Cool tip! Thanks

If you're hoofing it, make sure your toenails are clipped and feet in good condition before you hit the trail... Fingernails too.

My living room is an organized wreck right now but it's coming together.

I'm at 45# before weapon and water! I must be getting too luxurious!

I'm trying to stay at 45 all in for 10 days, not counting bino harness, which is kind of a counterweight anyway. I'm sure I'll fail... always do.

I wanted to come in sub 40 before weapon. That 45 is with 7 days of food. I'm carrying a three man tent but it's not new. I've added a spotter, glassing pad, trekking poles, and a pillow since my last diy backcountry trip. Everything else should be lighter now.

It's almost here!

My broadheads shoot about 3-5 inches right of my field points. I tried and tried to microadjust the rest and all the other tricks, but have found its easier to just accept the difference and adjust my site accordingly come hunting season.

Tonight i made the sight adjustment and everything is right on out to 70. Will only be shooting broadheads for the rest of the season. Now 3 more weeks of clean eating with some good hill runs and pack work and i am set. Will start organizing my daily meal bags this week.

LEJ said:

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I'm trying to stay at 45 all in for 10 days, not counting bino harness, which is kind of a counterweight anyway. I'm sure I'll fail... always do.

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Edit - Meant to reply to arrow

Yep. What are you going to take out? I pretty much take no extra clothes now, just extra socks. Maybe one extra shirt so I can throw it on the meat to try and deter Grizzlies.

Getting dialed in with with my brother helps reduce a lot of extras too. We both don't need extra batteries, headlamp, leukotape, fire starter, jetboil fuel, rope, water filter, etc.

And just like that I realize I named over 5 pounds of new gear. Maybe I'll do some cutting. I absolutely don't need the spotter on this hunt. But it sure is fun to use with the phoneskope.

Yep. I love my spotter and tripod even just for binoculars, but for the archery elk hunting I am doing i can't justify the weight. With 10x razors i can tell if something is a bull or not. If I can't tell then its going to be further than i can hike any ways.

What poundage should someone reasonably shoot for - for a 6mi Hike in from trailhead to camp. Once camp is set day hikes from there will be much lighter as you won't have all food, shelter, bag , clothes, etc on you.
But I'm worried about that initial pack in/out(with meat hopefully!)

I'll try and post a pic of all gear and get all my final weights this week.

The general rule of thumb on pack weight is no more than a third of your body weight

LEJ said:

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The general rule of thumb on pack weight is no more than a third of your body weight

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It pays to be a big body

Just under 43# + archery gear will put me right at 50# for 10 days.

I've been working out, drinking milk and takin my vital amines erry day so I should be good.

Plus, I'm on the front end of coming into my "old man strength", so I got that going for me... which is nice.

LEJ said:

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The general rule of thumb on pack weight is no more than a third of your body weight

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Well damn ok. Gotta start shedding some stuff.

How much did you have, originally?

Not getting into the backcountry this year it appears. just want to play so I got all my gear out.. I think my base weight is around 21lbs. Then you add food/water, should be around 42# + bow

Once I dump camp I'll be around 20#. I'll weigh tonight but I'm guessing around 14# of food and then about 6# of tent and sleep system.

I just always envision myself skipping and dancing all the way up the trail with about 30# and it never happens.
Since I'm carrying the tent I think my brother should have to carry a 6-pack of beer to be fair.

do you guys have kifaru (meat) bags? Highly recommend. I think ovis sacks are similar and come up on camofire a lot.

They are superior to cotton mesh game bags in every way. Lighter, stronger, can put 80lbs of cut up meat in it and hang it by its drawstring. When fully stuffed it makes a floppy bag of meat into a semi-structured cylinder that is easier to strap onto a pack frame.

I carry 2 of them and 2 mesh bags (just because the kifarus are expensive and I put one boned-out hind quarter in each of the mesh bags).

When processing I pull backstraps, tenderloins, and whatever shoulder meat I want to round out the load and stuff it into one bag, this one goes over my day pack and back to camp with me to get the pack frame. Rest of the shoulders and whatever other odd pieces you come up with go in the other kifaru, then a boned out hind quarter in each of your mesh bags. One trip we had a hell of a time keeping critters from getting into our mesh bags, every time we'd come back to a meat stash something would have ripped open the bag and started nibbling meat. No problem with the kifarus. I also like that they're green so you can kind of hide them. If you are worried about finding it again string up some flagging

I use the Kuiu meat bags of various sizes and configurations. They are very nice.

I use black ovis bags and Allen backcountry bags. Both work great and are pretty cheap....ive got a set of the mesh cheese cloth type bags that I've used on deer a couple times but I don't care much for them compared to the others.

Thos kifaru seem nice, but high dollar...the most elk killing guy I know just uses pillow cases.

Anyone carry a spare release?

If I'm solo, I will. If hunting with a friend I'll generally leave it at the truck. Took losing one in the woods when I stopped to shed a layer for me to actually go pickup a spare.

I also use the Black Ovis bags and have had good luck with them (although I've never used any other brand).

stdeb11 said:

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Anyone carry a spare release?

If I'm solo, I will. If hunting with a friend I'll generally leave it at the truck. Took losing one in the woods when I stopped to shed a layer for me to actually go pickup a spare.

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I tote a spare in my pack

I carry a spare release and a few extra nocks.

And a little baggie of garlic salt and red pepper flakes. Dusky grouse season opens on September 1. I might need a couple to make it 10 days, comfortably.

A back-up release saved my first elk hunt.

arrow said:

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A back-up release saved my first elk hunt.

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I'm borrowing one from a friend to take as a spare, with a promise to return it in time for whitetail archery opener.

Do you have a link to more info on this? I'd like to read up on it, but specifically what entails a "CWD area"? I know there are areas that CO denotes as having CWD and requires testing, but for Texas's purposes does the whole state count?

Everything I found was in the OA app. They have an entire section on page 1 (I believe) dedicated to CWD and you can navigate from there. I'll review tonight and see if I can post specific links.

I feel like I'm going bare essentials and Weighed in at 44 lbs. all in today minus food and water.
54lbs would be my "1/3 weight" goal.

How long you out there?

5 nights- I don't mind getting critiqued as im sure my "bare essentials" probably not as bare as some others. But im not going all out Either.

Here's a breakdown:
*Bino harness w/ 10x binos and range finder.
*Alpz Outdoor Commander + with Kifaru rifle holster with Tikka t3 lite in 300wm probably bring about 10 rounds
*Front zipper pouch: Multi Tool, Lighter, and Head Lamp
*Side pouches- 2 nalgenes
*Top pouch will have beanie, blaze orange hat and vest, poncho, and mechanix gloves
*Outer pouch will have water filter, pen, tag, license, hunter ed, zip tie, paracord, flashlight, skinning knife, small bone saw, spoon.
-Emergency kit with moleskin, bandages, israeli bandage, bite/sting cream, space blanket, vaseline soaked cotton balls, iodine tabs, compass, nitrile gloves, microfiber towel, a few tabs of antihistamine and pepto bismol, lighter w/ electrical tape around it.
-Toiletry bag with mini toothbrush with floss wrapped it, toothpaste, aquafor, sunscreen, gold bond, and babywipes.
*Main compartment
-clothes : long wool top and bottom, beanie, and socks for sleep, 1 extra pair of hunting socks. 1st lite catalyst jacket, puffy jacket. (I'll be wearing from trail head corrugate guide pant and wool midlayer top and wool baselayer shorts)
-Tent, stakes, footprint
-Marmot 15 deg bag and a bagliner
-Inflatable Sleeping pad
-Hiking sticks and food bag

For organization and/or extra protection: I have clothes, sleeping bag, and food in sseperate light/thin dry bags.

I can pretty much eat the same thing every day and be happy so For food each day thinking:
Breakfast: 2x cliff bar
Snack: fritos and almonds and a lara bar
Lunch: 2x tortilla+dry sausage link with a mustard packet
Dinner: Mountain House Meal
Extras: Nuun Tabs and Digestives Cookies

If it were me and I wanted to start ditching, this is what I'd ditch right off...

Mult tool
1 of the 2 nalgenes
Mechanix gloves
Flash light
Bone saw
Long john tops and bottoms

Where, when, what are you hunting?

Rifle 1 Colorado elk