three day trip- under 30 lbs with food and water :)

[mtwarden]

Did a little three day excursion last week into an area I have a deer permit for. Was trying to keep things as light as possible and managed a 27-ish pound pack all in (including 3 days of food 4.5 lbs and 4 lbs of water)- my rifle was in hand (but it's pretty light too- 5.5 lbs). I was as far back as 12 miles at one point, so humping a light pack was nice- if I would have harvested a buck that far back it would have been critical.

SG Krux frame w/ a Solo bag
Feathered Friends Flicker 30 bag/quilt
Thermarest XTherm pad
Tarptent Aeon Li shelter- all of 17 oz w/ stakes

I brought a small spotter (Leupold 20x50) and a very lightweight tripod- Granite Peak; used the spotter a couple of times, but most of the spotting was done with 10x42's on the same tripod.

Weather was pretty nice (as forecasted)- 50's day, 30's night- so I didn't take a lot of extra clothing- a Apex insulated puffy & beanie, shell mitts (light gloves worn most of the time), my rain jacket/windshirt was a Sitka Flash, spare dry socks

MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe and Titan pot

the normal stuff- first aid kit, fire kit, repair kit, map/compass, inReach, toiletries, kill kit, etc- all with an eye towards lightening as much as feasible

Saw 50+ deer, but the mature bucks were hiding pretty well- our rut will get going in a week or so, so I'll be headed back

 

[justinspicher]

Impressive.

 

[Cant hit em]

@mtwatden
Interested in your food choice. That seems to take up the most volume in my pack and adds a lot of the weight also


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[MT_Wyatt]

Nice run down. That’s certainly a goal to hit weight/space wise - I’ve done a couple days in a solo pack but not a dialed kit like you listed, stuff strapped all over in my case. That pack is so nice size wise and streamlined for that exact use. I like to run some light stuff but that shelter is next level! Thanks for sharing.

 

[mtwarden]

Thanks Gents

@mtwatden
Interested in your food choice. That seems to take up the most volume in my pack and adds a lot of the weight also


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I keep retooling my food choices, but am getting it down pretty good

breakfast I take a Lenny & Larry cookie- tastes good and 450 calories in a single cookie; I've been using my own rendition of bulletproof coffee- two packs of Via instant coffee w/ a couple of teaspoons of powdered butter (it's a real thing ) and powdered coconut oil- this adds 150-ish calories

snacks I'm taking Kind bars, 4 bars/day (and 4 in reserve just in case)- 200-ish calories each

lunch sliced dried salami, sliced cheese (Tiilamok makes some snack sized slices that are just the right size) and put into a sliced pita pocket (Smart Pockets); a helping of Fritos and a few fun sized Snickers- roughly 800 calories

supper a Peak Refuel w/ two packets of olive oil added- 1000-ish calories

about 3200 cals/day which for me seems to be about just right for me

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

That's a light pack for sure.

Those Lenny and Larry cookies always trash my stomach. Lol

 

[Poser]

Good job. Sub 30 pounds for 3 days is very difficult to do with a hunting loadout…. Notwithstanding all of the guys who claim “30 pounds” without their food, weapon, water and optics.

 

[mtwarden]

That's a light pack for sure.

Those Lenny and Larry cookies always trash my stomach. Lol

knock on wood, no problems w/ those yet; they go nicely w/ a cup of hot coffee

 

[sargent]

Nice. This is very similar to the kit I took on a recent elk hunt. Temps were pretty cold (in the single digits a couple nights) and it snowed almost every day, so I took a little more clothing and a 0 degree quilt. I saved some weight by taking an ultralight pack (Mountain Laurel Designs Prophet) which was just big enough to carry out the first load of meat (deboned front shoulder, backstraps, and tenderloins.) My pack weighed about 35 pounds with 14.5 pounds of food and 2 pounds of water starting out. This does not include my rifle or bino harness, but I did have a spotter and tripod in the pack.

Here's a picture of the fully loaded pack from the snowy trailhead.

 

[mtwarden]

^ nice I take it you got the rest out with a framed pack?

 

[Newtosavage]

Awesome info man. Thanks for sharing! I will definitely use some of this information in the future.

 

[PNWGATOR]

I’m on a mission to replicate this weight class in my gear. Fantastic!

 

[Holmes]

That's really cool @mtwarden . Especially WITH a spotter, tripod, and your kill kit in there.
Do you count your binos and harness in the weight? You're not counting your rifle because it was carried not packed, right?

I was pretty happy with my pack weight on my recent bc hunt, until it got kinda wrecked when it was decided that we were bringing a 2 man hilleberg tent (almost 8lbs?) and few other extra bits (real camera, double water filters, double meat tarps....). It's rough when your pack feels heavy going IN.
I'm still working on not packing my/our fears.

 

[Holmes]

My pack weighed about 35 pounds with 14.5 pounds of food and 2 pounds of water starting out. This does not include my rifle or bino harness, but I did have a spotter and tripod in the pack.

18.5lbs for pack, sleep system, shelter, cook system, clothing, med/repair kit, kill kit, tripod and spotter.....WOH! that's awesome. My day pack often weighs that much.

 

[Newtosavage]

Yea, the spotter wouldn't have made it in my ultralight kit. In fact, I sold my angled ED50 (as good as it was) and got a straight ED60 because I only ever use my spotter from the truck, and rarely even then. I have learned that a quality pair of binos on a good steady tripod show me just about everything I need to know for the way I hunt. So I'd probably have another pound of tripod and two less pounds of scope in my rig for a 3-day backcountry hunt.

I did three days in Big Bend NP this summer with a 40# pack, but I had to carry all my water (20#) and it was warm. I did however have 8-9# of camera gear on that trip, so if I replace that with warm clothes and hunting gear, it would probably work out to around 30# with a day's worth of water onboard.

 

[grappling_hook]

Very nice. So skin-out total pack weight (including boots, clothes worn, watch, pocket knife, hat, rifle, jacket, binos and harness, phone, etc) maybe 40 pounds?

 

[sargent]

^ nice I take it you got the rest out with a framed pack?

Yep. A stone glacier 3300 on the EVO frame. No way I'd want to pack a 90-100 pound load in that MLD Prophet.

 

[sargent]

18.5lbs for pack, sleep system, shelter, cook system, clothing, med/repair kit, kill kit, tripod and spotter.....WOH! that's awesome. My day pack often weighs that much.

Here's my lighterpack for the trip if you want to take a look.

https://lighterpack.com/r/hbsdkx

 

[wilbur007]

How did your Tarptent hold up? Enough elbow room in cooler temperatures?

 

[grappling_hook]

Here's my lighterpack for the trip if you want to take a look.

https://lighterpack.com/r/hbsdkx

Cool breakdown, thanks for sharing all that.