Never leave your backpack behind. It costed me my Dall sheep ram two years ago. Never again.
BBerg:
I'll go you one better on that. NEVER LET YOUR BACKPACK GET OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. There are many situations where the gear in that pack, or lack thereof, can mean the difference between life and death or more commonly the difference between a casual-comfortable outing and a miserable experience. For the same reason, I always carry minimum survival gear in the pockets of my pants; fire stuff, Swiss Army knife, foil survival blanket, etc. , and I never leave camp without rain gear.
KC