Shred it (My packing list)

[chizelhead]

In that case I'll probably end up sticking with the bino/spotter combo. I end up using my binos in close too often to not be able to glass with one hand. Might end up going 8x32 or 10x32 and save some oz there, I'll see what deals pop up in the next couple of months.


Absolutely. In colder temps the filter lives in the chest pocket of my lightweight hoody. However, that base layer has to go and get replaced. I wore it on a hike this weekend and remembered just how bad that thing gets to smelling. Going to have to keep that filter issue in mind when picking out something new. Love the steripen concept, but I've almost thrown that POS off the mountain one too many times.


Since this is a living list I'll note some changes. I added the sidearm to the list. Too many brownies in the area to depend on undeveloped sword skills with an arrow in hand. Looks like I have a lead on a lighter pack system, and worse case I'll borrow a buddies SG. So add 3 lbs for the pistol and cut 3 lbs for the pack, we're back to 60lbs. Another thing to upgrade is the pants to something with knee pads. I spent a good chunk of this years caribou hunts on my knees and oh lord what a difference those knee pads made. For archery hunts, I'll skip the baby wipes before stalking 400 yards on my knees without knee pads again.

Still on the hunt for the perfect boot. I've got wider feet and am trying to find an uninsulated/B2 boot. Love the idea of something lighter, but to this point I've had no luck with the toeboxes. I've got a pair of Meindl Glockners showing up next week, and if those dont work the next on the list is Zamberlan 2092s. Why crispi isnt putting heel welts on their stiffer boots is beyond me.

Appreciate the feedback from everyone to this point. I'll keep this thread updated as changes are made so it can hopefully be of use for someone in the future.

Good deal on lightly used Zamberlan 2092 on Rokslide if they are the right size. I think they're fantastic assuming they fit you.

 

[ColeyG]

I disagree on ditching the water filter. There's bear and marmot scat all the way up to the ridge lines and you may be fine 99% of the time but the 1% ain't fun. You can get away with tabs to cut weight but I would use them on any water you're not boiling.

I also disagree about ditching the inreach, it's much tougher than a phone and has a longer battery. Not hard to imagine a fall that disables you also crushing a phone and it's nice having the inreach clipped off to your packs shoulder strap so it's accessible your injured and can't get to the interior of your pack.

Gaiters are also really nice if you're glissading down scree and will keep water from wet vegetation from getting into your boots if you're on the valley floor. I've also been up in that hunt zone and had 22" of wet heavy snow between October 9 and 10.

Plenty of browns up there but you can pretty easily save a few pounds going from a pistol to bear spray and practicing good camp hygiene.

I do agree on foregoing a spotter if you're not picky on which ram you want. You gotta get in bow range anyways

As my mountaineering mentor used to say, everything comes at a cost. Everything you take, and everything you choose to leave behind has both a benefit and a detriment.

I think I’ve been on around 30 sheep hunts now and have filtered/treated water zero times. Paid the price one night in Talkeetnas in an area where there was an abnormal amount of caribou crap in and around water sources. I’m not entirely sure water was the source of the brief but intense GI distress, but that would be my bet.

Granted that part of the Chugach is lower elevation and there will be a fair amount of time spent below treeline, but based on experience in the area, I don’t think finding clean trickles of water up high will be difficult.

On the Inreach, most of that unit has cell coverage. Easy to play the “what if game” and wind up carrying the kitchen sink. Planning for what is most likely along with some thought into worst case scenario and the range of possibilities is a good approach to packing in my book.

Ounces turn into pounds, pounds turn into pain.

There is no one right answer, obviously, and all of this is subjective and based on personal preferences and experience.

 

[carsonkeys]

For the last handful of years, I've been doing a solo hunt for the opening week of sheep season and have been able to get my solo kit down to 50lbs all in. Still heavier than I would like, but manageable for high mileage approaches with significant elevation gain. More more than that on my back really increases the fatigue factor for me. I don't know why but the difference between 50 and even 55lb seems very significant to me.

Does your 50lb kit include food, optics, and weapon? If so, would you mind PMing me your list? You helped me a bunch on my first sheep hunt, and I think I have more whittling to do.

 

[ColeyG]

Does your 50lb kit include food, optics, and weapon? If so, would you mind PMing me your list? You helped me a bunch on my first sheep hunt, and I think I have more whittling to do.

Yes and will do.

 

[jacob_ski4]

Congrats on drawing that tag. I have a couple of buddies that have hunted it successfully and both have had pretty exceptional experiences. Can't say I am not a bit jealous. I have been applying for 15+ years and haven't touched a sheep tag yet...

After your get your mountain hunting kit pretty close to dialed, I figure that lightening your load by upgrading gear usually costs about $1k per pound. When trying to justify spending the money to shave ounces, I can't help but think that giving up beer for a month or two would cut more weight than a couple thousand bucks every would, but what fun would that be...

For the last handful of years, I've been doing a solo hunt for the opening week of sheep season and have been able to get my solo kit down to 50lbs all in. Still heavier than I would like, but manageable for high mileage approaches with significant elevation gain. More more than that on my back really increases the fatigue factor for me. I don't know why but the difference between 50 and even 55lb seems very significant to me.

When getting packed up for these trips, the load is always feeling and looking great until I add food. Damn I hate packing heavy ass food and water around.

Here are some quick thoughts looking at your list based on what I would consider taking on this hunt. As others have said, you list is pretty darn solid and you've got a lot of high quality, lighweight stuff in your kit as is.

-One knife is fine. Tuck it away someplace safe and be really careful not to lose it. The thought of getting an animal down 20+ miles from the trailhead without a knife to break it down has kept my awake at night more than once...

-Ditch the paracord, or if you must have it, take a shorter length or something lighter weight like braided fishing line, seine net repair twine, etc.

-Ditch the pillow, puffy layers in your sleeping bag compression sack works fine.

-Ditch the water filter. Above treeline in your zone any running water will be fine to drink. Keep an aqua tab or two in case you wind up in a water crisis at lower elevation, which would be highly unlikely.

-Gaiters. If for some reason you wind up with knee deep snow on your hunt they would be worth having, otherwise you can get by without them.

-Ditch the inreach mini. Your phone has sat texting which would cover your needs for comms, weather updates, etc. right?

-Smaller battery bank like the Goal Zero Flip 24 or 36 should be adequate unless you plan to spend a lot of time looking at your phone. I usuall use mine for a few photos, OnX checks, etc. otherwise keep it tucked away and/or turned off.

-Wipes. Several companies make dehydrated wipes that you add water too. Saves a little bit of water weight in the pack.

-Spotter and Tripod. I don't think I would be taking a spotter on this hunt if I was going to be happy with any ram and not try to pick out a big/old one. Based on terrain and likely proximity to sheep, your binos and context should be fine for finding rams. Ditching the spotter and tripod cuts out darn near 4lbs. If you want the spotter, consider a lighter tripod like an Aoka https://www.amazon.com/AOKA-Compact-Lightweight-Capacity-Travelling/dp/B07PK9Q627 that only weighs a pound. Swaro ATC or the Vortex Razor 13-39 would cut a pound off of your spotter weight.

-No need for a bino tripod adapter.

-Pistol. Could probably get by without one without losing too much sleep at that time of year. That having been said, I'd probably be taking mine on this hunt. Maybe try to borrow a smaller, lighter pistol and only carry 5-6 rounds. The GFI bino link holster will save you some weight and bulk and it works much better with your bino harness rather than layering two rigs on top of each other.

-Sleeping system. Upgrading to the lightest-in-class bag, pad, and tent appropriate for anticipated conditions could cut your weight here down to about 4lbs, but those are all pretty high dollar items.

-Puffy. The SG Grumman down jacket would save you 4-5oz.

-Possibles Pouch. Delete maps, firestarter. Put a few wraps of gorilla tape on your trekking poles.

Ditto on the spare socks!

First off, I appreciate comprehensive response. Its got me thinking hard on items I generally have considered as necessary weight. I think its got to be mentioned this list is assuming temps that are sub 20 degrees. I agree there is weight to be cut if the weather looks a little warmer via the sleeping pad (4 oz if I bring my xlite) and a lighter puffy (4 oz with the grumman). I've comfortably slept with whats listed in lighterpack down to 5 degrees and still had room to go, especially if I bring a Nalgene and use the hot water bottle at the foot of the quilt). Anything warmer than 30 degrees Ill cut the pillow and use my insulation, but I've slept on boots for a pillow because I had to wear my insulation and the 2oz would have been worth it lol.

I'll play around with the optics package this summer. My goal for this tag is an adult ram in the 6+ yo range. Long way to season open and opportunity for this to change, but right now I'm mentally ok eating the tag if I wasnt able to find a ram of that class. That said, I have no excuse for not finding good rams pre-season and at least have a couple of speciific rams in mind on the hike in. I'll spend time glassing my hunt areas and have a good idea of what 8-10x32s are capable of when it comes to identifying those adult rams across valleys in the summer, and if I can drop the spotter I will. I cant imagine dumping the tripod entirely when it comes to really searching for animals without image stablized binos, I'm just significantly better off a tripod, which yes, can and will be slimmed down.

On the sidearm, I've got a G43 I carried around for years before getting the G20. It was a lot easier to rationalize the lighter package before this interview came out. I bet we can all think to a lot of times it could have just of easily been us strolling through the saddle, and I bet he was happy to have 2 guns going when that bear was on him. However, Becky and Karen stroll the Chugach with trail runners and airpods all summer without a concern so maybe I'll play around with the idea of the G43 or pepper spray on these longer distance/duration sheep hunts.

Survivor of weekend brown bear attack shares harrowing tale with Alaska’s News Source

Three days removed from a near-fatal brown bear attack, a seasoned Alaskan hunter sat down with Alaska’s News Source to describe the wildlife encounter in detail.

www.alaskasnewssource.com

Dehydrated wipes. Funny story for anyone contemplating this idea. I was on my first goat hunt and had brought the standard Walmart baby wipes I had dehydrated before the trip. Anyways, go to do my business on day 2/10 and watch them disintegrate in the baggie... luckily had a partner that brought real wipes but do not dehydrate cheap wipes unless you want to trade good snacks for a clean butt. I'll look into pre-done ones you mention, those are probably more much durable.

Paracord has been a staple on goat hunts. In fact, I always wish I brought more as we're inevitably lowering packs through technical terrain. I've seen lawsons glowire mentioned on here as a better alternative, but if the terrain looks questionable I still want the ability to lower packs. I'll drop the tyto knife and blades, no need to be doing detail caping work out in the field on this hunt.

On the water filtration, you've simply got more balls than me. I agree I'd probably be fine if I got all my water from up high, but the first time I have to walk away from water down low to get water up high, I'm going to be kicking myself in the ass for not bringing the extra 2oz... I'll find somewhere else to cut that weight. I don't want to make it harder to stay hydrated than it already is.

The inreach is an interesting one and I know we've had a couple of threads on the topic. If I look back on it, the only time I've justified turning the thing on and bringing it is when I'm doing fly-out trips and having backup seems worth it to me. All the other time I spend in the woods/mountains, like over 90 days of the year, I just carry my phone and honestly have been impressed with the satellite communication function. All of our risk tolerances vary, but I'll probably drop that for this hunt.

I agree with you, I can drop the paper maps and probably reduce the battery bank size. I'm used to charging 2 phones off it, and if Im going solo Ill bring a 10k. If its going to serve as my emergency communication device, I'm making sure the thing always has access to power.

If you don't want to post it publicly, can you PM me your packing list? Last hunt I carried in 62lbs for 10 days and set a goal of being below 60 for the next. I struggle to comprehend how I could make it down to 50, but I guess thats places like this are for!


Update to total weight is Im down 2.5lbs to 59.1ish lbs with a change to the sidearm, battery bank, cordage, and inreach.

If going to be looking hard for deal on Zeiss SFL 10x32s when I finish fixing up my truck, which would cut about 9oz. For anyone looking at this for an early season list, you could drop an extra 10 oz via puffy, pillow, and pad as discussed above.

 

[ColeyG]

On the water filtration, you've simply got more balls than me. I agree I'd probably be fine if I got all my water from up high, but the first time I have to walk away from water down low to get water up high, I'm going to be kicking myself in the ass for not bringing the extra 2oz... I'll find somewhere else to cut that weight. I don't want to make it harder to stay hydrated than it already is.

More a lack of brains as opposed to more balls I'd say. It is a gamble, but so far one that has paid off, or at least hasn't bit me in the ass. If you can't see where your water is coming from, use caution!

Seems like you are pretty squared away dialed in. PM sent.

Good luck!