Drop camp gear list

[William B.]

Hello everybody,I booked a drop camp for the first time.Using my gear.I have a wall tent and stove,and normal camp gear,I am looking for some ideas on camp gear to take in on horse back? 3 hunters 2 pack animals per guy,8 days. I am most concerned that I dont show up with a bunch of items that are'nt fit to pack.Our cots are 48 inches long can we take them?What kind of food containers are best besides coolers.Kitchen,chairs and so on.I backpacked in last year for 5 days with little to nothing really.So this will be a treat this year.
Thank for your time Bill

[PacificNWhunter]

Can't offer any advice here, sorry I usually carry my camp on my back. Might try using the search option to see what you can find in there. I know there are several guys on here who do some packing. Good luck!

[alecvg]

For food containers use these:


http://store.colemans.com/cart/mortar-ammo-can-m120m121-p-1337.html


These are what we use to store supplies out in our camp year-round.

[tonymoe]

I carry my gear on my back as well. So first off, I envy your livestock. 2nd, I would still keep the gear to the lightest possible.
Instead of taking all the heavy cooking and cleaning stuff, I would suggest smaller gear as a jetboil, or packable stove and pot. Then just eat mountain house meals. If you save a MH bag you can use it for top ramen, instant idahoan potatoes, lipton rice bags.

[JBR]

William B - me and two of my hunting buddies did a 7-day drop camp in 2007 for the high buck hunt with an outfitter.  We used their wall tent and stove, but brought everything else.  We used hard plastic boxes (black with yellow lids) from Lowe's for packing all our gear (2 per person).  They just threw them up onto the mules and strapped 'em down.  Then when we arrived, 8 painful hours of horseback riding later, we dropped 'em at camp and they kept all our gear and food contained perfectly. 

As for gear, the two biggest needs we had were water and firewood. Bring TWO good wood cutting saws (in case one breaks) and one sharp ax or hatchet (also a good pair of leather gloves for the wood cutting).  We seemed to always be scavaging firewood and those items were necessities obviously.  The other thing is water.  All three of us had individual water filter pumps and by day 3 or 4, all had crapped out! Murphy's law.  We'd spend 30 minutes trying to pump water into a collapsible canvass bucket to carry back up to camp with cramping forearms and finally, we got nothing.   We couldn't believe it.  With no backup filtration/purification system we ended up having to boil all our drinking water, which is fine, but can be a pain.

Next time, I would bring a large capacity water filtration bag that uses gravity to filter the 'bad water' down into the 'good water', so all you have to do is scoop up water and hang it in camp.  Having purification tabs and/or other filters as backup is strongly recommended. 

A lightweight silnylon tarp to make a roof over an outdoor cooking area was important, with a small folding table to put dishes, food, laterns and the like on.  One little table for the 3 of us was fine as we didn't eat at it, but we just put stuf on it.  Folding camp chairs were a must and would be moved from inside the tent to outside at the campfire at different times.  You have to have somewhere to sit down and rest and stare at the campfire and stars, or what's the point. 

Those were the main items that were 'luxury camp items' for us made availabe to us with pack mules vs backpacking.  A few other small items were two laterns, more food options, spotting scopes, extra clothes, fishing rods and my son's single shot 20 ga for grouse.  I'm sure others will have some great ideas as well, but those items are what stick out in my mind, and all of it was easily packed in those hard plastic (weatherproof) boxes on the mules (including the table and chairs).  Good luck and have a blast.

Jim

[Machias]

Your cots are NOT too big or long, they'll have no problem packing them in for you. So your heading in with 6 pack animals, right?  Depending on their size, they can handle about 1,200 to 1,400 pounds of gear and food.  You can take a HECK of alot of gear and food at 1,200 to 1,400 pounds.

[William B.]

Hay guys thank you very much,I feel a lot more confident about my camp,All the gear I have been gathering should fit the bill just fine.

[hogsniper]

Whats nice to bring is those plastic tupperware containers for bread and stuff like that!! Keeps the mice out and also when you get to your destination your stuff isnt smashed!  Just something to think about!!! Justin

[William B.]

Thanks hog sniper I found the egg containers.Im a Woolley boy myself, been out here on the O.P.about 5 years now.