Well I can't believe it, 2 years in the making and only 13 more days till I fly out for my first trip out West. Every free moment in the past 2 years have been spent researching gear, units, tactics, logistics, shooting, and getting into shape. Overall, I think this experience has made me a better person, husband, and father. I realize more then ever the importance of family and friends, how time is flying by and the time away, is time lost, so what ever you do.....MAKE IT WORTH IT!!!! My wife has been nothing but spectacular through this entire process, she just kept saying "I don't want to know how much this trip is costing you, just make sure you have everything you need to be safe, and come back home to us in one piece". Being "Safe" is echoing more and more as I will be going solo into the backcountry, my initial plan was to drive cross country from NJ to Idaho with my buddy Billy, tragically he passed on July 30th and I had to come to terms with what I was going to do. Needless to say, the living need to keep on living so I made the decision to go ahead with the trip with the mind set I'm going to join the 10% club and that he'll be with me.
Being from out East and predominately a Whitetail deer hunter my gear really didn't translate over to much other then my archery equipment, even that needed to have some upgrades. I ended up upgrading to a Axcel Accutouch slider site and Black Eagle Rampage arrows, the idea was I needed to extend my range out to 60 yards and up till now I had a 3 pin site maxing out to 30 yards. The upgrade to arrows was to try and get a micro shaft that was near perfect to handle longer range shooting. In the end I'm very happy with these changes, its really reignited my interest in shoot more. Starting in April I've been shooting at least 3 times a week at a local outdoor range, my proficiency inside of 60 yards is absolutely deadly.
Now comes the expensive and time consuming part, figuring out what gear you're going to need for your trip, this took the better part of the 2 years to really think about what to go with. With so much to choose from and the costs adding up I need to be careful here to stay aware of the costs that were adding up. In the end, I feel that I was able to get most of my gear discounted between 10 -40% with a mean being around 30%, being patient and waiting for deals to come along went a long way, there were times when Billy would buy something at full price and a couple of weeks later I was able to get it cheaper, but he was in a different ball park all together. The only gear items that I had to pay full price for were my pack, clothing system, and tent.... Kifaru, Sitka, Kuiu, and First Lite are really not in the business of discounting there gear. Some of the cloths could of been had at a discount if I were a small or XXL, unfortunately for being an average sized fella, I had to pay full price. I'm not a big fan of buying used cloths so I had to bite the bullet on this one.
Travel and logistics took a turn for the worst, I had to scramble and wrap my head around how I was going to get out West . Initially our plan was to drive 2.5 days out, hunt for 5, and drive back. We were bringing 2 200qt coolers filled with frozen milk jugs and all of our gear. Our idea was that if we got an animal down early we would try for a second but anything after day 2 ,more then likely we would probably end our hunt and head back home. Hauling and butchering meat wasn't a concern we would just end up getting some dry ice if need be and process the animal off the quarters when we got home. So the cost here was real minimal considering everything was going to be split 50/50. We estimated that the fuel round trip would end up costing around 300 each which is a real marginal cost considering your going out West.
Plans change.....Being a little over a month away from season, I had to now find a flight, rental, and figure out meat care. Early in our planning I was looking at flights and would've been able to get a flight for around 350, now the cheapest I could find was around 450. Being from NJ, United is based out of Newark which is only 12 miles away from home, so it seemed logical that I would fly United, it was close and we the United Chase Credit card so we had some perks. Well, after researching all of the stipulations that United imposes on its customers like a $150.00 handling fee for dry ice for each piece of checked in luggage and $150 dollars fee on top of another fee of 150 for checked luggage for antlers I quickly decided that United sucks. I ended up burning all of my miles on a trip to Disney World in April for my family and cancelled my credit card with United.
I ended up finding a great flight and deal with Delta leaving JFK airport, my flight leaves a 7am and arrives in Salt Lake at 10:30am. My flight was 450 but I signed up for the Amex Card which gave me 150 off my first purchase on a Delta flight, first checked bag free, and priority boarding. First year annual fee is waived, so right off the bat I am $200 up, I will cancel the card later on in the year. I was worried about the rental, I kept reading that getting an SUV/Truck during September could be difficult on short notice but I was able to get a Ford Explorer for 9 days for $553. With that being said the extra cost of the rental is all that has increased, but its giving me extra days to hunt, granted there will be more costs in the event I am successful.
So the plan is land in SLC, drive North and stop at Sportsmans Warehouse to pick up my fuel canister and fire starting supplies for my safety kit, stop by Walmart and pick up two 150 quart coolers (return them cleaned
), fill with ice, and drive 4 hours up to the trail head, this should put me at my location at around 4-430pm, hike 2 miles to my campsite, setup camp and hopefully reach my first glassing spot by primetime dusk. I plan on hunting a total of 7 days, with the last day being 1.5 days before my fight, the meat processor I spoke to in Idaho falls said if I get my meat to him before Friday noon he could have it wrapped, packaged into 50lb boxes and near frozen by Saturday morning 7am at a cost of roughly around $350. At this point I will have to ship all of my gear back home via UPS, not sure what the cost would be but Im guessing around $100 bucks. I would then check in the first box for free, the second for $35, and the 3rd for $150, this would but me in at 150 pounds of meat checked in, the remainder of the meat I would carry on in my backpack and what ever was left I would leave as a donation to a food bank. If I was lucky to shoot a bull I would then have an additional 150 for the antlers. With that being said here is a break down for initial cost
350 Flight
553 Car Rental
140 Gas
623 Tag
Total $1526.00
Joining the 10% club......priceless
350 Butcher
100 Shipping
185 Extra Luggage
150 Antlers
Total $785
Total $2311
All in all, if your lucky a trip solo flying out isn't entirely horrible for your average family guy. The only real cons I see are that you really have to have your gear dialed in, you can't come home when you want if you tag out early unless your willing to payup. Other then that the time saved on driving seems to outweigh it all, and not being able to bring back all of the meat is fine with me considering I will be helping out some less fortunate.
Below is a list of all of my gear I will be bringing along, take a look and let me know what you think. I look forward to updating this post with some great pictures and story. Thanks for coming along!
Sleep System
Seek Outside Silver Tip
MSR Ground Hogs (10)
Kelty Lite Line
BearPaw Design Adjustable Pole
Thermarest NeoAir Pad
SeaToSummit Aero Pillow
REI Flash Sleeping bag 20 degree
Tyvek Ground Sheet
Sitting Pad Thermarest Pad
Cook Kit
Stove JetBoil Flash
Utensils Folding Cup
Utensils Spork
Water Purification Sawyer Squeeze
Water storage 1L Nalgene Bottle
Water storage 2L Platypus Blatter
Cloths
Pants Kuiu Attack
Bennie Kuiu ULTRA Merino 145 Beanie
Gloves Kuiu Peloton 200 Glove
Neck Gaiter Kuiu ULTRA Merino 145 Neck Gaiter
Puffy First Lite Uncompahgre
Base Layer First Lite Llano Lightweight Short Sleeve Shirt
Base Layer First Lite Llano Lightweight Long Sleeve Shirt
MidLayer Sitka Traverse Zip-T
Underware IceBreaker Merino wool briefs (2x)
Rain Gear Kryptek Poseidon Jacket
Boots Salomon Quest 4D GTX
Socks Smartwool Mid Hiker (2x)
Kill Kit
Black Ovis XL Elk Bags
Knife Tyto, 10 replacement blades
50' 550 cord - Orange
Marking Tape 20 feet
Gloves 4 pairs
Bag Contractor Bag
Tyvek ground sheet
Optics
Binoculars 10x42 Ziess Conquests
Range Finder Sig Kilo 2000
Pack
Frame Kifaru 24" Tactical
Bag Reckoning
Bino Harness AGC Classic
Misc
Trekking Poles Leki Corklite
Calls Rocky Mountain Bully Bull Bugle Tube
Calls Phelps E-Z Estrus
Calls Rocky Mountain Mellow Yellow (2x)
Calls Rocky Mountain Remedy (2x)
Calls Rocky Mountain Raging Bull (2x)
Windchecker Moccasin Joe (3x)
First Aid Kit
whistle
Space Blanket
Israeli Bandage
Quick Clot Gauze
Quick Clot Sponge
Neosporin
Regular Gauze Pads
Bandages
Leukotape
Steri Strips
Advil, Advil PM
Gold Bond Powder
Hygiene
Travel Tooth Paste (Travel)
Tooth Brush
Saline Solution (Travel)
Spare Contacts
Contact Case
Glasses/Case
Hand Sanitizer (Travel)
Wetwipes
Food
Bear Bag SeaToSummit 20L dry bag, 50 reflective cord, Carabiner
Dinner Mountain House Dinner
Breakfast Pre-Made Oatmeal/protein powder/almonds/cocunut oil
Lunch Spam Tortia(2x) mustard
Snack Clif Bar, Stinger Waffle,Stinger Caffine gel,Justins Almond,Jerky
Supplement Mtn Ops Enduro
Coffee StarBuck Via Packs
Total
Electronics
Delorme Inreach
Garmin Etrex
Dark Energy Charger
Energizer Headlamp (back up)
Black Dimond Storm Headlamp
Luggage
Case SKB double bow case, waterproof
Possible Pouch
2 Sets of Lithium AA Battery of Delorme
1 set back up AA Backup Headlamp
1 set back up AAA Headlamp
2 Set back up AA Garmin Etrex
Aquamira drops
Tenacious Tape
Sleeping pad patch kit
Trioxine tablets
Strike any where matches
2 Lighter with duct table wrapped around
Being from out East and predominately a Whitetail deer hunter my gear really didn't translate over to much other then my archery equipment, even that needed to have some upgrades. I ended up upgrading to a Axcel Accutouch slider site and Black Eagle Rampage arrows, the idea was I needed to extend my range out to 60 yards and up till now I had a 3 pin site maxing out to 30 yards. The upgrade to arrows was to try and get a micro shaft that was near perfect to handle longer range shooting. In the end I'm very happy with these changes, its really reignited my interest in shoot more. Starting in April I've been shooting at least 3 times a week at a local outdoor range, my proficiency inside of 60 yards is absolutely deadly.
Now comes the expensive and time consuming part, figuring out what gear you're going to need for your trip, this took the better part of the 2 years to really think about what to go with. With so much to choose from and the costs adding up I need to be careful here to stay aware of the costs that were adding up. In the end, I feel that I was able to get most of my gear discounted between 10 -40% with a mean being around 30%, being patient and waiting for deals to come along went a long way, there were times when Billy would buy something at full price and a couple of weeks later I was able to get it cheaper, but he was in a different ball park all together. The only gear items that I had to pay full price for were my pack, clothing system, and tent.... Kifaru, Sitka, Kuiu, and First Lite are really not in the business of discounting there gear. Some of the cloths could of been had at a discount if I were a small or XXL, unfortunately for being an average sized fella, I had to pay full price. I'm not a big fan of buying used cloths so I had to bite the bullet on this one.
Travel and logistics took a turn for the worst, I had to scramble and wrap my head around how I was going to get out West . Initially our plan was to drive 2.5 days out, hunt for 5, and drive back. We were bringing 2 200qt coolers filled with frozen milk jugs and all of our gear. Our idea was that if we got an animal down early we would try for a second but anything after day 2 ,more then likely we would probably end our hunt and head back home. Hauling and butchering meat wasn't a concern we would just end up getting some dry ice if need be and process the animal off the quarters when we got home. So the cost here was real minimal considering everything was going to be split 50/50. We estimated that the fuel round trip would end up costing around 300 each which is a real marginal cost considering your going out West.
Plans change.....Being a little over a month away from season, I had to now find a flight, rental, and figure out meat care. Early in our planning I was looking at flights and would've been able to get a flight for around 350, now the cheapest I could find was around 450. Being from NJ, United is based out of Newark which is only 12 miles away from home, so it seemed logical that I would fly United, it was close and we the United Chase Credit card so we had some perks. Well, after researching all of the stipulations that United imposes on its customers like a $150.00 handling fee for dry ice for each piece of checked in luggage and $150 dollars fee on top of another fee of 150 for checked luggage for antlers I quickly decided that United sucks. I ended up burning all of my miles on a trip to Disney World in April for my family and cancelled my credit card with United.
I ended up finding a great flight and deal with Delta leaving JFK airport, my flight leaves a 7am and arrives in Salt Lake at 10:30am. My flight was 450 but I signed up for the Amex Card which gave me 150 off my first purchase on a Delta flight, first checked bag free, and priority boarding. First year annual fee is waived, so right off the bat I am $200 up, I will cancel the card later on in the year. I was worried about the rental, I kept reading that getting an SUV/Truck during September could be difficult on short notice but I was able to get a Ford Explorer for 9 days for $553. With that being said the extra cost of the rental is all that has increased, but its giving me extra days to hunt, granted there will be more costs in the event I am successful.
So the plan is land in SLC, drive North and stop at Sportsmans Warehouse to pick up my fuel canister and fire starting supplies for my safety kit, stop by Walmart and pick up two 150 quart coolers (return them cleaned
), fill with ice, and drive 4 hours up to the trail head, this should put me at my location at around 4-430pm, hike 2 miles to my campsite, setup camp and hopefully reach my first glassing spot by primetime dusk. I plan on hunting a total of 7 days, with the last day being 1.5 days before my fight, the meat processor I spoke to in Idaho falls said if I get my meat to him before Friday noon he could have it wrapped, packaged into 50lb boxes and near frozen by Saturday morning 7am at a cost of roughly around $350. At this point I will have to ship all of my gear back home via UPS, not sure what the cost would be but Im guessing around $100 bucks. I would then check in the first box for free, the second for $35, and the 3rd for $150, this would but me in at 150 pounds of meat checked in, the remainder of the meat I would carry on in my backpack and what ever was left I would leave as a donation to a food bank. If I was lucky to shoot a bull I would then have an additional 150 for the antlers. With that being said here is a break down for initial cost350 Flight
553 Car Rental
140 Gas
623 Tag
Total $1526.00
Joining the 10% club......priceless
350 Butcher
100 Shipping
185 Extra Luggage
150 Antlers
Total $785
Total $2311
All in all, if your lucky a trip solo flying out isn't entirely horrible for your average family guy. The only real cons I see are that you really have to have your gear dialed in, you can't come home when you want if you tag out early unless your willing to payup. Other then that the time saved on driving seems to outweigh it all, and not being able to bring back all of the meat is fine with me considering I will be helping out some less fortunate.
Below is a list of all of my gear I will be bringing along, take a look and let me know what you think. I look forward to updating this post with some great pictures and story. Thanks for coming along!
Sleep System
Seek Outside Silver Tip
MSR Ground Hogs (10)
Kelty Lite Line
BearPaw Design Adjustable Pole
Thermarest NeoAir Pad
SeaToSummit Aero Pillow
REI Flash Sleeping bag 20 degree
Tyvek Ground Sheet
Sitting Pad Thermarest Pad
Cook Kit
Stove JetBoil Flash
Utensils Folding Cup
Utensils Spork
Water Purification Sawyer Squeeze
Water storage 1L Nalgene Bottle
Water storage 2L Platypus Blatter
Cloths
Pants Kuiu Attack
Bennie Kuiu ULTRA Merino 145 Beanie
Gloves Kuiu Peloton 200 Glove
Neck Gaiter Kuiu ULTRA Merino 145 Neck Gaiter
Puffy First Lite Uncompahgre
Base Layer First Lite Llano Lightweight Short Sleeve Shirt
Base Layer First Lite Llano Lightweight Long Sleeve Shirt
MidLayer Sitka Traverse Zip-T
Underware IceBreaker Merino wool briefs (2x)
Rain Gear Kryptek Poseidon Jacket
Boots Salomon Quest 4D GTX
Socks Smartwool Mid Hiker (2x)
Kill Kit
Black Ovis XL Elk Bags
Knife Tyto, 10 replacement blades
50' 550 cord - Orange
Marking Tape 20 feet
Gloves 4 pairs
Bag Contractor Bag
Tyvek ground sheet
Optics
Binoculars 10x42 Ziess Conquests
Range Finder Sig Kilo 2000
Pack
Frame Kifaru 24" Tactical
Bag Reckoning
Bino Harness AGC Classic
Misc
Trekking Poles Leki Corklite
Calls Rocky Mountain Bully Bull Bugle Tube
Calls Phelps E-Z Estrus
Calls Rocky Mountain Mellow Yellow (2x)
Calls Rocky Mountain Remedy (2x)
Calls Rocky Mountain Raging Bull (2x)
Windchecker Moccasin Joe (3x)
First Aid Kit
whistle
Space Blanket
Israeli Bandage
Quick Clot Gauze
Quick Clot Sponge
Neosporin
Regular Gauze Pads
Bandages
Leukotape
Steri Strips
Advil, Advil PM
Gold Bond Powder
Hygiene
Travel Tooth Paste (Travel)
Tooth Brush
Saline Solution (Travel)
Spare Contacts
Contact Case
Glasses/Case
Hand Sanitizer (Travel)
Wetwipes
Food
Bear Bag SeaToSummit 20L dry bag, 50 reflective cord, Carabiner
Dinner Mountain House Dinner
Breakfast Pre-Made Oatmeal/protein powder/almonds/cocunut oil
Lunch Spam Tortia(2x) mustard
Snack Clif Bar, Stinger Waffle,Stinger Caffine gel,Justins Almond,Jerky
Supplement Mtn Ops Enduro
Coffee StarBuck Via Packs
Total
Electronics
Delorme Inreach
Garmin Etrex
Dark Energy Charger
Energizer Headlamp (back up)
Black Dimond Storm Headlamp
Luggage
Case SKB double bow case, waterproof
Possible Pouch
2 Sets of Lithium AA Battery of Delorme
1 set back up AA Backup Headlamp
1 set back up AAA Headlamp
2 Set back up AA Garmin Etrex
Aquamira drops
Tenacious Tape
Sleeping pad patch kit
Trioxine tablets
Strike any where matches
2 Lighter with duct table wrapped around
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