Have you ever gone too light?

[156821]

Mine is a little different. I set my pack down on a final stock. Closed 400 yards and made a long shot on a goat. The goat is down so I head back for my pack….. guess what I can’t find it. Spend the next 2 hrs doing a grid search as darkness is falling. I had pretty much nothing on me but the rifle and clothes. I finally found it but that was a major rookie mistake.

 

[mtwarden]

^ ouch!

 

[Seeknelk]

Drove 6-7 hours to our trailhead. As I was stuffing my pack with gear and all excited thinking " I can't believe we will be back in the honey hole tonight crawling into our sleeping b.....sunnuva! NO!" I suddenly remembered my bag carefully placed on the floor in middle of the garage. . So I thought, it opener or archery it'll be ok ,just cover up with jackets etc right? After packing in, staying up all night, trying to steal my buddies jackets he had for a pillow (he grabbed em in his deep,pleasant sleep). We hunted next day, hiked out, drove hour or two to nearest town where I bought a Coleman at the local co-op and was stoked to find one! Had snow and rain rest of trip so I'm glad I did.
I've forgotten the dang thing 3 times! Never again. First thing I put in truck! I used to think I'd load it last so it's on top and handy and not getting smashed or torn. I don't care anymore. It's first.

But my pack was lighter. Yay.

 

[Macintosh]

Heck, almost all of the above. Packs that are crazy light but dont carry weight well, ultralight packs and clothes that tear when they even think about touching krumholz or briars, freezing my ass off trying to minimize bivy weight with thin/short/narrow pads, 40-degree sleeping bag (“I’ll just wear my puffy and hat inside the bag, it’ll be great”), boots that are soft-soled and result in sore feet after a couple days, shotguns that are great to carry but really tough to shoot, not enough water, not enough food, etc. I am a “go light=go fast” guy at heart, but a couple decades playing in the backcountry in various forms have beaten me into being a “go moderately light=have more fun” guy in reality.

 

[Owlman]

When I first got into traditional gear hikes and hunts I quickly realized how much heavier that gear is compared to more modern synthetic stuff. This caused me to drastically reduce the amount of gear I was carrying into overnight hikes. It backfired one night when unexpected temp drops froze me to the bone. I thought I could get away with a single large wool blanket and I was very wrong.

 

[LionHead]

My first season hunting I had saved my ass off for a Kifaru frame, EMRII bag and Supertarp, everything else was pretty cheap garbage, surplus or thrift store wool.
My buddy (101st AB) convinced me a "fart sack and a ranger roll" would be all we needed to get by like he did when he was in the army.

So I left my super tarp (dumb) and brought the MSS bivy, with a poncho, and a USGI woobie, and foam pad. The only insulation I had was a weak North Face packable puffy. I Froze my ass off at 50 degrees shivering the whole night, caught in a thunder storm and my back was wrecked the next 3 days. Still managed to kill a buck that season. oh man to be 25 again.

I was lucky it, it was 50s-80s temp that season opener... The next season opener same area it dropped 2 ft of snow and was in the 20s-50s; BUT I had upgraded to a tipi, stove, 20deg revelation quilt and xtherm pad. I don't always hot tent but you can bet I'm in a tipi with the xtherm and at least a 20 degree bag minimum.

boots ? I didn't know what I was missing till I got into a good pair. Now, I don't even day hunt without 10" crispi boots

 

[maxwellh86]

One time brought too little TP on a 12 day sheep hunt. Was wadding leafs behind one square to wipe with, lol. Other than that I’m constantly trying to go lighter and have never had a bad time because of it, knock on wood. But I always test my gear out before committing to a long hunt, Alaska is unforgiving on the unprepared.

 

[taskswap]

I did twice, once by stupidity and once by circumstance.

The first time I was hiking with my son, just a day hike near Kenosha Pass in CO. When we left the truck at 10am it was about 55. I remember going through my pack because my son couldn't find his binoculars, and I thought I might have put them in there. Foreshadowing...

The first 3 hours were great, and we were down to T-shirts, it was around 75 most of the day. Then, over the course of about 30 minutes, a massive storm rolled in. The temp dropped to about 38, winds started gusting 30+mpg, and it was hailing like crazy. No problem, I went into my pack... and discovered that in the bag-dump that morning I had somehow not put my rain gear back in my bag!

Luckily he still had his, and I always carry one of those mylar emergency blankets, so I was able to cut a makeshift poncho out of it. Those things are miserable to wear and it was a pretty nasty hike out through the hail, but I remember thinking that if I hadn't had it, I could easily have been one of those "experienced hiker goes missing" stories you read about.

It was 75 again when we got back to the truck.

The second time I was extremely well prepared. I was with 3 other hunt buddies and we were sharing a 12-man teepee into which I had installed a crude stove jack and my buddy had brought a small box stove. We also had a Mr Buddy heater and plenty of 20lb propane cylinders plus all the gear you can imagine.

It wasn't enough. I mean, we survived, but with all that gear you would have thought it would be luxury. Except that was the year we got 18" of snow where we were, and temps were averaging -15 every night and 20 during the day. We ran that box stove AND the Mr Buddy heater flat out, and the thermometer we had in the teepee still only read about 35 most of the time. Crazy trip, one of our most successful, actually. But also the least comfortable.

Never take mountain weather lightly.

 

[ljalberta]

Been too light on the clothing and sleep system at times. When I’m too cold, uncomfortable, or unable to sleep, I’ve gone too light. I have done with with a 8.5’x5’ tarp, light quilt, and light puffy. Wind rain and snow gave me some sleepless nights and freezing days.

Since then I’ve got a little more robust clothing and sleep system. Usually it’s overkill, but when that bad weather comes, I can hunt better.

 

[COJoe]

Went light on my wallet this past elk hunt in October and it cost me a couple good nights of sleep. I bought a well used Marmot Helium 15 degree sleeping bag last summer because it was a good deal for a pretty quality bag except the zipper didn't work very well. I used zipper lube last year and this year but it would still hang up about 3/4 up which allowed a terrible draft all night. I could get it zipped up farther but then it almost wouldn't unzip. I planned to get the zipper fixed this past summer but thought, "it'll work", wrong! The first two nights were at best 15 degrees and I spent all night tossing and turning pulling the bag over my face until that became uncomfortable. Last month I bought an almost new Stone Glacier Chilkoot 15 bag on Ebay. I should be set in that area for a long time now.

 

[Wrongside]

Been too light on the clothing and sleep system at times. When I’m too cold, uncomfortable, or unable to sleep, I’ve gone too light. I have done with with a 8.5’x5’ tarp, light quilt, and light puffy. Wind rain and snow gave me some sleepless nights and freezing days.

Since then I’ve got a little more robust clothing and sleep system. Usually it’s overkill, but when that bad weather comes, I can hunt better.

Same here. I experimented with going UL in clothing and sleep system. Neither were worth the weight savings, esp sleep system. I still pack as light & highend gear as I can across the board, but more likely to err on the side of comfort in some areas. IE; no more small & UL pads, I always take the XL ThermaRest XTherm, and a bag with a large temperature buffer for the conditions. Some things are worth the weight. Like being well rested.

 

[Naiche]

Went with a usgi woobie and bivy for sleep system and froze when drizzly may weather hit. Was 16 miles in and wearing all my layers dreaming of the o degree canvas elk hunter bag that I had at the truck. Have a down quilt and insulated pad now.

 

[HaydenB]

For me I was on a spectrum. I started out way too heavy with more stuff than I would ever need, I even got made fun of lol. Then I went the other way until I pretty much didnt bring enough food one time and that sucked. So I think I’ve found a middle ground with some light gear and comfort too. I heavy a little heavier pad than I’ve had in the past but the insulation and thickness help me sleep better so I’ll sacrifice a little there.

 

[Pdzoller]

Used to only carry a little knife with a 1” blade and a mini Swiss Army knife. I didn’t realize how much faster and useful a larger knife would be for boning out meat until I got an ESEE 4. The little knife is a razor and great for fine work but the larger knife is multi tool in itself and cuts my processing time in half.

Went too light on my quilt during a summer scouting trip. Storms rolled in and it got down below freezing with hail and snow. I was using a small and extremely light down blanket I got from Amazon. Blanket is only good down to about 45 degrees and I didn’t bring a puffy or pad.

 

[Buglebrush]

This will be my 28th year elk hunting, and most of those have been backpack hunts. I've made almost every gear mistake possible, but here's a few that stand out. I like to go super lite, but after many suffer-fests I don't go unprepared anymore.
1. Too little food. We were three days into a hunt, and still had 14 hours of hard hiking to the truck with only a Snickers bar between three guys. Luckily we killed a bull on the way out, and gorged on meat. I now always carry too much food. Even on day trips.
2. Ran out of water twice way down in Hell's Canyon. Don't do that!
3. Used to leave the tripod behind too much. Stupid.
4. Buddy's mistakes:
A. Didn't want to carry a pistol in Grizzly Country, and things got hairy.
B. No extra headlamp batteries. Killed a bull way back in right before dark, and didn't get out to the truck with the first load until 4:00 am. He was without a light for half the night.
C. No rain gear. This one happens all the time, and drives me crazy. If you're backpacking in North Idaho, you take rain gear regardless of what the weather predicts.
D. No backpack on a day hunt. I arrowed a Mule Deer Buck, and had to carry the whole thing a long ways!

 

[Rufus]

I’ve ran out of water after a “sure” water source ended up being dry. This was a pretty bad deal as I was quite far from any other possibilities for water. I carry what I need for the day now. Thanks Rufus.