Hey all, I thought this would be a good conversation. I know it's a little late for fall hunters perhaps. But as a spring hunter looking towards next year or a fall hunter looking at what they've already done, what are your marginal improvements? I know my pack was entirely too heavy last spring, so my improvements will be more than marginal!
My entire sleep system (bivvy, tarp, stakes, bag, pad) is already about 5 lbs. My pack is 5 lbs but I am probably getting one that fits me better (a medium instead of a tall).
1. Water, change water pills to steripen: I was using water pills that take 4 hours to work. While these were very light and compact, they took forever to work leading me to carry .75-1 gallon of water. Instead, I'm buying a steripen which takes a little over a minute to work. So I won't have to worry about carrying more than a quart of water in a 3oz nalgene for all my drinking, cooking, and cleaning in water plentiful areas. Weight saving is up to 6 lbs!!!. Unbelievable.
2 I just ordered from REI to switch to all primaloft from fleece if they keep me as warm. I already had a 100 gram primaloft jacket that weighs 1 lb. I just ordered a second in addition to a 8 oz nanopuff. This will bring me to just over 2.5 lbs. Moreover, I find these primaloft garments pack down a lot better than my big 300 weight polartec fleece jacked and my 100 weight fleece. We will see if they keep me as warm!!!
3. Food: I took way too much food last time probably 2 lbs plus and 3k calories plus a day planning for 8-9 days. That's 18 lbs of food. This time I will take 1 lbs + and 2k calories + a day for a 7 day trip for about 9 lbs weight savings.
4. GPS: I took an inreach and a gps along with 18 plus AA batteries. This time I'm going to try to get good topo maps for the inreach only and a small battery pack for recharge of the single device.
5. Knickknacks: I took probably a .5-1 lb + too many odds and ends in addition to batteries to include spare knifes, several things of rope, etc. I can probably refine these.
That's 17-18 lbs plus in pack weight.
I also need to loose 20-30 lbs of me weight. But that's another story!
My entire sleep system (bivvy, tarp, stakes, bag, pad) is already about 5 lbs. My pack is 5 lbs but I am probably getting one that fits me better (a medium instead of a tall).
1. Water, change water pills to steripen: I was using water pills that take 4 hours to work. While these were very light and compact, they took forever to work leading me to carry .75-1 gallon of water. Instead, I'm buying a steripen which takes a little over a minute to work. So I won't have to worry about carrying more than a quart of water in a 3oz nalgene for all my drinking, cooking, and cleaning in water plentiful areas. Weight saving is up to 6 lbs!!!. Unbelievable.
2 I just ordered from REI to switch to all primaloft from fleece if they keep me as warm. I already had a 100 gram primaloft jacket that weighs 1 lb. I just ordered a second in addition to a 8 oz nanopuff. This will bring me to just over 2.5 lbs. Moreover, I find these primaloft garments pack down a lot better than my big 300 weight polartec fleece jacked and my 100 weight fleece. We will see if they keep me as warm!!!
3. Food: I took way too much food last time probably 2 lbs plus and 3k calories plus a day planning for 8-9 days. That's 18 lbs of food. This time I will take 1 lbs + and 2k calories + a day for a 7 day trip for about 9 lbs weight savings.
4. GPS: I took an inreach and a gps along with 18 plus AA batteries. This time I'm going to try to get good topo maps for the inreach only and a small battery pack for recharge of the single device.
5. Knickknacks: I took probably a .5-1 lb + too many odds and ends in addition to batteries to include spare knifes, several things of rope, etc. I can probably refine these.
That's 17-18 lbs plus in pack weight.
I also need to loose 20-30 lbs of me weight. But that's another story!
