Cutting Weight in 2025

[NealMustard]

There's not a lot more to squeeze out of what lives in my bag itself. My baseweight for all of my gear is in the low 30's for solo sheep/goat/bear hunting.

I could swap my old SG evo 40/56 to a terminus 7000 to save about a pound at a cost of like $30/oz if I buy used.

I could swap my jetboil stash out for a lighter stove/pot at the cost of gas efficiency. In the end I would end up packing more fuel to make up for the efficiency loss and then Im back to square one.

Footwear has jumped around for me. I've used trail runners, lightweight mountaineering boots, and a pair of crispis. I might swap to something like an mid-ankle approach shoe with a spare carbon fiber insole for when I have to pack out an animal.

There also the option of dyneema everything but the $/oz is almost worse than paying a gunsmith to start fluting parts of my rifle.

 

[fngTony]

I went through my kill kit. Now it’s very minimal for mule deer at 7.1oz, it’s strictly a kill kit with no cross over except 2 spare blades for my knife that I keep with miscellaneous stuff. Just taking two game bags because I can use the dry bag from my pack if needed. Saved 7.5oz
New boots are 10oz lighter.

 

[My Name]

That's exactly my approach. The Durston pack is good enough for a first or lighter load, and the K4 frame is in the truck. I would still like to come up with an ultralight, refined DIY version of the MR Pop Up 18 (even if it's fixed height), but have yet to find the time for it. That would be the ultimate pack for me.

A lot of great info in this thread for me to consider!

 

[Grassymike]

Im still fan of sleeping bags, the big one for me this year was updating my shoulder seasons sleeping bag to a lighter higher loft down sleeping bag, the One Planet Nitrous.
Its much warmer so I have a larger weather window to use it, and dropped around 1lb over the previous bag I used.

The other thing I've been working on is refining my food list, going for lighter calorie dense foods, making and vacuum sealing some of my own meals.
I've got my breakfasts nailed down, oatmeal or granola, dried fruits, flavored protein powders and just enough to set me up for the day.

Dinners im starting to think I'll just buy, my dehydrated efforts have been so so.
Certainly nutritious but often a little bland compared to the pre-dehydrated meal

 

[Grassymike]

The key with dehydrated meals for me is cold soaking them for at least an hour, more time is better yet. I use a Rubbermaid jar with a leak proof screw on lid and dump my meal and water in before I begin to walk back to camp. Once at camp I dump in my cooking pot and just heat it up. No need to boil. Usually I am done eating before my partner has his freeze dried ready to eat.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I’m gaining pack weight this year. I upgraded to a slightly bigger pack. The reason is so I can better backpack hunt for a night or two if needed. My previous pack was a bit small for that use. I’m also looking to carry a small stove, coffee cup and dehydrated food for lunch so i can have a hot lunch with a hot cup of coffee.

 

[Front Range FNG]

The key with dehydrated meals for me is cold soaking them for at least an hour, more time is better yet. I use a Rubbermaid jar with a leak proof screw on lid and dump my meal and water in before I begin to walk back to camp. Once at camp I dump in my cooking pot and just heat it up. No need to boil. Usually I am done eating before my partner has his freeze dried ready to eat.

How is the clean up?

 

[Grassymike]

Just dump in a bit of water and heat it then slosh it around, wipe with my fingers . I run stuff through the dishwasher when I get home but am not super worried about if it is perfectly clean when hunting. I meausure (weigh) dehydrated meals before and after dehydrating them. Through trial and error have figured out that I add in water at about one third less than the original weight to rehydrate. My wife is the smart one in helping me figure out all the different units coverting weight to volume.

 

[Jimss]

There is a big difference in gear and clothes choice and weight depending on weather and backpack vs day hunts. Obviously more weight for poor weather and longer trips.

Using a comfortable pack is my number 1 priority. A light pack is nice but even if lighter weight may not be as comfortable packing the same 30 to 45 lb load than a better designed pack that weighs a tad more. Your back, shoulders, and legs will notice after days of scouting and hunting. When it is showtime after you harvest a critter a pack designed for hefty loads is worth its weight in gold. Packing out elk sized critters in multiple hefty trips is different than a coues deer.

When I started hunting Alaska a few years ago I went through all of my gear and clothes weighing each of them. I started off replacing the heaviest items first that made the biggest impact. Weight loss usually comes at an expense $. As I grow older the lighter the load the better!!!