It might be worthwhile to discuss modifications to firearms which would facilitate carrying some of the basics - holes in the stock behind the buttplace to carry matches, tinder, compass, and the like, for example. This is one location where the weight is not detrimental - you need heft in order to dampen recoil.

Shelter

clothes for inclement weather (depending on conditions those clothes are either on your body or in your pack)

an additional extra insulating layer of clothing (your sit-down-for-lunch layer)

firemaking kit

knife

some cordage

some means for procuring and cleaning water (If you choose boiling then you also have WARM drinks, which is a huge plus in cold climates).

paper map plus compass (and the skills to use them). If you use a GPS then bring paper map and compass as backup.

Food (not nescessarily 3 day rations - think one more meal than you need for the planned trip plus some snacks.).

Bare-bones minimum 1st aid kit.

Signalling (which may include some or all of the following: PLB, cell phone, whistle, fire, signalling mirror, bright colored clothing/bivy bag)

EDIT: LED light.

I'd also wrap a couple of feet of gorilla tape (or duct tape) around some items. VERY versatile.


Now exactly how heavy you go on each of the above items is highly dependent on climate, season and how rugged and remote everything is.

The gist of this thread is that a hunter needs to take just about what anyone would take when venturing into the wild. everyone should tailor their load to the circumstances, the terrain, and the weather and make allowances for an inadvertent overnight stay.

I remember a case a few years back of a hunter who had a map and compass, but walked off the map. IIRC, when he finally ran into some four wheelers, he was outside the boundaries of the map he was carrying. Even if you are very comfortable navigating/orienteering with map and compass, a cheap, non mapping, black & white GPS with a tiny display is a very useful tool even if you never use it until after you are lost. "Whoa, I walked off the map -- Doh!!!" Waypoint your truck!!!

Many survival situations start out with simply getting lost. The "hunter" who ate those worms is a recent case in point.

+1 to a cheap gps. If you waypoint, it will head you straight back.

It would be nice to know the terrain/environment/general area, a description of the hunter, and what game you are hunting, the month that you are hunting in, and the duration of the hunt in hours, and the type of hunt - tree stand, stalk, duck blind, ground blind, dog driving, etc.

On your follow-up question about how do you get hunter's to carry a backpack - that's easy. You put things in there that they will use whether there is an emergency or not. If your pack only has emergency items, people will tend to stop using it.

Some of these lists make my head hurt.

10 essentials

Navigation Aids
Light source
Food
Water
Clothing and Shelter
Knife and Repair
Sun Protection
Fire Making
First Aid
Communication Aids

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Hunting specific- not all inclusive

camo clothes
camo face paint
blind material
gun or bow, guard and release
ammo or arrows
binoc's
rangefinder
gun cleaning kit or bow repair parts
knives, saw and sharpening stone
dog stuff
license/tags
blaze orange
shooting hours and other regs
drag cord
tarp or canvas deer or other bags to keep meat in
latex gloves
plastics bags
shooting glasses
hearing protection
calls
snap line chalk in tiny squeeze bottle
grid ribbon

A hunter should take the same things you and I would take on a day trip. Almost any of the probable 1000's of gear lists in the forum posts over the years here would suit any hunter fine as a base kit. As always though, every kit needs to be refined to take into account; experience level, predicted weather, terrain and environment.

With the addition of add'l trauma items in the FAK from likelihood of gunshot and serious knife cuts from messing up while skinning out game.

Nice list Harmless! I Might go heavier on the FAK. If some goe
wrong when you're trying to kill something, it can go badly wrong.

Maybe some pepper spray too, if you're in bear or big cat county?