Pack weight: Does anyone actually care?

[Macintosh]

A few comments up there resonate with me. For me, going ultralight allows me to cover more ground in a day, but the cost of that is wearing myself out over the course of a trip due to less food, poorer weight-carrying ability, being colder, poorer sleep. I find a little more comfort (ie weight) equals me covering more ground on the 4th-7th or whatever day of a trip. Also avoided a few epic fails due to durability that probably would have aborted or significantly compromised a trip. I’ve found a happy medium where I feel it keeps me feeling my best (edit; and having more FUN) over the course of a given trip, which is not heavy but definitely a far cry from ultralight. 2-day trip I might take a significantly different approach than a 7-day trip for this reason.

 

[Rifleman86]

Don’t forgot your weight matters. I’m 25 lbs over weight at the moment, and about 5-10 lbs heavier than I was last season.

Imagine dropping 25 lbs off your pack weight? That would personally take me down to a 10lb base weight!

I’ve really kicked it into gear this week… I’ve lifted twice and ran four times so far this week. I realize if I want to drop that 25 lbs by mid Oct it starts now. Like it or not, in my late 30s I can’t just eat and drink beer as much as I please and not be fat.

I’ve “plateaued” with cutting my pack weight within reason. The only part left to cut is me. I also don’t want to have to buy a larger belt for my Kifaru Fulcrum.

 

[croben]

I have refined my gear as I’ve gone and the overall weight has definitely come down over the years. I generally care about weight and size when I’m looking at heavier/bulkier items. I usually pack too much food though because I hate being hungry.

 

[TraderMike]

Don’t forgot your weight matters. I’m 25 lbs over weight at the moment, and about 5-10 lbs heavier than I was last season.

Imagine dropping 25 lbs off your pack weight? That would personally take me down to a 10lb base weight!

I’ve really kicked it into gear this week… I’ve lifted twice and ran four times so far this week. I realize if I want to drop that 25 lbs by mid Oct it starts now. Like it or not, in my late 30s I can’t just eat and drink beer as much as I please and not be fat.

I’ve “plateaued” with cutting my pack weight within reason. The only part left to cut is me. I also don’t want to have to buy a larger belt for my Kifaru Fulcrum.

You make a good point that I agree with 100%.
At this point, my gear is what it is - bought and paid for with weight being considered and budget maxed out. Now I spend the last 90 days or so before a hunt trying to knock off 5-10 pounds from around my waist and not skipping any training.

 

[bucksnbirds]

The way I see it, if you have cheaper and heavier items you can't bring as many individual items. I prefer to Spend the money and be able to carry more comfort items and still come out lighter than the guys that went cheap.

 

[Rock-o]

As others did, I voted both yes and no.

 

[madtinker]

I am still relatively new to backpack hunting, and haven’t spent the money yet to replace all my regular gear/clothes with lighter weight versions. So I pack what I need, but I weigh my pack for curiosity’s sake.

 

[mighteywhitehunter]

At this point in my life I just purchase good quality stuff which is usually relatively light weight and I go hunt. I am over the ounce counting.

 

[Eastonsgrandpa]

Yes, with qualifiers.

If the heavy pack is much better, I’ll go that route. Spent a lot of days with a pack that had ridiculous amounts of molle on it and a frame made unnecessarily heavy. But then I found that the new K4 is a much better pack and frame and switched. The lighter weight is definitely a bonus. And my body feels that weight savings. While the pack to pack difference is maybe a pound, the K4 doesn’t have places to attach a thousand pockets which I did before. I haven’t actually weighed them side by side but I would estimate it being at least a three pound difference.

 

[ZAK13]

I’m concerned about weight to a point. I do my best to bring as little as possible to get the hunt done, whether it’s for a day, a couple of days or a week or more.

 

[billysmals]

Most of what everyone has said I agree with. Experience shapes our choices. I have had some scary situations hunting and camping so I voted no cuz I have never cared about weight. I cared, situationally, on some fly out hunts where it matter what went into the plane, but that was relative as I still brought more than most. I grew up hunting in Alaska and it taught me a lot of “one is none, two is one thing.” That was true a lot of times and there is no wt saving I will take over survival and have some experiences where the extra stuff has been super helpful because of an extra headlamp, batteries, clothes and food, ect. I carry more weight for comfort items as people have said.

I also was shot bowhunting by another hunter and that experience caused me to change my kit again and now i carry a trauma kit that is more than your usual first aide stuff, including multiple emergency communication devices. I work in Trauma as well so I don’t expect everyone to carry some of the things I do. I would rather be alive, warm, fed, and sleep comfortable as it keeps me going longer. I know no one wakes up saying “let’s have an emergency in the back country, so let’s pack accordingly.” It doesn’t happen to you until it does. The goal now is light, but as safe and comfortable as possible. My idea, based on my experiences, has set a different threshold of what is safe and comfortable.

 

[Brontosaurus]

Most of what everyone has said I agree with. Experience shapes our choices. I have had some scary situations hunting and camping so I voted no cuz I have never cared about weight. I cared, situationally, on some fly out hunts where it matter what went into the plane, but that was relative as I still brought more than most. I grew up hunting in Alaska and it taught me a lot of “one is none, two is one thing.” That was true a lot of times and there is no wt saving I will take over survival and have some experiences where the extra stuff has been super helpful because of an extra headlamp, batteries, clothes and food, ect. I carry more weight for comfort items as people have said.

I also was shot bowhunting by another hunter and that experience caused me to change my kit again and now i carry a trauma kit that is more than your usual first aide stuff, including multiple emergency communication devices. I work in Trauma as well so I don’t expect everyone to carry some of the things I do. I would rather be alive, warm, fed, and sleep comfortable as it keeps me going longer. I know no one wakes up saying “let’s have an emergency in the back country, so let’s pack accordingly.” It doesn’t happen to you until it does. The goal now is light, but as safe and comfortable as possible. My idea, based on my experiences, has set a different threshold of what is safe and comfortable.

I feel like you can't just casually drop the whole "yeah I got shot by another bowhunter nbd".
What's the story?

 

[hammer0419]

This is always something that drove me crazy. I can understand if you are comparing a 10lb pack to a 5lb pack. But when I see guys cutting slivers off their straps to save 2-3oz.... That's where insanity comes in!!! IF I added 3oz or took away 3oz. Not a single person on this forum could tell! Rant over

 

[billysmals]

I feel like you can't just casually drop the whole "yeah I got shot by another bowhunter nbd".
What's the story?

Well to make a long story short I was hunting with a buddy chasing an elk that had been sounding off. It was getting towards sunset. We had been calling and getting regular responses from this bull and working in on him. Intermittently another hunter would join and bugle. We stopped bugling and listened to the bull and the other hunter and just walked in silent. I was standing on a logging road in the open and could hear the bull occasionally walking around, but it was getting dark pretty fast and the bull went silent. Everything was quiet and we were just standing there. We hadn't heard anything for like 20min or so when out of the shadow at 30 yards I saw a figure come out of the woods at my 8-9 o clock off my left shoulder to the left and just behind me. I could tell it was the hunter and watched him get to the middle of the road and stop. I turned my head and looked at my hunting partner when it felt like something bit me in the shoulder. I saw two holes in my shirt at the shoulder and was confused until I touched it and was full of blood. Arrow essentially cut through the shoulder (no bone) hit my shoulder strap from my backpack on my chest and deflected away from me. He rushed to me and told me later thought I was the elk butt (direct quote). It cut a big "y" shaped hole, definitely using a 3 blade broadhead.

So I've change how I hunt and what I carry in my pack now I think my trauma/med kit weighs 2-3lbs or so? But I never leave home without it.

 

[schmalzy]

This is always something that drove me crazy. I can understand if you are comparing a 10lb pack to a 5lb pack. But when I see guys cutting slivers off their straps to save 2-3oz.... That's where insanity comes in!!! IF I added 3oz or took away 3oz. Not a single person on this forum could tell! Rant over

I agree, but if you shaved 3 oz off of each of the the 20+ things in your packing list your getting pretty close to that 5 pound difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brontosaurus]

Thays

Well to make a long story short I was hunting with a buddy chasing an elk that had been sounding off. It was getting towards sunset. We had been calling and getting regular responses from this bull and working in on him. Intermittently another hunter would join and bugle. We stopped bugling and listened to the bull and the other hunter and just walked in silent. I was standing on a logging road in the open and could hear the bull occasionally walking around, but it was getting dark pretty fast and the bull went silent. Everything was quiet and we were just standing there. We hadn't heard anything for like 20min or so when out of the shadow at 30 yards I saw a figure come out of the woods at my 8-9 o clock off my left shoulder to the left and just behind me. I could tell it was the hunter and watched him get to the middle of the road and stop. I turned my head and looked at my hunting partner when it felt like something bit me in the shoulder. I saw two holes in my shirt at the shoulder and was confused until I touched it and was full of blood. Arrow essentially cut through the shoulder (no bone) hit my shoulder strap from my backpack on my chest and deflected away from me. He rushed to me and told me later thought I was the elk butt (direct quote). It cut a big "y" shaped hole, definitely using a 3 blade broadhead.

So I've change how I hunt and what I carry in my pack now I think my trauma/med kit weighs 2-3lbs or so? But I never leave home without it.

That's insane!!! Thanks for sharing! Will definitely be more careful in the archery seasons now.

 

[fngTony]

What is your approach? Excel spreadsheeting purchases based off weight? Packing bags while counting oz? Not caring and packing way too much gear?

I do keep a list as a checklist but it does have weights too. My approach is finding the lightest item for my need and considering my budget. So I usually end up with a slightly heavier item but if I didn’t do my homework it could have been 2-6 ounces heavier instead of the 3 I settled for. Main reason I do it is I can carry more water while being in my comfort zone. I’ll take 3 liters on a day trip when it’s dry.

 

[hammer0419]

I agree, but if you shaved 3 oz off of each of the the 20+ things in your packing list your getting pretty close to that 5 pound difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Shaving weight off items usually involves buying better and lighter products. I'm just referring to the pack itself.

 

[jbs121s]

In my experience everyone thinks weight isn't a big deal when they try on a pack in the house. I've had buddies unload redundant items in a hurry after even a short test hike.

 

[schmalzy]

Shaving weight off items usually involves buying better and lighter products. I'm just referring to the pack itself.

Ahh my mistake, thanks for clarifying.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk