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Building the ultimate hunting rig

I’ve recently been thinking about building a hunting rig. Something that I could take on long distance trips..must be 4 wheel drive. Been thinking about an older 6 cylinder Tacoma. I’d replace the engine if I had to. Any recommendations? Any pics of your rigs would be appreciated

Doc, what all are you looking to do with it / haul in it? Just regular hunting gear, or ATVs etc? Trailer, or no trailer?

No hauling just long trips and bringing meat back

Can’t go wrong with a Toyota. I have an 08’ Toyota FJ Cruiser which has the same motor as the Tacoma. Getting up near 200k on it and I’d drive it anywhere in the country without hesitation. Fold the seats down and I could get everything in it I need for a hunt. Putting a big cooler in it would be an issue. Has a roof rack, but it’s not the easiest to get stuff on and off of there. Ryan has a Toyota Tundra with a cap on it that we took to Manitoba. Probably a 17 or 18. Has plenty of room and we took 3 coolers and a small chest freezer for meat, plus all of our gear. It’s a quad cab so we had the rear seat to use as well. If you were going solo, I’d imagine a Tacoma with a cap would be all you would need.

I’ve had em all. I had several Tacoma’s and an fj that was totaled when someone hit my daughter. I now have a 2020 tundra. I guess I’ll use that.

I’ve slept a lot of nights in this topper. Longest trip was just over three weeks, starting in Northern BC, hunting the Arizona/Mexican border, back up through California, in January weather. The extra height is a HUGE! difference to comfort. I built a folding bunk and some narrow cupboards, lots of hangers for clothes. There is room for a lawn chair between the bunk and shelf. Being able to sit fully upright on the bunk and nearly standing up to get dressed is a big, big difference from shorter caps I’ve used.

I had several tacomas before stepping up to tundras. The tundra I have now is a 2020. The tacomas always got 20mpg average, running about 70K miles/year, 75% highway driving. That was not counting towing, which mpg sucked. I know guys claim way higher but across 4-5 of the 6 cylinder tacomas it was always 20. My tundras averaged 16 mpg under same conditions so not that different. If you had one of those high rise toppers like the one above you’d be golden. If you wanted to get rid of your 2020 and get something different I know the ones with the 5.7 engines are highly sought after compared to the new ones.

We are taking my commuter car, Subaru Outback, to Alberta this year. Money we save on gas will pay for the hotel rooms. I’m not sleeping in any pickup truck topper with Chelo.

R

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