Gear for hunters
Wish list includes rangefinders, cutting tools, generators
With fall comes the full palette of hunting and fishing opportunities in the Natural State, and naturally that has us shopping for gear.
One item that many hunters don’t have but should is a rangefinder. For bowhunters, knowing the exact range of a target is essential. In competition, it means the difference between winning and losing. On game, it’s the difference between hitting and missing, or worse, between a clean kill and wounding or unrecoverable loss from delayed mortality.
As meticulous as most bowhunters are about form, many practice on targets at known distances with level shots from the ground. When it’s time to hunt, they climb 16-20 feet high in a tree. That creates a sharp downward angle, and they must also account for the extra distance created by height.
A good rangefinder gives you the distance, but also the angle. This allows you to calculate a proper shooting solution so that your arrow hits true instead of hitting high or low. A high or low shot increases the likelihood of killing but not recovering the animal.
Rangefinding is important for rifle hunters, too. If you hunt in a confined area where ranges are limited to 150 yards or less, it doesn’t matter, but if you hunt utility rights of way, fields, or other open expanses, a rangefinder is necessary. How far is it exactly to the woodline on the other side of that field? It looks like about 200 yards, but it’s probably a lot farther. That increases the probability of missing a buck that steps out of the woods at dusk. A rangefinder will help put you on target and improve your odds dramatically.
I use a a Leupold RX-750. It’s about 15 years old, but it serves all of my needs. Its 6X magnification allows me to distinguish the object I want to range. At 7 ounces, it’s light to carry on a belt loop. Its 11.7 twilight factor is not great. That’s near the low range of performance and is comparable to the Leupold RX-1000i TBR (11.5).
Higher numbers are better. The Bushnell Fusion 1600 and Bushnell Fusion 1 Mile have twilight factors of 20.5, same as Leica’s Geovid rangefinders.
Dedicated golf rangefinders give you distance to the pin, distance to the front of the green and distance to the back of the green. We prefer simplicity. I only need the ranges of the field edges and corners and any features in the middle of an expanse, like a tree, bush, barrel or anything else that will return a reading.
Spend as much as you want. A rangefinder will last decades.
CUTTING INSTRUMENTS
Outdoors people are always cutting stuff. We’re constantly lopping branches away from the edges of shooting lanes and clearing overhead obstructions. In camp we use hatchets for all manner of chores, from chopping kindling to processing deer.
For field chores, a mechanical pole saw is very useful for trimming small limbs from shooting lanes. Mine has a cutter that operates by pulling a strap. Position the limb between the blades and pull. It lops the limb effortlessly.
For bigger limbs I use the sickle-shaped serrated saw. This flimsy bit of metal flexes and bends to give you a robust aerobic workout that will put a serious burn in your lats and delts.
For opening deer carcasses I use a utilitarian hatchet from the hardware section of a popular retailer. Position it against the pelvis and pound it through with a light sledgehammer from the same hardware aisle. Do the same with the rib cage. This opens access to the organs for easy removal.
For camp chores, I use a tomahawk. My latest is Jason Hanson’s Ultralight Tactical Tomahawk. Hanson, who’s built an empire on dystopian paranoia, markets his tomahawk as an essential survivalist’s tool. It is probably least useful in that role. When the mushroom cloud appears over Little Rock, my SOG Tactical Tomahawk will be in my pack.
Made from a single steel billet, the Hanson “tommy” has a curved edge on one side and a sharp spike on the other. We use it mostly for chopping small limbs and slicing bark from logs. Turned on its sides, you can hammer tent pegs into hard ground.
The spike would be very useful for extra leverage to navigate an ice field. We don’t have ice fields, glaciers, or ice falls in Arkansas, but we do have taverns with axe-throwing rooms. Competitive axe throwing is where this thing would really shine.
We do not care for this tomahawk’s thin wafer profile. It creates hard, sharp edges at the grip points which deter your hands from exerting full horsepower. The handle is wrapped in camo paracord that softens the grip somewhat, but not enough, for heavy duty exertion.
You can unwrap the paracord and use it for other things. There is enough paracord to string between two trees to frame a tarp for emergency shelter.
The Jason Hanson’s Ultralight Tactical Tomahawk costs about $50.
GENERATORS/INVERTERS
Electricity is really nice at deer camp to power electrical appliances, lighting, heating and air units and entertainment systems in campers and recreational vehicles.
Electric generators are economical, but their excessive noise cancels out the convenience they provide. An inverter generator is a much quieter option with a fraction of the noise. You can stand beside it while its running and converse in a reasonable voice.
To select an appropriate generator, calculate the total wattage of the things you’ll want to power. Factor in startup wattage for things like refrigerators and heaters and get one that exceeds those numbers.
My needs are simple. My teardrop camper has a 5,000btu heating and air unit and LED lighting. My power comes from a Westinghouse 2000iXLT, which provides enough juice for those items and more. At 52 decibels, it is one of the quietest units available. It has a miserly appetite for gasoline, with a run time of 12 hours.
Honda has a large selection of popular, dependable generators/inverters. People that use them give high approval to the Predator brand, which is available from a large discount tool retailer throughout Arkansas.