Tip 1: The Memento.
A friend in Minnesota always has in his pocket the spent brass casing from the .243 he used to kill his first deer. “I was learning to hunt with my dad, and that 4-point buck I shot was not big, but it was special to both of us. I was 13 years old, and Dad was teaching me to hunt. At the time, neither of us knew it would be our last hunt together, as Dad died several months later. That little chunk of brass has been on every hunt with me for more than 40 years now.”

Tip 2: The Tool.
“Binoculars are the one thing I have to have in the stand with me,” said a friend who lives in Wisconsin. “It doesn’t matter what I’m hunting, but I think I spend more time looking through the binocs than I do with just my eyes—I just have to see what’s coming. If I get to my stand and discover I’ve forgotten by binos, I’m hoofing it back to the truck to get them.”

Tip 3: Standardization.
Another Wisconsin hunter says he always has his ‘standard kit’ with him regardless of what, when, or where he is hunting. A flashlight, knife, nitrile gloves, rope, and a World War II-era lensatic compass are on his back. “That way I’ll never forget the basics,” he said. “The compass never needs batteries or a signal, like a cellphone does, and it still works great after 70 years.” He got it when he was a kid at the Army/Navy Surplus Store—remember those?

Tip 4: Continue to Share the Hunt.
A friend in Missouri pays tribute to a friend who’s no longer with us. “My good friend and hunting buddy passed from the Earth way, way too early,” he said. “We thought we would hunt together forever, but fate took him from his family. His widow very graciously let me take a little bit of his cremated remains and put them in a small, sealed bottle, so we could continue to hunt together.”

Tip 5: A Fast Blade.
Switchblades have a bad reputation, but quality knife companies have come out with a number of excellent ‘automatic’ knives that are very useful for hunters—like one I know in Indiana. “Being able to open a knife with one hand is really a treat, since my other hand is usually busy with something else,” he told me. “An automatic knife is my standard now—not just while hunting, but for everyday carry. While hunting, I have two of them: one in my pants pocket, and one clipped to my tree stand harness in case I find myself in a predicament and need to cut myself loose.”

Tip 6: The Mundane Supply Item.
It may be one of the most commonly used products in every home, but a Wisconsin hunter never goes afield without a supply of toilet paper in his backpack. “Let’s just say I learned the hard way. It’s sealed against getting wet in heavy-duty zip-top bags, and there is enough for several, ah, emergency events should the need arise. It’s been about 15 years so far and I’ve never had to use it; and I’ll be real happy if I never have to.”

Tip 7: Always Time to Learn.
A hunter in Iowa told me he always has a book with him, for a reason. “It keeps me from falling asleep. The first time I did it, I had to choose between finishing the book and hunting, so I tried to do both. At one point I got engrossed in the book, and when I looked up, this nice buck was already past my stand. I stopped him with a grunt and got off a good shot—but after that, I disciplined myself to look up and survey everything after each page. I tried to do that after each paragraph, but that was just exhausting.”