2023 Load-out Weight Breakdown

[NMSbowhunter]

That's all ur gonna take for hunting all day long out on public land?....I think u fibbing a bit

No, that is my standard load out (minus clothes weight) for all day sits minus a bow and maybe a bottle of water and a granola bar.

 

[Weldabeast]

No, that is my standard load out (minus clothes weight) for all day sits minus a bow and maybe a bottle of water and a granola bar.

I guess I gotta take ur word for it.... Everybody jelly including me

 

[NMSbowhunter]

You don't need to take the kitchen sink with you for an all-day sit. The only difference in an all day sit and two 4 to 5 hour sits is you stay put for the few hours in the middle of the day. The only thing that makes it different is one less climb up and down and some walking around. It's all mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Most of my all day sits evolve naturally from a morning sit, meaning I did not really plan to stay all day, it just sort of worked out that way due to deer movement.

 

[Plebe]

You don't need to take the kitchen sink with you for an all-day sit. The only difference in an all day sit and two 4 to 5 hour sits is you stay put for the few hours in the middle of the day. The only thing that makes it different is one less climb up and down and some walking around. It's all mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

I agree you don't need much beyond some essentials.

But there's a few additional must haves in my pack: headlamp and a micro-flashlight, compass, knife, & archery release.

I don't bring much "extra". Even on all day sits I don't take food, and I used to not take water but have been bringing a single bottle as of late.

My luxury item I sometimes bring is a grunt call.

(But for my approach, I've packed gloves and a hat as well as a change of socks, and a baselayer top and bottoms. I'll add a puffy vest when it gets cold and sometimes a neck warmer. And I pack in my outerwear and saddle.)

 

[Weldabeast]

I guess my definition of all day and y'all's is different....I don't know that I've ever sat in 1 tree all day long....that's boring AF. My definition is leaving the truck at dark and returning at dark and putting on 5 or 10 miles in-between...sometimes I don't find a tree to climb, sometimes I'll climb 3 in the same day

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I agree you don't need much beyond some essentials.

But there's a few additional must haves in my pack: headlamp and a micro-flashlight, compass, knife, & archery release.

I don't bring much "extra". Even on all day sits I don't take food, and I used to not take water but have been bringing a single bottle as of late.

My luxury item I sometimes bring is a grunt call.

(But for my approach, I've packed gloves and a hat as well as a change of socks, and a baselayer top and bottoms. I'll add a puffy vest when it gets cold and sometimes a neck warmer. And I pack in my outerwear and saddle.)

Yes, that is a pretty lean loadout. I do have a small headlamp in the front pocket of that pack, and a kill kit consisting of a gallon ziplock bag with a Case Trapper, a pair of nitrile gloves and a kitchen trash bag for the meat and a pillowcase. I always have a small flashlight (Streamlight usb)in my pants pocket also (everyday, not just hunting season). I weighed the pack as a whole so there were a few odds and ends in there. Normally my phone gets gps compass duty but there is a ball compass clipped to the pack for backup. I also sometimes take a Garmin 64ST.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I guess my definition of all day and y'all's is different....I don't know that I've ever sat in 1 tree all day long....that's boring AF. My definition is leaving the truck at dark and returning at dark and putting on 5 or 10 miles in-between...sometimes I don't find a tree to climb, sometimes I'll climb 3 in the same day

Yeah, lol. My definition of an all day sit is climb at or up to an hour before daylight, sit in the same tree until dark and climb down unless I kill something. What you are describing is an all day hunt for me (not revisiting the vehicle). I do a lot of those.

 

[Weldabeast]

What you are describing is an all day hunt for me (not revisiting the vehicle). I do a lot of those.

And u still 10pounds on those days?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

And u still 10pounds on those days?

If it's hot and I plan to get down and walk a big loop with no intention of going back to the vehicle until after an evening sit, I will usually take a couple of waters and a Gatorade so I don't get dehydrated. I'm not a gear guy so when I found a system that works for me, I stuck with it. I don't want to have to pack and unpack extra gear and worry that I left something behind because today is an all day sit but tomorrow, I plan to only hunt the evening, etc. I want the kit to be one size fits all (99%) and know where everything is. It all comes out of the pack and goes back in the same way every time. I just put it in the truck and it is ready to go. I can grab it and head out.

 

[LAKY]

Yes, that is a pretty lean loadout. I do have a small headlamp in the front pocket of that pack, and a kill kit consisting of a gallon ziplock bag with a Case Trapper, a pair of nitrile gloves and a kitchen trash bag for the meat. I always have a small flashlight (Streamlight usb)in my pants pocket also (everyday, not just hunting season). I weighed the pack as a whole so there were a few odds and ends in there. Normally my phone gets gps compass duty but there is a ball compass clipped to the pack for backup. I also sometimes take a Garmin 64ST.

You put a whole boned out deer in that pack?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

You put a whole boned out deer in that pack?

Well, you have to understand that these are small Southern deer, so a boned out doe will be around 40 pounds of meat, give or take, The meat goes in the garbage bag which is inside the pillowcase. That just gets slung over the shoulder Santa style or carried in one hand, and I can alternate. I make a few stops when I get tired.

If I am relatively close to the vehicle, say 300 yards or closer, I sometimes choose to take the pack and bow back and return to the deer with the Alice pack and kill kit. This happens sometimes when I need to let the deer have some time to make sure it is dead. If it falls in sight and I am way out, then I pack the meat out in the pillowcase one and done.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I guess my definition of all day and y'all's is different....I don't know that I've ever sat in 1 tree all day long....that's boring AF. My definition is leaving the truck at dark and returning at dark and putting on 5 or 10 miles in-between...sometimes I don't find a tree to climb, sometimes I'll climb 3 in the same day

The other thing you need to realize about me is that I have no difficulty sitting in one spot and saying nothing and not being entertained for hours on end. A while back my wife and I took a flight. She asked me in disbelief why I wasn't taking a book or watching a video, etc. I told her "it's only 4 hours, I can sit 25 feet up a tree for 12 hours in 30 degree weather. Four hours is a cake walk".

 

[Weldabeast]

Saddle, linesman, rappeler, whistle, grapple, single AAA battery flashlight, licenses/pencil/butt wipe, Benadryl/butterfly bandage, extra hitch cord&biner, thermacell/3mats1extra juice, ball compass, blood trail light, coin purse, pull down rope, aider, stirrups x2, platform, trail markers, bow hanger, bug head net, 1 liter water pouch, food, doyels, extra gear tie, knife, weapon, maybe extra clothes/poncho if cold or rain....I can't think of anything else....I guess it's kinda a lot now that I wrote it down but that's about as bare bones as I'm going....there's a couple redundant items and things I very rarely use but like I said...they invaluable sometimes

 

[Plebe]

Saddle, linesman, rappeler, whistle, grapple, single AAA battery flashlight, licenses/pencil/butt wipe, Benadryl/butterfly bandage, extra hitch cord&biner, thermacell/3mats1extra juice, ball compass, blood trail light, coin purse, pull down rope, aider, stirrups x2, platform, trail markers, bow hanger, bug head net, 1 liter water pouch, food, doyels, extra gear tie, knife, weapon, maybe extra clothes/poncho if cold or rain....I can't think of anything else....I guess it's kinda a lot now that I wrote it down but that's about as bare bones as I'm going....there's a couple redundant items and things I very rarely use but like I said...they invaluable sometimes

Ah, I forgot a writing instrument. Thats happened to me before, good thing my brother wasn't too far off and I could borrow. Don't want to hike 3 miles back to the vehicle to get mine...

 

[gcr0003]

10 pounds

Pack, 2TC kit, ring of steps, gear hanger, bow rope, knee pads.

@tailgunner you might get dethroned as the ultra-lightest with a set up like this…

 

[Weldabeast]

I forgot the headlamp....3 lights does seem strange. The headlamp is the main light used all the time unless there's blood then I use the hi cri light and the tiny single battery light never gets used cause it stays on my saddle for if I ever dropped all my stuff while elevated

 

[Bowtie747]

Seems like no matter what I do, I’m around the 20lbs mark. Really been trying hard to drop as much weight as I can this year but to be realistic. I’d say I’ll still be around 20lbs. Lighter than when I was carrying a climber. I can also get in more trees so I’m happy with it. If I didn’t carry water it would help a bunch but I need water. Don’t like not having it.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

@tailgunner you might get dethroned as the ultra-lightest with a set up like this…

Nah, nobody beats Tailgunner.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

If I'm reading the scale right, I am 156 pounds without the pack and 166 pounds wearing the pack...so 10 pounds give or take. I dumped out the contents. I had an extra-long top tether in the back I had forgotten about for those extra husky trees so that wasn't figured into my initial assessment. The kill kit was not in there, but I will say that taking out the long extra tether and putting in the kill kit would be about a draw on weight. I bet that granola bar weighs a pound too, lol.

It's not so much the weight. It is just that fact that everything that I need to climb and hunt with fits in this medium backpack with room to spare and I can go as high as I want on a straight, limbless tree in less time (and safer) than I could when I was using 4 lone Wolf sticks and an aider. My first-year saddle hunting I would be worn out just lugging those sticks around before I even got to the tree, and I never really felt safe on sticks and a lineman's belt.

In my opinion, it really doesn't matter what your hunting kit weighs if you are proficient with it, and it is getting the job done for you and you are satisfied.