Brad -- Just my day hunting pack (an old Dwight Schuh which empty weighs 5 pounds), with everything I need to care for meat, runs 30-35 pounds. That's the rub with backpack hunting -- on top everything you need to camp safely, you have all your hunting and meat-care stuff. I did an opening weekend backpack solo hunt last year and my load weighed precisely 50lbs., with the daypack tied on top the backpack/meat frame. I carried cheap freeze-dried food from Walmart (as good as more expensive brands in fact), a water filter bottle which is lighter and handier than a pump filter, a small pot to boil water for coffee and food and a plastic insulated cup for eating and drinking. You can get a couple more pounds off your tent, if you want to spend more $$$. My heavy items are the two big heavy cotton elk game bags I always carry, which will hold an entire elk quartered and thick enough to hang, drag, and keep bugs and dirt off meat, my hunting pack, knives etc. And a pint of George Dickel in a plastic flask ... gotta have SOME nocturnal comforts! I'd planned to stay 4 or 5 days but some jerk on an ATV came roaring through and shut the elk up and put 'em on high alert--this is a no-ATV area but those clowns don't care. I really don't see how one guy can get much below 50lbs for several days without risking safety -- you have to have warm clothes and raingear, just in case. Find a friend to come along and split the tent and other items between you and you can probably knock another 10lbs off. But I know of no better way to slip quietly into really prime elk country than packing in alone ... just take your time and hike in uphill so you can pack the meat out downhill! dave
Topic: $50 a pound - anyone know how to backpack "lightly" ? (Read 1192 times)
