I’ll preface this by saying lots of the stuff listed as been on the list before.
BEST:
1. Tree hoper drill and bolts with the battery drill bit. This is an awesome tool. Super lightweight, but even more packable. Maybe the most underrated quality to this system is how easy it is at the end of the hunt. Just climb down and throw them in your pouch. Plus it’s very quiet. If you’re able to scout ahead of time, and pre-drill a tree… forget about it. It’s better than a lafferI wish I would have talked myself into these last year. I won’t be changing my climbing method anytime soon.
2. Latitude outdoors method. It’s so good I’d like to buy the method 2… just because. It’s light weight, and compact in the way, and very comfortable in the tree. Plus the ropes are way better than the original Tethrd ropes I had before. (I think Tethrd has released 8mm ropes now.)
3. New Breed GX2. This bow is easily the best bow I’ve ever shot. Albeit limited experience. It’s fast and forgiving. I hate that COVID (my guess) got the better of them.
4. Bone Collector Binos, and Kuiu Pro Bino Harness. The binoculars are great. Compact and clear. I got them as a gift from my wife, and they have been very useful. Equally as good, is the Kuiu harness. Easy to operate, comfortable, and protective. I can now take my binos with me on those miserable rainy days. Plus, they have a range finder attachment and tether, for easy access and quick disposal of my range finder when a deer is closing the gap. Which brings me to #5.
5. My range finder. I’m sure there are others out there… but my Nikon rangefinder has been great. It’s small, light weight, and just does the job. I really like it.
WORST:
1. Wildgame Innovations Cell Cams. Oh my goodness. Please listen to me. These cameras are terrible. You know the old say “you get what you pay for?” Well, it’s true here. I had wanted cell cams for a long time, when I saw these on sale at BPS, I hopped on them. For a very short while, these cameras operated as I would expect…but the pictures were below average, and detection range was limited. After that time, they were utterly useless. Wouldn’t pare with the app. And just frustrating to try to use. DO NOT BUY!
2. Climbing spurs. I wish I was able to use them. I wanted to like them. They are compact and lightweight. They are supposed to be quiet and fast. For me… I felt like a drunk black bear going up a tree… but going down was fast. I ditched them after several attempts and went back to my second worst purchase; sticks.
3. My lone wolf sticks did the job. And when I started using a run and gun system… they weren’t so bad. Or I just didn’t know any better. However, they were not light weight, or packable. And they took a lot of effort to make them quiet.
4. I hate to say this, because I love the Tethrd guys, but my mantis, was much less than comfortable. I don’t know how their other saddles are, but that first year in a mantis was a doozy.
5. HuntWise app. I wanted to like it because it had better satellite imaging than OnX. I mean to say it had images without foliage in my area. Other than that… the maps were not easy to use. OnX is far superior.