This was an excellent question with an equally excellent answer.
I’m certainly no John Wick when it comes to whitetail body count, so take my words with a few grains of NaCl. However, I’m home with my toddlers so I’m going to use a few more words to put my unrequested 2¢ in.
Take the pack off or just stalk? I have this exact debate every single time I’m hunting on the ground. I spent the better part of 7 seasons still-hunting a pack and often a hang-on that I rarely actually climbed with, until I bought a saddle and was required by law to hunt from elevated positions in certain tracts. If I happened to try a stalk, I usually had all my gear on. I have done both ways, and pack removal is definitely the better idea between 50-100 yds assuming the deer don’t sense you yet. That said, when you get bitten by the stalk-bug, sometimes simple prudence of coincidence that an animal is right freaking there outweighs sonic stealth and rational spontaneous “planning”. Sometimes you get right into the zone and forget about anything but the necessary steps to get a shot in the moment, including however many thousand pounds of gear you’re lugging lol. I’ve taken a shot at a buck (and missed) while lugging a treestand and sticks with a pack, he came right into my path at probably 20 yds and I was a rookie so I guessed him at 30. But I had to draw and shoot with all that crap and didn’t plan for such a chance. After that, I started bringing my pack to the range (wasn’t allowed to bring stand) and shooting the 3D course with it.
Nowadays I will take a shot or two at my Block before or after my hunt with all my stuff on. Once in a while I do get the chance to stalk instead of going to a tree, and those times are usually not planned. So I practice with all that weight on me just in case. And trust me, my shooting is not as good with four sticks, a 25# pack, a mission platform, and a winter coat on. But I can still hit the pie plate 9/10 times under 30 yds and that’s good enough for those surprise stalk opportunities.
TLDR: 100% it’s easier, quieter, everything-er to remove pack/gear before a stalk but sometimes you just go on autopilot and in those times, it helps to have a little practice shooting in “walk-in mode” with all your kit. Hope for the best (you have a second to think and remove your gear before stalk) but plan for the worst (when those deer are right there and the last thing you can afford is to waste a second on anything but getting a shot).
Okay that was fun for me. Thanks for the couple of posts to bounce off, fellas. Gotta go make a stalk on someone with a peanut butter special in his Huggies now…
