For the Fowlers Podcast
Introducing "For the Fowlers," a new waterfowl hunting podcast based in Northern California. Our goal is to dive into every aspect of this sport we're so passionate about.
We aim to create a valuable resource for new hunters, helping them get into the sport, while also engaging experienced fowlers with our stories and those of our guests.
For the Fowlers Podcast
Ep. 7 What's in Our Blind Bag (Besides Snacks...)
The mid-season gear creep is real. We cracked open our blind bags to find out why they feel like cinder blocks, then rebuilt them around what actually matters on real-world waterfowl hunts: safety you’ll use, tools that solve problems, and comfort without the bloat. From headlamps and a trustworthy handheld to a compact medical plan, we separate must-haves from “nice until you carry them a mile.” We also get honest about tourniquets, when to stash a proper med kit in the boat or blind, and how superstition still rules the bird strap.
On the shooting side, we talk shell discipline on public land, why mid-hunt choke changes rarely help, and the tiny bottle of gun oil that’s saved more than one muddy morning. We compare shell storage for refuge checks, defend the finisher-for-everything approach, and admit that one box is enough for most ethical shots. Then it’s into the quiet MVPs: zip ties, electrical tape, microfiber towels, a small trash bag, and the magnet pickup stick that spares your back. If you’re still swatting early-season mosquitoes, we explain why Thermacell is worth the space.
Comfort counts too, just not at the cost of weight. We trimmed snacks to what gets eaten, swapped extra drinks for an electrolyte packet, and now bury a forgotten 12-ounce water bottle at the bottom of the pack for emergencies. We make the case for gloves you’ve actually shot with, ear protection you’ll remember, and, when hunting with kids, trading a few decoys for a small heater that turns cold sits into good days. We also share our personal loadouts and listener favorites—from wipes and Advil to a pocket bird ID guide—and call out the gear we finally ditched.
If your bag weighs more than a honker, it’s time to rethink it. Hit play, steal our packing framework, then tell us your top three essentials and the one item you refuse to carry anymore. If you’re new here, follow and subscribe, leave a quick review, and share this with the buddy who still hauls three days of snacks for a two-hour hunt.
What's up guys? Welcome to another episode of For the Fowlers. I'm Brandon. And I'm Caton. All right, Caton's back after a couple weeks off. We finally got him to uh jump back on the pod, man. Welcome back. Yep, glad to be back. Did for this one, I just kind of, you know, we're middle of the season here or you know, getting towards the middle of the season, you know, weather's starting to cool off quite a bit. And you know, what I was thinking about was I was kind of going through my blind bag as I kind of shift from those warm hunts to those cooler hunts and kind of doing a uh what's in the blind bag episode. And you know, really what what sparked this interest is whether it's you know any sort of you know hunter that you follow on YouTube or podcast, everyone seems to do kind of a what's in the blind bag, you know, what they carry and what they use, whether it's private land, public land. And I figure it might be kind of fun to kind of run through some of the things that you know the experts say that we should carry in our bag, see if you know, if we agree with that or if those are things we already carry, and then maybe we'll talk a little bit about our setups. And then I actually reached out to the refuge page and uh you know got to hear from some of the uh fellow hunters out there what they uh never leave home with. So there's some uh pretty funny things in there, as well as some essentials. So what do you think, man? I figure we'll just kind of do a what's in the blind bag episode this week.
SPEAKER_03:No, that'll be good. Uh that's probably the most important part of your hunt is getting that bag ready, and I think I still screw it up.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, it's it's funny, man, and I was thinking about this the other day. It's like, how the hell is my bag so goddamn heavy all the time? You know, and so we're gonna find out if I'm carrying too much shit or if we have the right amount of stuff or what's in there, what can I get rid of, that type of thing.
SPEAKER_03:But and you say for the past three seasons, I've been like fighting this game with weight. I'm like, I gotta be able to trim it down. I'll empty the whole bag out right on my my wife hates it, right in the mud room. It's all out there. I'm like, sweet, I can get rid of 95% of this. I put it all back in there, and then I get ready for the hunt, and then I'm back to a heavy bag again. I'm just I gotta trim it down, but I feel like I have it pared down pretty well. So maybe I just need to go to the gym a few more times. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think my trouble is I already have all this gear, and then as you know, we're getting ready to leave the car and you know, head out for the blind. I feel like, you know, I've never really hunted more than you know, three hours at a time. You know, that seems to be all that you really need, or the flight dies off, but I don't know why I pack enough food and snacks for three days. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Well, that and water. Like I'm like, all right, I'm gonna bring my normal water that I drink over, and then all of a sudden I'm like, well, I'll throw two more water bottles in there. I've never touched those two water bottles. The labels are all worn off from just being in the bag, but they're there. Don't worry, I'm carrying them every time.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, so my last hunt, I I ran out of water, and I will tell you kind of what happened there. I'll tease it, but I'll tell you what happened there. And then Chuck, who was on episode two, gave me like a uh secret of the pros. So I'll share that with the listeners here as we jump into what's in my bag. But uh what do you say, man? Should we jump into some of the essentials? Yep, let's go. Cool. So yeah, we were kind of checking out things online and the essentials that every waterfowler should carry. Um they kind of broke it down into a few different categories here. So starting off, safety and survival. So this one's kind of interesting, but I think all of us would agree, headlamp number number one. But it also has a headlamp. Yeah, for I mean, and obviously it doesn't matter if you're going out even in the afternoon hunt. I mean, now you know, obviously it's getting darker earlier. So I mean, it's not just when you go out in those, you know, shoot light hunts at the in the early morning. Obviously, you just always want to have your headlamp. But this is one I think that I kind of go back and forth on as we talked about having too much gear and you know, trying to stay organized, is the spare batteries. You carry spare batteries? They're in the bag.
SPEAKER_03:I think probably two are rusted out. I've had, I don't know, I've I've wasted more triple A batteries just sitting in the bottom corner of my bag than I think I've used them once and it was I don't know. I I think I'm out on spare batteries. Uh should I have it in a perfect world? Yes, but you guys know me. You're lucky if I can make it out to the without dumping my bag in the water. At this point, I think I need to ditch the spare batteries and just throw fresh one in at the beginning of the hunt.
SPEAKER_01:So my headlamp runs on triple A batteries, and I'm sure some listeners out there, oh get the rechargeable one, you know. But my headlamp runs on triple A's, and then you know, we're a couple weeks off from Roboduck season, and you know, most of the mojos, some of them are rechargeable, like those lithium batteries, but you know, like I have the teal from mojo. I mean, it runs on double A's, so now all of a sudden I got double A backups, I got triple A backups. He just made me laugh.
SPEAKER_03:So I have you think you know those the spinners that I use, the slashers, the old school Wonder Ducks, those use I think they're D batteries, they're huge. And I actually I found my at the beginning of the season, I had four of them in my bag, they weigh like a pound a piece. I was that's so funny you brought that up. D batteries in my bag.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, say so. I don't know. I get you know what's gonna happen. Our lamps are gonna burn out on our next hunt, but I think I'm out on spare batteries.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna think I'm out. I they definitely I think I need to abandon ship on that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and as we go through these for the listeners, you know, shoot us a comment, let us know if you know you'd be like, you guys are dumbasses if you're you know, get if you're not carrying some of these things, but yeah, I think we're out on spare batteries. The next one, first aid kit. So this one I've and hear me out on this. This one I've gone back and forth on as well. So I always carry, you know, band-aids, bandages, I got you know, some gauze, different things, you know, things that kind of sit flat in like a little ziploc bag in my bag here. But I've gotten rid of the first aid kit and knock on wood here, because I have a feel once again, my headlamp's gonna die and I'm gonna need a first aid kit by next hunt. But you know, like it's so bulky, right? It comes with like that medical tape, you know, scissors, tweezers, all these different things. And I'm like, you know what? I got a knife, I got a leatherman, I carry electrical tape. You know what I mean? So there's different things that, you know, if I need to use medical tape, can I not just use electrical tape until we get back to the car and you know, I got a first aid kit in the in the back of the rig there. But what what are your what are your thoughts? I guess I've never really checked. Do you carry a first aid kit?
SPEAKER_03:I carried it up until two years ago. And I carried like an IFAC kit, essentially exactly what you need, a tourniquet, things like that. And two years ago I pulled it out because it got completely submerged and some stuff got ruined. And I kind of looked at it and I mean my my coworkers will probably kill me. They're big, they're big just because of the the work I'm in. They are they're big proponents of having all that kind of stuff, and I am too. But a lot of the things like you mentioned, like I got tape, usually I got I've got belts and stuff. I'm pretty confident that I can carry rig stuff if it's life or death. If you if you're bleeding and you have a cut, I'm I'm not gonna give you a band-aid, and I don't want to carry a band-aid for that. I want if like life depends on it, I'm pretty confident in my abilities to make shift items, if that makes any sense.
SPEAKER_01:It it does. And and I'm gonna kind of this was gonna be at the end, but I'm gonna This might not be a popular opinion. No, I I am gonna tease this because you know one of the folks on Facebook said not only a first aid kit, but a lot of people commented a tourniquet and quick clot, the quick clot gauze, too. Which is the case. Yeah, I don't do the quick clothing, right?
SPEAKER_03:But I'm a big fan of the gauze, but I don't do quick clot, and I have my personal reasons and from work and stuff like that. But like even if you just have a big old roll of gauze, you're gonna do great. The tourniquet is the key, I mean, for me. And I do I have an item, it is not an official tourniquet, but it's you know, I can make a tourniquet. You guys, we're all also we're all kind of duck lanyards or duck call lanyards. Great way to get some pressure on something. You can use anything as a point on the term. A windsill, no, not a windsill. But the the thing to create the pressure on a tourniquet, that's where I'm at with that. But I definitely think it's something important, especially if you don't have any medical background, carry the kit, because then if you're using things that are designed to be used for that.
SPEAKER_01:So I'm looking at this, and the whole category is about safety and survival, right? So I'm thinking, you know, and I think you and I are both coming at this from like if we're on the refuge, right? But if I'm thinking like if you have a rice blind and you're hunting it year round, it actually wouldn't be bad to kind of put one of those in like an ammo, like, you know, just put a first aid kit in like a metal ammo can and just leave it in there, right?
SPEAKER_03:I got one on my boat. It's literally like a in a like a pelican case.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm not using my boat, I'm not using my boat during the off season. Um that might be something to tell Chuck I'm gonna go throw in one of our blinds. I mean, all reality, I've heard terrible even talk about, and we I think we mentioned it in one of our episodes way back about just tragedies during the season and everyone's heavy gun safety, gun safety. But I feel like a lot of the gun issues I've heard of have been in blinds, which makes sense because gun guns are getting set, you know, down next to you. You're so that might be the thought, but I don't know. It's definitely bring I you gotta have either a plan or a kit.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I've kind of moved on to a plan, and I don't think I'm necessarily right in that, but here you know, I definitely think I'm a proponent of I'm not gonna say don't pack it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I've already said I'm I'm in on the next two, a knife or multi-tool.
SPEAKER_03:I carry a knife and you know, a leatherman that just so I switched oh, I guess we're gonna when we talk later about our specific bag, but we'll circle back on that. I'm a big proponent of something sharp.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And then Paracord, I don't keep it in the bag. Once again, like and and I'll just kind of tease this. Uh and Caitlin and I were talking before we uh started recording, is you know, we're both rocking backpacks now. And you know, I got the dive bomb backpack, Caitlin's got a Sitka backpack, and you know, when we both had our you know, like regular kind of shoulder harness blind bags, I felt like it was just there was way more compartments to carry all this stuff. So yeah, I carried uh you know a few feet of paracord kind of tied up, you know. But it's just once again, now I basically have one main compartment with a couple, you know, ways to organize it down at the bottom half of the bag, but I guess I could just kind of put a couple feet of paracord in there because I carry zip ties, but yeah, I'm sure there's gonna be a need for paracord one day, and I'm sure some listeners will tell us have it.
SPEAKER_03:From the safety aspect, I I had my why am I blinking on my lanyard for my calls. And I had it made by a local guy down in Modesto, and he makes it with paracord, and that's actually one of the reasons I stopped carrying it. Because in an emergency, I'm kept I I've probably got 200 feet wrapp wrapped up in my my land lanyard, and I have no problem cutting that up. That's my that's my theory behind it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I just got one of these like shotgun hanging loops that just goes on the front end of the uh barrel tube instead of carrying the sling, because you haven't seen it yet, but I got one of those gear sticks now instead of using our those marsh stands that we were rocking. So, you know, the ones where like you put it in the marsh, and then it's got like three or four different like kind of arms off it, so you can hang your backpack, you can hang your shell bag, and then you can hang your shotgun there. So and technically that's all paracords. So if I absolutely needed to, I can cut that apart, I guess. So uh getting rid of the marsh, the mo what was that thing called?
SPEAKER_03:Marsh Sand?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I love that thing. No, I mean I still have it, but it was just something where I was trying to figure out how to go light, how to kind of you know be a little more mobile, okay, and just figure we'll we'll give it a try.
SPEAKER_03:Try it out, spend some more money. I like it.
SPEAKER_01:Next one, I'm pretty sure everyone has these in their bag. I even have them, you know, early season just because they're in there from last season. But hand warmers, yeah, those kind of instant ones. No need to tough out if your hands are cold, your hands are cold.
SPEAKER_03:Get some warmers in there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'll tell you what. So they have hand warmers, they have the toe warmers, foot warmers, all this stuff. But uh, I think it was last season I ran into it and no homo on this one. I sent you I sent you I sent you the the same hot hands that makes uh the hand warmers has a warming blanket. So uh coupled blanket for two in the blind. Yeah, so I guess we're talking about survival there, but I was like, what is that for? But I guess it's for if you're going to like maybe a think about you have to move them a lot to keep them warm.
SPEAKER_03:So, like, what's the what do you call like that? Just keep rubbing yourself, shaking that thing. Uh, it's classic.
SPEAKER_01:You know, sticking with staying warm and this kind of the last one on the safety of survival, lighters or a fire starter for those cold mornings or emergencies. We're talking about it. Yeah, I don't carry the fire starter. I mean, I have a lighter in the bag because you know, every now and then I like to smoke a cigar out there if the hunt gets slow or whatnot.
SPEAKER_03:But and then If you're maybe out of I'm thinking some of the hunts I've done out of California are like if you're out in the just backwoods, but I don't know many duck hunters that aren't you know within a couple miles of their car, if that makes sense. Like if like deer hunting, that was gonna say you could be 10, 20, 20 miles out, 30 miles out, or even those 10 miles with you know, big old mountain ranges in between you. Whereas duck hunting, I'm like, man, we're in marshes. I can't I can't think of where I would really need a fire starter. But I'll probably need a fire starter, batteries, and a tourniquet on my next ones.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I think I think you're spot on. Is I think like if we're looking at our our waterfowl blind bag, that's one thing, but like a deer pack or you know, any sort of big game hunting, I'm most likely keeping a fire starter in there. I mean, same thing. I don't even see like a life straw on here, you know. I mean, do you need it, right?
SPEAKER_03:So I might oh a life straw. That's not a bad idea for the water solution.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Gross.
SPEAKER_01:So the next kind of section for the essentials that we all carry, obviously our license and paperwork. So, you know, everything's going digital these days, but you know, we still have our paper license, our stamps, all that stuff. I'll keep my you know, re my what are it called, my my uh refuge passes in there. Sorry, I couldn't even think of what they were called. But I think you know you're probably uh on board with that stuff too. Yep. So the third uh section here is calling and kind of our bird gear. So the lanyard with the duck calls, and I mean, everyone's we've we've talked about it, you know. You got your lanyard in there, you got your duck calls. I mean, everyone's different on what they have on that lanyard. Uh you know, some folks go more whistles, some have the calls. I don't know if you have it, but I I rock the finisher on my lanyard as well. This this next one, and and I I talked about it a few episodes ago. Like, I am not a great duck caller by any means, but like I master the whistle. But this one here, and I'm actually curious, do you carry extra call reads?
SPEAKER_03:I don't it's funny you say that. I I used to, but so I buy mine at Kittles because I run a Lair's hybrid. And I bought them, I bought them now twice over the fact because they wear out. I mean, you can definitely tell a difference, but they're in a Ziploc bag. And the first time I threw them away because I also will go on this later on what I carry, but I'm a PB and J guy in a Ziploc. So when I cleaned out my blind bag, I threw away like$12 worth of reeds. So then I doubled down and put them in a drawer at my house, and my wife tripled down and threw away my reads. So I used to have reeds, but no, I think the waste management dump down the street from the house has more reads than I do at this point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm sure some guys out there that you know, I don't know, some of those like expert callers are.
SPEAKER_03:This is kind of like batteries. If you're if you're running your call a lot, give it some eat, have it in your truck, give it some calls. You'll know it's not gonna I I mean, maybe I'm not knowledgeable enough in calling, but I'm not good enough either. My call, if it's good on the first time I blow it at the beginning of my hunt, it's good probably for the next three or four hunts.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, I'd be curious if guys are switching out or replacing Reed's mid-hunt, but I'm sure it happens. You know, this one was new to me, but obviously there's better callers out there. This one called for a small bottle of call conditioner or a spit rack. No way. Yeah, man. That's when I was online. So I love it. And and honestly, I'm gonna get you a bottle of call conditioner. Well, so I'll be honest, I I Googled it, right? And this is what came up. And people might be like, Oh, you've never heard of these? I've never heard of them. Call condoms are rubbers. Like, and I literally am looking at the pictures of them, and they literally just slide on. It's weird.
SPEAKER_03:I have to it's asking if I'm 18 years old or older than people on this website. Hold on a second.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Uh so I'm curious, you know. I mean, I feel like most guys just throw them in like the little pouch that they come in, you know, like the little sunglass pouch or something like that. But I don't know. Like the condom and rubber, I don't know about that. I think I'm out on that one.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, shoot. I'll throw our boy Chuck under. I mean, that guy's his call's got more Copenhagen in it than it does air, and it thing blows just fine.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And then this last one, uh, you know what's funny on this is I've heard guys go back and forth. The game tote, the bird strap. And the reason why people go back and forth, you know, it's kind of like cursed. So that's exactly it, man. It's kind of like when I go fishing and you know, put out, you know, you're getting set up, you got your rod holding, you're doing some bank fishing and whatnot. You got the rod holders out, and then you kind of you're just getting set up and you know, pull out the stringer and like clockwork, and and he was gonna jump on this episode, but something came up. But our put our buddy Pete, he goes fishing with us quite a bit, and he says, Well, you put that fucking thing away, that is bad luck, right? And so I'm with Pete on this. So same thing. You pull the toad out, right? So I will say I do have the bird strap, it's at the bottom of the bag, because obviously when I'm you know, at the end of the hunt, you got more than a couple birds, it's easy to put them on there, and you know, as you're kind of you know loading up the rig and everything, or or getting checked out at the check station, it just makes things easier and it kind of preserves them, and you know, they're not getting smashed by all your gear. So I guess I'm in on the base. Go ahead. I'm in on it, but leave it in the bag until you yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm uh I I this is the baseball in me, so I I I'm a I'm pro bird strap, but you can't consciously manipulate the bird strap at any portion of the hunt. And that means from your house all the way to the moment you're out in the blind. And my thought is so like right now I don't have one because I left it at my cousin's house. He says I didn't leave it there. So I have no strap. I know it's I know it was in this truck, but I haven't got it back in about 18 months, which is fine. I'm not bitter about it at all. That being said, I can't consciously go out and buy another one and put it in my bag because then there will be no birds. But if I tactically acquire a different one and then it just happens to cycle in and out of the bag, it should be fine. I'm very superstitious on this. I've it's kind of like that evening hunt shell run, and I can I'll dive into that later. But like if you just make if you make a move in the expectation to keep shooting birds, there's probably not going to be birds. So I'm in on the superstition. Do what you gotta do to get the birds to come.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I I'll tell you what though, like uh I was hunting the other day, and what I do like about it though is you know, I was it was a morning hunt, and actually, as like the kind of morning went on, it started to get a little warmer and I had the birds kind of laid out in order as I was shooting them, so that way I kind of knew kind of how the flow of the the hunt was going. And I was like, I just gotta get these birds in the shade, right? So, you know, put them on the strap, hung them in the blind, you know, just get them out. So yeah, I'm with you on that.
SPEAKER_03:And a lot of the guys I hunt, if I had all the money in the world and I knew I was hunting A minus property at on its worst day, I'd probably run a strap because then you know, those ones, it is what it is, you're gonna get your limit. But I'm talking when you know, because I when I go hunt, I'd love to say I get a limit every time where I know I am, but it's either it's usually all or nothing. And so I'm playing all the superstition I can get to not get those nothing hunts. Yeah. I think that's all of us rescue traps, though. Like usually you can scrape a couple by, but you know, it's not like a guarantee you're gonna go shoot seven ducks on any given Sunday. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Shells, so going into the shooting setup, uh, this will be the last section of kind of those essentials that everyone should carry. Obviously, shooting. Three boxes, got it. Yeah, this one, yeah. Yeah, I was curious how many, how many like to bring out there, but obviously most of us, you know, are you know public land hunting and yeah, 25, right? And but it's funny when I get the invite to go or I go hunt private or whatnot, I feel like why is it then all of a sudden I put two or three boxes in the bag? Once again, it goes back to weight, right?
SPEAKER_00:Coach get heavy. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:So I don't know, it's one of those because I can, but and it's not because I'm I'm shooting well, it's normally the flight, but it's like you don't need more than a box, you know. Maybe you might, you know, if you're having an off day, you might need like a couple extra shells, but definitely not more than two or three. It was nice if birds are flying and you're shooting good shots, even if you're missing, you should 25.
SPEAKER_03:I get it, maybe 26, 27, 28 shells. And that's not a great day of shooting, I'm gonna be honest. But like you we should be there. You and I I've hunted with you for years. Like, we've both made the walk of shame, and I would honestly say usually that's it it's it's uh it's user error, or we're taken maybe in back in the day. We haven't done it in years.
SPEAKER_01:I was just gonna say I have not done it in a very long time.
SPEAKER_03:It's probably like four years. So, but back in the day, especially when I was learning, I think I was the runner. I mean, it was like I need to go get shells again because you're taking pokes that you shouldn't. And that's part of the learning curve. I'm not endorsing, you know, taking shots you can't hit, but 25 shells, it's a good number. And it keeps you. I now hunt some areas where it doesn't or private, but it doesn't matter. And I I find myself, if I know I have a shitload of shells, I'm gonna shoot a shitload of shells. So it's it keeps me honest if I try to keep it to that twenty-five.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's funny. Once again, even like, and you know, there's gonna be guys out there that are what's that saying, dead eyed dick or whatever, like you know, Johnny hit everything, but like only shoot seven shells every time he hunts, yeah. There's gonna be guys out there that is gonna be laughing at us, what whatever on this one. But you know, it's funny. I think like early season, and I was thinking uh kind of like our first hunt together this season. It was a slow start, I think, for both of us, but definitely for me, where like I missed on a couple birds where it's like damn, I'm gonna go. Well, that first hunt we had together, we should have Yeah, you know, you're gonna run through shells and you're like, oh shit, but then all of a sudden you kind of settle in, you get your groove, and all of a sudden, you know, then you start getting like you know, one shot one bird, you know, maybe two shells to a bird, whatever it might be, trying to chase that double. But no, you settle in for sure. So this next one, I think you know, the shell belt or a dump pouch. It's funny. Like when I first started waterfowl hunting, you know, you go there to Bass Pro or Guns Fish and other stuff, kittles, whatever, and and you're just kind of buying all the accessories and the shell belt, you know, that kind of neoprene Rambo style belt, you know. I had that going to war, baby. Yeah, I had that, but I quickly got rid of that thing. I think you know, I know you rock your shell pouch. I really like, and I got it from you, but you know, just the hard plastic case, you know, that it's good.
SPEAKER_03:That's my refuge go. Yeah. And what what he's referring to. I so I I shoot boss. I think I've mentioned that, but um I've always kind of bounced back and forth, but lately, I mean, I'm a hundred per this year is a hundred percent boss, last year was about eighty percent, and it's kind of gone up from there. But I'm shooting my 20 gauge, I haven't even pulled out my 12 yet. And I I like that little wax bag that boss gives. I shoot some shells out of it, I put garbage in at the end of the hunt. I do like it. But when I hunt a refuge for the love of God, because I'm not gonna have Johnny Green jeans count me 26 shells, I I I fill the plastic thing up. That way I can whip it, whip it open, he looks at it, and I leave.
SPEAKER_01:So, you know, and I didn't tell you this, but this is like last week or two weeks ago. I'm kind of in between a couple different shells this uh season, but obviously my go-to that I probably shoot 75-80% of the time, I'm a Kent fast still guy, and I know that boss has that wax bag. Well, so does Kent. So I go online and I'm like, you know, I think I was trying to buy that and like a sweatshirt from them or something, and so I'm through checkout and everything, and they can't ship to California. You have to go through an FFL.
SPEAKER_03:How dare you ship something that might have anything related to a firearm to California?
SPEAKER_01:No, and that's what's crazy, is like I had to select like an FFL to sign to for a sweatshirt in a bag. Yeah, you know, and I think it's just because like shipping like shells and whatnot. So anyway, so I was out on that one, but so I still got my plastic box.
SPEAKER_03:Well, dude, I got plenty of them. I'll throw one your way. It's the least I could do for you shouldering all the way to this podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Extra chokes. I I think that we're both I'm out on it. Yeah, I was gonna say I am too. When I was rocking guilty as charged, though.
SPEAKER_03:No, I it's one of those as there's been times where I've looked like an end cap at sportsmen with like six different chokes and like it would look like a NASCAR pit stop when I thought birds might come in at a distance. I'm not, I'm just I'm over it.
SPEAKER_01:So I think as you evolve, then you kind of you know realize what kind of shooting, what kind of shooter you are, what kind of shots you like to take. But I'm out on it. A couple of seasons ago, I kind of put the kibosh on this one. But when I was rocking like the kicks, high flyer chokes, I had a modified, a full, and an extra full, right? Depending on what kind of hunt I was gonna do that day, how I was shooting, how the birds were working. I really never to be honest with you, I never used the extra full. I think it was more one of those like, oh wow, they have an extra full choke, and I just bought it. Yep. So shotgun choke wrench. This one I don't carry, but I guess it goes hand in hand with the choke. Well, no, we do have our finisher. So that's what I'm gonna say. So for those of you guys that rock the finisher, you guys know that that's also a uh uh choke wrench. I do carry gun oil. I don't know, do you I mean, as long as one guy in the group has it, I guess, but I do carry gun oil. That's a good point.
SPEAKER_03:I actually used to always carry gun oil and I ran out and I haven't refilled it. Yeah. And then But that's a Winchester thing. I s I I I have so many issues with my not issues, I don't want to buy I just it's more of how I've maintained my gun, not an issue with the gun. But there's been some field strips with the Winchester, and a little gun oil will get you through anything. I mean, a lot of gun oil can get almost any gun to work, and then you gotta clean it way up after. So I always did carry it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, if you keep your gun properly maintained, you shouldn't need to put too much oil in in the field, if at all. But you know, we know it sometimes it happens.
SPEAKER_03:So I'm a realistic hunter. I got kids. Sometimes my gun comes from a hunt, goes right up against, doesn't even make it to the safe, and it might it may sit for a day or two or the until the next hunt.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And then this one's interesting. I definitely don't keep these in the bag, but they're in the garage. Snap caps for safety checks. I have them for every caliber, every every gauge gun that I have, just to you know, that way we're not dry firing there, but yeah, I don't keep those.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I have them for my handguns. I've never thought about doing it for shotgun. That's but I'm not gonna shy away from anything that says safety. So if you feel like it's way to go.
SPEAKER_01:It's interesting, and I don't know if a snap cap would, and I'll have to maybe ask Grayson about this because he was talking about, you know, like if you submerge your gun or you get just a little bit of you know dirt or debris or mud in the barrel that you know, obviously you could blow the barrel, all this different stuff. So I wonder if snap caps is a way to kind of do a safety check on that. We'll have to check, but yeah, I don't carry those in the bag. So let's run through this next section. So this uh next section, we're calling the gear no one talks about but saves you every time. Kind of the uh quote smart guy gear, those quiet MVPs of the duck hunt. So this is probably the guy that has, you know, I don't know, I guess you can always count on him. And you know, like I said, I probably have half of these things.
SPEAKER_03:But I hope you mean all those things you're saying, because man, I got a few of these. You might have I I'm evolving. I might be you've got some years on me, but I got a lot of these. I got some clever ones too.
SPEAKER_01:So let's let's run through. So zip ties. I'm a zip tie guy. Yeah, zip ties have so many different human styles.
SPEAKER_03:I will say if I know the cover I'm going into and I can get rid of and but if I know I'm hunting public, zip ties all day.
SPEAKER_01:Dude, zip ties and the next one's electrical tape. I mean, zip ties, electrical tape. I don't carry electrical. Yeah, there. Yeah, you know what's interesting? I was hunting. What are you using it for? So this is what's interesting. I was hunting with a guy that he had like a part of like his like his stock was coming up. It was like it it wasn't like an unsafe thing, but just kind of to seal the game. The recoil pad? Yeah, something like that. So I mean it just kind of gets you through the hunt and stuff. Like I said, I figure electrical tape, it's so small.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, it's not bad. I might throw that in there.
SPEAKER_01:It has so many different uses that you know does well in water. Yeah, exactly. So so a small towel or microfiber cloth. We actually talked about this a couple weeks ago, because shout out uh Robert from the filthy spoon. This is the one thing that never leaves his bag. So, you know, I just threw one in this past week actually, just because you know, the with the storms coming and all that stuff. You know, he said it, he's right, you know, dry hands, you know, keep you warm, all that different stuff. If you need to clean something on your gun, clean something out, which is good to have. So I just keep a microfiber cloth in the uh bag. How about you? Yeah, I've had I've gone in and out.
SPEAKER_03:So I think that's something that's a good point on the dry hands. I've always kept it for like sunglasses. I shouldn't say always. When I if it's raining or something like that, or if it's gonna be foggy, I'll have some sort of towel because I've tried using my clothes and it just doesn't work. But that's not a bad idea, just to kind of keep one permanent. It's not definitely not a permanent fixture in my bag. So here we go. Now I'm adding stuff. I'm trying to cut weight here, and you're adding every ounce counts, and now I gotta tell.
SPEAKER_01:But once again, some of these things, you know, it's like you maybe you have like your refuge pack, and then some of these you just kind of leave in the blind. You know, just like I said, get one of those ammo cans or something and just leave it in there. Um this one here, extra gloves. I'll tell you what, I don't even have original gloves. I have two, you know, and and my I have two sets. Dude, well, and I know one time, god, it was a couple seasons ago, and we got caught, and it was the it was the last Wednesday of the season. We were hunting public. I think we were at like Sack or Delvin, and we were in a good storm, man, and and it was cold, freezing, all that stuff, and you actually hooked me up with a pair of gloves. But I will tell you what, my whole issue is, and I mean, either you or someone who listens, shoot us a comment, let me know. But I just can't find good gloves out there that like I can, you know, still I don't want to take them off to load the shotgun, to get something out of my bag, to pull the trigger, all these different things. So, and then really, you know, if they're not waterproof, what's the what's kind of the point? I don't want to water resistant, all that stuff. So I I don't know, it has to be pretty damn cold for me to need gloves. I will tell you what, you it's been a long time and since I've done this, but like years ago, I would go on the Sack River with Garza on his boat, and you're out there, and if when you're cruising from one spot to the other and you're just kind of standing up there acting as a windshield for him, dude, you you need those gloves, man. It's freezing. So I will say I guess it depends on where I'm going.
SPEAKER_03:I'll I mean I have a duck boat. I I don't I've used it very uh minimally. I'll get into it, but it neither here nor there. But I will say on a boat, get the best gloves you have. I don't care if they're freaking purple because the worst day I've had is going out in the mud motor, your hands are out there, you can't even touch anything. So I will say that. And that's actually how gloves got in my bag. And I carry kind of like a snow, they're they're fit to gloves. I have like a snowboarding style one, like they're they've got the insulation, and then I have more of a like a skin fit again, fit to gloves. Not waterproof. One thing I'll say is like if you wear gloves, make sure you go shoot your gun once, take it to the range or take it out to the buddy's property, get a feel for it. Cause just back to that safety thing, you get excited. Some people you if you don't practice shooting gloves, and that's you know, handguns, pistol, rifle, then you shouldn't be shooting with gloves ever. And so it's definitely something I'm pretty I think is very important. I practice shooting with gloves on a regular basis, just for my own purposes of in life and what I do. But if you don't practice with it, it it can become a hindrance. And yeah, but I do carry two pairs of gloves. It's funny you say that, and I'm glad you remember what I gave you a pair because that should that's what keeps those good refuge invites coming.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You know, these last few are in the same category, it's kind of like the gear no one talks about, but I kind of disagree with this. Like I feel like we all talk about this, especially here in NorCal. So bug spray during the early season, like a thermocell. I think we all have those. Like we're you know, we make sure that those are trained.
SPEAKER_03:No one I've hunted with this year, Brandon, has had a thermosel. I think they're fools because you and I rock each walk rock one. There could be pterodactyl mosquitoes. We put those puppies on, I'm telling you, it works. So for sure. That could be a podcast sponsor. We should reach out to them. I guarantee there's not a wall a waterfowl podcast out there looking for a thermosel sponsor. That's a good idea. Because I'm an advocate.
SPEAKER_01:Battery pack for you know, just whatever, but I I put on here battery pack for the iPhone, you know, because we're using different apps, whether it's Onyx, weather apps. It's a good call. I mean hunt gets slow.
SPEAKER_03:I get it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So that's good to have. And then that probably even goes into like the safety and survival one, right? Um earplugs. I feel like you're back and forth on this. I've really tried to make sure that I'm wearing hearing protection. Obviously, just with like my prescription glasses or sunglasses, I feel like I'm always wearing you know eye protection, but ear protection is pretty big for me. Just I feel like the last couple seasons were times where I've forgotten, or maybe I had it out, and then all of a sudden, you know, some birds were coming in and I didn't put them back in. Where, you know, let's say it was a weekend hunt, my ears still ringing on Tuesday or Wednesday. So I'm trying to get we're just getting old.
SPEAKER_03:I haven't committed to it. For me, because obviously I'm a world-class caller, I feel like it affects me. I haven't done it, and there's no good excuse. You should it's especially if you're new getting into duck hunting, just put the earplugs in now. Yeah. Because then you'll know nothing otherwise.
SPEAKER_01:You know, this next one is this is funny because this was me early on, but the toilet paper in a ziploc, and I'm laughing about it because I used to bring the whole role out. Did you really the whole roll in like a Ziploc bag in this picture, like the bulky roll, like and it's like, do you need that, right? So then obviously, like you get the travel wet wipes. I've been really big on dude wipes lately for multiple reasons. Obviously, for you know, those times where you have to hop in the toolies like a normal person and we don't shit in the blind, like you know, a couple applicants ago. But even like the dude wipes at the end of the hunt, you know, you know, getting out of your gear or whatever. I just like to kind of wipe down with those, you know, before you start heading home. It just feels fresh after that. And then, which actually now that I think about it, I was the MVP on this one because our first hunt, was it because your back did you not have, or was it in your bag?
SPEAKER_03:I no, I didn't have.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I didn't have.
SPEAKER_03:I still have kids now, dude. I'm losing my mind.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, because I remember I remember that you're MVP. Well, because you were kind of yeah, you were walking around the pond with Rooster and just kind of checking things out. It was a little the flight had kind of slowed down, and then you come back and you're like, Yeah, hey, throw away the wipes. And I just thought it was because you weren't in the blind, so but uh oh man.
SPEAKER_03:No, it was uh it was a code bronze. We had to book it back over to a nice little island I found. No, it's funny. Did you see that post? There's a post on one of the rescue forums about Beale Air Force Space and some guy, and I think they shouted out dude wipes because one guy, I don't obviously I'm not military, so I didn't hunt that, but some guy I guess was waders down to his ankles on the side of the highway just leaving a gun. I'm like, God, what's going on with people? I mean, where's some have some dignity, find a tooling patch?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. And then this last one, I think we talked about this during the pet peeve episode. I I've tried to get better. I just throw like a little small like grocery bag or a small trash bag in there, clean up your stuff, you know, pick up your body.
SPEAKER_03:I had it with a guy last weekend, he had like a little mesh bag. That was cool because it just for moist you know, everything gets wet. Yeah. And waterfell. And then he so he used a mesh, because especially picking up shelves, they're all wet, or at least more, you know, they're probably in the shoreline. So that was cool. I liked that. I was like, oh, I'm gonna try to keep my eye out for like something that my kids toys come in and put that in. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's jump into this next one here. So we talked about kind of the things that weigh down the bag. So we've gone through the essentials, some of the gear we need for the hunt. Now, this is kind of all those comfort items, you know, the food, the snacks, the coffee, stuff like that. So, you know, obviously for like some of those longer hunts, you know, it's good, you know, to obviously have a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate. I'm not a coffee guy, definitely not making hot chocolate for the hunt, but you know, I'm a Red Bull.
SPEAKER_00:I'll bring you hooked up next time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. The water bottle, you know, obviously, and I I put said on here, make sure you keep that spare in the bag for the emergency. And this is kind of that uh secret of the pros I was teasing about from Chuck. So last weekend, okay, last weekend, two weekends ago, I was out on the refuge, you know, had a what a mile, mile and a half walk out to the blind. I get to, you know, you're walking down the road and you, you know, you drop the cart and pulling the sled through the water, and this blind I was on was pretty deep off the uh road too. So you know, you finally get there, and you know, after about 30, 40 minutes from from the rig, you're just like, hey, you know, I'm gonna get some water. I'm like, where the fuck's my water bottle? Like, you know, I couldn't I couldn't find it. Like, and I rocked one of those yeti water bottles, I keep it on the side of my bag, and I knew I had it on there. So it must have fallen out of my pack. So I'm like, fuck, like this happened the other day because I'm big into like chewing sunflower seeds when I hunt, so naturally I just get real thirsty. So fortunately, because I was running out of water on a previous hunt, I just decided to throw an extra like Costco water bottle in the uh in the sled when I was leaving the car, and then I had a uh one of those element electrolyte packs. So basically, talk about survival. I basically was like only limited to my hunt by like, hey, the birds were slowing down, but I was also running out of water and everything. So um so Chuck told me, and this was kind of smart, he's like, dude, I just keep a bottle of water in my bag. Sometimes I even forget it's in there, but it's just there at the bottom for like those emergencies, right? And it doesn't have to be just for thirst, but maybe you need to, I don't know, wash out a wound or not a wound, but a cut or something. You know what I mean? It could be anything. But I was like, that's pretty good. So yeah, now I got the uh just a regular plastic water bottle in the bottom of the bag here, but now I gotta go get another Yeti bottle because I I like to rock that plastic Yeti bottle versus the. Oh, you lost it, lost it. Yeah, I lost it. Like I even was walking back thinking like, oh, I'll find it here along the trail or whatever, and I never found it. I mean, it is what it is, I'm not worried about it, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So Yeah, I carry I have and I'm I'd dude, this would be a good experiment because I have a lot of reusable waters just because that's what marketing has made the world nowadays, which is good. I'm all for say, you know, say the planet, I guess. But I wonder if it's better to go reusable, like plastic water bottle higher volume. Because like at the end of the day, we're hunting in the cold. I don't need an insulated bottle. We used to do that all the time. We used to do that all the time. Remember the old Noljins? Yeah. That might be the way to go. More volume, less. I don't need all that cushion to keep my water cold. Because at the end of the day, it's freaking cold already. So and they're lighter too.
SPEAKER_01:So that's what that's what I'm talking about. That's what I had from Yeti, not the big hard metal insulated one, but they make like basically the now dry. A non-insulated? Yeah, non-insulated. So it was like it was super light. So it was great. But I thought you were going down where when we first started hunting, or you know, just kind of going out doing things, whether it was fishing, camping, whatever, you know, you put your packing up your bag. We would just grab like the you know, the aquafinas or the Costco waters and things like that. Well, those are with the emergency ones. But no, but we would we would carry them in the pack, and then obviously you just kind of smash them down when you're done and you're lightening your load as you go. But I think I'm a fan of those.
SPEAKER_03:I'm gonna go back to some. I always keep I I'm with Chuck. I always keep a little, what are they, 12 ounces, you know, the classic Costco pack and just throw one in. It's in the bottom, but it usually tastes funny because it's been there for a while. But like at the end of the day, you need it. But I'm a huge water drinker. Like I drink um a ton of water. So that's been a that's been a struggle this past year for me because I'm like, man, I'm trying to cut weight. And then I hunt with my kids and they can't carry anything. So now I'm playing the four-bot water bottle game. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:This straw. This this one's new for me. I keep like the electrolyte packet in there because I mean, it's easier than carrying a whole like another Gatorade or something. Just carry a little powder packet and then just the one while they're good, though. Yeah, those are the liquid IVs, whatever you like. All right, let's get into snacks. All right. So once again, like these are kind of the bare minimums that I like to carry, but it's the most important section. But sometimes, you know, it's like, why did I pack so much shit for a three-hour hunt? You know, we just never know how long you're gonna be out. So normally, like, I'll eat, you know, have like a bagel or something, or something like kind of light, like before we start, you know, heading out to the blind. But I take with me normally like a sandwich, those jerky sticks from Costco, like those chomps, or even Costco has some now. Like the protein bar, that's a good snack if you know you just need something light. And then I already said, like, I'm big on sunflower seeds. I know some people probably get pissed because it makes such a mess in and around the blind, but you know, I try to spit them out in the pond. Um, it's natural. Yeah, what's your go-to? I feel like you always have a PBJ. Oh, actually, no, and you turned me on to this this season, and actually, I got a couple packs in the pantry here. Those dried fruits, that dried mango, that's good too. Dried mango.
SPEAKER_03:I usually have one snack, and it's usually if I'm gonna have it, it's gonna be like dried mango, or I'll have an actual banana or an actual apple. And then one to two PB and J's always, and then I have two protein bars in there. I I like to bring seeds, but if you're the best thing about this is if you know who you're hunting with, aka if I'm hunting with Brandon, I don't gotta bring seeds because he's got them. And he may not know this, but I just steal his seeds almost every time. But I'm a big seeds guy. Like I there's certain people you know if that like I don't ever bring a thermos out, but I know if I go hunt with one of my buddies, he's gonna have hot chocolate for the kids and coffee for me. And I'm like, perfect. So I scale back. Maybe I don't bring my Celsius out.
SPEAKER_01:So this one, I feel like it's been a couple seasons since I've done it, but do you remember what my kind of go-to move was for the for the group? Was it the Reets? The Reets. Or the jet boy, yeah, the Reets. Well, both, but the Reets, the breakfast. The Reets was the burritos, you know, and I got that from you know, Garza started doing those when I first started hunting, and it's a great move. You make them the night before, you can either preheat them in the trailer or whatever, but hey, they're actually not that bad, cold cold out in the middle of the day. You know, he he'd even bring out the little smallest jar of topatia. We were set up, man.
SPEAKER_03:So I will say, because now I'm I mean, I hunt probably I was looking back on my hunt notes. I hunt on average 20 to 30 times a year. I don't get much more than 30, and I haven't had a season less than 20. So 20 to 30 is my number. But I will set up you know five, six seasons in now, and I you know I consider myself a beginner, but at least I'm not afraid to go try some out. And my hunts have gotten shorter because I either a know when to call it or I get my limit or which is the limit I'm shooting for. Yep, I was just gonna say Man, when you're first starting out, like you can't have enough food. Yep. Because how many times have we been out there and you're like, Caitlin, we're not hunting tip to tip, and I'm like, we need to get more birds for sure. There hasn't been a bird in three hours.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's exactly it. It's like, you know, when I first started hunting, I would go shoot light to shoot light or tip to tip, like we like to call it. And sometimes like you would go back just to go maybe get another box of shells, but also maybe grab like another sandwich or something out of the cooler or whatever. Or you just brought all that shit with you out to the blind. Um but now, man, like I I feel like I haven't hunted past God, like what 10 30, maybe? When's the uh how have we uh like honestly think about the think about the last year?
SPEAKER_03:We stayed out, but that was because of the situation. There wasn't flight, but we're like, hey, when are we gonna hunt here again? Let's hang out.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and then we were going back for lunch anyway, so it's like we didn't really have anywhere to go.
SPEAKER_03:There was nowhere to be until lunch.
SPEAKER_01:That was still about 1030.
SPEAKER_03:That was 10 30.
SPEAKER_01:So I mean, if the birds are if the birds are there, if they're flying, we'll hang out, right? But like Oh, that's I did hunt.
SPEAKER_03:I had my limit. I was part of a hunt because we I mean we were shooting five guys, so we're we were scraping out the last bit of our limit. Well, and I didn't hunt late, but like I was dying because I only packed for about two hours worth of hunting.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we all know those guys that you know maybe it's a Wednesday, and you know what? We gotta get out of the blind. We got meetings, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh yeah, we just take your blind take your work calls in the blind. Antonio, I gotta go over those stories one day.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I will Yeah, I'll I'll say it. You know, there's there's been times where you know I've been with uh maybe even a coworker, you know, and so hey, we're doing business out in the blind. But I'd say, like, hey, I gotta call for the next 10 minutes. I don't care if the bird just comes in, CWA logo, wings cupped up, everything. Let it go. Let it go. You can't shoot it. Yeah. Well, right on. Well, I know we're getting close to an hour here. You know, maybe we just kind of go through kind of our setup real quick and and kind of what we carry. I know we kind of talked a little bit about it, but I'll go first. We talked a little bit about, you know, the shoulder blind bag, you know, the rigum right, the Drake, whatever. They all every brand makes them. I rocked that forever, you know. And a couple years ago I went the lunchbox. Yeah, exactly. The big one with all the compartments. And dude, my my Drake bag that I had forever was the best. And I'm sure other ones are like this, but it had the little flap with like the uh the clear compartments, so you could put like the refuge map on it or whatever. Yeah, like how many times were people actually like they show the picture online of the guy lifting it and like his headlamp, dude. It shows my headlamp, like it glared. I couldn't see anything on it, but no, that that thing was legit. It's cool, floating bag, fit in the sled. It you know, it was just a great bag. But I went to a backpack a few years ago just out of convenience, and and this season it's actually brand new. But I'm rocking the dive bomb, the zippered waterproof backpack, and a lot of this came out of necessity. We we've had some crazy storms the last couple of seasons, and I got really tired of you know the backpack that I was using from another brand, loved it, you know, stayed organized, all that stuff. But yeah, after a good solid storm, I'd have to go home and like pull all the shit out of the bag and like let it dry in the garage for you know a few days or whatever, and then put it back in here. So yeah, I'm rocking the dive bomb. I like it, I love it. It's it's it's awesome. So I'll go through my stuff real quick. I got my bag right here in front of me. Let's see what we got here. So let's go through real quick. So I started carrying, and I don't know if you've seen this yet, Caden. So I don't know, it's like this like little like case thing, and I got everything in here that like I don't really need day in, day out, every hunt, but it's good to have. And one thing I'll I'll shout out that's in here. I'm sorry, I was trying to set the the phone back up here. I'm just gonna lay it down for a sec. In here, I keep the leatherman zip ties, per grayson. I actually just added these a couple weeks ago. A handful of Q-tips, the gun oil, I got a uh charger in here. But what's cool on this one, what's also in here, and you'll love it, and then I'll I'll show it to you here, but then I'll I'll tell the listeners. The uh gotta have it. So I was just showing Caiton the uh the Lamaster method, the waterfowl ID book. So by Richard Lamaster. If shout out old Dick Lemaster there. But this book's great, but I think it's like nine or ten bucks on Amazon. And I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Real good early season.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't care how seasoned of a hunter you are, like this is just good to have. And it I'll tell you what, I actually had a debate with a person at the check station the other day because I was 99% sure that this bird was what I thought it was, and they tried to say it was something else, and I basically showed them this, and they're like, Oh, you're right. So it's good to have, good to know what you're shooting. But it's cool that you look up like beak, wings, all that different stuff, early season, Drake, hens, all that. So take a peek at that. What else do I got in here? So I got the thermocell still, the bug spray, keep the wipes in here, and then at the very bottom, I already said it's in there. I got the game tote hidden in there, and then got the call lanyard, you know, a couple different calls on there, the finisher, the widge and whistle, got my new pintail call. Shout out Shannon Kelly game calls there. So thank you, Shannon Kelly, for that one. Got the water bottle per Chuck, that kind of emergency bottle. And then I don't know if it was it was on here, but obviously the headlamp, but the flashlight, too. So um, that's good to have. You know, obviously that one's I feel like it's brighter, you can see further distance than the headlamp, and then the front pouch here, keep my license, my earplugs. What else is in there? That's kind of it for now. Yeah, man, that's that's pretty much my setup. And there's no real way to kind of organize this. Like I said, it just being a backpack now. I pretty much kind of keep that, that's about a third to a half full that way. But then you figure you put some snacks on there, and then the last couple of hunts, I haven't needed it, but just in case was I rolled up my like sitka shell and just kind of packed it in there, and before you know it, your backpack's full. So that's my setup, man. What do you what are you rocking?
SPEAKER_03:Mine has been super simple this year. I mean, I I we talked about a bunch of things that I say I have or should have, and then there's the realistic side of what I've been running. So, I mean, I got two pairs of gloves, so I guess that wasn't a lot. I got hand warmers. The batteries are out. I know I I actually went for this episode went and you know, I was going through it like you just were, and I threw the last two triple A's that were just dangling in the bottom. I got my streamlight, my my flashlight. I recommend getting a good flashlight. You can get away with a cheap one, actually. I mean just get something with you know, an LED, it's got some good coverage. I run probably a little bit overkill, a good streamlight. It cost me a couple hundred bucks, but it does I mean it it's a good torch and it it charges well and has interchangeable batteries. It's probably overkill. I'm a I'd be curious. I mean, in all my my headlamp, I run the energizer, like the the the Costco pack essentially of headlamps. Because I've bought a actually I have another one in my barn and I should maybe either A return it or B use it. But I you see some people out there with great headlamp. Chuck has a good headlamp, it has almost like flashlight capabilities. But I just need something that works, and like headlamps get tossed to the side, they get wet. I don't know. I I've never found a good headlamp that is worth the money yet. And I know there's a I've even Googled the and looked.
SPEAKER_01:So I like mine. I rock that black diamond one, but it's good. I didn't try that. I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_03:It's got it last season.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, different modes, different brightness levels. What I like is when you're sitting in the blind after you're all set up, or we're you know, we're kind of hanging out for 30 minutes or so, just waiting for shoot light, and I can have that little like kind of red lamp or you know, blue and green. Blue red, it's nice. But yeah, the I know the energizer one that you're talking about. I have I think I have one of those in my glove box in my car just to kind of have. And I think I've had it forever, but I've had the same one up until this season.
SPEAKER_03:I've had the energizer only, and I bought probably two or three trying to like upgrade because I'm like, hey man, I'm I'm into hunting. This is my thing. Like, why don't I spend and every time either A breaks or I return it and I go back to the energizer. So this year, the energizer finally was done done. I mean, it had too many storms. So I bought I bought a new a new three-pack and I'm like, dude, this is gonna last me like 12 years. This is crazy, 26 bucks. And I do carry the nice flashlight. So any sort of like actual light penetration I need, hey, penetration.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I was gonna say, well, it's hey, I don't it doesn't matter if it's energizer or what whatever the brand is, as long as it's bright enough to you know tell those fucking kids in free roam, hey, I'm already here. I'm already here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So that's what I've been doing. I'm a big energizer guy.
SPEAKER_01:Let me cut you off real quick. You know what I'm out on? And some guys might be like, oh, they're the best or whatever. I'm out on they're so fucking bulky, dude. It's the like the miners almost light. You know, the one that kind of like it wraps around and the strap goes over your head, too. Three flashlights off? Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03:I have that in my barn. I'm gonna go take a look at it. After we done we're done recording, I'm gonna send you a picture to see how good it is. But I think the energize, I'm sorry, if you got a flashlight, I mean, I guess if you don't want to carry a flashlight, but you gotta have a flashlight, right? Yeah. Um I mean I've hunted with a guy though who's the only one out with an iPhone light, and I'm like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Hey, one last thing. This is in the bag too. I got my magnet pickup stick here. So when you're kind of sitting in the when you're sitting in the blind, I think it's like three feet or whatever, you can kind of reach out, pick up your shells and everything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:The big one for me, uh, I mean, everything else. I mean, I got my hand warmers, but I said two c two gloves, a flashlight, and a headlamp. I carry an extra honker call, but that's because I hunt up north and I'm not hunting golf courses down in the stock valley, so I don't have honkers. I can't get ten honkers, but when we go up north, you can get two. Dumbest rule ever. But so I do carry it on a off-lane here just in case there are honkers. I'm not great at it, but it's you know nice to give it a shot. I've gotten a couple this year. And then I carry uh the old Corona clippers. No sh anyone who's uh dad was ever a landscaper, but Corona. Just a little hand clippers that you'd like to trim your rose bush with. Because I'm a big fan of cover. If you're if there's some already down branches, you know, you can't go out and cut trees down out there. I get that. But if you know you'll find stuff in the blind or branches, guys have already piled stuff. I'll cut it up to work for what I need to do.
SPEAKER_01:So do you remember like when we first started hunting together? I used to carry like that Gerber machete in my um with the she. Like it's like kind of where the idea came from when I trimmed it down. Yeah. And and I'll tell you what, I think I was watching like I think it was like in some flooded timber. I don't know where it was, where these guys were based out of, but you know the little folding saw too, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Um this is where you go down the rabbit hole though, with like what you could carry. I mean for sure. If I'm hunting in lately, I haven't my refuge cart hasn't moved this year. I've been everything has either been six decoys and a backpack or areas where we can just drive our trucks out to where we're dumping the decoys. When I have a decoy cart, I will throw like that's where I throw an extra, extra water bottle in the decoy cart because I'd push in a you know a game cart with the jet sled. And that's sometimes where I mean I'll go. I don't have you hunted when I brought my whole like my little buddy heater out.
SPEAKER_01:No, but that was at I think you probably saw in the notes up there. I put I added that where I think it's cool.
SPEAKER_03:Like it's that if I'm hunting the blind, if you got kids, let's say with the leave a few decoys at home, leave a few decoys at home and bring the heater because and I'm a huge it's like teaching like your girlfriend to go snowboarding or snow skiing. Everyone hates it because it's you're cold. And same with your kids. So like honestly, don't let them learn how to be warm, bring a little heater. They freaking love it. And I I've gone out now to I've only done a sack. That's the only place I've taken the boys because I want to bring them. They're too little for free roam. Sure. So we're looking for a blind sack's the place to go for that, in my opinion, because it's the sheer quantity. And I bring the heater and it it make it just makes it so much more enjoyable for them.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's get ready to put a bow on this. We'll we'll fly through this next section here, this last section, if you will. So I think you saw on Facebook I put out there like, what are some things that are always in people's blind bags? You know, what do they always have with them? And uh we'll just kind of go through some of these because we've pretty much have talked about almost all of them. So, like I said, first aid kit, but really I put the tourniquet in that quick clock gauze. Like, I was so surprised how, and I don't know if you went through the comments at all, but there were a lot of people that were shouting out that stuff, which you know what, that's good to have, but I'd be curious to know how many people actually have that extensive of like emergency gear. Like we talked about it, we don't, but we should. Um TP wet wipes makes total sense. I thought this one was kind of funny that a lot of guys are big on the Immodium and Pepto. They say, you know, whether it's from the night before, you know, you get some guys that say, like, oh, I just pound a couple Imodium before we go out there, so that way I don't need the teepee, but that's a hell of a that's a hell of a dice he's rolling.
SPEAKER_00:I'll date I'll depict my TP.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I guess that's the same guy that carries the microfiber cloth.
SPEAKER_00:You know, he probably sits in the blind too.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly, right? Which, hey, speaking of that and and side side whatever here, I don't know if we actually talked about that. We found out where that happened. Did did we talk about we didn't talk about that on the on the podcast? So for those of you guys that listen to please don't poop in the blind. The comment from I think his name was Dylan. Dylan or Devin, but I reached out to him and I said, Hey man, like tell me more about this. Where was this? So he said that It was Daryl. Daryl, Daryl, that's what it was. And it happened twice, both at both at Sacramento and Sack. Both at SAC. And so Noah. So, and he said, Damn, do you have the comment? Let me let me pull it up real quick because it's actually worth sorry guys, just hang out one sec. It's worth kind of reading what he said. Did he reply on the web on the forum? Yeah, like I think I was chatting with him. And okay. Let's see. So here okay, here it is. No, that was an old one.
SPEAKER_03:He was like, don't shit in the blind with the refugees. Get out of the blind and go shit in the tools like normal people. And I was like, this is the most obvious thing to be said. Like, who in the fact has ever shit in the blind? Yeah. And I think there was another guy that kind of backed him up on this.
SPEAKER_01:So what was his name again? Daryl, you said? Daryl S.
unknown:Daryl S.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, here it is. Here it is. Okay. One sec. Hang tight, guys. Alright. So I reached out to him. I said, hey man, we shot chatted about this on our podcast for the Fowlers, blah blah blah. I said, where was this? And he said, This has happened to me twice on Sacramento Refuge. First time someone left a deuce on the bottom of the blind. Second time it was on the top of the seat, like it was left on purpose for the next guy. It was kind of disgusting. And the worst part was no toilet paper was left behind. So I'm guessing they didn't wipe. And then you know, kind of shouts out the podcast and everything. So I thought that was pretty funny because especially when he talks about like it being left there for per on purpose. It I think you were talking about like the uh the upper decker prank for the next battle. But exactly. So yeah, so we could put a bow on that. So that's kind of the end of that story there. But funny. Going back to kind of what people are make sure they keep in their bags. We were talking about the Immodum Pepto. Um, I'm big on this, like Tylenol or Advil. I always throw Advil.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I appreciate you always having an Advil for me. I think I'd owe you a bottle.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, dude. It's not so much for like the headache or whatever, but you start hauling gear. Start hauling gear at 4, 4:30 in the morning. Yeah, that shit'll save you. Copenhagen, Zins, you know, I know we're out on that one, but I put here a little sub subcategory. I put, you know, like for me, I like to bring out some cigars out there. You know what's funny? And and don't mock me out there, people might, you know, you know, talk a little shit on this one, but the black and milds, man, take it back to the ducks. That's not for you. No, I I know, and take it back to the days of high school, man. I keep black and mild in the uh in the bag, and the reason why, and I shit you guys not on this, when every time Caitlin and I are out there, I'll let's say it's kind of slow. I light up a black and mild, dude. That thing's like a fucking mojo on December 1st, man. They just go diving in on it. Diving in. And you can't make this shit up. So I get so excited when I hear the Yeah, oh, here we go.
SPEAKER_03:Here we go. It looks like we're hunting again. It's almost almost as good as getting out to go pee.
SPEAKER_01:And it exactly, and it's quick, but hey, it's it's yeah, gotta do it. So the next one, jet boil. I have a jet boil, but I leave that in the rig.
SPEAKER_03:That's for the car. Yeah. Maybe even a rice blind, leave one in the blind, I guess, but not blind bag.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know if these guys were full of shit or not, but they said like for instant coffee, but they will actually boil marshwater. No way. Yeah, I I call Battery.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe if they got a distill a still in there, and they're I can I can at that point you might as well make some hooch.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I call BS on that, but hey, that's I'm thinking that the guy that that's probably the guy at sacked. I ended up having to shit in the blind. He had drinking marshwater out there. But yeah, good snacks out there, the ram and the cup of noodles. You know, I'm big on the jet boil in the morning. The oatmeals are good, those instant oatmeals. Um, we talked about this. Batteries were out on face masks. I know you're a face mask guy. I'm a big face, dude. Come on.
SPEAKER_03:Like, you know, I'm a big face because you got those guys who just look at their big old glowing face, looks like a kid on freaking Christmas morning just looking up at the sky. Like, cover your fucking face up.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's what's funny is like, you know, you wear the face mask. I got the uh you know, facial hair and all that. But it's funny, man. You know, how many times? And let's just shout him out, man, for the second time here. Big Pete. You know what I mean? We're out there, and he's just got those rosy white cheeks that are like just glowing, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So he's looking up like a kid on Christmas and hoping he can see Santa's sleigh.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But what we don't need a flashlight.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I don't see a lot of guys doing this, but it's like the face paint, you know. And we used to when we started was corking up, you know, just take a little wine cork or champagne cork, take the lighter out, get the ash, and just darken up the face. But once again, just with the facial hair, I think I'm good. I think the cork's the way to go, though.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, yeah. They sell that stuff, like you know, little leg things, so the face paint. Yeah. I think a cork does the trick.
SPEAKER_01:And then the last couple things here, we talked about it. Some people like to bring out the hand printer, so you're not alone there. Little small handsaw, shell pickup stick. I said I carry that one. This one's this this guy, I know he's he's yanking our chain on this one, but the mini shovel, and he said, quote, to bury the spoonies when the good birds show up. I'm out on that for multiple reasons, but one, I'm a spoonie guy, I like spoons, but yeah. And then it's funny, man. Some of the snacks that people throw out there, everyone's big on energy drinks, the uncrustables.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that's the world we live in.
SPEAKER_01:Lil Debbie's candy bars. Dude, I can't get into this one. This is like those Duck Commander guys, but the Vienna sausages, no thanks, man. No, not for me. So, but uh, but that's basically uh that's basically it for you know what's in the blind bag, not only ours, but maybe what you guys have in yours or what you know the uh experts say that you should have in there. But I guess kind of our tips and lessons learned. Like I said, we always say we're not experts, we're not professionals, but the biggest thing I could share is don't overpack. Just remember you gotta you gotta carry that bag, you know, from the parking lot.
SPEAKER_03:Hopefully you got you know, a couple pounds of ducks on the on the on the so-to-speak strap.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly. So yeah, just remember you gotta carry that pack from the parking lot or at least through the pond and you know, make sure everything's waterproof, you know, keep it you know protected, a ziplock bag, whatever. But um and it's funny, someone like I was reading something on like I think it was in like the DU magazine or something. It it said, quote, if it's something that can fail, bring a backup, which I guess we basically said we're out on that this whole time.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, um, I could there's I can survive three hours doing almost anything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so but hey, that let's wrap up this episode. I was gonna say, don't forget, let us know on Instagram if we're missing anything, send us a comment, you know, let us know what you like to carry in your bag. Let us know if you think that we're a bunch of idiots and jackasses and we don't know what we're talking about, but even let us know that. But uh we already know that. But yeah, make sure you're following us on Instagram at for the Fowlers and uh rate review, follow, subscribe wherever you listen to our podcast. And you know, everyone have a good holiday, happy Thanksgiving, and we'll see you all next time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, have a good one, guys.