Ahhhh.... Gadgets, I love'em.
There is certainly a minimum of gear a fella needs, protection from the elements, a device/method to dispatch the critter seems a must. A fella also would be well served to have a knowledge of the critter(s) being hunted and where the fella fits within the local fauna food chain. I'd also assume some knowledge of the local or remote hunting area would be nice if the hunter expects to return with any consistency.
I'd guess that thousands of years ago a fella stepped out to go hunting with his buddies;
Guys Howdy Sam!
Sam Howdy guys!
G What's that you're wearing??
S Loin cloth. Keeps the thorns from tearing up Special Purpose items!
G Wellll, okay but you notice we don't need one.
S Ya I know, I just thought I'd try it out and you all remember what happened to Old Stubby and how his wife left him after that hunt over on Thorn Hill years ago.
.... years later
S Howdy guys!
G Howdy Sam. What's with that skinny spear you got there??
S Oh... Well I got to thinking that we don't hunt the giant cave bear so taking our giant cave bear spears along every time we hunt Spotted Owls and Pandas seems like extra work. I took the flint off one of my cave bear spear and put it on a fish spear! I can throw the fish spear twice as far as the cave bear spear but it's still tough enough to drive the big flint into a bear if one bothers us. Seemed like a good idea! BTW, nice loin cloth WonNut, is that a new one?
.... later
G Hey Sam, how's it going??
S Pretty gooood! The new mail order business is going well, big rush on the Load Stone and Water container thing this last week. Seems a lot of guys in the area were getting lost on hunts, you remember that last fella we met that was lost, "Douglas Corrigan" if I remember correctly. They're easy to spot, they come and then they pass once they discover it's still not the right place... poor guys.
G Let's go hunting...
S Okay, we're outta here.
G Sam! What's that on the back of your loin cloth?? Ohhhh, it's a pouch I sewed on to hold the Load Stone thing, good idea huh!
....
On the more serious side.
I can hunt with a minimum of stuff, loin cloth and slippers a rifle, bow, spear or knife if I want but I don't.
I don't wear camo clothing or scent shield(s). I do try to bring along enough to make the job and situation easier (within reason).
I carry a knife, very often a LASER, a rifle/shotgun/bow and a rope to drag the beast back out. If I'm going out of my geographic area I bring a compass, a GPS (and extra batteries), a flashlight.
I view the gadgets as tools to make the sitution easier and extend my hunting area. When I travel to Alberta, Colorado, Texas or where ever I bring the GPS and have access to maps. I can then freely move around in big areas (many square miles) and not fear getting displaced and spending the night in the bush. If I didn't have the GPS along I'd be stuck to "working my way out" to the remote regions a little at a time getting to know the intervening area(s) as I go.
There is such a thing as too much but that's what they make packs and pockets for I guess.
Just so you'll know... I've never taken a full size computer into the field on a hunt, that would be too much.
[ 09-11-2004: Message edited by: Dave King ]
