Hunting Gear Checklist | Never Leave Gear Behind Again!

With every year that passes and every hunting gear purchase made, I find it more critical to be well organized.  While preparing for my first elk hunt in Montana in 2017, it occurred to me that I had better not forget anything before setting out on a 1,600-mile one way drive. It also occurred to me that I had a lot of money sunk into my hunting gear, and I had better not forget anything on the return trip. Those thoughts spawned my first Microsoft Excel based hunting gear checklist. Since that trip to Montana, my hunting gear checklist has evolved over the past several years, and I share why below.

My checklist now contains just about every item I could ever take on a hunting trip. However, I don’t always take every item on every trip. The checklist utilizes a checkbox feature to let me know if I have packed an item or not. Once packed, I can select “Pack Item” (for items I will carry in my hunting pack) or “Base Camp” for items that will remain in my vehicle, cabin, or other lodging site. The checklist has formulas built in to automatically total the weight for my pack items, base camp items, and total gear weight. This is an incredibly useful feature when trying to be mindful of gear weight on backpack hunts. The checklist also contains links to some of my favorite pieces of gear. Just click on hyperlinked item names in the checklist to learn more about those items.

I have also included a “Build Your Own List” tab where you can input your specific gear.