Five really cheap things that are always in my pack when I'm out hunting and fishing:1. Sleeping bag compression straps. I keep a couple of them coiled up and held together by rubber bands. On a few occasions I have actually used these for sleeping bags but more often they get deployed for something unexpected. Lashing a hindquarter of meat onto the top of my pack, for example. They also make dandy rifle slings for guns with the older-style sling loops. Once I used one as a dog leash and collar in a pinch.
2. Duct tape. I literally do not leave the house without it.
3. A small sharpening stone for the various knives that I carry. It doesn't have to be anything special but it should be small enough that you don't end up leaving it at home on account of the weight.
4. Various plastic bags. For meat, fish, birds, or whatever. Even when I have a collapsible foam cooler with me I sometimes want to segregate the contents.
5. A compass. I know that a lot of people feel like they can trust to their iPhones and GPS devices. But these are things that can run out of batteries or be dropped in the water. Its good to carry a map as well. Even if you don't have a good topographical map of the area you are going to be hiking, hunting or fishing in, its a good idea to look at a map in advance and recall which general direction that key roads and rivers are in.
Note that the basic Silva compasses that were such good standbys have dropped in quality. I grew up using a Silva as a Boy Scout and my old one still works well. Yet many of their lower-priced compasses produced more recently do not agree on which way is north.
[Photo copyright 2011 by Jackson Landers. All rights reserved. This picture depicts four more things that are usually in my backpack, although the bug spray is warm-weather only and the cheap paperbacks rotate.]
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