GF wants her first hunt to be a high buck

[Ltburrows]

So my girlfriend and I are going to be hunting high buck this year. it’s her first hunt and she has very limited experience with backpacking but her fitness level isn’t what worries me. My main concern is her pack weight. As an 80lb woman she won’t be able to pack much weight. In the past I’ve always had a partner to split the load with for 2 people but with her I’ll have to carry the majority of the gear for both of us. With that in mind what should I set her up with in her own pack(besides her essentials maybe have her haul my day pack? 


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[boneaddict]

THinking of her size as one of my kids in the early days, Id say she pack all of her own items and you get all of the camp items, plus your items, plus+++.

[Branden]

I agree with Bone. I would have her haul all her own clothing and food. You carry all your stuff plus camp. Also it would probably be a good idea to cut out any non essentials like your day pack. Just use your main pack even while hunting.

[Ltburrows]

That’s kinda what I was thinking. My dry weight is already 25lbs without rifle for a solo. All I’ll have to change is the sleep system and add another pad and bag. Any other ideas?


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[ian_padron]

80# ? What is she 4'6"??

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[Ltburrows]

80# ? What is she 4'6"??

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5’2”. Lol.


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[grade-creek-rd]

Highly recommend doing a dry run trip...if you can get out next weekend for an overnight or even a day hike with all of the gear you both plan on taking. That way you can make the adjustment before the high hunt. also, I am sure you already thought of this, but I plan on taking an extra couple of days off after the hunt to get the meat out. I've taken my youngest son on the high hunt for the past 2 years, started when he was 10, so I had to pack almost everything on the first trip. My plan was that if we got a deer then I would de-bone it and hang it. Take him home as planned and then go back for the deer with an empty pack and haul it out solo (or with a buddy that wanted to go for an adventure) instead of trying to get it all out in one trip.

Either way, the one thing I would highly recommend is to make this hunt about her, keep her comfortable and happy...even if it means not getting back too far or getting up too early...if she has fun then she will want to go again, if it's miserable then she might not want to ever go hunting...but I am sure you already know most of this if you have your pack down to 25 pound dry, you've done the backcountry thing a time or two!

Grade

[Alpine Mojo]

If she can do both, she's a keeper.  Everything else is just details.  Man up and pack yourself heavy.

[go4steelhd]

I have done this twice with my wife. The first time I packed everything camp wise and food. I let her pack her rifle and all the stuff she wanted to take that I said to leave at home. I ended up packing two rifles off the mountain plus all of camp and some of her extra gear.
Trip two she packed only necessary stuff in her pack. I packed all of camping supplies and we only took one rifle which I packed on the agreement that she gets first shot at anything. This did burn us walking in because the rifle was strapped to my pack she was about 30 yards behind me on the trail and I will let you guess the rest of that story.... He got away

If you want her to go again pack 85% of everything. Do this and you have a hunting partner for life. Make this experience a bad one, more than likely she doesn’t go again.
Good luck to you both on your hunt

[Mudman]

Heck with that, she is a GF not a wife!   Load her up and let her do her part.  She will be just fine.  If its too much she will learn to pack lighter next time.  Equality is blissful!

[go4steelhd]

You have a point train them right

[Ltburrows]

Thank you everyone for the advice. This is my first back country hunt as well but I’ve been a backpacker and a hunter my whole life. This hunt was actually her idea. I loaded up the packs with everything we’re going to take gave her only her clothes, orange, rifle(she’s determined to take her own), her sleeping bag and pad. It all came to 20lbs and even that was to heavy for her to walk around the block with. Now I’m looking at ways to make it even lighter for her. She refuses to take just one gun because she’s paranoid about bears an lions.


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[GBoyd]

Another tip for hunting with people that are less excited about hunting: camp somewhere you can glass. If they're still hitting the snooze button in the morning, you can at least be up and looking for a buck.

[Odell]

Thank you everyone for the advice. This is my first back country hunt as well but I’ve been a backpacker and a hunter my whole life. This hunt was actually her idea. I loaded up the packs with everything we’re going to take gave her only her clothes, orange, rifle(she’s determined to take her own), her sleeping bag and pad. It all came to 20lbs and even that was to heavy for her to walk around the block with. Now I’m looking at ways to make it even lighter for her. She refuses to take just one gun because she’s paranoid about bears an lions.


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If she can't do 20lbs around the block, she isn't ready to hunt high buck. I'd be very concerned about that.

[Ltburrows]

I agree. I don’t feel she’s ready at all but refuses to cancel the trip


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