The Outdoors

By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist

Some folks spend months planning where they are going to take their next vacation. Researching here and there and trying to come up with a location that can best all of their friends. Should it be an all-inclusive or some other format?

I can say that in all of my years the only free time planning I have ever spent any amount of time on is where I might want to go bird hunting, and even then, just picking a state is about all I need to do. The who, what and where can be filled in during the road trip with my navigator.

The planning items that get on my absolutely must-do list are items that need to be in the truck to ensure that if we do have problems on the road that they can be minimized to the greatest extent possible. What follows are some of the things I never leave home without.

The first one is a five-gallon can of gas. I carry this item 12 months a year. You cannot believe how many times I have saved someone’s bacon with a can of gas. Be it a snowmobiler that got too far off the beaten path to guys whose credit card was suspended because the credit card company thought a gas purchase out in the middle of “Timbuktu” was some kind of theft.

I carry a fire extinguisher everywhere I go. I have never started a fire or had the need of this item for myself, but I have used it several times over the past 10 years. I always park in short grass, but not every hunter is that conscientious. Catalytic converters can start a grass fire pretty easily and putting one out before it gets out of hand is a lot easier than dealing with a fire department because you did not have an extinguisher with you.

Here is an item that unless you are crossing the continent of Australia you will most likely not carry, but I have used several times. I paid the freight and purchased a full-size wheel and tire for my dog truck and a full-size tire and wheel for the dog trailer. There is nothing worse than trying to kneel down in the mud and lowering the spare that has been riding in the dust and the mud ahead of my rear bumper. The jack my truck has is also a joke, so a full-size floor jack is a second important tool to have along.

I do carry a tire plug kit and a small air compressor, and these can work but not when it 10 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing 6 inches of fresh snow around your ankles. Add to this a Dewalt impact gun and several extra fully charged batteries and you can tackle just about any tire issue imaginable.

I never leave home without a jumper pack, high-quality jumper cables and a plug-in battery charger. One of your friends leaves the dome light on overnight after some midnight dog chore duty and you can quickly turn a small mistake into morning blown.

How about an assortment of truck electrical fuses and a picture on your phone of the underside of the fuse panel cover? My eyes are terrible for close-up reading so a photo of the fuse panel cover can be blown up for this old man’s eyes so I can at least have a clue to possibly making the correct replacement.

Tow ropes and a few chains can get you the reach you need after you get way too deep into whatever it was you shouldn’t have. A high lift jack and a come-along make good accessories for these other problem solvers.

Another game changer when you get in a pinch include a phone battery pack. GPS programs just eat phone batteries when you are in low-signal areas. Searching for a good signal can leave you with a dead phone battery miles from the truck. A phone battery pack is small and can easily be carried in your hunting vest. We went on a 12-mile walk in the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge three years ago and it was hot. If any member of our hunting party had suffered a heat-related breakdown, or a dog for that matter, without a phone with a charged battery there would have been no way to drop and pin so the cavalry would know where to send the rescue.

Hunting season is right around the corner and regardless of if you are 30 miles from home or 1300 miles from home, you need to be able to support yourself if the best of times turns towards difficulty. Add a few of these items if you find them useful. If you choose not to maybe I can find you on the side of the road and offer you some gas.

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If you have any questions, reach out to me at scottarall@gmail.com.