Confessions of a Gear Whore, Part 1 - the Orvis sling pack

Here is my not-too-secret confession, I love gear - particularly outdoor gear. Whether it's a new fly box, GPS, hunting vest, fly rod or reel, tenkara rod (a whole other blog post there), or backpack..., I love new gear. Not just any kind of outdoor item will do.  It has to be well-made and well-designed stuff.

Jim Boucher helping Kirk land a fish

Several years ago I was fishing the West Branch of the Ausable River in New York with my dad, brothers, and a cousin from Tupper Lake, Jim Boucher. Cousin Jim, unlike the rest of us, is a very good fly fisherman. In fact, since these are his local waters, Jim serves as our local guide on most of our trips. Not only can Jim fish, but he has good gear. Of particular note is his Orvis Safe Passage Sling Pack.

The benefit of the sling pack is that most of the time pack is out of the way, but it is easy and convenient to access it when you need it. Because it is slung over your shoulder, you can slide it around to your front using just one hand to access tippet, flies, or whatever.

Orvis Guide Sling Pack

I liked the idea so much I bought the Safe Passage version after that fishing trip. My mom also got one for my dad. I never thought of going back to a traditional fly fishing vest. The version we bought is quite a bit smaller than the Guide version to the left.

When I decided to get back into birding I was looking for a good pack that would allow me ready access to my gear - camera, guide(s), etc. A regular pack was too inconvenient to take off when wearing binoculars. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that the Guide Sling Pack might be the perfect solution.  It was.  The end. (Hemingway would like those crisp, short sentences, but my posts would be way too short, so I continue.)

The pack has a main section and two other zippered pockets. The main part of the pack opens into a large compartment. This space is large enough for a good-sized camera with plenty of room left to tote your binoculars or lunch. At the far left of the picture is a mesh pouch for water bottle (for those who drink water).

The largest pocket is big enough for the Sibley Eastern U.S. field guide and another, slightly smaller guide. I also keep a small voice recorder in this pocket. Using a voice recorder can be a more convenient and quicker way of keeping track of birds than writing each one down.

I keep my "Rite-in-the-Rain" hard-bound book and pen in the smaller front pocket along with Zeiss lens wipes. The book is a convenient 4.25" x 6.75" and the pages are waterproof. The pen has waterproof ink, won't freeze and can write from any angle. The book and pen are the perfect combination for writing field notes in any kind of weather.

To the left is a picture of all the stuff I typically take with me when I head out the door into the field, minus my binoculars. So far the outfit seems to work very well and I don't see a replacement pack in my future.

An added benefit to this set-up is that I also have a Guide-sized sling pack for fly fishing. I'd argue that this dual purpose makes the whole purchase economical as well. I can see how certain spouses might disagree with this view.

Hunting gear and other weighty topics

I'm always interested in what different hunters conclude is essential hunting gear.  Essential being defined as essential enough to carry on your person all day long.

I drove to New Hampshire last Friday to visit my brother Kirk and to hunt the last weekend of rifle season.  If there is anyone who enjoys new hunting toys as much as I do, it is Kirk.  We were joined at Kirk's by his friend Gary.  One of the first orders of business was to see who had what.  Gary, who hadn't hunted since he was about 13, won the category of newest stuff.  He arrived with bag upon bag of clothing and gear from Cabela's (located not too far from his home in Connecticut).  Gary had a couple new hats, new gloves, new coat, new pants, new boots, new remote-controlled electronic foot warmers, new thermos....  You get the idea.  Two things Gary lacked where a rifle (he was borrowing one of Kirk's) and a hunting knife (he also borrowed one from Kirk).  I know that by next year he'll have his own gun and a hunting knife or two.

Gary's remote-controlled foot warmers were the most exotic gear anyone had.  Total gear, including rifles, carried into the field weighed between 23 and 29 pounds.  At 29 pounds of gear, Kirk won.  But to be fair, Kirk was traveling light.  He has shaved pounds off the amount he carried several years ago when he got back into hunting.  It is funny how after carrying a lot of gear around for a day or so causes you to reassess what is really necessary.

Leon Leonwood Karma Restored - I like to carry a GPS into the woods.  However, I only find a GPS worth carrying when it actually works.  When a GPS works, it is useful in marking way points and buck scrapes, and it leads me directly back to where I parked.  That said, I rely primarily on my compass when I'm in the woods.  My GPS rests in my pocket waiting to show me the most direct route back to my car at the end of a hunt.

My DeLorme Earthmate PN-20 GPS died my last weekend of hunting.  In the immortal words of Dr. Bell, "that was unfortunate."  I had purchased the DeLorme GPS at L.L.Bean in Freeport, Maine, the summer of 2009 when my wife and I were on vacation celebrating our 25th anniversary.  So clearly, this GPS had emotional value.

The good news was that I was passing the L.L.Bean store in West Lebanon, NH on my way back from Kirk's.  It seemed like a good opportunity to test Bean's return policy (a policy I questioned since my less-than-satisfactory experience returning some leaky waders earlier this year).

I stopped in the store and the sales associate looked at my DeLorme GPS, took the batteries out and gave them back to me, then gave me a credit of $299.  The credit was given because the unit was discontinued and the newer unit was out of stock.  I thought why replace the GPS that died with another GPS of the same manufacturer?  So I decided to get a Garmin etrex 20 which retailed for about $199.  Since L.L.Bean only had the display unit, they took 10 percent off.  I also got a $10 gift certificate for my purchase.  I felt pretty good about how I had been treated.  Good Karma restored.

Above is a picture of my new Garmin etrex 20.  I took this picture to show that the etrex actually is able to pick up 7 satellites from inside the house.  This was something that my DeLorme GPS could not do.  To be honest, I'm not old enough yet to need a GPS inside my house, but it was an interesting experiment.  So far I've been very pleased with the etrex.  The menu is very straight forward and all features seem easy to access.  If it only showed where the deer were.