Tips & Tactics

Battery Tips for Hunters

Battery Tips for Hunters

By Vernon Gillespie

Hunting requires a lot of batteries when you consider all the battery-dependent gear we use today, such as flashlights, GPS devices, headlamps, trail cameras, heated insoles and more.

With all this equipment, it’s smart to have a variety of spare batteries on hand should the need arise.

I like to keep an assortment in my backpack, storing them in medicine bottles of varying sizes.

To keep the batteries from rattling around and spooking deer as I walk, I stuff cotton balls in the medicine bottles. The cotton also wicks moisture away from the batteries during extreme temperature changes, such as walking into a warm house on a cold morning.

Using medicine bottles makes your batteries easy to find in the dark, should your flashlight or other devices die on you. It also prevents the ends from touching anything metal, which is a fire hazard, as well as a good way to drain your batteries prematurely.

At the end of the season, I remove the batteries from all my devices and store them in the medicine bottles for next year.

By the way, storing batteries in the fridge or freezer to extend battery life is an old wives’ tale. This could actually cause corrosion in your devices, and battery manufacturers recommend storing them at room temperature in a dry place.

So keep your batteries in medicine bottles and you’ll thank me the next time you are stuck in the dark with a dead flashlight, or your GPS dies on a long hike. No more fumbling for batteries in your backpack.

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd