For the western hunters. How do y'all pack your gear for hunting and being"on the mountain" for several days?
You take in your camping gear and all then you have to pack out meat (HOPEFULLY) so do you use your main compartment only for meat or is it used for gear or?? How do you go in with gear and then out with meat gear ect......
Mainly just simple tent camping, coyote hunting, spike tenting???? However you call it.
Wish I could phrase my question better?
i use a meat packing frame from the 80's and had a friend make a pack for me that straps to it for my gear. basically, its an external frame with a "ledge" that folds down for the meat to ride on and strapped to. can also be strapped to a tree to use as a tree seat.
i hike in with my essential only gear,(MRE's, bivy tent, clothes, etc.). if I'm successful, then depending upon time of day and animal size I'll pack what meat i can and hike the 3-7kms to the suburban where awaits coolers with block ice to keep the meat cool. then hike back for as many trips as needed to get all the meat out, then gather gear for the last trip out. if it was taken in the evening then i make a plan to get started at first light. usually can get it all out in a day, but I'm wiped out for a couple days after. i need to start backcountry hunting with a partner to share the load.
There is a good thread on Stone Glacier packs started. I feel a pack is the start to any spike camp/bivy on the mountain. You need to pack it all in, and hopefully have a much bigger pack out. The Stone Glacier packs go from nothing to as big as you could dream pretty easily with the ability for the main compartment to come out giving you space to put the meat (next to your back) with your personals isolated.
In terms of actual camp, I will literally be staying up on a mountain quite a bit with a base camp/big wall tent down below 3-5miles away. The plan for sleeping will be a military Gore-Tex bivy, Big Agnes sleeping pad that blows up to 3.25" thick, and a down hunting jacket as a sleeping bag. Its the same down fill as my sleeping bag and I can dry it out during the day and it will be useful for glassing. All this in a compression sack. If you don't have compression sacks get some. They clear up a ton of room in your pack and your gonna need it. As far as the bivy goes they are cheap (40-60 used on ****) and are way more durable than the REI types.
Some like tents up high and I do as well, but the are heavy and bulky and still condensate. The bivy weighs around 2 lbs where any tent that gets even close to that weight wouldn't be as durable. Honestly, the blow up sleeping pad affords me better sleep than the biggest tent I could carry so as long as I am covered and off a hard surface I sleep well. A backpack cover is one thing you wouldn't want to forget when the precip comes.
Meals will consist of Mountain Houses, bars, gels, trail mix. Hopefully grouse and hare, too. Water will be purified up there. Jet boil for boiling water with minimal clean-up. Starbucks Via packets for coffee.
I have a personals bag with the usual knife, med kit, paracord, etc. You don't need two knives and three stones. You won't need spiderman band-aids, ten tabs, etc. Choose wisely because it all adds up. I guess an extra I'm considering is an extra water bladder but I might just go with one and have the other at basecamp. I hate carrying extra stuff I don't use.
All this being said I will have a wing man who won't be hunting, just backing me up with a strong back and camera. That is just as valuable as anything I can carry.
I hope my ramblings are not to long winded. I'm very excited for the season and these topics help me prepare. I got out of work early today and was actually playing with some gear, so I decide to lay the "hard" gear out that is necessary for survival so you guys could see. This is not complete and there may be a few things missing, but again, you will stay alive with this stuff.
Down jacket, sleeping bivy, sleeping pad, personal bag, Jetboil, med kit, water filter, pack cover, compression sack
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/DeanTowarnicki/DSC02037.jpg) (http://s128.photobucket.com/user/DeanTowarnicki/media/DSC02037.jpg.html)
Personals case: Knife, paracord (I don't usually carry 100ft, but this might come in useful on my goat hunt), extra string and tab, med kit
Med Kit: Ace bandage, fire kit (matches, magnesium stick, coughlans fire starter stick wrapped in plastic), stone, lighter, clippers, compass, patch kits for sleeping pad, jackets, etc, bandages for bigger wounds, gauze, meds you feel will be useful. Jetboil has burner and fuel canister inside with room to spare for Via packets and light MSR spoon for Mountain house and oatmeal. (By the way, you can just poor hot water into the oatmeal packets, stir it up and eat out of that. Very little mess)
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/DeanTowarnicki/DSC02038.jpg) (http://s128.photobucket.com/user/DeanTowarnicki/media/DSC02038.jpg.html)
All the stuff put away into proper sacks.
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p169/DeanTowarnicki/DSC02039.jpg) (http://s128.photobucket.com/user/DeanTowarnicki/media/DSC02039.jpg.html)
I'm still debating if I might want to use a light pen for water filtration. They have annoyed me in the past, but are very lightweight.
Here is the pack at full capacity
http://stoneglacier.com/Images/pack%20images/new%20prod%202014/sky%20load%20shelf.jpg
Thanks for the replies, will check out the bivy -
Anyone else?
Internal frame pack, everything goes inside. If I kill an animal, I plan on taking 2 trips (or more if it's an elk) unless I can debone the meat and get it all in one. Can always strap gear to the outside of the pack if necessary. Not that you asked, but if you plan on carrying everything on your back, invest in some trekking poles and a take down bow, they make the pack out much more pleasant.
Thanks sliverslinger, take any info I can get - got the take down bow covered got the walking stick covered to but just an old pole I been carrying in my truck for ??? Lord twenty yrs. use it for swamp hunting here, find holes fore you get into em! Might not be the best western trekking pole
Dean so no sleeping per se. Do you wear your jacket or depending on the weather use it as a short bag draped over you.? Thanks tom
I will not be taking a sleeping bag up there, so yes to your question. I will wear my jacket sleeping if it gets that cold which it may at 8000 (low for you). The military bivy is pretty heavy duty so if I can get out of the wind, minimal layers should be OK. The pad has good R value as well. The jacket has 800 fill down, the same as my 15 Mountain Hardware Phantom sleeping bag. Of course I'll have plenty of layers and probably sleep with my long johns on as well. Marino wool on tops and bottoms.
I have been thinking of bring a 30 degree primaloft bag that packs super small, but I plan on trying it out a little before I commit to bringing that thing.
I researched the Ultraviolet water purifier pen and it won't work. They say it is can't be trusted in a bladder because of the water in the tube and its inability to be in close proximity to the light. I didn't want to use one of the darn things anyway. I'll stick with my Katadyn. I just hate its size.
The sawyer mini filter can be put in the line from your bladder and is less than 2 oz. $20 at walmart
Trekking POLES (plural) were invaluable last year when I hurt my left leg hunting elk. I was tempted to say "life saver" -that would be an exaggeration, but not by much.
My son commented when he met me coming down the mountain that he was worried about my condition . I can't imagine what it would have been like without the poles.
Much less stress and exertion on your legs.
QuoteOriginally posted by J-dog:
Thanks for the replies, will check out the bivy -
Anyone else?
+1 on the bivy in question. I used to sell various civilian bivy sacks. The military one is head and shoulders above those (no pun intended). Just be sure you're ready to sleep with the confinement before you commit to it. (I once had to drag a claustrophobic brother-in-law out of a tent ...)
QuoteOriginally posted by MnFn:
Trekking POLES (plural) were invaluable last year when I hurt my left leg hunting elk. I was tempted to say "life saver" -that would be an exaggeration, but not by much.
My son commented when he met me coming down the mountain that he was worried about my condition . I can't imagine what it would have been like without the poles.
Much less stress and exertion on your legs.
+1 on the trekking poles. There are two kinds of mountain travelers – those who know the virtues of trekking poles, and those who can only watch in envy as their partner swiftly and safely disappears downhill.