Just returned from my first elk trip. I’m fortunate to make good money and unfortunate to not have a wife or kids yet to force me to budget it. I refuse to buy gear new that works just as well used though. The classifieds here are an underrated resource. You can spend a few hours researching reviews on the gear you’re needing, make some notes, then sit back and watch the classifieds. I probably spent 40-50% less overall on the ‘mountain specific’ gear I needed (I’m a Sea level hunter).
Some things I learned on my trip:
- know your bow, practice a lot, know your range, range your surroundings immediately upon setting up on elk
- take the advice of folks here telling you to make overnight trips. If you actually focus and pay attention when you do it, you’ll recognize crap you don’t need.
- rain gear is a must. If you can afford it, higher end clothing companies make great clothes that are water resistant and will do fine in popup storms, and dry out quickly. This might allow you to skimp on true rain gear and get something a little heavier or bulkier that stays at camp of the forecast is mostly clear. I was caught in multiple 10-30 minute downpours and my water repellent clothes worked fine. I did carry a rain jacket the whole time and used it to cover my pack during the storms.
- trekking poles - you’ll feel dumb and extra granola carrying them around all week. We didn’t kill, so I didn’t get to field test their usefulness. But, in my training I used them with a 70lb pack in steep terrain and they are a necessity if you’ll be hitting steep terrain.
- shelter - we had a cabin to stay in. It sucked. We sapped about 2 hours a day off of our sleep and hunts going back and forth instead of spike camping. I brought my gear but my crew was steadfast in wanting to pack out each day. I won’t do it next year. I’d look into the classifieds for a tipi or tarp setup that uses your trekking poles. You may be able to skip shelter if one of your crew has a two man. This will also give you a chance to review someone else’s gear. And save you both weight packing in.
- food - we hunted five full days. Hiking hard does not make me hungry. It makes me want to puke. Knowing I have granola and nuts and dry foods got old after about one day. I only ate about half the food I brought each day. That would catch up to you on a 7+ day trip, as you wouldn’t be recovering fully. I made deer jerky ahead of trip, froze it, and put in ziplocks for each day. That was a highlight on food. Pringles small cans are a nice morale booster that won’t get crushed in your pack. I could’ve brought sandwiches each day as it was cool enough, but didn’t know till after. Banana chips were a hit too. If you’re gritty, you’ll deal with the food sucking. My experience tells me to bring plenty of food to camp, and bring half of what I think I’d eat for the day on each day hunt. It would’ve saved a pound in my pack.
- water - I think most of the hunger folks feel might actually be thirst. I borderline overhydrate when I hunt. I have found I stay more focused, and more willing to keep going, even back east. We averaged about 7-8 miles a day on the trip, and I drank 3-4 liters of water each day in 40-60* weather. I also camel’d up every morning before heading out. Get a good filtering system, or prepare to carry the weight. Hopefully your camp site will be near water so you can filter for each day.
- communicate - each day we switched hunting partners. Each day I made my partner dump his pack and we found unnecessary redundancies. One kill kit, one first aid kit, one backup flashlight, etc. this saved pounds each day and they matter.
- beeswax type chapstick. Nuff said
- lightweight shovel - bury your crap and paper. Hate when people leave theirs exposed, really annoying.
Bring more than you think you need to truck, then to camp, then reverse on day hikes to bringing only what you need.
My gear list day five was: pack, bow, headlamp, backup light, kill kit, first aid, bino’s, calls, rangefinder, bag of food, water, trekking poles, chapstick, shovel/biodegradable wipes, charging brick, rain jacket.
