So I am planning a back country elk hunt in Montana this fall. The plan is to rifle hunt the back country zone of montana.. We chose this area because of the limited access and their rifle season opens sept 15th. @g2outdoors, I have read your hammock elk review and have tons of questions.
I have never done a trip like this where I carry everything on my back. I have done trips into the boundary waters on a canoe, but obviously you are allowed to carry quite a bit more when the canoe carries the weight.
Have any of you ever ventured into this part of Montana? How did you get in and out. Were there decent forest service trails to get most of the way in?
Some of the things I already had or purchased recently
Warbonet blackbird hammock
Warbonet Superfly
Hammock gear under and top quilt
Tenzing 5000 pack
Gps with hunt onyx Montana chip
full assortment of sitka clothing
Ultralight game bags
Things I am thinking of getting
Treking poles (are they really worth the effort to carry in?)
Backcountry boiler stove
titanium pots
Spot locator (makes the wife happy)
Bear spray
Portable electric fence (makes me sleep easier as we are in grizzly country)
solar charger for electronics
Obviously, I have things like knives, rope etc but those things I would use on any regular hunt.
Food:
Here is my biggest worry. How do you pack enough food for 6-8 days and still have any room or weight left for the rest of your gear? I looked at the mountainhouse meals for example and they are 500 calories each and weigh about 5 oz. well in order to get 2500-3000 calories a day, that would mean eating 5-6 of them a day. Multiply that by 6 days, and you are carrying 36 of those pouches. That just seems really unrealistic and would over 10 lbs.
G2,
You said your pack weighed 40 lbs. I would really be interested in what you packed and why in order to keep that weight down. It seems like it would be very easy to get above 40 lbs in a hurry. Not counting my rifle which weighs 9 lbs by itself.
You also said you used sleeping bag. did you end up getting cold butt without a quilt or did you have that too? My blackbird has an extra layer that I can slide a pad into and I was thinking of forgoeing the under quilt in favor of a pad to save space in my pack but haven't tried that out yet and I would have to buy the pad.
I have never done a trip like this where I carry everything on my back. I have done trips into the boundary waters on a canoe, but obviously you are allowed to carry quite a bit more when the canoe carries the weight.
Have any of you ever ventured into this part of Montana? How did you get in and out. Were there decent forest service trails to get most of the way in?
Some of the things I already had or purchased recently
Warbonet blackbird hammock
Warbonet Superfly
Hammock gear under and top quilt
Tenzing 5000 pack
Gps with hunt onyx Montana chip
full assortment of sitka clothing
Ultralight game bags
Things I am thinking of getting
Treking poles (are they really worth the effort to carry in?)
Backcountry boiler stove
titanium pots
Spot locator (makes the wife happy)
Bear spray
Portable electric fence (makes me sleep easier as we are in grizzly country)
solar charger for electronics
Obviously, I have things like knives, rope etc but those things I would use on any regular hunt.
Food:
Here is my biggest worry. How do you pack enough food for 6-8 days and still have any room or weight left for the rest of your gear? I looked at the mountainhouse meals for example and they are 500 calories each and weigh about 5 oz. well in order to get 2500-3000 calories a day, that would mean eating 5-6 of them a day. Multiply that by 6 days, and you are carrying 36 of those pouches. That just seems really unrealistic and would over 10 lbs.
G2,
You said your pack weighed 40 lbs. I would really be interested in what you packed and why in order to keep that weight down. It seems like it would be very easy to get above 40 lbs in a hurry. Not counting my rifle which weighs 9 lbs by itself.
You also said you used sleeping bag. did you end up getting cold butt without a quilt or did you have that too? My blackbird has an extra layer that I can slide a pad into and I was thinking of forgoeing the under quilt in favor of a pad to save space in my pack but haven't tried that out yet and I would have to buy the pad.