Who thought they were all set.. Then

[ckleeves]

Man, I have upgraded to a Coleman tent/lantern combo, Jansport backpack, cut the handle off my toothbrush, picked up a 50 degree bag from wal-mart, an Oneida Golden Eagle with Cabelas Game getter arrows tipped with Rocky Mountain heads, Georgia Boot Company hikers, cotton clothing up the WAZOO, frogg toggs, a space blanket and a small piece of tyvek!

Could you maybe post a video of how you cut the handle off? What saw you used, length of handle before and after etc? I have really been wanting to do this just scared to take a saw to a brand new toothbrush.

My list of upgrades looks a lot like your, only I didn't go with the tasco spotter I decided on the super zoom binos from the infomercial that you can see the color of an eagles eye from a mile. Still looking for a eagle at a mile so I can test um. I'll post a full review when I find one.

 

[tstowater]

Last fall I was all set for my southeastern whitetail hunting. 3 climbers , 6 lock ons , a tower , 6 feeders , and 8 cameras. Enough sets of cheap cotton clothes to change twice a day for 7 days. A camper with ac , hot water , shower , heat , and a queen bed. Some danners and even some wool base layers. Totally burned out and bored.
This year , all new. Kifaru DT1 , Sawtooth and medium stove , Lowa Tibets and Hanwag Yukons , 3 sets of merino base layers , bunch of wool socks , couple frist lite llanos , brunton solo eta stove , Columbia Asender jacket , merino wool heavy icebreaker sweater , exped ul9 synmat , tigoat bivy , or gaiters , marmot Durago pant , Winchester m70 ss classic 7mm wsm , merino gloves , reloading supplies for 7mm wsm , mountain house for 21 days , Brunton Eterna binoculars and 50mm spotter , goretex mil suplus rain gear.There's more but I can't remember right now.
Still buying. Scope , sleeping bag , two more pants , 3 shirts , range finder and anything else I need but can't remember now.

Now that's a pretty good effort. Seems that you are doing better than Nick.

 

[luke moffat]

Last fall I was all set for my southeastern whitetail hunting. 3 climbers , 6 lock ons , a tower , 6 feeders , and 8 cameras. Enough sets of cheap cotton clothes to change twice a day for 7 days. A camper with ac , hot water , shower , heat , and a queen bed. Some danners and even some wool base layers. Totally burned out and bored.
This year , all new. Kifaru DT1 , Sawtooth and medium stove , Lowa Tibets and Hanwag Yukons , 3 sets of merino base layers , bunch of wool socks , couple frist lite llanos , brunton solo eta stove , Columbia Asender jacket , merino wool heavy icebreaker sweater , exped ul9 synmat , tigoat bivy , or gaiters , marmot Durago pant , Winchester m70 ss classic 7mm wsm , merino gloves , reloading supplies for 7mm wsm , mountain house for 21 days , Brunton Eterna binoculars and 50mm spotter , goretex mil suplus rain gear.There's more but I can't remember right now.
Still buying. Scope , sleeping bag , two more pants , 3 shirts , range finder and anything else I need but can't remember now.

Holy spending spree!!! Gonna be well armed for a backcountry endeavor for sure...hows this setup compare to your last backcountry backpacking hunt setup?

 

[Shrek]

Last backcountry setup was around 1980. I lived in the mountains of North Carolina. I remember an old army surplus pack and pup tent . Both canvas. A big puffy synthetic sleeping bag from Kmart and a army wool blanket. An aluminum fry pan and a table fork. Can't remember all the details anymore but I would hike out from my house over the mountain we lived on and to a creek on the other side . I'd fish and hunt small game. Ate what I caught or killed. Would stay out for days at a time to avoid my family. We were poor. I earned the money for anything I had . From hooks to the 22 I carried.
Since then I've worked to making my hunting more comfortable and gaining access. For years I've run the expensive hunt club race with food plots and feeders. Stayed in nice campers and shot piles of little whitetails all the while trying to navigate the politics of hunt clubs.
I'm trying to totally reinvent my hunting. Nothing like what I've already mastered.

 

[luke moffat]

Last backcountry setup was around 1980. I lived in the mountains of North Carolina. I remember an old army surplus pack and pup tent . Both canvas. A big puffy synthetic sleeping bag from Kmart and a army wool blanket. An aluminum fry pan and a table fork. Can't remember all the details anymore but I would hike out from my house over the mountain we lived on and to a creek on the other side . I'd fish and hunt small game. Ate what I caught or killed. Would stay out for days at a time to avoid my family. We were poor. I earned the money for anything I had . From hooks to the 22 I carried.
Since then I've worked to making my hunting more comfortable and gaining access. For years I've run the expensive hunt club race with food plots and feeders. Stayed in nice campers and shot piles of little whitetails all the while trying to navigate the politics of hunt clubs.
I'm trying to totally reinvent my hunting. Nothing like what I've already mastered.

Right on...atleast you mastered something....I'm still the master of nothing. Good luck to you this fall.

 

[Shrek]

Mastered is used loosely...very loosely !

 

[Shrek]

Btw Luke , I think you have mastered backpack hunting. Thats not saying you don't have much more to learn and discover but you have most all the basics covered and covered well.

 

[luke moffat]

Always the student my friend....lots and lots to learn. Compared to many guys I'm very much wet behind the ears when it comes to this stuff. Thus why I hangout here and other places when I can't be out hiking/hunting which is the ultimate way to learn IMO. Plus generally helps peel the extra weight and get me in MUCH better shape than reading the forums, which is also MUCH more important to success IMO than having the latest and greatest gear.

 

[Daniel_M]

If yer still wet behind the ears that's a personal choice.

 

[KMD]

Last year was my first elk hunt. We truck camped and almost kilt a 4x5 bull. That motivated me in a pissed off kinda way!
This year, back country spike camping, so I need a lot of crap! Tried to justify a lot of the purchases by finding deals on everything I could. But still spending $$$ like a drunken sailor...

Gear:
Sold Blue Widow, upgrade to Bikini HC 4800
Tarptent Notch
Exped UL7 mat/Schnozzel (20% off REI)
EE Rev X 20deg quilt
Jetboil SOL
Sawyer Squeeze filter/Play 3L gravity feed bag

Clothes:
Cabelas Primaloft 'puffy' (closeout)
Kryptek Merino Zip T
Sitka raingear/gaiters (used, 50% off new)
Sitka Ascent pants (35% off from Camofire)
Salomon GTX boots (30% off from Amazon)

Been training everyday, shooting the bow and oogling topo maps like a kid's first look at Playboy mag.
Just got back from REI & Jetboiled a friggin' MH Turkey Tetra fer crissakes...

I'm ATE UP, no two ways about it
I WILL arrow my 1st bull elk this year.
Yall here are to blame for the gear and to thank for the knowledge!!!

Good luck everyone & thank you for a great site!

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Last year was my first elk hunt. We truck camped and almost kilt a 4x5 bull. That motivated me in a pissed off kinda way!
This year, back country spike camping, so I need a lot of crap! Tried to justify a lot of the purchases by finding deals on everything I could. But still spending $$$ like a drunken sailor...

Gear:
Sold Blue Widow, upgrade to Bikini HC 4800
Tarptent Notch
Exped UL7 mat/Schnozzel (20% off REI)
EE Rev X 20deg quilt
Jetboil SOL
Sawyer Squeeze filter/Play 3L gravity feed bag

Clothes:
Cabelas Primaloft 'puffy' (closeout)
Kryptek Merino Zip T
Sitka raingear/gaiters (used, 50% off new)
Sitka Ascent pants (35% off from Camofire)
Salomon GTX boots (30% off from Amazon)

Been training everyday, shooting the bow and oogling topo maps like a kid's first look at Playboy mag.
Just got back from REI & Jetboiled a friggin' MH Turkey Tetra fer crissakes...

I'm ATE UP, no two ways about it
I WILL arrow my 1st bull elk this year.
Yall here are to blame for the gear and to thank for the knowledge!!!

Good luck everyone & thank you for a great site!

A man after my own heart, lol.

 

[sk1]

i dont even want to get involved in this post, yes of course always something.....sometimes a lot of somethings....i think im getting close to where i want to be, but still a few things left to get unfortunately

 

[thru-hunter]

I'm trying to wean myself off the latest greatest gear fetish. I have solid gear at a weight I can carry pretty well. I do want a magnetospeed chrono and I will eventually upgrade my optics but those are about the last things I will buy as an "upgrade" the rest of my gear will be replaced after it has completed its serviceable life.