Another Pack Inventory for Expert Review (getting ready for 2016!)

[CoryTDF]

Yikes! 53 pounds is a lot of weight. I would start with looking into a smaller water bladder. 3L is a ton of water and not light at all. I doubt that you will drink all that before you can fill back up. The inline system you have is great though and makes your refill times that much faster. I also think a small bottle of some type would be good. I like to have a bottle back at camp to mix my Sqwencher packets into.

Take all the unnecessary packaging off of all items. Also, unless you think your going to need to provide pills for the whole mountain I would cut your medicine supply significantly. I think you can drop some weight for sure. 

Other than that though it looks pretty darn good.

How much weight would be a reasonable goal?  I could save 4.4 lbs by reducing to 1L of water and save another couple of oz. by reducing the amount of aspirin, ibuprofen and benadryl...  Anything else glaring I should consider?

That is a good start. 5 pounds of weight is a lot when your talking about long hikes day in and day out. You also have to think that if you kill something you are going to be coming out WAY more loaded than you went in. So saving weight any place you can is helpful.

48 pounds is better than 53. Either way though, your load looks good and I think you will be just fine.

[aorams]

Yikes! 53 pounds is a lot of weight. I would start with looking into a smaller water bladder. 3L is a ton of water and not light at all. I doubt that you will drink all that before you can fill back up. The inline system you have is great though and makes your refill times that much faster. I also think a small bottle of some type would be good. I like to have a bottle back at camp to mix my Sqwencher packets into.

Take all the unnecessary packaging off of all items. Also, unless you think your going to need to provide pills for the whole mountain I would cut your medicine supply significantly. I think you can drop some weight for sure. 

Other than that though it looks pretty darn good.

How much weight would be a reasonable goal?  I could save 4.4 lbs by reducing to 1L of water and save another couple of oz. by reducing the amount of aspirin, ibuprofen and benadryl...  Anything else glaring I should consider?

That is a good start. 5 pounds of weight is a lot when your talking about long hikes day in and day out. You also have to think that if you kill something you are going to be coming out WAY more loaded than you went in. So saving weight any place you can is helpful.

48 pounds is better than 53. Either way though, your load looks good and I think you will be just fine.

Copy..  thanks!

[Sliverslinger]

There are two things you must have - one I see, one I don't. They are 550 cord and duct tape (think a couple feet of heavy duty Gorilla duct tape. You can use that for everything from first aid, repair, or especially in place of moleskin to cover hot spots or blisters. It actually works better and stays in place more in my opinion.
This is just another thought for those of you asking about the bore snake. You actually have one already but don't know it. Here's what we did a few time in the Army and it worked really well. If you actually do plug your bore with some mud or whatever, just use a stick or whatever just to get it open enough to get light through. Take that 550 cord and slowly burn an inch of it or so, pinching and rolling it into a nice, stiffened point. slide it through your breech and out the end of the barrel. Tie a single knot for .22 caliber, or a heavy double for .30 about an inch from the end. You may have to play with this a bit depending on whether that's 7 strand or something else. Wrap the other end around your hand a time or two and pull it through. Cut the knot off, tie a new one, and repeat. Your bore will be surprisingly clean and you won't have to deal with carrying a bore snake, cleaning rods, etc...
That 550 will serve for everything from fixing a broken bootlace, tourniquet, repairing a pack, bore snake, makeshift belt, strapping quarters to your pack or hanging them up, etc... I carry about 25'

[CoryTDF]

There are two things you must have - one I see, one I don't. They are 550 cord and duct tape (think a couple feet of heavy duty Gorilla duct tape. You can use that for everything from first aid, repair, or especially in place of moleskin to cover hot spots or blisters. It actually works better and stays in place more in my opinion.
This is just another thought for those of you asking about the bore snake. You actually have one already but don't know it. Here's what we did a few time in the Army and it worked really well. If you actually do plug your bore with some mud or whatever, just use a stick or whatever just to get it open enough to get light through. Take that 550 cord and slowly burn an inch of it or so, pinching and rolling it into a nice, stiffened point. slide it through your breech and out the end of the barrel. Tie a single knot for .22 caliber, or a heavy double for .30 about an inch from the end. You may have to play with this a bit depending on whether that's 7 strand or something else. Wrap the other end around your hand a time or two and pull it through. Cut the knot off, tie a new one, and repeat. Your bore will be surprisingly clean and you won't have to deal with carrying a bore snake, cleaning rods, etc...
That 550 will serve for everything from fixing a broken bootlace, tourniquet, repairing a pack, bore snake, makeshift belt, strapping quarters to your pack or hanging them up, etc... I carry about 25'

 :yeah:That is a solid tip!

[Stein]

I would be careful before I dumped water, running out pretty much sucks.  Running out of food is very workable, but running out of water is pretty much game over.  If you are going up high, particularly this year, be very sure of where your water is coming from.  Also, remember that you may need to hunt different places and may end up far away from the nearest water source you planned on.

I hear guys brag about how far and fast they can carry a 100# meat load and then get all wound up over a couple of pounds of whatever on the pack in.  At the end of the day, 5# isn't going to kill you or hardly be noticeable.  If you pack in 48 pounds for x miles, you're going to be tired.  If you pack in 53, you're going to be tired.

If I had a 53# pack that I was convinced was 5# too heavy, I would lose 5# of bodyfat by hiking around town with a heavy pack finding all the hills I could for a couple of weeks.

[fillthefreezer]

If I had a 53# pack that I was convinced was 5# too heavy, I would lose 5# of bodyfat by hiking around town with a heavy pack finding all the hills I could for a couple of weeks.

this is august, season is here. some people dont have 5lbs to lose...

[Stein]

If a person is so fit that they don't have 5# of bodyfat then they shouldn't have any problem.

If they haven't trained, they are in trouble that packweight reductions cannot fix.

I have hiked with enough people to know that fitness and mental toughness limit more people than the choice between 1 and 3 L of water.

[sirmissalot]

5lbs can certainly add up over time, especially 10+ miles in, but I wouldn't skimp too much on water unless you have your water fill up points all mapped out. 3 L isn't all that much and in most cases I'll drink that on the way in, but it depends how steep and how deep. Hydration is important so I wouldn't skimp on it, but I also wouldn't haul a full 6L bladder in... my bladder is a 4L dromlite and I generally fill it around 3/4 full. This past weekend we found ourselves out of water for a good amount of time between sources and it was hot... wasn't a good scenario but we got lucky and found a spring a few miles before we got to our destination which was a lake.

My pack for this past weekend was bouncing right around 40lbs with food, water and including my rifle, but that was just 3 days worth of food.

Have you tried drinking out of your bladder with your sawyer connected like that? I've read they recommend having it closer to the bite valve so you may check in out. I run mine on a separate 3L big zip bladder with a quick connect so I don't have to pull my bladder out of my pack everytime I want to fill, and its great to have a separate bladder to keep full back at camp. 

Stein is right, mental toughness is huge in the backcountry. You really have to want to be there and make it happen if you want to stay out there and in the end be successful.

[ctwiggs1]

There are two things you must have - one I see, one I don't. They are 550 cord and duct tape (think a couple feet of heavy duty Gorilla duct tape. You can use that for everything from first aid, repair, or especially in place of moleskin to cover hot spots or blisters. It actually works better and stays in place more in my opinion.
This is just another thought for those of you asking about the bore snake. You actually have one already but don't know it. Here's what we did a few time in the Army and it worked really well. If you actually do plug your bore with some mud or whatever, just use a stick or whatever just to get it open enough to get light through. Take that 550 cord and slowly burn an inch of it or so, pinching and rolling it into a nice, stiffened point. slide it through your breech and out the end of the barrel. Tie a single knot for .22 caliber, or a heavy double for .30 about an inch from the end. You may have to play with this a bit depending on whether that's 7 strand or something else. Wrap the other end around your hand a time or two and pull it through. Cut the knot off, tie a new one, and repeat. Your bore will be surprisingly clean and you won't have to deal with carrying a bore snake, cleaning rods, etc...
That 550 will serve for everything from fixing a broken bootlace, tourniquet, repairing a pack, bore snake, makeshift belt, strapping quarters to your pack or hanging them up, etc... I carry about 25'

 :yeah:That is a solid tip!

Except the tourniquet part - 550 will not work as a tourniquet.

[j_h_nimrod]

Mental toughness can make up for a lot, in my experience it is more important than physical shape (within reason) and can make up for a lot of other shortcomings.

[Tbob]

Couple of other things I usually carry is: Orange ( or whatever color) ribbon you prefer and a 2 pack of hand warmers.

[aorams]

5lbs can certainly add up over time, especially 5 miles in, but I wouldn't skimp too much on water unless you have your water fill up points all mapped out. 3 L isn't all that much and in most cases I'll drink that on the way in, but it depends how steep and how deep. Hydration is important so I wouldn't skimp on it, but I also wouldn't haul a full 6L bladder in... my bladder is a 4L dromlite and I generally fill it around 3/4 full. This past weekend we found ourselves out of water for a good amount of time between sources and it was hot... wasn't a good scenario but we got lucky and found a spring a few miles before we got to our destination which was a lake.

My pack for this past weekend was bouncing right around 40lbs with food, water and including my rifle, but that was just 3 days worth of food.

Have you tried drinking out of your bladder with your sawyer connected like that? I've read they recommend having it closer to the bite valve so you may check in out. I run mine on a separate 3L big zip bladder with a quick connect so I don't have to pull my bladder out of my pack everytime I want to fill, and its great to have a separate bladder to keep full back at camp. 

Stein is right, mental toughness is huge in the backcountry. You really have to want to be there and make it happen if you want to stay out there and in the end be successful.

I've had it in both positions and prefer it closest to the bladder.  I don't notice any extra resistance although there is certainly more than without the filter at all.  I'm curious about the gravity two bladder systems but my current set up works so well I'm lacking the incentive to try it out.

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

If a person is so fit that they don't have 5# of bodyfat then they shouldn't have any problem.

If they haven't trained, they are in trouble that packweight reductions cannot fix.

I have hiked with enough people to know that fitness and mental toughness limit more people than the choice between 1 and 3 L of water.

You're not incorrect that fitness and mental toughness are more of a limiting factor.

But when you are putting in 40k ft of gain, and 50 miles over a hunt, 5 lbs adds up to your body fatigue, which effects the effectiveness of your ability to hunt.


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[Branden]

But when you are putting in 40k ft of gain, and 50 miles over a hunt, 5 lbs adds up to your body fatigue, which effects the effectiveness of your ability to hunt.


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I have hunted and backpacked in a lot of places, and I have never hunted somewhere that I'm averaging 800' of gain per mile over 50 miles. If you did a loop or out and back hunt to the same vehicle then you are talking 1600' of gain per mile for 25 miles and 1600' of loss per mile for 25 miles. That's really impressive

[SilkOnTheDrySide]

But when you are putting in 40k ft of gain, and 50 miles over a hunt, 5 lbs adds up to your body fatigue, which effects the effectiveness of your ability to hunt.


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I have hunted and backpacked in a lot of places, and I have never hunted somewhere that I'm averaging 800' of gain per mile over 50 miles. If you did a loop or out and back hunt to the same vehicle then you are talking 1600' of gain per mile for 25 miles and 1600' of loss per mile for 25 miles. That's really impressive

Distance is tough to gauge off trail to be fair, and my numbers are based off my suunto altimeter log kept in

We hit 26k in the Wenaha this spring in I believe 7 total days, unsure of mileage.

But when you are dropping 1k a couple times a day to glass, the gains add up.





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