I just ordered my first Winch. I’ve been watching some videos on winching and was curious what you guys think are necessities. What do I really need? Soft shackles? Snatch block? Tree saver strap? Etc?
You pretty much hit the minimum in your list. You'll want a snatch block or synthetic line pully, soft shackles, a couple hard shackles when connecting to sharp recovery points & a tree saver. Don't forget a good set of leather gloves. You can always add to it over time .