Vintage gear?

[Hunter mike]

This is kind of just for fun...


I have to say that I'm a total gear junky for the latest greatest.  I like to find solid stuff, not always state of the art due to budget.  I do benefit from many modern advances though and enjoy a light, functional, and solid system.

I know guys have been backpack hunting and spending time in the backcountry pretty much for ever.  What was the "state of the art" back in the 70s and 80s before Kifaru etc made us into a bunch of weight wussie fanboys?  What did your packs weigh?  Curious about stoves, packs, sleep systems etc.  pre goretex (and similar) I don't even want to imagine...

I catch myself feeling like if I don't have a certain quality of kit, I might as well just not go.  That said, I've come a long way from my original gear when I was desperate to just get out there.  I have far from the best, but I'm still shocked at the hundreds of thousands I've spent to pack into the backcountry.  Maybe this will inspire someone to just get the kit they can afford and get it done!

Period pics much appreciated

[high country]

Peak 1 frame pack, stainless pot with primus isobutane stove, wool......and toughness.

[CaNINE]

Back when bushcraft was called woodsmanship we hunted with gear like this. 

[Magnum_Willys]

Hundreds of thousands? Canine you are a junkie dog! 

Wool, gaz stove, scout style mess kit,  canvas pup tent - great times!

[link]

I'd like to see the list of gear that is hundreds of thousands of dollars! Do you throw away your pack if it gets blood on it? New boots if they get muddy?

[JimmyHoffa]

I'd like to see the list of gear that is hundreds of thousands of dollars! Do you throw away your pack if it gets blood on it? New boots if they get muddy?

If he has horses, he can get past that mark rather quickly.

[Magnum_Willys]

With horses you can use the same gear your grandad did 50 years ago and be comfortable - more comfortable than state of the art less horses.

[Hunter mike]

Hundreds of thousands? Canine you are a junkie dog! 

Wool, gaz stove, scout style mess kit,  canvas pup tent - great times!

Ha ha, typing while tired - more like tens of hundreds... still adds up to an obscene amount I'm sure 

[Fl0und3rz]

I picked up an old canvas (waxed) down jacket (from some local Seattle manufacturer ca. 30's-50's, IIRC - not Filson but similar quality) and an awesome Elmer Fudd hat (also down insulated) from an estate sale a while back.  I'll have to see what brand is again, but it has an old patch ("Trout Unlimited" IIRC) and a little loop for wearing your game license, from when that was a thing. 

It was in a box of much loved hunting items that I got for $5.  I cleaned it up and treated it with some nikwax.

The jacket will likely outlast me, and I typically wear it in camp after a long day.  I will give it a shot in the field, if I end up getting a tree stand this year.   But otherwise, it is just too heavy and warm to be walking around in it.

[Shawn Ryan]

Late 70's: Early Winters double wall nylon tent was top of the line. JanSport external, aluminum frame packs. Army surplus wool pants, shirt, and gloves. Svea 123 gas stove. Tuna Helper for dinner, kippered snacks and trail mix for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast. Short, Gerry foam pads that snapped to the stuff sack-turned-pillow. REI down sleeping bags (REI had one store-in Seattle-run by hippie gear junkies in a conglomeration of old rundown buildings just up the hill from downtown.) Dad took us backpack elk hunting in the Wenaha from the Three Forks TH every year I was in high school.

[cbond3318]

Late 70's: Early Winters double wall nylon tent was top of the line. JanSport external, aluminum frame packs. Army surplus wool pants, shirt, and gloves. Svea 123 gas stove. Tuna Helper for dinner, kippered snacks and trail mix for lunch, oatmeal for breakfast. Short, Gerry foam pads that snapped to the stuff sack-turned-pillow. REI down sleeping bags (REI had one store-in Seattle-run by hippie gear junkies in a conglomeration of old rundown buildings just up the hill from downtown.) Dad took us backpack elk hunting in the Wenaha from the Three Forks TH every year I was in high school.

I love the old gear. I just picked up a Jansport External frame. The waist actually has aluminum flat stock with padding, actual nuts and bolts holding it together! So RAD!!

[Bullkllr]

The first backpack hunt I did I actually used my dad's old Trapper Nelson packboard. Packing a mulie out on it made me appreciate how tough those old-timers must have been. My shoulders hurt just thinking about it. I bought a Dwight Schuh pack the next year and it felt like a Cadillac. Still use it.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

How about the bota bag; pre water bottles and camelback!

[7mag.]

I started backpacking with my dad when I was 8, I'm 42 now. We had aluminum external framed packs with nylon bags, army surplus down sleeping bags, no pads, and we slept under the stars or under a cheap tarp. We cooked over a fire and my dad always packed a small cast iron skillet. We ate bacon, eggs, pancakes, canned chili, baked potatoes, and the fish we caught. I didn't realize until I was older, just how tough my dad was, packing all that heavy crap. We didn't have much money, but that didn't stop my dad from giving my brother and I life long memories and lessons.

[CaNINE]

I was a boyscout in the 80's. We subscribed to the "it's better to have something and not need it then to need it and not have it" mantra. We lugged canned goods and cast iron all over hill and dale on packboards with military surplus gear. If you go read some Patrick McManus books you'll get the idea. Pat's A Fine and Pleasant Misery always brings me to tears.

[Hunter mike]

I started backpacking with my dad when I was 8, I'm 42 now. We had aluminum external framed packs with nylon bags, army surplus down sleeping bags, no pads, and we slept under the stars or under a cheap tarp. We cooked over a fire and my dad always packed a small cast iron skillet. We ate bacon, eggs, pancakes, canned chili, baked potatoes, and the fish we caught. I didn't realize until I was older, just how tough my dad was, packing all that heavy crap. We didn't have much money, but that didn't stop my dad from giving my brother and I life long memories and lessons.

That's what this post is all about!  I went on my first backpacking trip in elementary school with friends of the family and their two kids.  Now that I know what's involved, I shudder to think what the two parents had to do to get all of the junk we needed up there!

It's great to hear the stories and about the gear.