2 Person Specific Gear

[USADPT]

What considerations should I keep in mind when gearing up for 2-man hunting? Tent, coffee/cooking, etc…


I’ve always wanted to hunt out West, but the timing has never been right with a young family. However, the time has arrived. My son is in 9th grade, and is physically able to carry a pack, and keep up enough to go. A good friend is a lifelong Western hunter, he has property near Chama, NM and lived in WY for several years recently. We are tagging along with him to WY in November as he attempts to fill 2 cow tags. Should be a good opportunity for us to get our feet wet.

I started purchasing preference points for my son this year. We will be hunting together for the foreseeable future. I’ve started researching gear. So far, have purchased Kuiu packs for each of us, Pro 6000 myself, 4500 Divide for him. Boots and sleeping system are at the top of the list for safety and comfort. I’m constantly updating a spreadsheet based on threads here, after taking inventory of what we already have.

Specifically what I’m asking in this thread is what gear should I be looking into for 2-man use? What will better serve “both of us” vs having 2 separate individual items? Tent and coffee/cooking gear is all I’ve come up with so far. There’s bound to be more I’m not thinking of.

Also looking for ideas to combine gear/expenses for the time being. Currently letting him carry my 8x42 Binos and get a larger set of 15x56 or so to spot with. Any suggestions along those lines…things we can share?

Thanks

 

[MDEER101]

I would definitely look into a little larger tent (3 man) to accommodate 2 men and gear.

 

[nnmarcher]

I will share a water filtration system, like the Katadyn BeFree, if I'm going out with one other person. We usually pack a few tablets in case of emergency though. In a bigger group, it is nice having more than one filter so it doesn't take forever to refill everyone's water.

 

[Chris in TN]

Tagged. We (13yo daughter and I) are preparing for our first public elk hunt together (Her first elk hunt of any kind and my first on public in 30+ years) and right now we have a 2-man tent big enough for us and part of our gear and plans to make a tyvek covered 'porch' in front of the tent. She has a tag, I do not, but we are sharing a tent and cook gear and that's about it. We have one main dirty-water filtration bag system and both of us have small individual filters for emergency use and we both have a bottle of iodine tabs for backup-emergency because I don't want to ever find myself without drinking water. We have two hand saws - one for camp, one for butchering or removing head/skull/whatever. We intend to have a shared power bank or charger and since we have shelved our 'wilderness' plan to plan-C status we will share one Garmin inreach, that she will wear. If we need to go into a wilderness area to find elk we'll still go. We'll both have a compass and paper map and she's no explorer but she can do basic emergency land-nav. Our plan is to both have 10x binos because that's what we own. If I had a set of 12x/15x I'd bring them but I won't bring our 5-pound spotting scope and I'm not shelling out the cash for something lighter this year. Whatever we figure out about toilet, hygiene, etc, we will share. We'll split our food load between us but basically each carry our own weight of food. We'll probably bring a single trowel type shovel for the latrine but don't really plan on camping more than 2-3 nights at a stretch.

 

[Carr5vols]

Things we share when on hunt with 1 other person:
-Ultralight tarp..we dont use tent
-BSR stove and fuel
-Water purification
-Tripod if we bring one depends on hunt
-Kill bags
-Some first aid items(tourniquit, super glue, Luko tape)

 

[Jebel]

You’ve got the big ones listed here already:
Tent
Stove/cooking gear/fuel
Water filtration

From there just think about whether you really need duplicates of tools:
Field dressing - everyone needs a knife but one bone saw will do.
Glassing - you can likely make do with one spotter.
Electronics - everyone needs communication, navigation, and a headlamp but don’t go overboard with duplicates or batteries/chargers.

 

[Mormegil3]

-Good sleeping pads
-sleeping bags
-pillows (I like the Sea to Summit Aeros, it’s inflatable but has a nice microfiber outer that makes it pretty comfortable for camping sleep)