High Buck - Some Observations

[Skyvalhunter]

Please don't you will be the only one home

[Mtnwalker]

When I had no money, I remember going up on the high hunt in Georgia work boots and jeans and a blue tarp.

Fun? No
Did I die? No

It's not like I was dropped off at some remote airfield in the Frank Church or Interior Alaska. Worst case scenario, put a foot in front of the other and walk out 

Being dropped at a remote airstrip in the Church in November isn’t even as death-defying as some of these guys try to make the high hunt out to be  sure you CAN get yourself into those situations if you go looking for it but the bottom line is the high hunt is what you make it. You don’t enter some death zone as soon as you cross the wilderness boundary, it’s not like we’re climbing Everest here. Use your head and don’t out-hunt your own abilities. Pretty simple. Some guys just like to feel like what they are doing is more extreme than it really is.

[BULLBLASTER]

All the Kifaru guys say that I'm dead meat with my Exo.

Probably shouldn't have bought a Tikka.  Would have been better off with a Sako.

Dang, why did I go Sitka?  I should be "running" a Kuiu or Firstlite "system".

Pretty sure I'm just going to stay home now 

How can a guy even “run” a “system” like that? And that tikka cant possibly ever work if it isnt a “build”. 

Ill leave the high hunt for the experts since i dont have climbing gear and ice axes... all im worthy of is hunting a alfalfa field.   

[stlusn30-06]

Got my first 180inch Muley on top of that spire to the right. You wouldn't think big bucks live where there is no food, but you'd be wrong. Sure as hell could of used that ice ax. Only took 1 year of preparation and I departed in early July to get acclimated and strong by mid Sept. Worth those 180inches. Do yourselves a favor. Hire sherpas. There are Darrington locals that will take you anywhere in the cascades for a case of Busch lite. Money well spent. Lastly, if anyone is interested I have dope charts for 180gr Accubonds, .300wsm, at 0F > -20F and from 10,000-14,00ft. Feel free to PM

[Jonathan_S]

All the Kifaru guys say that I'm dead meat with my Exo.

Probably shouldn't have bought a Tikka.  Would have been better off with a Sako.

Dang, why did I go Sitka?  I should be "running" a Kuiu or Firstlite "system".

Pretty sure I'm just going to stay home now 

Your Sitka clothing system build should suffice but running KUIU is more elite. In addition their sleep system is great for running. Makes it tough to sleep though.

That Exo build that you're running could probably be built out to run better. Oh well at least it keeps the meat closer to your back without that single layer of Cordura in the way.

Better stay home until you're ready to "run" with the big dawgs!

[Bill W]

What ever happened to using Army/Navy surplus Vietnam jungle boots?  I used those early on.... and regular heavy sleeping bags.  Our rifles were heavy also.

[ctwiggs1]

What ever happened to using Army/Navy surplus Vietnam jungle boots?  I used those early on.... and regular heavy sleeping bags.  Our rifles were heavy also.

I hunted with an ALICE pack back in the day.

Then I joined the Army and they gave me a MOLLE pack.  Hunted with that for a few years.

Hunted with my issued boots too.  I always wondered why my buddies weren't slipping and falling as much as I was.  Bought some new boots and those problems went away

[Stein]

What ever happened to using Army/Navy surplus Vietnam jungle boots?  I used those early on.... and regular heavy sleeping bags.  Our rifles were heavy also.

My first trip into the Bob was in jungle boots and a surplus mummy sack.  I did save weight by not having a stove, just a pot and a fire.  Our scoutmaster had a new fangled Coleman backpacking stove that ran on white gas and pumped up like the lantersn and we made fun of him all week for being such a weenie.

That said, I did get epic blisters and ended up walking in camp shoes with the heels cut out for two days.

My patrol also got lost and ended up finding a girls only camp, but that's another story.

[ctwiggs1]

What ever happened to using Army/Navy surplus Vietnam jungle boots?  I used those early on.... and regular heavy sleeping bags.  Our rifles were heavy also.

My first trip into the Bob was in jungle boots and a surplus mummy sack.  I did save weight by not having a stove, just a pot and a fire.  Our scoutmaster had a new fangled Coleman backpacking stove that ran on white gas and pumped up like the lantersn and we made fun of him all week for being such a weenie.

That said, I did get epic blisters and ended up walking in camp shoes with the heels cut out for two days.

My patrol also got lost and ended up finding a girls only camp, but that's another story.

right Stein, "got lost" 

[Skyvalhunter]

Lets hear about the girls only camp
 

[ganghis]

Got my first 180inch Muley on top of that spire to the right. You wouldn't think big bucks live where there is no food, but you'd be wrong. Sure as hell could of used that ice ax. Only took 1 year of preparation and I departed in early July to get acclimated and strong by mid Sept. Worth those 180inches. Do yourselves a favor. Hire sherpas. There are Darrington locals that will take you anywhere in the cascades for a case of Busch lite. Money well spent. Lastly, if anyone is interested I have dope charts for 180gr Accubonds, .300wsm, at 0F > -20F and from 10,000-14,00ft. Feel free to PM

There's been some good one's on here, but this might take the cake... I need to go find me some of these Darrington "sherpas"!! 

[Stein]

It's a good story, but not a great story.   

I was maybe 14-15 years old and when our troop got to the trailhead, scoutmaster gives me a hand drawn map and says he's splitting the troop into two patrols and I was leading the second one as I was the oldest.  It was me, my younger brother, his buddy and two other kids.

Scoutmaster says "Give us an hour head start then start walking on this trail (points to the trail we were standing on) and don't stop until you meet us, we'll have camp set up."  It's about 8 am or so and he takes of.

An hour later, we take off and it was fine until we ran into a T in the trail.  No T on the map.  Left or right?  I measure both ways and the trail is the same width, same level of development, no difference.  I send two scouts left and two right and tell them to walk for 15 minutes, turn around and come back and report.  Both groups go out, come back and report the trails go through trees and it looks like a trail.

So, we ponder life for a few minutes and head right because it's uphill and most things in Scouting involve doing things the hard way.

We walk for about 3 hours and see a camp off the trail set up in a valley below.  Cool, but it looks like a whole bunch more tents than our troop should have.  Anyway, it's obviously our camp so we pound down the hill to a not so excited leader explaining that this is a girls camp.  All the girls come out of their tent and are excited to see someone other than stodgy leader, but we were escorted out of town.

Back 3 hours to the T, go straight until dark, pull out our awesome 0.5 candlepower surplus angle head GI lights which almost give enough light to see your shoes.  We stumble down the trail for maybe an hour and bump into our camp.  Scoutmaster isn't in a great mood as he was pondering how to tell our parents we were MIA, but did get a chuckle about the story.  He says he told us to go left, but nobody remembers it, probably because we weren't listening.

[SWHUNTER]

Got my first 180inch Muley on top of that spire to the right. You wouldn't think big bucks live where there is no food, but you'd be wrong. Sure as hell could of used that ice ax. Only took 1 year of preparation and I departed in early July to get acclimated and strong by mid Sept. Worth those 180inches. Do yourselves a favor. Hire sherpas. There are Darrington locals that will take you anywhere in the cascades for a case of Busch lite. Money well spent. Lastly, if anyone is interested I have dope charts for 180gr Accubonds, .300wsm, at 0F > -20F and from 10,000-14,00ft. Feel free to PM

 

[jackelope]

All the Kifaru guys say that I'm dead meat with my Exo.

Probably shouldn't have bought a Tikka.  Would have been better off with a Sako.

Dang, why did I go Sitka?  I should be "running" a Kuiu or Firstlite "system".

Pretty sure I'm just going to stay home now 

How can a guy even “run” a “system” like that? And that tikka cant possibly ever work if it isnt a “build”. 

Ill leave the high hunt for the experts since i dont have climbing gear and ice axes... all im worthy of is hunting a alfalfa field.   

Bro-
He runs a pic rail and an optic on his build. It's a rig build that he built and runs.

[Bushcraft]

Got my first 180inch Muley on top of that spire to the right. You wouldn't think big bucks live where there is no food, but you'd be wrong. Sure as hell could of used that ice ax. Only took 1 year of preparation and I departed in early July to get acclimated and strong by mid Sept. Worth those 180inches. Do yourselves a favor. Hire sherpas. There are Darrington locals that will take you anywhere in the cascades for a case of Busch lite. Money well spent. Lastly, if anyone is interested I have dope charts for 180gr Accubonds, .300wsm, at 0F > -20F and from 10,000-14,00ft. Feel free to PM

Haha! Good stuff!...But how did you not see the 216"er on the summit above that sweet skiable face??