“Packing the Truck to Hunt the West”
“How to pack your truck for a western hunt”
Congratulations, you just drew your first Mule Deer tag and you are packing up the truck to head west this fall. What should you put in your truck? What might you need in Idaho or Montana or Wyoming that you don’t need in Connecticut?
You are in luck because I’m about to answer all those questions for you mr. or mrs. new Mule Deer hunter.
Vehicle Recovery Kit – Must have!
Your vehicle will get stuck somewhere sometime and you will want all these items at a minimum.
- Spare Tire
- Tire Chains
- Tow Strap
- Small Shovel
- Patch kit
- Small Compressor
- Duct tape
- Adjustable wrench
- Flat and Phillips screwdriver
- Jack
- Flares
Emergency Supplies:
When your vehicle breaks down and you are stuck for a few days somewhere its better to not be hungry and cold while you are stuck.
- 3 extra freeze dried or dehydrated meals
- Lighter
- Mirror
- Whistle
- Duck tape
- 50 feet 550 cord
- 5 gallons of water
- 5 gallons of Fuel
- Emergency cold weather gear
Medical kit – This will need to be refreshed and kept current as you will use these items more than you think.
- Tourniquet
- Triangle bandage
- Quick Clot powder
- Quick Clot gauze
- Splint
- Light duty pain meds
- Imodium
- Band-aids
- Antiseptic gel
- Burn Injury (Second Skin)
- Burn Gel
- Mole Skin
- Gauze
- Wrap
- SuperGlue/liquid bandage
- Scissors
- Tweezers
- Q-Tips
- Electrolite pack
Nice to Have:
- Phone Battery pack
- Sewing Kit
- Extra Flashlight
- Extra Ammunition
- Extra charging cables
- Box O Rags
- Multi-tool
- Improved Cooking Kit
- Celebratory Beer or Cigar
- Towel
- GPS communicator/ Sat Phone
- Extra Batteries for everything
- Favorite Snacks – Trail Mix, Jerky, Fruit, Candy, anything from little Debbie
Meat care Items:
- Ice Blocks
- Cooler that is big enough for your meat
- Ziplock bags
- Zip-ties
That’s all we can think of for now. If there’s something you put in your truck that we oughta know about please write in and tell us so we can tell the world your secrets.
Good Luck!
Good luck this fall. Send pictures or stories from the field to [email protected] to be featured on our website or in our magazine. If this article, or any of our articles helped you become a better conservation steward, join the mule deer foundation. Click here to join: https://muledeer.org/product-category/membership/
Trevor J Hubbs https://www.instagram.com/trevorhubbs/
Trevor is the Communications Manager for the Mule deer Foundation. He grew up hunting and fishing the eastern edge of the Ozark mountains for quail, ducks, and bucks. Trevor is a contributor for “Fur, Fish, and Game”, Lethal Minds Journal, Strung Magazine, and Shooting Sportsman among others.
