Mine is 7 lbs empty. With what I have in it now it weighs 30lbs. I still lack my main meals for five days, water, and sleeping bag(2.5 lbs).
Just wondering what everyone else is carrying.
Mine will push 50 pounds every year , that is for a 7 day hike. I could go lighter but I like to eat well and have some other things I dont have to have. But the weight has never been a problem for me in the past and Im in better shape this year than I have ever been in.....
,,,,Sam,,,,,
I'm convinced that the fit of the pack is huge. My new eberlestock pack fits better than any other pack has before.
After carrying a military ALICE pack, possibly the worst pack ever... when you put on a well made, form fitting pack, it's like night and day.
My Badlands 2800 pack with gear weight 28#. The total weight for 3nites/4day bivy hunt with food and 1 quart water is 34-35# (http://photobucket) (//photobucket)
Weight of pack is dependent on hike in to remote spike/day hunts out versus full bivy camp on the move, how many days, time of season.
Sleep system total will vary from 4.5lbs total to 8, depending on tent/tarp/bivy/bag/mat etc.
An average of 1.5 lbs of food per day, cooking stove/fuel/batteries for headlamp(s) etc. all add up quick. How much water are you carrying? Are you able to refill easily, or do you have to have 2-5 litres at the ready to avoid a huge elevation drop.
I think 40-50lbs. for five days (full load) is about right. I cringe at the thought of a daypack weighing more than 15 (and still providing for an overnighter if necessary).
Remember weight going in is workable, it's the weight coming out that is the real test.
Total weight "on the hoof" was 230# for me last year for a week long hunt. Pack was 42#. I weighed in at 175#. Bow, quiver, binos, and the items I wore made up the balance.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-03.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-04.jpg)
Pack contents.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-01.jpg)
My food weigh 1.5# per day so the pack out was lighter. Wish it would have been a lot heavier, like with a couple hundred pounds of elk meat :)
My camelbak is only about a liter. Will not know the water situation until we get there. I plan on taking an empty gallon water jug collapsed to fill on the way in. After that I will fill my camelbak when ever possible.
I had an MRE main meal in each days gallon ziploc bag but I am going to go with a dehydrated meal for my dinners. That will shave a pound or two off.
We'll be in South central Wyoming at around 9000 feet. Camp on our back but plan on setting up a base camp and hunting out of it each day if we are into Elk.
John you forgot your boots.LOL
John
Real men don't wear shoes in elk country! :D
Rob
(http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h227/rnorris/DSCF6060-1.jpg)
Awesome thread....I am heading to Idaho for elk this year, first time. We will be hunting out of a cabin, I figure a day pack with possibles for an overnight should suffice. In this pic I am doing stadium stairs with 2 10# weight plates in the pack. I don't think I will be any where near 20# in real gear.
35-45#s for the pack in. About 15#s on the hunt.
I trained for three months with 45#s in the pack, but there is no training for a flatlander and minimum air above 10,500 elevation.
Mine will be mid thirties regularly
I train with 60ish. Last year's deer hunt was 52 lbs. In, should be about the same this year.
right at 20#, if i'm not planning to camp. i've spent some bad nights in the mountains, and i'll hunt harder and longer knowing i've got warm dry clothes and my goretex bivy.
i don't carry any food, though. i've experimented with fasting up to 5 days with 0 calories, and find i do ok for at least 3 days.
just talking emergency camping.
If I'm packing in, my frame pack, which includes my tent, sleeping bag, pad and vittles, weighs about 50#. It includes my daypack. My daypack, which includes butchering gear, game bags, lunch, water, etc., weighs about 15#.
Mine usually goes about 28-32lbs but was closer to 45 last week. I went to just under 11000 feet on a gear test run with the extra weight in water being required as our snow pack here in AZ is gone.
oh. 7-8# of that 20# is water.
i like me some water.
joe
I'm right around 15-30#'s fully loaded, I never pack in more than four days, though I do that four times during the month. I take a filter for water and a hydration bladder, calls, butchering gear, food, long under wear, bow gear, beanie, gloves, extra socks, headlamp , gps/compass and camera. Everything fits in the "top pocket" of my bag.
(http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn33/elkbreath/IMG_8659-1.jpg)
when over night throw in a paratipi and 20 or 40 degree bag. Pack is a kifaru longhunter hauler. Light and fast and able to carry it out no matter how far I go in.
Mine is 20 to 50 lbs depending on how long I'm going out for but I always hope to push the 100 lbs mark with a heavy elk quarter.
I'm usually right at 50 Lbs give or take on a 4-5 dayer.
Overnighters are seldom over 30.
I could shave 5-7 Lbs pretty easy off the 4-5 day weight. But life would suck.
check out Mike Mitten's book. He has a good packing list.
Mine is at 46 pounds for 5 days of hard hunting into Colorado wilderness.
IMO 7 pounds of empty pack is too much!
I keep the frame pack in the truck for hauling meat and use a ultra light commercial hiker pack (odyssey, Go-Lite, Etc). just a couple pounds empty and fits well. I did the ALICE pack also....horrible.
Go light my friend!
Another tangent to explore:who uses an ultralight pack for day use, and keeps a frame at the truck or trailhead for packing out?
Going light IS NICE, but having to bust nuts back to just begin packing out is just too poor a use of energy for me.
I'll carry a couple of extra pounds if it means i can get the first quarter out on my way.
6 or 7 #'s ,daily hunts from the tent.All the essentials I need.Even if I had to spend a nite out.
Seven pounds.Wow.
Steve, would you mind sharing your equipment list? I'm always looking to find better ways to do things.
I would seriously consider getting at least a 2L water bladder, 3L being better still super light but if you need to you can fill it up. Good idea especially if you don't know the water situation where you are hunting. You can burn through a liter really quick in the hills. Just my 2 cents.
Brandon
Day pack or living out of pack? Never weighed my day pack, its a Badlands Monster fanny with normal day hunt stuff. My back packing pack is around 50+ loaded. I suppose I'm "hunting" on my way in and out, but mostly just plodding along, staring at the trail, and dreaming of a bacon cheddar burger. :^)
I tried the true bivy hunt thing with a 30# - 40# pack wearing it all the time and camping wherever I ended up in the evening. More than I cared to carry all day and less stuff than I liked to be comfortable.
Backpacking for elk is cool, but I have found that in a nice comfy truck camp, I don't mind getting up early and getting a mile or two in before light. Plus, when somebody connects, there isn't that one extra load of getting camp out.
When the stars line up and an elk is down (usually someone elses) one guy can take little a load and be back with packs while the other guy gets things boned and ready for travel.
Hunting alone, I sometimes take a big pack and stash it so I don't need to go all the way back to the truck if its needed... its rarely needed :^)
By the time I have everything in hand or on my back for a week or more I am carrying 60+#. I pack in and make camp and then carry a bivy if I think I am going to stay with the elk over night. I have never killed one out of my bivy, I have awakened in the middle of a herd twice. The elk were as close as my bow [leaning up against the tree behind me]
MAP
My pack this year will be around 30 lbs or less for a 6 day pack in hunt.We go in 5-7 miles in the Colorado wilderness.I have spent a lot of time and more money then I care to think about to get to this weight .I was just out back running around in the yard with loaded pack and bow,shooting every now and then from different yardage.My neighbors think I am nuts. Is it elk season yet
wigeon, you have arrived.
My pack this year will be around 30 lbs or less for a 6 day pack in hunt.We go in 5-7 miles in the Colorado wilderness.I have spent a lot of time and more money then I care to think about to get to this weight .I was just out back running around in the yard with loaded pack and bow,shooting every now and then from different yardage.My neighbors think I am nuts. Is it elk season yet
Shooting for 50#. Colorado: walk in 5 miles, 7days.
Wigeon I would love to see your list , I cant even get close to that weight for a 6 day hunt.But I also use a big tent and eat a lot.I like to see other guys lists of gear , helps me with mine , here or a PM please.I spend 5 weeks in Idaho elk hunting every little bit helps on the weight......
,,,Sam,,,
QuoteOriginally posted by wigeon:
I was just out back running around in the yard with loaded pack and bow,shooting every now and then from different yardage.My neighbors think I am nuts. Is it elk season yet
I get a lot of sideways looks as well when I have a big pack and my bean boots on walking the hills around my house in this heat :bigsmyl:
ways to save weight:
-Go through everything and attempt to only carry multi-tasking items (not entirely possible). ie... One good knife to do it all, instead of 2 or even 4. I now carry an iphone 4s, which replaces my phone-gps-camera-vid camera-reading material-spot-maps (still carry a simple'old school' compass and small map). Also, I carry a water bladder and lite purifier, in order to always have water but carry less. Superglue is awesome for lots of things, from first aid to in the feild repairs. instead of a heavy sleeping bag I wear long johns/xtra socks and hat that I would have carried anyway. If you use calls, Get good with a high quality diapragm reed, since they are the most versatile and only carry one other open reed call, A tarp rather then a tent (in my case the paratipi) etc...
-remember the dirtbaggers mantra of 10-80-10. If we pile all the stuff we could take, we generally find that; 10% of the stuff is Essential to survival, hunting success and living, 80% is stuff we use regularly but wouldn't wilt away without, the last 10% is slightly greedy guilty pleasures that just plain spice up life. Throw away the 80% and then reduce the remaining 10% portions to their lightest possiblity
-Get better/more comfortable in the woods.
This one kind of goes along with the one above. Remember the old possibles bags that used to be carried. Guys like Natty Bumppo lived endlessly and happily in the woods, yet they were remarkably svelt in what they had on them. our 10% of essential things can be shrunk to remarkably small proportions. The more you carry in your mind and heart, the less you carry in your pack.
-When I wear shoes, they are less then 10 oz per pair. Boot weight makes a huge difference. Add wool socks for warmth. contrary to popular thought, I have seen no difference when carrying obscenely large loads "out" of the woods, though I had tiny footwear. we are capable. as a side note, you will be quieter and more safe, more aware of where you step and how.
-eat more bioavailbe foods. It is said the Brazilian natives could run for days eating nothing but chia, while the tarrhumara eat a similar meal of mash fermented corn and seeds to run amazing distances in consecutive days. I eat alot of Chia and Honey for this reason, along with some fruit, veggies and nuts. I'll hunt for 3-5 days this way in comfort, and I do travel alot. 7 is the most I've been able to do this way because of time reatraints, but I'm willing to say I could do it for 10.
-carry a one piece bow, with 3 arrows and a back up broadhead and judo in the pack. since they are only carried on one side of your body, it adds up.
there are a ton of improvements you can make. Always refine it during trips for the next one.
Enjoy! Dan
One more I jsut thought of here at work...
Carry less weight on your body. talk about exponential profit increase! lose 15 lbs of extraneous fat and you'll be far more capable physically.
Not calling you Fat.
:-)
Agreed Elkbreath
My elk pack weighs absolutely nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. That's because I'm not going. poo
Wigeon, Lonewolf73 and I are going on the same hunt and I'm looking to be around 40lbs for a 7 day hunt. I carry one lb (carry weight) per day of food 2 2person mountainhouse meals, two small snickers bars, beef jerky, and 2 powered drink packs. This is what I carried last year and it worked good and I was never hungry. Last year I carried 10lbs of food for a 10 day hunt and pack was 46lbs for this years 7 day hunt I schould be able to cut it down to 40lbs. I am replacing my air pad with a lighter one and less food will reduce my weight by 4 lbs alone and maybe not take some other stuff to get lighter. I can't get as light as Wigeon his pack and paratarp setup is lighter I like my fly creek two and air pad o and my pillow. I like to sleep in comfort! Widow
I bought some treking poles to take. Hiked yesterday and on level ground they were annoying but on steep inclines they were obviously helpful.
Side hilling, up, down, they really help to steady all that weight on your back.
Let's face it, once that weight starts moving during a fall, it is going to be nearly impossible to stop it. The poles will help prevent the fall in the first place I believe.
Probably not really needed until loaded down with elk meat on the way out.
Only went once to Montana and had too much weight. Used cotton clothes and burnt them on the mountain I would never use cotton again.
Would be nice to know what you pack in for food also
It's been said that "cotton kills" in the mountains. Get wet in cotton and it's easy to get hypothermia.
A couple things I like to do from what I have learned over the years:
Take, learn, and practice survival skills that are practical. Learn to make many things you might carry in. A bed, a meat pack, a shelter, and feel confident in your skills.
Get on a diet! If you are lean and on a solid, low food intake diet, you won't need weight in food, but high value and energy foods that you just eat as fuel. Of course water is a necessity as stated before. My hunting partners always are surprised at the energy I have, but it is because I prepare. It also means I carry less.
There's a book by Kochansky (sp?) on tips in the wilderness called Bush Craft that I really like. Some of it is more for dire situations, but there are a lot of good ideas. His class was great. Basically, learn to use what you carry and you will carry less.
Thanks over spines will have to check out book