Single Riding Horse for 3 days In

[Pony Soldier]

I typically packed in a pickup load of timothy bales before season. The toughest part was building a fence to keep the grazing cows out of it. It helped to tarp it for further protection. Find a place that is out of sight and out of mind.

 

[Eastman528]

I don't have experience doing this exactly yet but I have similar intentions so I think I understand your perspective behind this. I mostly intend to ride one lead one for now but do have interest in riding one out solo particularly for quick light scouting missions, I will still likely take at least 2 for now because I am needing to get our younger ones exposure but as I am currently looking to acquire a mule/horse for myself having one that isn't herd sour is a priority.
I think as you mentioned coming at this with a backpackers mentality and already having horsemanship experience should make it pretty seamless just about getting out there and figuring out what works for you. I intend to do my best to stick with my lightweight backpack hunter mentality at least for scouting and early season trips but utilizing the horses to gain experience and cover ground. I don't mean this to be demeaning but allot of traditional stock people I know cant quite wrap their mind around just how light weight a person with the right gear and experience/comfort level can go. I could take my whole setup for a weekend scouting trip and still come in less than some individuals put on their riding mount alone.
I do think weight distribution is important to not restrict the animals movement as well as yourself. I would much prefer to not be wearing my backpack if at all possible or at the least not have much weight in it. Obviously you add in a hunting situation and the possibility of coming out with meat etc. I think for anything other than day hunting I would prefer to have a second pack animal. This is also good failsafe if something were to happen to one you could still get your gear out.
I plan to elk hunt with my horses this fall likely solo and I will spend some time working with my horses on leading them both down the trail. I like the looks of the gear others have posted and I have been looking at options as well but for now I will just be using the standard decker and riding saddle panniers along with cantle bag etc. on riding saddle its nice to be able to have something to roll a jacket up into or water bottle holder. If I get a chance I will post pictures and would be interested in seeing what you come up with or what others have for a setup.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I think many of you are making this way too complicated. In all honesty my ranch is the equivalent of your camp.when I put in a camp I limited myself to 3-5 hunts - over and over.

Now I leave the house each morning with one horse and go to a differant place nearly every day. Each day I cover 5-20 miles for about 35 days. What I carry is a handgun, saddle bags, rifle, riding coat and chaps and a hat. Oh and I forgot mitts and an electric chainsaw.

Depending on tracks, I may tie up my horse for 4-6 hrs and follow the tracks on foot. If I don't kill anything - the next day I go where I figure they were going the day before. If I kill something I come back the next day with a second horse, quarter the elk up, load the horses and walk out to the truck.

Each day is horse recon plus 1 or 2 foot hunts. I usually leave my horse in a fir thicket when I walk. I try to pick spots that have minimal chances for falling snags or getting shot.

I figure a good season is 350-400 miles and an elk. I'm fortunate and often my son, partner or wife comes along and I have somebody to talk to or conspire with.

I have held onto the horses while I shot or held them while the others shot.

It's not hard. If you put in a spike camp it tends to get complicated and takes more stock to get comfortable.

Keep it simple. Horses will point elk and elk will point horses so you can shoot.

 

[roosiebull]

This is a helpful thread, I just bought a horse, and have been thinking up things to do with him. Next spring I want to do a few day camping trip in hells canyon, just go disappear for a few days up there.

I want to get a spring bear tag over there too eventually, so it will also be a scouting mission. My wife’s family has a bunch of horses, so if I end up doing a hunt on horseback, I’ll borrow a second… ride mine, lead the other

There are a lot of logistics that aren’t clear to me yet, but I’m looking forward to some new types of wilderness trips, hunting or not.

 

[Pony Soldier]

When I worked in Hells Canyon in 75 there was quite a trail connection to Enterprise Oregon. How much of this has survived I have no idea. I did one recon trip from Riggens on the Rapid River trails and was impressed. Most of what I did on the Oregon side was by jetboat or helicopter so I can't help there.

She is pretty steep and kindof snakey. I do remember 114 on the 4th of July. I don't think you could explore it all in a lifetime.

 

[roosiebull]

When I worked in Hells Canyon in 75 there was quite a trail connection to Enterprise Oregon. How much of this has survived I have no idea. I did one recon trip from Riggens on the Rapid River trails and was impressed. Most of what I did on the Oregon side was by jetboat or helicopter so I can't help there.

She is pretty steep and kindof snakey. I do remember 114 on the 4th of July. I don't think you could explore it all in a lifetime.

Yeah, I want to do it when the canyons turn green (probably early/mid May)

A buddy and I made a trip over there a few years ago and made some hikes in there, but it seemed like the perfect place to camp with a horse. Nice trails, water is easy, and very easy to get away.

I certainly don’t doubt it’s snakey, but that time of year it was still very frozen in the mornings, got nice mid day, and I was looking pretty hard in the lower country on our way to no avail.

 

[Scorpion]

Here’s camp for two guys on one horse - all lightweight backpacking gear. Enough food for 7+ days.

You could easily substitute saddle panniers for the pack saddle that we used. We led them in 6+ miles to camp and then day hunted. Rode them when we borrowed saddles from the other horses that weren’t being used as the old guys loafed around camp.

It worked really well for us. Ironicallly enough, we ended up killing an elk in a different area without the horses and convinced a llama guy to pack it out for us.

 

[WyoHuntr]

I've done it several times. More hunts than scouts. I hate to say it, but most horse hunters don't really grasp the lightweight mentality. When everything is dyneema, titanium, and carbon fiber, a load out on one horse is doable. That is provided the horse is a brick sh**house (which mine are).

I load the saddle bags with my bulky but light gear (coat/down/dyneema tent/etc). I tie my electric fence poles & tent poles on the back of the saddle. I tie my Davis Tent saddle panniers over the pommel if Im hunting, or use pommel bags if I'm scouting. I put heavier bits in the pommel bag. I cinch the bottom of my backpack bag tight and highload some gear.

Only pic I have is wide angle,(looks bulkier than it is), and doesnt show my current gear. I prefer some big 'ol Outfitter Pack Station bear cloth saddle bags. I ditched Mountain Ridge panniers. They were not light / not compact / not big enough... not to mention my other MRG pack saddle panniers were popping stitching on the straps. I switched to Davis Tent panniers because they are light, a good size, and has a center strap to hike up the panniers. I use some light nylon Outfitter Supply hobbles. I prefer electric fence so the horse can feed at night. (Plus it doubles as my grizzly protection).

 

[WCB]

One thing I noticed about saddle panniers is they ride low, it would be like carrying five gallon buckets of water. I started tying up the load on each side with a simple basket hitch. These elk quarters were not tied up. In the second photo I tied up the panniers so they ride higher up.

100% the way to go also...We had panniers like in your picture and when packing quarters I lifted the load with basket hitches also, but that was with pack saddle. A guy not familiar with packing and using a riding saddle...could probably just rig something up with some lashing straps or lengths of cord.

 

[stumpy waters]

Have a horse I use for pointing dog field trials. Spend a lot of time in the saddle throughout the year in all kinds of terrain in many different states. Have been doing this for 4 years now and this summer I'd like to start to use my horse to scout with the goal of using him to hunt muleys this fall. With that comes the need for dialing in my method for a single riding horse packing in. I have backpack hunted for 14 years so have my ultralite kit dialed and will just use all of that stuff for 2-3 days out trips.

The place I don't know what I don't know is the aspect of truly being out there for 3 days and going in on a single horse. I want to get the biggest saddle bags I can as I think I can fit the items I normally would have in my backpack distributed into saddle/cantle bags. Going to run a highline and also hobbles to let my horse graze some when I'm back at camp (he's very comfortable on a picket line as that's the standard in field trial camps). I'm sure there are guys rolling with a single horse so anyone have any additional tips for the new guy using his horse in the mountain trails? Anyone have any pictures of their single horse loaded for a 3 day trip with their riding saddle and saddle bag setup?

We do it. Pack just like you are going in on foot. My backpack weighs about 29lbs with 3 liters of water and food for at least 5 days. The only things that I carry extra are specifically what I need for the horse. Highline, first aid kit, collapsible water bucket, etc. very minimal weight adds. We use the saddlebags for horse gear. Personal gear in the backpacks.
if you’re talking September, make yourself a portable picket and let them graze. If you’re going late with snow on the ground, you’ll have to consider feed, but that could always be packed in ahead of time on scouting trips if that is an option.

 

[jimh406]

It might be fine, but riding a horse in a field trial is a lot different than going out of the way with no support with all types of wild animals.

I think I would start with trip with other riders/horses and see how your horse does with all night outdoors in different types of weather.

 

[Mike 338]

One thing I noticed about saddle panniers is they ride low, it would be like carrying five gallon buckets of water. I started tying up the load on each side with a simple basket hitch. These elk quarters were not tied up. In the second photo I tied up the panniers so they ride higher up.

You're right about them riding low. One way to fix that is to use a packers sling with a box hitch or a variation of the box hitch. It'll lift the load off the sides. Ha ha, every year I have to put a pack saddle on my mule and re-teach myself how to do it. It's pretty fun.

 

[Jon Boy]

I think many of you are making this way too complicated. In all honesty my ranch is the equivalent of your camp.when I put in a camp I limited myself to 3-5 hunts - over and over.

Now I leave the house each morning with one horse and go to a differant place nearly every day. Each day I cover 5-20 miles for about 35 days. What I carry is a handgun, saddle bags, rifle, riding coat and chaps and a hat. Oh and I forgot mitts and an electric chainsaw.

Depending on tracks, I may tie up my horse for 4-6 hrs and follow the tracks on foot. If I don't kill anything - the next day I go where I figure they were going the day before. If I kill something I come back the next day with a second horse, quarter the elk up, load the horses and walk out to the truck.

Each day is horse recon plus 1 or 2 foot hunts. I usually leave my horse in a fir thicket when I walk. I try to pick spots that have minimal chances for falling snags or getting shot.

I figure a good season is 350-400 miles and an elk. I'm fortunate and often my son, partner or wife comes along and I have somebody to talk to or conspire with.

I have held onto the horses while I shot or held them while the others shot.

It's not hard. If you put in a spike camp it tends to get complicated and takes more stock to get comfortable.

Keep it simple. Horses will point elk and elk will point horses so you can shoot.

This is pretty much how I imagine my hunts when I get horses.. some day.

 

[codym]

I learned to stake horses out a long time ago in field trials. Been doing this in the back country for 15 years and it works great they get to graze and roll around at night

 

[khart_6882]

This is pretty much how I imagine my hunts when I get horses.. some day.

You and me both. In reality it’s

Rodeo time at the trailhead. Multiple wrecks in the first mile. On and off my horse 38 times to adjust packs


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[Pony Soldier]

Once I learned to set a double diamond hitch a lot of the saggy baggy issues went away.
I would say that the rodeos usually started at the first creek crossing. After that things tend to settle down.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I cover 14-18 miles a day with what you see.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Everything you can see here I can cover in 4 hours.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I can pack an entire camp for 4 in 4 miles with two pack horses as long as I have packed in hay and cut wood ahead of time.