetic insulations come in, even if they do get, you know, sopping wet, and that would not be very comfortable. But if they get pretty wet, that insulation won't just completely collapse. So you will still have some heat retaining properties when it's warm or when it's wet or when it's damp. So another thing with that that's kind of nice for folks just getting into it like I would kind of recommend going with a synthetic jacket. You can just it's safer for some areas that are just wet climates you drop your pack in a crick or something crazy like you know. It's just a little bit safer, and then they're also cheaper. And then for the fourth core of your layering system. You have your rain layer, so that's your outer like shell from the elements, their windproof, waterproof. It's a rain jacket. So let me think about that.

Speaker 1:

Pants so stretchy and comfortable for the most part, a lot of these pants are made of like nylon, things like that that are they're stretchy, they're really durable. People often want pants that are like, you know, not too hot. You don't want them to cold and you want them super indestructible. But their reality is being able to get all those things together is really difficult. You know, you have a pant that's like really lightweight, built for the warm months, is highly breathable. Sometimes there's going to be some kind of a trade-off with that. So I really like to go to like a mid-weight, more like a durable middle mid-weight pant that's still not insulated and that is because and it's a pant like the the Corget Foundry pant from First Light. If I was going to recommend a pant to somebody that is like I just want one pant to get me from early through the late seasons, that's the pant that I would choose, with the caveat that you have to layer correctly under it so that pant has hip vents so you can dump heat super quick or leave them open so it can just be a little bit more airy, like in the warm months, like right now, and then, as you go a little bit more into late season, you can layer underneath of them with just a like a lightweight long john basically. But that pretty much covers, like the the corns of the layering system. Any company that you go with, any company's website that you go with, they're going to give you basically the same information. They're going to have things listed out into, like your core, your base layers, your mid layers, your insulation layers, your shell or your rain layers.

Speaker 1:

Moving on to rifle and bow or, you know, archery setups, oftentimes folks are like, hey, I'm coming out west, I want to get a new gun and I'm like I mean that's a big portion right out of the top of your gear setup. If you need to get a new gun, for the most part if you're hunting back east, you probably have, like you're shooting like a 7 mag or a 30 out, 6 or a 308 or you know even like a 6, 5 creed more or something like that. Like, unless you're going on like a moose hunt or an elk hunt, like you don't, don't just go, don't talk yourself into going and buying a new gun where you could be spending that money elsewhere if you already have a rifle that's going to work. I would say for archers, for archery hunters, like, go check out your arrow setups, just look, like weight wise, where you are. If you're elk hunting, you know you want that to be a little higher. In my opinion you'll want that like 450 plus. I have a 28 inch draw. I shoot 60 pounds. Last year I was shooting 510-ish, 515 actually, and then this year I switched to. I kind of didn't really switch, but I have a different setup right now for deer. I'm around the 445, so I'm really at the lighter end of where I just comfortably like think I want to be. But yeah, going to a little bit heavier arrow might not hurt you.

Speaker 1:

Also, looking at your broad head selection, in my opinion if you're shooting elk you should be shooting. You should not be shooting a fixed or sorry, you should not be shooting an expandable head. You should be shooting a fixed blade head. In my opinion it's just going to help you. The things are big, tough, they're gnarly. You just want to be able to have a good, a good setup flinging at them.

Speaker 1:

Kind of the same thing on the rifle end. I don't think you need a new gun to get the new, you know super popular caliber. But you should consider maybe a new bullet going up in bullet weight might not be an awful idea, from whitetail in the east to elk in the west. Then another thing I almost didn't put in here, but I'm going to put it in here just because I can. One upgrade that you could put on your rifle is like maybe look at a new scope, a different scope that you can dial. You can get a scope of the different radical in it that maybe has some holdovers that you know out at distance, which is where I'm getting to in a second here could really come in handy and I forgot to put it on here. But one big thing for rifle hunters like, whatever gun you're going to take, shoot it a lot, get really proficient and comfortable with it. I mean I would say, shoot it out three, four hundred yards. That's where I tell my clients that are coming into Nebraska for rifle season be, be confident out to four hundred yards and it'll make everything within. That just seems simpler. So that's my take on the your bow setups there.

Speaker 1:

Next thing up here so mapping and satellite messengers. So I'm gonna hit the satellite messengers first. Garmin in reaches. They also have a thing called a Zolio. We used to have one, leah used to have a Zolio I. We didn't have good luck with it, so we both switched over to an in reach and it's just been much more reliable, in my opinion. We each have the in reach mini, but they make some other models.

Speaker 1:

But look at where you're going and like if you're gonna have service or if you can figure out if, if you're gonna have fairly reliable phone service, I would skip the in reach. You're gonna be into it at least three hundred dollars, into just the device itself, and then you're gonna have to buy a plan for it as well. So that's something that I would think about doing. If you're gonna have self-service, just ditch the in reach. Have a good have kind of a good like emergency plan with somebody that you're supposed to be checking in with. So there is some kind of a structure going there if there was an emergency. And then also, like a lot of the new iPhones, they have SOS features on them and you, if you don't know nothing about that, you should go YouTube it, because that'll give you more info than I can give you.

Speaker 1:

And then mapping wise. So I use on x maps. They're just tried and true. Let's go to like everybody uses on x to some extent so you can trade like coordinates and pins and stuff with your buddies. But I think for 30 bucks for the state that you're gonna hunt especially if you're gonna be around a lot of private like it's worth it just to get it. If you, if you're gonna be like in the Forest Service or like giant sections of BLM or like you have a really good handle with a paper map, like you can probably just roll with the free version of on x, but it is just like it's nice being able to drop pins and just like do tracks and stuff like that. So yeah, I think it's worth it in my mind.

Speaker 1:

All right, moving on to kill kit, your game bags and your knives. This is kind of funny of some things I tell you to skip and some things I say that maybe you should. You should spring for if this is something that you're gonna want to be doing like a bit, it wouldn't be an awful idea to get like some decent game bags. Um, so there's all different kind of kind of game bags out there. I would say, like the disposable cheese cloth type ones are usually what you see like at the big box stores and they are cheaper than the ones to reusable. But the ones that are reusable are just that you can wash them, you can reuse them year after year. The quality is just going to be better. They're not going to stretch like the teeth cheese cloth ones are, and be kind of hard to to carry around. I really like the argalis. I usually use the high country pack for deer and they have like places to tie off on. They're like a good shape and they hold their shape so they're easier to put in a pack and then you can wash them. So, yeah, that's, I think, spring and they're like 60 bucks, so springing for a good set is not not a bad deal.

Speaker 1:

And then a knife. You probably have a knife right now that is going to work. And uh, the last time I did a podcast like this talking about, uh, actually pretty much the same thing, I said you probably the knife that you have is the one that you should use and people got to kick out of that. But, um, it's not wrong, right, like, if you have a decent knife, just make sure it's sharp. Get you a knife sharpener, um, down here in the bottom. This is the, uh, the work sharp. I think it's the just a field sharpener, this specific one you can get through me here, um, but it has the guides and it has a ceramic dealie on top. Here, um, two sides of coarseness is on the diamond and Just I think they're like 30 bucks or 35 bucks. So if you have a decent knife right now and you get a sharpener like you're often running, I Used to recommend that people get like replaceable blade knives.

Speaker 1:

I've started to kind of get away from that, just because if you learn how to sharpen a knife, I just realized, like, just the more sturdy it is Just kind of the last bad things that can happen. So if you're gonna go with a replaceable blade knife, though, I would recommend the outdoor edge. They have a few different models. I have the EDC one that I carry on my belt or on my my pants pocket in the back country all the time, because for one, I don't want to lose my good benchmade one, which could happen, and then two, it kind of serves as like a backup with a couple extra replaceable blades If I were to lose my knife or if somebody else comes along to help me and don't have a knife or whatever. There's kind of nice to have. But I say, get a good fixed blade. Quality knife with a sharpener is. I always tend to to reach for a what they call a seric, an Serac knife from our golly. It just fits in my hand really well. I like the blade design and or the blade shape and it's been a good knife for me. So that's that's what I like to use there First aid, emergency and like a repair kit.

Speaker 1:

So this bleeds over into just a little bit with the backpacking type type stuff. This is what I still carry with me every day, even though some of the stuff isn't app Is it as applicable to like day hunts? But I guess it kind of is. Anyways, basics, I think keep it pretty basic. You can go and get like adventure medical kits they have kits that are pretty much set up or you can just make your own. So just the basics. You know, band-aids, bandages I think like disinfectant wipes or like Neosporin be good. Skin glue, skin glues good. I did that. Falling through a, let me see, doesn't look that bad now, but I literally fell through a bar bar fence the other day trying to sneak over it. It's not my, not my greatest, but I cut myself all up and and I we had skin glue so we could kind of keep some of these scrapes and stuff. We could just Glue the skin down that already had left, which is nice.

Speaker 1:

Basic meds, you know Tylenol I'd be your profan some Benadryl, obviously. Anything else that you think you might need one thing to be cognizant of is, like you know, like aspirin and things like that. You're not supposed to give somebody aspirin if they have a headache or something like that, because it thins your blood and it can actually give you, like, if you have a blame, a brain bleed. It won't clot it up, it'll just let it keep running. That don't take advice from me. But that is Just know the meds that you have before you just start taking them everywhere.

Speaker 1:

A tourniquet I do carry a tourniquet with me. They're cheap. I think I got like three of them off Amazon for like 40 bucks or something like that. I do not remember which kind they are, but they're the ones that I think they're. They're combat tourniquets and you can use them yourself On yourself. So I have those with me, or just one with me, moleskine stuff for your feet. If you start to get blisters or hotspots and know how to use them and know how to use it honestly, youtuber up and just be like get a refreshing crash crash course on how to like correctly put moleskin on on blisters on your feet. There's this stuff called luco tape, leukko super sticky on the back, that like moleskin type material on the front.

Speaker 1:

Then another thing I like to carry Fire starter, just a way to start a fire. Honestly, sometimes I end up just using it to start to light my stove. But pyro putty makes is a good fire starter that you can find A lot of outdoor stores right now. It's just kind of comes ready to go. If you're super cheapy, you can just go with cotton balls and Vaseline. That's what I did for a long time. I took like an old pill bottle and I freaking stuffed it full of of cotton balls. So that works good, um.

Speaker 1:

And then a few ways to start one an obvious lighter Uh, matches. I use long burn matches and put them in like a waterproof match container. Um, and then a striker. They call them like flint and steel sometime, but like a striker, um. Sometimes I make a fire with those just for funsies, but uh yeah, they're just nice to have. They're not going to get saturated with water and quit working.

Speaker 1:

Um, and then patching stuff up. Patching your gear up, um, paracord always nice to have paracord with you. Whether it is like In most of the time I just carry my paracord in with my kill kit, um, but you never know when you're going to need paracord otherwise, so pack accordingly. Um. Gorilla tape for basic taping jobs. There's this stuff that is called tenacious tape from gear aid. It's like a fabric tape. It is like super, super sticky. It's unreal sticky like patching like a you know, a jacket snag or something like that. It's going to work really well. Um, I've patched sleeping pads with them before and literally have gotten a seal out of them and use that pad for the next three days. Um.

Speaker 1:

One thing to be a little cautious of, though, is, like Most tents that you're going to get from outdoor industry folks are going to be silicone, or like the high-end backpacking tents, they're going to be coated with silicone and nothing sticks to silicone, and then simple repair kit type stuff for your, your bow or your rifle, your scope, things like that. At least have that stuff in the vehicle. Um, you know, for archery I take like extra D loop, extra serving. You got to know how to use those things if you're going to take them with you. Um, the basic allen wrenches that I would need Wrapping up here with some extra gear. Windchecker just your regular powder windchecker super nice.

Speaker 1:

Um, chapstick, I think folks coming from back east where it's usually pretty dang humid, coming out west Super dry, it can be a killer. Um, you're going to want chapstick, I use mine on my nose, probably one of my lips. It's gross. Um, sunscreen, that can be one thing. I try to put sunscreen on as much as I can, or wear like a bucket hat so you can just protect your face, uh, from the sun.

Speaker 1:

Um, trekking poles, kind of like an extra thing. Um, if you're on a tight budget, I wouldn't buy trekking poles If you don't need them. Um, some tents like just set up with trekking poles. So Depending on what you decide to do In our part two, you can go that route.

Speaker 1:

Um, something that's kind of nice sometimes is like a small tarp. Um, especially if, like if you're not staying back there and you can't go back to your tent to To get out or it's you can't get in the trees or whatever to get out of the sun. Sometimes a small tarp this is stone glaciers. I think they call it the u l uh, no, no, the ul 10. I literally just bought it because I usually use the kafaru sheep tarp, but I just wanted one a little bit bigger for two of us. Um, small, lightweight, easy to pack. You can pitch them, you know, tie them to trees or rocks or put sticks under them or whatever. Pitch them a tons of different ways. You can block the wind, you can block the sun with them. Um, it's just, they're kind of nice to have, but they are an extra for sure.

Speaker 1:

Um, water filtration we're going to cover that more in the next episode. Um, even though it does apply to day hunting, um, but carrying water something I wanted to touch on I just use like a nalgene bottle with a. Uh, this is kind of an extra two, but while you're at it, get a human gear Cap cap lid. It'll just take your wide mouth nalgene To like a narrow mouth, I guess, so it's easier to drink out of. Um, yeti also has some nice plastic bottles now and then of course, there's like hydration bladders that you can use.

Speaker 1:

For some reason, I tend to start with hydration bladders and then, especially towards the end of the season, I don't use them anymore. I don't know why. It's probably a Just being lazy, and I don't want to fill them up all the time or take them out of my pack to fill them up. Um, but in general, you should probably have a couple liters of water with you a day. Um, I usually try to plan for three liters of water a day. I probably get less than that. I think you should plan for four, but three is seems to be what I am typically on. So, um, yeah with that. That concludes that portion.

Speaker 1:

Part two is going to be backpack camping gear. It's not for everyone, it's not for every situation. It can be nice, can cut you down on some hiking time and it's fun most of the time, sometimes all the time. So, uh, that's pretty much all I have for you. We'll dig into, uh, backpacking gear in part two of the beginner's guide to hunting gear. So, um, with that. Guys, remember, gear is great experiences, key. Get out there, burn some gas and, uh, yeah, have a good time. We'll talk to you guys on the next episode.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for listening to this episode of jordan's toolkit. If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, please visit the website jordan dash budcom and follow the links to submit an email or voicemail to be played on air. If you're listening on an audio platform, you can also watch this podcast on youtube via jordan buds personal channel.

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Jordan Budd

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Lea Piper

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