Western Montana Elk Rifle Weight

[LongWayAround]

I think you could carry just about anything for two or three miles a day.

If your backpack has a decent hip belt, look into the kifaru gun bearer. It beats the hell out of a sling.

 

[Physical_Wind954]

I think you could carry just about anything for two or three miles a day.

If your backpack has a decent hip belt, look into the kifaru gun bearer. It beats the hell out of a sling.

Will look into it, thank you for the suggestion!

 

[RockAndSage]

OP, this thread just popped up, thought it might be interesting: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/best-sub-4lb-tripod-for-shooting-and-glassing.405195/

 

[TradLife406]

My kids elk rifle is a Sig Cross 16.5" 22 creed (Montana legal)
6-24 Arken epl4 with UM rings
Just under 10lb

My gun is a 22" UM tikka with a maven rs1.2 that's just under 10lb.

That 9-10lb is a good weight. Can still shoot it easily and isn't too heavy.

Kids gun might get heavy for her but that's because she has a bunch of cool rocks and books in her pack

 

[Klbeeks]

Yeah, just replaced the VX3HD with the NXS last week.

I'll look into tripods.

Santa claus optics has a couple pretty nice tripods.

 

[43.6N]

I think hunting as you are is the call.
Don’t change anything until after the season.
Take stock of what worked, what was heavy, what you liked, and what could have been better.

I am personally a fan of slings on rifles. My current backpack is an initial ascent. The carbon fiber frame has a neat hook at the level of my shoulder that grabs the sling if I choose to use it.

On a 13 mile 4k elevation change day last week, being able to off load the weight of my rifle onto my pack on the fly was very welcome.

Otherwise, looking over your rig, I think a shorter barrel would be the only place I would recommend cutting weight. 16-18” with suppressor is a nice place to be.

 

[elsb0048]

If you find yourself doing much still hunting in the timber (which I do quite a bit for elk) I'm a fan of the boonie packer safari slings.

Nice to distribute the weight across both shoulders and also not worry about the rifle slipping off of one. Rifle always safe and secure and doesn't disrupt my arms at all for getting the binos up.

They're not for everyone and may leave some to be desired as an aid for positional in the 200-300yd range. But to enable quick shots inside 100yds they're nice.

In very steep country I strap the rifle to the pack. So it bounces back and forth a little throughout the day.

 

[Tradchef]

You’ll be just fine man. Depending on the cartridge my rifles range from 6.75 lbs total weight to 12.5lbs. 6.5 creedmoor being my lightest for the days I just grab my pack and rifle and cover some ground. My 340 weatherby is my heaviest and while I still cover a lot of ground I’m not wanting to have that cartridge in a light weight set up. I think your 06’ in a 9 plus pound set up is money. Good luck this season.

 

[Elkhntr08]

I’ll say it because I don’t see that anyone else has, losing 5# on your body will do you more good than 1# on your rifle.
My purpose built elk rifle is a 300 Weatherby Weathermark and sits just shy of 10#.

 

[Ross]

I’ll say it because I don’t see that anyone else has, losing 5# on your body will do you more good than 1# on your rifle.
My purpose built elk rifle is a 300 Weatherby Weathermark and sits just shy of 10#.

@Elkhntr08 you are right on point. Sad thing is that is difficult to achieve and maintain and takes diligence and commitment. Buying and modifying equipment is simple and painless until the bill arrives