Trail Kreitzer’s 2019 Nevada early season archery antelope hunting gear list

Trail Kreitzer 2019 archery antelope hunt gear list

My 2019 Nevada archery antelope buck I took this past weekend.

This is my gear list for a weekend warrior/truck camping style archery antelope hunt in Nevada that I recently went on. I ended up splitting this hunt into two different weekends and finally took my buck from a ground blind at 27 yards on the second weekend.

TRAIL KREITZER'S EARLY SEASON ARCHERY ANTELOPE GEAR LIST

Check out the gear list video below

 

Water tank and ground blind for antelope

One of the water tanks I put a ground blind on. This year was tough sitting water due to the amount of rainfall in the summer.

A few areas worth mentioning

Optic setup

Optic setup for backcountry elk bowhunting

This is pretty much the same optic setup I run on the majority of my hunts. For a spotting scope, I really love the Swarovski ATM Angled 20-60x65 (I'm still rocking the non-HD version). Then for binoculars, I’ll be using Leica Noctivid 10x42s in an Outdoor Vision Bino Harness and I'll pack along the Swarovski SLC 15x56 for long-distance glassing off of a tripod. My rangefinder is an older Leica Rangemaster CRF 1000.

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Bow setup

Mathews Halon X bow

The past several years I've been hunting with a Mathews Halon X. When set up with a sight, rest, stabilizers (front and back), a five arrow quiver with arrows, it’s pushing roughly 10 lbs. That’s a lot, but I really like the way it holds and shoots. Truth be told: I like the weight; it slows my sight movement when my nerves are firing. I have always felt that shot opportunities with a bow and arrow are so rare that I want to shoot the most accurate bow I can even if I have to pack around a heavy bow.

I get questions about arrow/broadhead configurations. I’m shooting a finished arrow weight of about 433 to 435 grains and an FOC of about 12.655%. I know...according to the current trend it’s too lightweight and doesn’t have enough FOC. All I can say is that they fly accurately with the QAD Exodus broadheads I use and I’ve had great results hunting with them. I’m still shooting three 2” Blazer vanes mainly because I don't enjoy the thought of spending more time to run my arrows in a four fletch. For more information, you can check out a recent arrow straightness test where I compared .0025" arrows to .006" arrows here.

Extra items

A few extra items that helped pass the time in the ground blind were a couple of good books. On this hunt, I read Shoe Dog and A Beast the Color of Winter: The Mountain Goat Observed.

View of an antelope buck from ground blind

Feel free to ask any questions you might have with the gear I used or comment with suggestions. Just like you, I’m always looking for better gear or different ways to approach my hunts. All the best this fall!

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