Any good hunting day pack will always be ‘quiet’ in the bush. Your pack should be made of strong, soft-surfaced fabric like polyester camo fleece or camo suede. When buying a new daypack, drag your fingernails across the surface – if you can hear more than a whisper of noise, keep looking. Camouflage is the next important trait. As a bowhunter, you should avoid solid dark or black coloured packs – game will spot them way too easily. Hip packs or fanny packs are nearly always too small. They make it way too easy to cut corners on the ‘must-haves’ you should really be taking with you on your bowhunts. Comfort is another important consideration. A good day pack will be comfortable to shoulder all day – and you’re less likely to make an excuse to leave it behind on a short hunting trip. Make a habit of taking your daypack with you on ALL your bowhunts – a habit you don’t break. Your daypack is really a grab bag – a survival kita survival kit. It’s more than just a bag to carry gear that makes your bowhunts more successful. It’s also there to make your bowhunts safer and be an aid to survival in case of an emergency…

* First aid kit – compact and well kitted out with TWEEZERS…
(tweezers, bandages, adhesive bandage, fabric bandaids, sterile dressing, adhesive tape, Betadine swabs and cream, aspirin, antihistamines, unscented sunscreen, compass, 50m para cord, M&M’s, survival blanket, lighter, Magnesium fire starter, spare keys, headnet for flies and mosquitoes, $20 cash, water purification tablets, signal mirror, surveyor tape, pencil and paper, insect repellant…)
* Water in Nalgene style bottle or bladder – always full!
* Leatherman
* Spare release
* Binoculars
* Unscented sanitary wipes (no monkey butt!)
* Game bag and several pairs of disposable gloves**
* Headlamp
* Camera
* Rangefinder
* Mobile phone
* GPS
* EPIRB (optional maybe, but a lot of my friends carry them, especially those who solo hunt remote country)
* Batteries for your electronics – lithium
Medications
Spare calls

**I use the spent gloves as my ‘game bag’ for fox skulls. After removing the skull, I’m holding it in my RH – my left pulls the right glove off my RH and over the fox skull. Then I use my RH to pull the LH glove over the skull and off my LH. This keeps your daypack clean as the gloves are now inside out and the skull is wrapped up proper.