Equipment And Planning For Backpack Hunting by Allen Jones

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[BigMountainShooter]

Allen,

What are you currently using for a tent, sleeping bag, and back pack?

BMS

[dogdinger]

BMS....i personally prefer goose down bags because of the weight issue. i had a 2lb bag for early season hunting and a 3lb bag for later colder weather.....my tent was a one man design similar to a eureka, but made by a company in boulder colo that is out of business now...mountain king i think was the name . it was very lightwieght(3lbs) and big enough to squeeze two guys in (if you were the real friendly sort). my pack was a cabela's alaskan, freighter frame, external design. unfortunately, i lost all this equipment in a fire in 2005 and have not replaced it all yet. Cabelas has always been my main source for most of my equipment. I have always gotten great service from them with never a problem on returns or quality. AJ

[JP Hunter]

I have went on two backpack hunting trips, here in Nor. CA for blacktails. But didn't get any thing, and still had a good time anyway. The main struggle we had was our physical conditioning and lack of experience hunting in the back country. On the rifle hunt we found we needed to get higher and shoot long range. The bow hunt there was a smoky fire near by, but it wouldn't of mated after 15mls we were spent. I was beginning to think we couldn't do it on our own. So I did some more researching for help. All I could fined was Cameron Hanes, David Long, and a Aylmer I think. These guys are extreme.
In the past I've read some mag articles or normal guys like your self doing it. So we are going to keep trying. We plan on bow hunting this August. So my questions are: What do you do to prepare your body? And how much scouting do you need to do?

Thanks for the advice

JOE

[dogdinger]

...I would start out small. dont plan a fifteen mile packtrip until you are up for it. research a place where you only have to travel a couple miles. believe it or not, here in colo , once you get away from the roads a mile or so, the hunting improves dramatically. the majority of hunters here are the road warriors that will not shoot anything they cant drive to with a truck or ATV. Just drop over that first ridge into the next drainage and start glassing.

as far as conditioning goes, i like to stay in pretty good shape through the winter by doing a lot of walking.....keep those knees and legs limbered up and working, then start a regiment of longer walks with a small pack through the summer and build up to 35 to 45lbs before fall....summer is a good time to work on both your conditioning and scouting.....find some of those out of the way spots and go check them out.....good luck...AJ

[foreign]

quite funny reading this article since here in nz most of our hunting is 'backpack hunting' hadnt ever considered it to be a special thing or have a name to it. do you get msr stoves over there. they are the way to go in lightweight stoves.simmerlite is my favorite one

[dogdinger]

do you have a link? It does seem that everything here in the US is is based on "ease of operation"...most advertisers promote their products that way to the nth degree.....as in "so easy a caveman could do it"...hunting has gotten to the point that its not a sport...its a competition to see who can do it the easiest, get the biggest, take their ATV the farthest. unfortunately, some right here on this forum are using the long range aspect of this in an attemt to make hunting easier....thinking they can substitute long range accuracy for hard work, scouting, game study, and hunting ability. when you get back to basics and start carrying everything you need on your back, and staying right with the game you hunt it puts a little different perspective back in the game.
i would love to see your part of the world sometime, and maybe do a little hunting. chamois would be a fun hunt.....and not very much meat for these old knees to pack out! g'day mate....AJ