Southern white tail hunter goes West. But...have to make compromises on gear.Help

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SwampLander

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I am a southeast white tail hunter thats looking to go back west. I want to do a back-country archery elk or rifle mule deer hunt. Depends on what tags I draw. Fall back plan is Colorado OTC archery. I dont have a mountain of money. I have a great bow and rifle so dont need weapons. I feel like I know what small gear I am going to purchase. My problem is what big purchase gear is worth it. I have good Lowa boots so that is covered. I need a good Tent (should I go 4 season?), sleeping bag, and pack. As you can see that can cause a high bill. I may be able to throw 500 at this gear. I have an old military allice external frame pack. With this do me for this season so I can put my money into other stuff? Has anyone actually packed out an elk with this pack?
 
I'd prioritize it as backpack, sleeping bag+pad, and tent. I've made trips into some pretty wild places with some very inexpensive tents. For packs, I'd start shopping now for a good used one and don't get hung up on them having to be a "hunting" pack.
 
Check out some of the used gear on hiking forums. I went on my first elk hunt this fall and most of my bigger pieces were purchased used from hiking or hunting forums. Rokslide and Whiteblazes were 2 that I used. One thing I would not go without is onX maps. Used the smartphone app and loved it.
 
I've done a few elk hunts with ALICE packs. They aren't anywhere near as light or comfortable as the new packs out there but they will haul a ton of gear and are built like tanks. If you are used to the ALICE pack, and in good shape, it will work fine.
 
I'm sure you could survive that pack, but it won't be sustainable. Agree with above. If I were you I'd be looking at early 2000's Arc'teryx Bora's, used Dana Designs, Osprey Aether, and Mystery Ranch NICE frame packs that guys are ditching for newer stuff. I'd take a $75 Lowe Alpine off of eBay over your alice pack personally. Put 100 lbs on your pack and walk around for a day, I expect your body will tell you if it'll work or not.

Shelter is not one size fits all, situationally. Best bang for the buck is usually going to be floorless. Black Diamond mid style tipis can be found CHEAP on eBay and outdoor forums. Throw down a piece of Tyvek and you're set.

The best value pad out there in my book is the Z-rest. Stick your empty pack or some pine boughs under it if pushing below the teens.

You can slum a pretty cheap bag around if you can suck up the the weight and bulk. Not a lot of them come and go on forum classifieds, but they can be found. Synthetic fill Mountain Hardware Lamina/Ultralamina bags are relatively easy to locate on hiking and climbing forums and a pretty good value. Shoot, I scored an Integral Designs 20* bag for under $100 on a forum one time, it can be done with a little luck.

With some time to plan I think you can hit your $500 mark. However, the sooner you can get into the sticks where you live and try stuff out, the better off you will be. Prescriptive gear lists only work so far. Good luck!
 
Is this your first trip out west? How good of shape are you in?
Have you considered truck camping? It would be a lot easier to be comfortable with cheap gear and you could do 1 night trips from there?
Your pack will work but if you truly plan on packing in and living out of it I would say that should be your top priority to upgrade.
What about a drop camp to get you in deep somewhere?
 
I’d look around for a used EXO or Mystery River pack AND a good set of binoculars. My recommendation list is boots, pack, optics in that order. Cabela’s puts tent on sale every few months. Sleep is important, don’t overlook it.
A little more detail on how you plan to camp/hunt would be helpful. If you plan on packing in a few miles and bivy hunt, the list changes.
 
How much backpacking have you done? If this is your first western hunt and your first back packing trip I would strongly look at car camping as you can get by with cheaper equipment. The main difference between high and low dollar backpacking gear is going to be weight a $500 setup may weight 75lbs and a $2000 setup could weigh 40lbs. Also don't over look the cost of a backpacking stove, warm clothes, rain gear, water purification, headlamp, etc. the costs of those add up and add weight.

Also I would strongly suggest hunting a Aug-Sept archery tag over a OTC late October rifle. Sub zero temps and snow are nothing to trifle with when you are backpacking.
 
I spent most of my money on the best pack that I could afford after my first elk hunt and packing out a bull and cow using a cheaper borrowed pack. I bought a used 7200 ci pack that is worth it's weight in gold, but it does come with a price. If you go too cheap, you'll pay dearly in discomfort and pain in the end! A good 3 season tent with vestibule (s) is also a must. Don't go cheap on these items!
 
I have hunted the pacific coast (Vandenberg AFB) so the weather is much different there. I am an avid car camper but have never backpack camped. I mostly just want to ability to not have to trek back and forth to the truck every day. I also plan on having a base camp set up with supply reload if needed. I am a hunter and have hunted out west so I have many small things covered I learnt first trip to buy optics so I have that covered. Things I have kinda set my eye on are Big Agnes fly creek hv ul2, probably a better pack, and I am all over on the sleep system. Sleep system is going to be synthetic and i would like to spend 150 or less and have something around 3 lbs. I really like the Eurika lone pine bag but its 4 lbs. It is big but this may be worth it for comfort. I cant sleep in a coffin bag.
I am athletic and in good shape however have slacked on cardio since leaving the military so I am getting back on the jogging kick.
I plan on looking for a used pack. However im not using a used sleeping bag or tent.
This is my first backpack hunting trip like this but I plan on test running gear from now until hunt time, I live close to the Appalachian trail so may hit some sections of it.
I think I am going to use the MSR rocket for this trip so save money, hope to get a reactor later if I enjoy this style of hunting.
 
I have a Kelty Redcloud 110 that I really like. I haven't packed much for game, but I have done a lot of backcountry camping trips with heavy loads. It also cinches down to make a decent day pack if you're hunting out of your truck. I can shoot my bow very well while wearing it. You can get it on amazon right now for $170, which I think is a good deal. It's obviously not a Mystery Ranch, but it does have a decent frame and can probably fit more than you can carry being 110 liters.

https://www.amazon.com/Kelty-Cloud-...1513804641&sr=8-1&keywords=kelty+redcloud+110

I echo what everyone says above on the sleeping bag scenario.

There are quite a few 3 season tents out there right now for good prices as well. I spent a week in the ND badlands with my brother (both of us are about 6'4" and lanky) and we both slept in a REI Half Dome 2 in a blizzard. Don't think that you need to spend the money on a 4 season to really camp 4 seasons. Here's another good example of what seems like a decent tent with aluminum poles (very important in my opinion) and a decently low weight that is brand new for $110.

https://www.amazon.com/Kelty-Salida...804869&sr=1-3&keywords=kelty+backpacking+tent

Both of these happen to be Kelty, but I really don't have any brand loyalty towards them. There are quite a few other examples of quality, budget priced gear.

If you were to purchase both of those new, you would have an extra $200 to spend on a damn good sleeping bag and all of it would be brand new. For $200 you could go either down or synthetic and be comfortable down to well below freezing. You could definitely swing the Big Agnes bag above and have room in your budget for a few extra Snickers bars for the journey.

You mentioned a stove up above: I have been using the same cheapo from amazon since college. It's butane and weighs nothing. I think this is basically the same thing:

https://www.amazon.com/Ultralight-P...&qid=1513805917&sr=1-11&keywords=butane+stove

My thoughts are that you do need to have a certain amount of gear to get into backpacking, but once you get things covered with fairly decent things that work, you can always save up and replace one item a year or so with something that is truly excellent. Just my two cents.

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
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Good posts above for either route. I'm in the crowd that would recommend starting with either backpacking OR elk hunting, but not both at the same time. You don't want to be worrying about how you're going to deal with water or whether your sleeping pad will be comfortable while also figuring out how to find elk.

I've now archery elk hunted 7 consecutive years here in Colorado. I backpack all summer long to target fishing alpine lakes. I'm plenty comfortable with backpacking for elk hunting and have done it here and there. However, I find it more effective to hunt from my vehicle. Cost, Mobility, Comfort all favor hunting from a vehicle. Yeah, sometimes that 2 mile hike in the dark sucks, but sometimes you shoot an elk 1/4 mile from the car, which I've done twice. If you backpack into a "dead" area, that's a huge waste of time and energy. Bad weather? You don't have to worry about it if you're car camping.

I understand it doesn't have the allure of a backcountry elk hunt.

By the way, I've been using the same MSR Pocket Rocket for backpacking since 2008. Its traveled over 1000 miles through the backcountry in AZ, CO, UT, CA, WY, BC and I've never had a problem. Can't be more than about $25?
 
Great advice. And I'm reading and taking it all in. I'll be referencing this post all summer. I found a Mr pack that's military surplus m4 and m5 looks like a 70L pack is that big enough? I like to have a smidge more room than necessary rather than squeezing stuff into a pack barley big enough.
 
You may have sold me the solado. I had it on my short list I like how it packs away into a flat rectangle rather than a tube. It's 150 cheaper than the fly creek also while being a pound and a half heavier I think it's more of a true 2 person which I want for versatility.
 
I'v about decided on the north face "cats meow" (who named that thing lol) for my sleeping bag. Any reviews from y'all ?
 
I worked for TNF for a bit, and although I haven't camped out of their bags, I know plenty who have, and they get the job done at a reasonable price. They aren't the lightest, but would be a good start and the temp ratings should be solid.
 
johnh9411 said:
You may have sold me the solado. I had it on my short list I like how it packs away into a flat rectangle rather than a tube. It's 150 cheaper than the fly creek also while being a pound and a half heavier I think it's more of a true 2 person which I want for versatility.
Click to expand...

One thing you may want to consider with the Salida is that it only has one vestibule. Two is really nice if it'll be more than just you in the tent. If not, then you could probably get by. I think there is another offering from Kelty that has a double vestibule? It'll probably cost a little more, but not much. I know that Eureka makes some good budget tents as my brothers both own them, but they have fiberglass tent poles. I usually stay away from those because they're heavy, break a bit easier and are hard to mend in the back country.

As far as bags go, I really only have experience with my REI 19 degree down bag. It's really nice, but you can't get it wet or you're screwed. I like referencing Backpacker Magazine for reviews on stuff like that though. I believe their gear issues are free on the Apple magazine app (probably not what it's called but I no longer have it anyway...). There might also be a phone app.
 
The wet prob is why im stuck on synthetic bag. I listen to the gritty bowmen a lot and they help a lot with geat info. Just wish i could afford a kifaru everything.
 
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