I'm just beginning to wonder what weight you guys carry in these backpacs when hunting?
Don't weigh my stuff usually but a good many years ago I carried 26 lbs. total gear for a two night three day late Fall hunt in the North Cascades of WA right along the US/Canadian border. That included rifle as well as sleeping bag, food etc.
I like to hunt with bivvy gear and sleep wherever the hunt takes me, but I don't do that as much as I used to. Last week, if I hadn't had a committment the next day I would have stayed on a lion track in snow and bivvied on his trail without sleeping bag if needed. Excellent opportunity but in the time I had, I never got close enough though I cut it from being 8 hours behind him down to two hours behind. Tried to call him twice but don't think he was within earshot either time.
The reason most of us here discuss gear is not to load up heavy but to take as little as possible within our preferences.
As to sweating, I use sweat as a gauge that I'm moving too fast (or wearing too much) when I'm still hunting timber. But on an approach hike of maybe 1 to 8 miles uphill to get to a place to start hunting, I sweat like a pig. Same when packing out meat. Like several here, I often hike up in minimal clothes then strip down, scrub down and put on my hunting clothes.
