Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting My first backpack hunt - gear report

This year on our CO 2nd season OTC hunt we planned to hunt from a spike camp the first 2 or 3 days to put us in a better area. Not having hunted from a spike camp before and not having the necessary gear I had to researched and purchased a few pieces of gear. Here's my take on a few of the pieces that I used (some new some not).

Sleep system – My bag I have used for years and has always kept me warm was my Northface ElkHorn (long)rated @ 0F, after seeing and feeling what other were using on this trip, the Elkhorn has been on its last backpack hunt with me, this is one item that will be upgraded before nxt yr. There are much better options available for a backpack hunt that the Elkhorn, it is heavier and packs bulkier that many others. For padding I used a Big Agnes Q-Core SLX, it’s a keeper, but we were on a slight incline and my bag wanted to slide down a bit.

Tent – KUIU Mountain Star 2P, love this tent, light weight, easy setup, double entry, double vestibules have room for backpack, boots, rifle,… I didn’t purchase the Kuiu ground cover, I order a piece of Polycryo from Gossamergear it was much less expensive than the Kuiu and lighter than Tyvek which is where I was going before finding the Polycryo. I was worried about folding it back up after use to a decent size but it folding back up very nicely. My son and I both slept in this tent, its not a ball room, but we managed to sleep pretty well.

Food – I varied from the norm here some, not wanting to get loaded up on sodium. I started looking for alternatives, did some reading and experimenting and then decided to make my own. I dehydrated different meals that my son and I ate. Taco soup, spaghetti with meat sauce, white chicken chili, venison stew, and pasta fajioli (Olive Garden copy) all made here at the house then dehydrated and vacuum packed with a mini desiccant pack (“Do Not Eat” packet). Breakfast was oatmeal with craisins, lunch was PB & J on flat bread. Definitely will repeat this process in the future. Also I give 5 stars to HeathersChoice Packaroos.. love these, I tried Heather’s Buckwheat breakfast one morning also… Meh, not my taste.

Cook System – MSR Windburner 1L , this is a great cooker, it is very fast and very efficient, so you don’t have to carry much fuel. Some of the others in camp had a “rocket” style system, they burnt a lot more fuel and it took more time to heat the water. One negative is this cooker does not have a built in igniter. Another guy (fellow 24hcf member bwinters) in camp had a similar sized Jetboil cooker with a built in igniter, every cooker of this style should have an igniter.

Clothing base layers and mid layers – I used the FirstLite merino pieces for the base layers and love them, good stuff, I will be buying more at certain opportunities. I also had KUIU mid layer Down layers (both tops and bottoms) ready, but with the weather we had I just didn’t need it, but wow it is amazingly light weight.

GPS – I used my 5yr old Garmin Legend HCx with some free hi res maps (downloaded on-line). It is and has been very reliable and rock solid. But I also tried OnXmaps on my phone (Galaxy 5S), I’m not yet a power user and not using all of the features but I really like the ability to see my location on a zoomed in satellite image. It uses the phone’s GPS while the phone is in “airplane” mode. I’m not ready to toss my Garmin yet, but OnXmaps will certainly accompany me next time.

BTW - The young man in the photo below is my son with his first ever elk (a 5x5) that he took on this hunt, I was so happy for him on his harvest that I barely contained my tears of joy.