How cheap do you go?....

[SOS]

Here's my main outfit getting enjoyed by fellow Trad Bowhunters of GA on a rain hunt.  I mostly sleep in the camper shell on the truck and have one of teh 10x10 popup canopies for cooking and relaxing.  I can just get the hatch under the canopy and hop out under cover.  Also have a pop-up that is great for longer hunts or more than one hunter.  For island hunts, it is tents and tarps.

 

Here's the rig for no truck access as we are packing up on Ossabaw Island with my favorite hunting partner...just don't tell anyone she doesn't bowhunt....yet.  :rolleyes:  

 

[Curtiss Cardinal]

Sharing expenses is a really good side benefit of having a hunting buddy or two or even three. In a crew cab Pickup, a good size SUV or vn the gas will be close to the same no matter how many are in it 2 or 4 so nearly the same expense split 4 ways discounts that. Everyone buys his own tags. Everyone puts in equal amounts or in some cases the bigger eaters realizing they will eat more put more in the grocery kitty. Usually I just buy the groceries for how every many + 2 and then charge everyone equal amounts, as I am the camp cook usually. two tents, two canopies one with a bug screen for the kitchen. kitchen equipment and hunting gear are already paid for. Over the counter NonResident licenses and tags the biggest expense. In California I did the solo hunt with just what I could carry in my backpack and my bow arrows. I told people as precisely as I could were I would be and all I ever managed to kill in California was feral pigs but they are still great fun.

[Mike Brown]

Dang Van I thought you just ate sardines.  

[Killdeer]

That's a recycled chop. Cheaper than sardines.    Van, your dishes would get done faster if you took along a pal. You could scrape while he erased.

Killdeer (I don't like to waste camp time on dishes either!)

[Killdeer]

Good to see you out with your daughter, Stephen. When a lady can shoot the schnozz offa gnat, I don't quibble with her about how (or whether) she hunts!

Killdeer  

[Van/TX]

Sometimes my Pals don't show up  :(    Mike, I do cook sometimes    ...Van

[rascal]

Even hunting 3.5 hours from home is a huge drain on my finances for the season so this thread is an inspiration.  Im trying to acquire a good cheap hunting rig for my trips to my lease land, its just too expenisve to drive my big Super Crew Cab F250 Super Duty 4 x 4 with a V10 down there more than a couple times a month.

I was thinking along the lines of the truck camping rig some of you guys have, anyone ever tried it with a Ranger size truck?  Any sort of modifications that had to be made would not be a problem, if I can imagine it I can probably build it myself.  Im in the process of getting a surplus military G.P. Small canvas tent with winter kit and floor as well (bout 17 x 17).  I figure the more I can wring out of the budget for accomodations and gas the more I can go down there.  And as a bonus I can trim my rig down during my local trips in preparation for longer trips in the future.

[Mike Bolin]

rascal, back in '84, I had a longbed, reg. cab Ford Ranger that I camped/hunted out of quite bit. 4 of us took it to Quebec on a bear hunt. We made a small trailer out of a boat trailer and carried all of our gear in it. I put an old mattress in the back (under a fiberglass cap) and 2 guys slept in the back while the other 2 drove. We switched off drivers/sleepers at gas/meal stops. It worked really well. After having travelled to hunt and to distant shoots for the last 22 years, I have cut down my gear list quite a bit. First trip we/I took to Quebec, we had enough gear and food to last 8 guys for 2 weeks. Last caribou trip I took, where total baggage weight couldn't exceed 60#, I was at 47# total weight, including bows and arrows. I have a cap on my full size truck, but I am usually camping with at least a friend or two and use a tent mostly. Figuring out what worked was an expensive process, but with the "gang" here, you should save some time and money and end up with a good outfit! Mike

[Rick McGowan]

I had a 85 Ford Ranger, long bed regular cab 4X4, that may have been the best hunting rig I ever had. It had a fiberglass topper and I built a bed for the back, 3/8" plywood and 2X2's.

[rascal]

Good to know that the little trucks can be useful for this as well.  I also have an 8 x 8 tilt bed trailer I dont use for much of anything besides taking up space.  I hadnt thaught about using that,  I could take some time and see what I could come up with using that.  

Most of the time it would be my brother and I or perhaps my son.  He got his first deer this year (not trad or I would have posted brag pics) and hes got the itch something awful.  Just gotta find him a nice little stick bow and get him started.

Thanks again for the food for thaught.

[Inhimwelive]

I think the trick is not to buy a bunch of gadgets and gear that you wont need..Bring your tried and true gear... I back pack so after a few trips you realize most of that miracle gear never makes it out of the pack.. I would put extra money into good food to bring..