David Hinnant's everyday carry (courtesy everydaycarry.com)

David Hinnant is a 47-year-old Lexingtonian. While the Bluegrass State auto body shop manager’s photographic skills leave a little to be desired, a bit of iPhone manipulation and a quick trip to his page at everydaycarry.com reveals that he schleps a Moleskin Classic Notebook. Regarding the wisdom of carrying a Kimber .45 and a spare mag there is no question. But field notes? Does Mr. Hinnant know . . .

he can use voice-to-text on his smart phone (not show but assumed) to make notes? Notes he can share with others electronically –without having to take photos of his notebook)?  In fact, why would anyone carry a pad and pen in this digital age?

OK, John Wick showed us that a pencil is a fearsome weapon. (He could probably defeat the Taliban with a tactical pen.) And I can almost understand why a long distance shooter would want a Rite In the Rain tactical notebook. But otherwise it’s time to join iGen.

Besides, not carrying field notes frees up valuable space for essentials, like Mr. Hinnant’s Leather Works Minnesota toothpick holder. Click on the box below to see how many other everyday carry dudes and dudettes continue to blaze a paper trail.

edc everyday carry concealed carry

30 COMMENTS

    • Not only do I second that comment, I add that I don’t want one either. Or a note pad, for that matter. In fact, I don’t understand what people use notepads for.

      • Up until my second retirement I carried a cheap note pad in my shirt pocket and a couple of pens. Now that I’m fully retired I carry neither.

        Liberating, actually.

      • For older folks, it’s a no brainer.
        The memory is the second thing to go. If it’s something important to remember, you either write it down or loose it. I tell my life a lot, “remind me to do what ever it is I’m supposed to do in a while”. Of course she forgets too, and she’s almost 30 years younger than I am.

      • I keep a notepad in the car to write down all sorts of stuff. last minute grocery item, author/book just heard discussed on radio, license plate number of car that just hit another car. I have a flip phone now. Pocket fit is great…texting is awful.

    • +1 And I do not want one either. I have a small notepad and pencil with me in the car in case I want to notate something, draw a sketch of something, etc. After 3 concussions and just turning 60 my memory is not as good as it once was.

    • He is getting crankier and crankier. Criticizing EDC revolvers is apparently not enough any longer.

  1. Can someone who carries them please explain the field notes to me? What are you taking notes of? Is it for work or do you find things in your daily life noteworthy?

    When I would run a GPS Rover for my construction company I would carry a notebook, but only while I was at work and I certainly wouldn’t have considered it a piece of my EDC.

    So, why do you carry one and what do you do with it? Also, why do 90% of the ones that show up here look brand new?

    • I take notes on every individual that might be a potential threat. And then after they are dealt with, I erase them.

    • Mainly because the most frequent lie I tell myself is, “I’ll remember that.” I don’t use the rite in the rain for, say shopping lists or mundane things like that.

      Photography notes is the main one. Otherwise, prices, models, P/N of things. Someone’s recommendation at the local FJ Cruiser meet-up. Sketches of things I like, particularly things I like, but have an idea to improve on. Unless you have a small notebook handy, you don’t miss it. Once you have become accustomed to having one you find they are very useful. I don’t do the moleskin thing though. Cheap is usually good enough.

      • “I’ll remember that…” I’ve lost too many good ideas that way.

        I keep a 3″x4″ mini composition book (dirt cheap) in my shirt pocket for those random creative writing and game design ideas that tend to pop into my head while I’m at work or somewhere between point A and point B. Make a quick note, expand on it later.

  2. Also, and just noticed this, if you are going to drop a grand on a carry piece it would behoove you to drop more than 10 bucks on a holster. No matter how great you may think your Uncle Mikes feels, a decent holster that actually holds the gun feels better.

    • I agree. Also, that holster doesn’t look significant enough to comfortably carry that heavy of a gun. Could be wrong.

  3. If I carried field note pad it would be for writing down the address and phone numbers of all the hot gun bunnies I try to snooker. I’m not having much luck with that either???

  4. OK, lets just go over this one more time;

    It’s “Kick Ass – Take Names”, “Kick Ass – Take Names… got it?

    /mumbling, The kids you get from the agency these days…

  5. Over-reliance on electronic technology can leave you in a lurch.

    When something bad happens (car wreck, tornado, earthquake), our technology sometimes gets lost, forgotten, or broken.

    Having an analog backup is just being prepared.

    I might ask why anyone wears a watch – excuse me, chronograph – when almost all cell phones have one.

  6. I have a rite in the rain notebook handy, if not on my person, all the time. Why? Because phones die, because I may not want to be talking to my phone, I may be out of cell service area (frequently am in fact). Because the Russians, instead of developing the Space Pen for thousands of dollars, simply carried pencils in to space.

    A also shoot an old school CZ75D PCR, because like the humble pencil, it always works.

    You may keep your 2018 model Phazer that only works when your finger is on it. Because that will be the finger that gets broken when you need it.

    • Paper burns, but digital disappears.

      If you’ve ever lost anything to a disk failure or gaussing/degaussing incident or a “sorry, it’s not in the database” error, you know what I mean. It might as well never have been at all.

      Plus, there’s obsolescence. Digital media I used 15 years ago can’t be read by current machines, but the things I wrote on paper are still readable (as far as my handwriting goes, anyway).

  7. Use the same note pad at work all the time . I take patient info, then back at the firehouse I rip out the page and give it to one of my men to do the PCR on the computer.

    On side jobs I can make a diagram , parts list or pass it around and the guys can write down their lunch order .

    The Fisher Space pen, one I carry on the job and in my hunting pack , is great because it writes on wet paper and at weird angles, but the Russian pencil / American Space pen story is simply not true , cute but false .

  8. He forgot something very important, an extra pair of underware, You never know when your OWN shit will hit the fan!

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