Hunting & Fishing Hunting backpack

[Taiosi]

What do you keep in your hunting backpack?

With hunting public and having to walk in to where ever it is I'm hunting, I tend to put a lot of gear in my pack. Primarily because unlike a deer lease, if I knock something down, I am far away from the truck.

However, after my Saturday hunt on public, I gutted the bag. About the one item, I wished I wouldn't have removed was the thermacell. But for the most part, I lightned the load well.

What's in your pack?

 

[striped1]

The bare minimum. Kill kit, head lamp, water, clothing. tree hook, lighter and some food.

 

[808caliber]

Yep. Try to keep it streamlined for what i need. Most of my weight is hydration because i need to hike and walk for potentially 8hrs in 85 degree weather, no water source to draw from.
I pack my 22mag with knife, game bags, headlamp, extra ammo, food such as jerky and bars, rangefinder/kestrel, tripod, rifle, small med kit with gauze / aceweap/ bandaids, gloves and paper towel, and a thin waterproof tarp in case it downpours. Also have walking sticks as well.

 

[Jayjay1]

tree hook

What is a tree hook?

 

[zk-315]

It really depends how I'm hunting. I pack completely different if I'm whitetail vs. elk. Excuse the book below..

Whitetail:
I'll typically drive truck/buggy somewhere and start hiking anywhere from 200 yards out to a couple miles.
-Bino harness has binos and rangefinder in it. If it's a short glassing session fairly close to the truck, sometimes I'll just take this and no pack.
-Knife or 2
-2 headlamps with fresh batteries (had one die on me a while back so started carrying a spare)
-TP
-parachord
-roll of electrical tape
-2-3 bottles of water
-trail mix or something to snack on.
-2 ink pens
-shooting sticks (sometimes)

Elk:
When I'm in Co. Elk hunting, we don't backpack in to camp, so a lot of the big stuff stays at the truck. Bare minimum that goes in my pack is pretty much the same as my whitetail plus a little extra. We tend to hike in to hunt, anywhere from a mile to 5 miles.
-3L bladder of water plus a bottle or two
-small first aid kit with minimal items
-lighter
-fire starter w/ Vaseline covered cotton balls
-game bags
-rain gear
-snack sticks (deer meat turned into slim jims)
-mid layer of clothes and/or my outer jacket depending on temps in the morning
-butt pad
-depends on the location but i may add my tripod and spotter
-if taking the tripod, I'll add my bino adapter for the tripod.

 

[Totoro]

Like ZK depends where and I what I am hunting; also if it is going to be a day or multiday trip.

However, these items are always in ALL my bags:

1. Kill kit with 3x rubber gloves, 3x 1 gallon zip lock bags
2. Firesteel GobSpark
3. PyroPutty
4. Titan survival emergency sleeping bag
5. Small first aid kit with a fresh tube of SuperGlue
6. Life Straw

My days in the field can be solo or multi members in the group, so I tend to carry a little more in case that asshole Mr Murphy shows up.

Nothing worse than having a great hunting trip come to a grinding halt due to piss poor planning or emergency.

Just be prepared and learn/know how to use your kit.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

Game bags
Knife
Water and or filter
Food
Batteries and gps
Rain gear and layers

Everything else is dead weigh

 

[Jayjay1]

Game bags
Knife
Water and or filter
Food
Batteries and gps
Rain gear and layers

Everything else is dead weigh

Well, a rifle and some bullets might be helpful as well.

 

[Matches Malone]

What do you keep in your hunting backpack?

With hunting public and having to walk in to where ever it is I'm hunting, I tend to put a lot of gear in my pack. Primarily because unlike a deer lease, if I knock something down, I am far away from the truck.

However, after my Saturday hunt on public, I gutted the bag. About the one item, I wished I wouldn't have removed was the thermacell. But for the most part, I lightned the load well.

What's in your pack?

You said lease so I’m assuming you’re not doing western hunting. The pack and pack requirements are very different. I don’t hunt by any roads, so day packs aren’t really in my purview. So I’m not saying the other guys are wrong. I just do multi-day pack hunts.

I have to many packs. So if you want a specific recommendation then that is a separate convo.

stuff in depends. I have the truck bag First. It’s pretty much a deployment bag and has a bunch of the “it depends” gear in it that may at the last moment get packed. I’ll get back to that.

In the pack at all times:

sleep system:
Sleeping bag w/ sealline compression sack
Thermarest mat on the outside strapped
one man backpacking tent

Headlamp 500 lumens min/ AA min/ waterproof
tent
Cooking system ( burner, butane, cookware and a long ass spoon)
Game bags
Mountain house/ or some provisions similar
Nalgene bottle
Smart water bottle (water filtration)
Sawyer mini
Water tabs
map
Gps (for use with onx)( idgaf, I will hunt the edge of someone’s property)
Medium fleece gloves
Beanie
Spare socks and spare underwear ***no cotton
knife for cleaning
Medical gloves
Rain fly
Tylenol
Fapping material
550 cord (hanging meat, or food, trash away from the camp/bear prevention)
Torch lighter

Now the maybes:

Trekking poles
Spotting scope / carbon tripod
Kestrel
Gortex top and or bottom
Bivi
Hydration pouch
Extreme weather jacket
Side arm on pack strap waist belt (can be moved to on person)(depends on season and state laws)

Last is what’s on me:

harness w/ binos
Rangefinder on harness
Windicator in harness pouch
Tags/license/permits/pens in back of bino harness
Sometimes I put the gps on it too.
Sometimes a call depending


I might have missed a thing or two but that’s the major stuff
Edit: shit paper of a sorts, light folding shovel and multitool

 

[Powder_Burns]

I have a 3-day pack with all my shit in it, and a backpack attached to it with fastex buckles. Once I set up camp, the 3-day stays there and stuff I actually need specific to the hunt is moved to the backpack. Binos, tripod, camelbak, field dressing kit etc. Don’t need an RV’s worth of stuff on my back for a stalk.

 

[duckhunter175]

I run the same basic items that remain in my pack full time and then I add to it depending on what I'm chasing and how far I'm chasing it--

I use several of the Kifaru pullouts to organize my 'kits' along with snack bag, etc

EXO K2 5500 pack

Always Items:
1. First Aid Kit-- TQ, quick clot, Israeli bandage, triangle bandage and a few other items (superglue, aspirin, tylenol pm, benadryl, etc)
2. Survival Kit-- waterproof matches, fire starter, lighter, sawyer filter, emergency blanket, zip ties, 550, sharpie, small clip on hat light
3. Poop Kit-- TP, unscented wipes, small tube of hand sanitizer
4. Kill Kit-- license/tag, small havalon+ blades, zip ties, gloves, flagging tape, reflective thumb tacks-- I will add to this depending on the critter I'm chasing
5. Nalgene w/ gorilla tape around it
6. Jet Boil w/ 1 canister
7. REI Flexlite Chair-- this is new, took it on my Aoudad hunt, might have a permanent spot on all hunts except my longest backpack hunts (size issue, not weight)

Everything else depends but here are some things that most of the time find a place:
1. Black Ovis game bags
2. camelbak
3. Crosstac ultralight squeeze bag
4. Rain Gear (Kuiu ultra NX)- Kifaru pullout
5. Two folds of an old therma-rest = glassing pad
6. Slik Tripod w/ outdoorsman head and shooting V
7. Kowa 774 Spotter
8. Snack/food pullout

On Me
1. Marsupial Bino harness-- compass, gps, rangefinder, Swaro EL12s
2. Benchmade griptilian
3. Headlamp
4. ear plugs

 

[Contender-1]

My pack includes most all of the above, but I didn't see this on the above lists:
Personal Epirb
(I was out with my young son and our jeep broke down walking back to camp on a June South Florida 100 degree heat day in tall grass. Saving the water we had for him caused me to overheat and get as close as I ever want to be to heat stroke. God said it wasn't my day and I recovered and we made it back to camp. I always carry PLB when we are crossing over to the Bahamas, and now I don't go in the woods without one either)
Tourniquet
Quick clot
Pressure bandage
O+ patch on my pack

 

[Baron85]

I carry a garmin inreach and a battery pack to charge my phone for onx, my rechargeable fenix headlamp, and the inreach. The rest of my stuff has already been covered above.

Oh, and lots of coffee packets for glassing sessions.

 

[striped1]

What is a tree hook?

I have a small polymer hook that has a lag screw attached. I can hang my bow or rifle if I am sitting over a water hole or wallow etc.

Tactical Solo Tree Hook

THE ORIGINAL PREMIUM TREE HOOKThis is no typical tree hook. The Tactical Tree Hook features ultra-sharp AugerTipâ„¢ threads that start fast and allow for eas...

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[WeiserBucks]

Have you ever screwed that tub of shit into sage?

 

[E-Tool]

I’m a Ky private land hunter, for a short stalk I wear a filson vest, it ha splenty of room for small game in the back, in the front I can carry a call or extra shotgun shells, it also holds a 10/20rd SCAR MAG well.

For a longer all day hunt I have a frost river isle Jr, or sojourner pack, I carry water, maybe an mre or mountainhouse with msr stove.

I carry a belt knife, a bone saw, ziploc bags, license/tags, water, a snack. I seldom carry extra cloths because I leave the cabin wearing what I need. I’m more likely to carry stripped layers if I walk too fast.

I carry a write in the rain notebook, and GPS to record things I see. Sometimes I carry an FRS if group hunting.
I carry a length of 550 like rope to drag deer, or hang gear I don’t want to carry further for retrieval later.

I carry about 30 rounds of ammo, and a range finder.

 

[Wyzrd]

For my public land WY hunts where I’m hiking around up to 13-15 miles a day, I try to pack just the essentials, but always end up with more than I need.
First I’m carrying my CA MPR in 6.5prc with a Vortex AMG and Atlas bipod with 6 rds total.
Alaskan Guide Creations chest harness with Leica Geovid HD-R 10x42 LRF Binos and Kestrel. Wind checker, lens cloth, extra battery for Kestrel and LRF, pen, and tags.
Mystery Ranch Sawtooth45 backpack I have a Gatorade and a water bottle with some kind of flavored electrolyte powder mixed in (helps with muscle cramps), energy bars and trail mix, Platypus water bladder, back-up Sig Kilo 2K rangefinder (probably don’t need), Leatherman Wave multitool, chapstick, lighter, foam ear plugs, lightweight Kryptek rain jacket, 2 pairs of gloves (warm and warmer), extra pair of wool socks.
Kill kit with game bags, gerber with replaceable blades for breaking down game in the field, orange paracord, orange flagging tape, small rolls of electrical tape and duct tape.
First Aid kit for everything from little cuts to serious shit.
Survival kit with water purifying tablets, another lighter, compass, whistle, etc.
Cold Steel SRK fixed blade, Bear Spray, Benro Tripod with Feisol video head and either a Zeiss Victory Diascope spotter, or some 15x56 Cronus UHD binos.
Sounds like a ton of stuff, but it all fits nicely in my pack and isn’t bad weight wise. So far I’ve only put in a little over 50 miles or so this season. Still haven’t punched my deer or elk tags, but hopefully will remedy that later this week...