ben338

🤣 studying the map beforehand is the best preparation i find.

fair enough. some guys like them as they can see where each other are within about a 5km range. i think you have to talk or press the talk button every so often to keep updating your location? i can see why multiple hunters in an area might like them but i found them a bit of a distraction, plus when you get too far apart you lose contact anyway.

what do you have against rhino's?

i have a garmin gpsmap62s i think it is, must be 10 years old by now. its pretty good, i did have to load some maps, for memory i bought them cheaply on a card off ebay, the maps are very good but im sure they're "garmin authenticity" is questionable. compass works ok in it, sight n go feature is good. i hardly use it now though as the phone maps on avenza are just too good, 4 times bigger screen and good free maps. the garmin will be more durable if you have a misshap (fall in a river) unless you have your phone in something like a snap lock bag (yep, that's saved me before) there is the garmin inreach mini if you want satellite messenger capability.

8x42's bushnell trophy or low end vortex. they're not bad bino's so will be able to use them for years. and a harness.

nice work RT

nice knives, would make a great gift.

Most things have almost doubled over the last few years, 5k wouldn’t surprise me. my first ever deer hunt in 2008 (I knew nothing about anything) I ran into some ada guys down from nsw, they were telling me about their swaro range finder bino’s, $1500 worth. I was astounded. Sounds like a bargain now.

nice pix

almost looks too good to use.

some blokes love em. they can be good when hunting with others. no way i'd drop 800 on one though.

sometimes you can even leave stuff out over night to re-freeze 🤣

i've done 10 days in there and gone home with ice still in the esky, and the weather wasn't even that cold. no fridge here. if you go with an esky it will pay to have a half decent one. freeze your ice in 2-3lt milk or similar containers. freeze some of your food (meat etc) and you should have no probs. drinks are normally cold enough just being left out at night so not essential to have them in an esky. this is the go if your on a budget. or buy a fridge and a battery.

good post matt. i bought an ebay one a while back, they're ok, not like a full size camp chair but better than sitting on the ground. still haven't used it yet, i've been leaving it out to save the weight.

looks like a nice bit of gear. hope to see some updates on how you go with it.

i've found thermal bottoms with dry seat shorts and gaiters great. fleece jumper when it cool works well, decent warmth and lightweight, thermal top if its really cold or sit and wait. (this is for sambar hunting) i could probably improve a bit with some of my clothing, so maybe ill pickup some tips out of this thread too. warm, lightweight, low bulk and durability are all high on my priority list.

nice work, looks the goods.

Goodluck with your new interest. Ask plenty of q's, theres a weath of knowledge on this forum.

Some might laugh at this, kmart have mossy oak 25l day packs $29. They arent too bad, got a few separate compartments, material seems alright, comes with a hydration bladder if that interests u. I would consider using one if i didnt have my ridgeline pack.

Mobile phone with avenza is a pretty good option.

Exactly what are you planning to do with it?

Duncs i would reshape that angled part of the blade to a curve with a hand file then use a lansky to shapen. It will take a while to sharpen but will be fine. Ive done this with a knife that had a broken tip, worked well. Im thinking heat should be avoided. I know nothing about doing it properly so u might get better advice from somebody else but as i said this way worked well for me.

They do hold the binos close to your chest, no dangling if on all 4s etc. Dont take much to put away/take out. Leave out of the pouch when using regularly, put away if its raining or pushing bush, gets annoying having to clean ur binos all the time when crap drops onto the lenses without the pouch.

i'v been using the vortex glasspak harness, looks similar to the sitka harness on the right of gibbo's pic. saw the S4 lockdown harness years ago thought it looked good. but the full cover harnesses offer more protection. pretty good, keep ur binos clean when in the thick shit and quick n easy to get back out, couple of small pockets, not much room in them, but enough for a lighter or something small, I keep a lens pen in there. if you want to hang a rangefinder off there you would need to add something like gibbos crooked horn RF holder.

If u can get urself to wonnangatta over the next week and a bit u could learn a lot!