We hunt 4 states a year and spend a bunch of money hauling horses/mules and gear. About every other year we end up assisting in a search and rescue operation someplace. The kicker is that I am disabled. I have been packing for 40 years and I know what I’m doing and where I’m going. If we are going to a new area then we take a summer trip with the horses and scout the area ahead of time.
I’m not Danial Boone or Rambo. I have never seen a professional hunter carry a lot of fancy hardware but they do know how to use what they carry. I’ve spent well over a thousand nights in a tent in bear country. I’m safer out there than I am anywhere else.
I commend your hard work. I hunt in a La. swamp, the Atchafalaya Basin. I’d be a total fish out of water in your higher neck of the woods, literally sucking air just like a fish out of water at any altitude over river level.
I’ve used a Browning BLR in .308 topped with a 2.5x7x32 Weaver (both bought in 1974) since 74...duh. A most excellent firearm; accurate, compact, quick to aim, easy to clean, handles any handload like a bolt rifle, there are no downs (IMO) to this rifle. I continue to carry my model 29 S&W and have taken a number of deer with it; using it in lieu of the BLR inside of 75 yds. It works. I carry an early Ruger .22 heavy barrel pistol in the summertime.
Please let me know how your season shakes out.
Being from and hunted exclusively in La. I would never second guess someone more experienced from another part of the country, especially one at the opposite extreme from my experiences. I hope you have a zero S&R season, and your scouting pays off for you and your clients. I’m not a professional hunter, I don’t carry fancy hardware, but I do always carry a sidearm, I can, I do, I always will. Our low today (11/15) was 60, I pressure washed the house...how cold was your day; I’m sure you were not worried with such mundane domestic chores.
Being from and hunted exclusively in La. I would never second guess someone more experienced from another part of the country, especially one at the opposite extreme from my experiences. I hope you have a zero S&R season, and your scouting pays off for you and your clients. I’m not a professional hunter, I don’t carry fancy hardware, but I do always carry a sidearm, I can, I do, I always will. Our low today (11/15) was 60, I pressure washed the house...how cold was your day; I’m sure you were not worried with such mundane domestic chores.