What strange item do you take on each hunt?

[Legolas]

Any special item go with you on hunts?

[reddogge]

I started with this thing in 1969. It's a haul line made from parachute cord my hunting partner gave me from his job at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and it's wrapped around a "Deer Me Tree Steps" package and it has a coat hanger hook to lower stuff down from the tree and fish up dropped items. It's gone in my pocket every season since. Weird, but I keep on hanging on to it out of nostalgia.

 

[Ken Taylor]

I always have a short candle (and matches) in my pack or pocket.

[Whip]

I cut a short piece of the base of a small antler,  drilled a hole and filed it with some of my Dad's ashes.  Epoxied a cap of osage to seal it and now he comes with me on every hunt.  Got the idea from my buddy Tippit, and thought it was pretty cool.

[Andy Cooper]

Awesome, Whip!

[huntnmuleys]

whip, that's an awesome idea!  

I take a baseball for luck.  every step of the way.  have for years

[Bowwild]

Nothing stranger on my hunts than myself.

For awhile I carried a dropped stuff fisher -- filed the barbs off a large treble. Works greaton dropped hats, clothes.

[Huntrdfk]

I take a small stuffed bear, wears a camo vest and orange hat......came home one night in January of 1996 after work and it was on the kitchen table with a note that said, "you screwed up the rut".....my son Hunter was born that October

David

[Jake Scott]

Right out of college I worked a commercial salmon site off the west side of Kodiak Island, in Alaska.  While I was there an old Aleut fella that owned the site across the bay gave me an Aleutian fishhook, carved out of whale bone.  I've worn it around my neck from that moment forth.  We worked in some nasty weather and always made it back to land.  These days my brother has married into our former skippers family, and runs the fish site now.  I wear it still hoping it will bring him the same good luck it has brought me.  

Thanks to the internet I have another one now, that hangs off my quiver, just a little good luck charm.

Cool thread!

Jake

[stagetek]

That's really cool Whip.

[Jon Stewart]

Whip. I would have done the same had my dad not been buried.  Good for you for keeping your dads memory on your hunts.

[Sam McMichael]

I try not to do anything strange. I used to carry a whole lot of stuff, including some gimmicks, but in recent years I have been trying to greatly simplify.

[stack]

Not a strange item but I carry my grandfathers hunting knife that he bought back in the late 40's. It is a small western metal handled knife that holds an edge. I remember him cleaning fish with this knife when I was 5 years old and I am now pushing 63.

[Thumper Dunker]

My boonie hat. Gave to me from my son when he got back from the big sand box.  Something really strange would be me.

[fmscan]

An old friends knife and a old Irish rosary ring from Ireland.

[Ron LaClair]

My "Medicine bag", a small buckskin pouch that I wear on a thong around my neck. It contains small things from past successful hunts. It can't be told whats in the bag and no one besides myself can touch it.

Some years ago in a store, before I could react, a female clerk out of curiosity reached out and touched the bag. My luck was terrible that fall and  I killed no deer that year...coincidence?    

[shag08]

What strange item do you take on each hunt?

I take my Black Widow PLGA longbow and 6 arrows. It's perfectly natural to me and everybody here. But to all my family and friends....that's the STRANGEST thing in the world to bring hunting. Especially when they all shoot crossbows and compounds.

I sold my compound to a good friend 2 weeks ago. He came by to shoot with me on Friday. I outshot him with my longbow while he was shooting my old compound (it isn't old, nearly new Hoyt, 340 fps). Then he GOT IT! He understood why I love the stick bows so much. He also tried to trade my compound back for my longbow. Of course, that wasn't happening.

[pdk25]

Not strange necessarily, but I always take lip balm.  It doesn't matter what time of year.  I didn't take any on a multi day hunt several years back and got my lips severly burnt. It really made the hunt less enjoyable, so I alway pack some with me now.

[Pete McMiller]

Two items that I try to never leave behind in the outdoors, and it makes no difference whether I am fishing or hunting, are a merino wool neck gater and a merino wool balaclava.  Both together weigh about the same as a pair of heavy gloves but will change my perception of the temp by at least 15 degrees.  I can't count the times I have used one or the other or even both to be warm and comfortable when the temps dropped lower than expected.

[Bladepeek]

Always have some ziplock bags for the heart and liver.

Haven't used them for several years now, but "Hope springs eternal". This year I WILL harvest a deer. I can feel it in my string hand.