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Steve's Outpost

Section 02 · Hunting

Hunting Gear Checklist

Organized by hunt rather than by category, because a day-hunt list and a backcountry list are genuinely different documents.

By Stephen V.Updated How we pick
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We earn a commission when you buy through our Amazon links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the order of the picks, and we say so when the cheaper thing is the better buy. How this works.

A checklist is only useful if it is scoped. The list for a whitetail sit you drive to has almost nothing in common with the list for three nights in the backcountry, and merging them produces the thing every hunter recognizes: a forty-pound day pack containing a stove you never light.

So this is three lists. Take the one that matches the hunt, plus the kill kit, which travels on every hunt without exception.

The short answer

Quick picks

#ProductBest forScorePrice
01
Rocky Rocky Retraction 800G
Rocky Retraction 800G

The same 800-gram insulation band as the Danner at roughly half the money, and the honest recommendation for most hunters.

Best value
7.8
$110.14Amazon (affiliate link)
02
Buck Knives Buck Knives 685 BuckLite Max II
Buck Knives 685 BuckLite Max II

Four and a half ounces with a gut hook, from the company whose forever warranty is the oldest in the business.

Best overall
8.0
$45.99Amazon (affiliate link)
03
GearOZ GearOZ Elk Game Bags (5-Pack)
GearOZ Elk Game Bags (5-Pack)

Five reusable rolled bags for the price of one premium set — enough for a whole elk in one purchase.

Best value
8.4
$23.99Amazon (affiliate link)
04
Frogg Toggs Frogg Toggs All-Sport Rain Suit
Frogg Toggs All-Sport Rain Suit

Jacket and pants, genuinely waterproof, packs to nothing and costs less than most jackets alone.

Best value suit
8.0
$69.99Amazon (affiliate link)

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Creators API, as of Sep 4, 2026. Where we have no verified live price we show none — a gap beats a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

01
Rocky Rocky Retraction 800G

Best value

Rocky Retraction 800G

800g insulationWaterproofRealtree XtraRubber outsole
7.8/10

The same 800-gram insulation band as the Danner at roughly half the money, and the honest recommendation for most hunters.

Warmth
8
Waterproofing
8
Comfort
7
Durability
7
Value
9

What's good

  • Hits the general-purpose insulation band at a genuinely accessible price
  • Waterproof construction from an established boot maker
  • Aggressive outsole grips wet leaves and mud

What's not

  • Not recraftable — when the sole goes, the boot goes
  • Heavier than the Danner for the same insulation
  • Sizing runs inconsistent between models

Skip it if…

…you will put a hundred days a season on them. This is a three-to-five-season boot, not a decade boot.

$110.14See it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Price as of Sep 4, 2026. Prices move — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Rocky Retraction 800G

02
Buck Knives Buck Knives 685 BuckLite Max II

Best overall

Buck Knives 685 BuckLite Max II

Gut hook4.7 ozFixed bladeBuck Forever Warranty
8.0/10

Four and a half ounces with a gut hook, from the company whose forever warranty is the oldest in the business.

Edge retention
7
Blade shape
9
Grip when wet
9
Sheath
7
Value
8

What's good

  • Light enough that it does not get left behind, which is the failure mode for hunting knives
  • Gut hook opens hide without puncturing the body cavity
  • Buck's lifetime warranty is genuinely honored
  • Grippy handle material works with wet hands

What's not

  • Gut hooks are difficult to sharpen without a round file or a rod
  • Not a general camp knife — the profile is specialized

Skip it if…

…you want one knife for camp and game. A gut hook makes a poor food-prep knife and a worse whittler.

$45.99See it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Price as of Sep 4, 2026. Prices move — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Buck Knives 685 BuckLite Max II

03
GearOZ GearOZ Elk Game Bags (5-Pack)

Best value

GearOZ Elk Game Bags (5-Pack)

5-packRolled quarter bagsReusableElk sized
8.4/10

Five reusable rolled bags for the price of one premium set — enough for a whole elk in one purchase.

Breathability
8
Durability
7
Size
9
Reusability
8
Value
10

What's good

  • Five bags covers four quarters plus loose meat, which is what an animal actually needs
  • Rolled construction packs small in a hunting pack
  • Genuinely reusable after washing

What's not

  • Fabric weight is below the Allen bags
  • Sizing is generous for deer and about right for elk

Skip it if…

…you are packing out over multiple miles of brush. Lighter fabric snags and tears where premium bags do not.

$23.99See it on Amazon (affiliate link)

Price as of Sep 4, 2026. Prices move — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to GearOZ Elk Game Bags (5-Pack)

04
Frogg Toggs Frogg Toggs All-Sport Rain Suit

Best value suit

Frogg Toggs All-Sport Rain Suit

3-layer constructionJacket + pantsWaterproof breathableMossy Oak DNA
8.0/10

Jacket and pants, genuinely waterproof, packs to nothing and costs less than most jackets alone.

Waterproofing
9
Breathability
7
Quietness
4
Packability
10
Value
10

What's good

  • A complete suit rather than a jacket, which is what actually keeps you dry
  • Packs small enough to live in a day pack permanently
  • Frogg Toggs' non-woven material is genuinely waterproof, not water resistant

What's not

  • The material is noisy in brush compared with brushed fabrics
  • Non-woven material tears on thorns more easily than woven nylon
  • Fit is generous rather than tailored

Skip it if…

…you still-hunt or bowhunt close. This material is audibly crinkly and that is a real disadvantage inside forty yards.

$69.99See it on Amazon (affiliate link)

$79.8912% off

Price as of Sep 4, 2026. Prices move — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Frogg Toggs All-Sport Rain Suit

The kill kit — every hunt, no exceptions

Assemble this once, keep it in one pouch, and never unpack it. Assembling it at the animal is how something gets left behind.

  • Fixed-blade knife (and a spare blade if you use a replaceable-blade system)
  • Five game bags — four quarters plus loose meat
  • Nitrile gloves, two pairs
  • Twenty feet of paracord for hanging and dragging
  • Tags, license, pen — the most-forgotten items on this page
  • Small headlamp, because field dressing runs into dark more often than not
  • Zip ties and a marker for tagging
  • Wet wipes

Day hunt

  • Pack, 30–45 liters
  • Water, two liters minimum
  • Food, more than you think
  • Insulation layer that lives in the pack permanently
  • Rain shell, packed where you can reach it without unpacking
  • Headlamp plus spare cells
  • Binoculars; rangefinder if you bowhunt
  • Fire source — lighter and a ferro rod
  • First aid kit, including a tourniquet if you hunt alone
  • Phone with offline maps, a battery bank, and a compass
  • Kill kit

Backcountry, multi-day

Everything above, plus:

  • Pack, 65–90 liters, with a frame rated for a meat load
  • Shelter and sleeping system — bag rated below your expected low, pad with a real R-value
  • Stove, fuel and a pot
  • Water filter
  • Extra socks — the highest morale-per-ounce item in this document
  • Satellite communicator, if you are out of cell coverage
  • Repair kit: tape, cord, a needle and thread, spare buckle
  • Extra game bags, because running out four miles in is the problem

Late season, add

  • Higher-insulation boots (1000g+) if you are sitting rather than walking
  • Hand and toe warmers
  • Insulated seat cushion — the ground pulls heat out of you all day
  • Balaclava or neck gaiter
  • Lithium batteries, which hold voltage far better in the cold than alkaline

What most hunters carry and should not

  • A second knife. One good fixed blade plus a spare blade covers it.
  • A hatchet. Boning out is faster, lighter and legal in more places than splitting a pelvis.
  • A full cook kit on a day hunt. Bring food that does not need heating.
  • Three insulation layers. One good puffy beats three mediocre fleeces at half the volume.

Every one of those is a pound or more that you carry every step, for a scenario that will not happen on the hunt you are actually taking.

How these were picked

I haven't handled these. Here's what I did instead.

Everyone in this category says they tested twenty of these. I haven't tested any, and I say so. What I do instead: read the manufacturer's manual and published specification, compile the numbers that decide the purchase, do the arithmetic in the open, check the live price, and name one product to skip. The scores above are judgments from that research against a published rubric — they are not measurements I took, because I do not have a lab and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Questions

Frequently asked

What is the most forgotten piece of hunting gear?
Tags and license, followed by a pen to fill them out with. Both live in the kill kit for exactly that reason. After those, spare headlamp batteries.
How much water should I carry on a day hunt?
Two liters minimum, more in heat or at altitude. If there is reliable water on your ground, a filter weighs less than the water it replaces and is worth carrying instead.
Do I need a tourniquet in my hunting first aid kit?
If you hunt alone and carry a sharp fixed blade, it is a reasonable precaution — a serious femoral or brachial bleed is not survivable by waiting. Get training on how to use one; an untrained tourniquet is close to useless.
What should I keep in the truck rather than the pack?
Spare clothing, spare boots, a larger first aid kit, extra water, and the coolers and ice. The truck is your base — use it, rather than carrying its contents up the hill.

Keep reading

Receipts

Sources

We do not run a testing lab and we do not pretend to. Where a measured number came from a manufacturer's published specification or someone else's lab, we name them and link them. Where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read the full method.