Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Where and when do you backpack and hunt?

I have been wondering for some time, just where and when the members here backpack and hunt? There seems to have been some change in the "regular" posters here and I think that each person's choices in guns, gear and whatever, are strongly influenced by their actual experience...or, lack thereof.

Alaska? BC? The Territories? The US Rockies? maybe even South America?

Some stories, photos if you feel like it and have them and opinions on what you want to do next based on what you have done....could be a lot of fun and even a way of learning.

Very likely it does have a large impact, once you get past the guys who pick things because they are trendy or cool or... 'tactical'.

I backpack everywhere I can, finishing up prepping for a couple of hikes this weekend in central PA. And I use a pack in hunting in most cases.

I use a couple of packs in PA, MI, OH, CA, etc. depending on where I go and how I get there. Do a lot of business travel and make a point to add an extra day or weekend, when I can and go hiking. One of the reasons I went with Eberlestock, other then past familiarity, was becasue they are so modular. I use the mini-me a lot in these areas, it fits in the suitcase when I travel, has a hydration bag, enough space to carry things, or I can attach some extras on the webbing or also carry a belly bag. And the scabbard slides in for easy carry in hunting season. Great for getting to places to set up for varmints. I have the X2 for longer excursions and campouts and just transfer the scabbard to that when I need it, add the attachments to carry food packs and when they get empty, just fold them up and store them in the main pack.

And I have a Blue Widow for the big hunts out west (2013 in BC is the next. Gets all the stuff to the base camps, carries the mini-me for hunt trips around there and the scabbard jumps to whatever one I need at the moment. Carry the attachments folded up inside and can expand it more. Up to the limit of what I want to carry anymore for sure.

So I looked for that interchangability when I built the inventory for the packs I have.

The vast majority of my wilderness experience has come in Wyoming. The mountain ranges primarily packed into are the Windrivers, Wyoming, Hoback, Salt River and Big Horn. My typical pack in distance from the trailhead is usually 5 miles, and during hunting season 5 days at a time when possible. Many other 2-3 day trips in the fall as well. This season I have a new deer spot to try that may push 7 miles in, and has a rather rough ascent to the basins I want to hunt.

The Winds are what I am most familiar with for simply backpack/backcountry fishing sake. There are more lakes there to explore than I have weekends and time.

The rest is for hunting. I haven't hunted the Big Horns in a few years due mostly to the fact that it is often crowded in the general units, and there were archery/rifle restrictions that I could get away from. The country was beautiful and some of my favorite memories were there. This is a great place for trail running as well.

My first pack was an old Kelty External frame that my Dad got me for Christmas in 5th grade and I used it for many years. Next up was the Black's Creek Mossback Bounty hunter. Durability wise it was great, comfort not so much. Because of it's initial weight I ended up going through and cutting excess material out in a bunch of places and got rid of excess straps, etc. The heaviest I got it to was 135lbs and it did about 5 trips last year ove 100lbs. Over the last few years this pack has hauled 8 elk, 2 deer and I am not sure on the number of Anetelope.

I upgraded to A Kifaru G2 Longhunter Guide because the 26 inch stays at 6'5" and the ability to match the frames curvature to my back made it the most comfortable. For a top lid I have the Mystery Ranch Daypack Lid to add a couple of pockets. The Kifaru offerings weren't for me, as the XTL had too much Tacticool, and the Longhunter didn't have quite enough organization.

I'll post more later on some other gear, specifically shelters and water filtration.

If you put together all my posts you probably know this but here goes.

Mostly the US Rockies, primarily western Colorado. I'm primarily a meat on table kind of guy. This year my son is coming with me on a BP hunt. I already have our site and camp picked out, as long as the dry weather doesn't change the patterns we will be in good shape. I'm fortunate, I can see my hunting area from my house and use a spotter from there. I'll start worrying about the dry weather a month or so before, and if I need to search out other places do it then. I have lots of places I know that hold elk, I'm always scouting even on morning trail runs. I'll take note of sign and time of year and why. I'd love to get another tag and do an adult BP hunt in unit 54 as well, but I'll worry as the time nears. Muley's are hard to get tags for so I stick to Elk, although Angie my wife took a nice bear a couple years ago. I like my steaks rare, so I prefer sticking to animals that are vegetarians.

As far as backpacking, I mostly do US Rockies, or desert SW. I'd love to explore some more northern and coastal areas though. I've done all seasons at one point or another, although this area is so darn avy prone, it's hard to find a nice long winter route and being a family man, I don't push avy territory much. The areas where avy risk is low, get a lot of traffic. Sometimes I feel like I'm at a ski resort. I did do about a 30 miler this spring / winter, that was spectacular, but I think my partner wasn't liking me afterwards.

I've went through various phases, I used to do just long punishing days, and not BP much. The last few years , I've backpacked a lot more and reduced the long punishing days. It's hard to find partners that want to backpack long punishing days. So, I might have to do a solo long route, because I like to check out a lot of territory. I occasionally backpack with people to a nice fishing area, usually an alpine lake, and then wander from there. It's actually hard to find long routes without much in between here. There is always a little town or something in a day or two from where you are.

Guns, Tikka 30-06, although we have a nice Kimber 7mm-08, and a 270 Tikka as well. The kid will use the Kimber this year. It's a fun rifle. I'd love to go on a Muley hunt with it, but I didn't get a tag.

Gear choices, mostly cottage / smaller manufacturer stuff, except sleeping pads and sometimes that is a cut up wally world pad. Sometimes it's an exped. I prefer Merino base layers, and down for insulation, and usually a water resistant jacket. I usually use a quilt, sometimes with nothing, sometimes a bivy, sometimes a nest. I don't like getting my sleeping gear dirty, so sometimes the extra coverage helps especially if I have an excited border collie around.

Optics, I have a nice range finder, and good quality binocs. My spotter is a lower end vortex, but I don't plan on carrying it in the woods much. If I do, I need to suck it up. I carry cheap binos year around. I fear loosing the good ones while hiking.

I prefer shoes to boots, except in the winter. I wish there was a mninimalistic boot made, 0 heel lift. I use 5.10 camp fours for mountain / talus / scree stuff almost exclusively. Again, I wish there was one without much heel lift.

If I had the time, I'd love to take up archery, I did it as a kid, but if I want Elk in the freezer I feel the best bet is a rifle. If time permitted, I'd get some out of state tags, because I sort of like the idea of just showing up without much knowledge and figuring it out. Back to the basic skills.

"or lack thereof."

I've done a fair bit of backpacking and a lot of hunting, but I haven't mixed the two a whole lot. What I find is the way I approach both requires considerable adjustment when I include the other.

All of my hiking and hunting has been in Oregon. I backpack the southern 2/3 of the Cascades, the Oregon part of the Siskiyous, and the southern 1/4 (?) of the Oregon's part of the coast range. That's where I hunt, too, whether I mix hunting and backpacking or not.

Backpack hunting doesn't add much, if anything, I can't do on day hunts from the road. The limit is how far I'll pack game and that is less far than I'll day-hike to hunt. It does, though, make it a different sort of hunt and sometimes that difference is MOST appealing.

I hunt alone most of the time and backpack alone most of the time. Might be different if I had people to go with, but the hunters I know barely backpack, the backpackers I know barely hunt. If I want to get after it, I have to get after it alone.

Tom

I find that backpacking in to hunt actually requires less energy than day hunting and climbing the same mountain every morning at 4 am. Backpack in and take your time. Most people around here get worn out quickly on the day hunts

Completely agree, I love being able to sleep in until 6, get out of bed, put on the boots and I am in my hunting area. Far less energy.

I haven't backpacked since a teenage Boy Scout. I deer hunted in my younger days, mostly gave it up because of work(busiest during hunting season)during the 80's I duck hunted a lot. Spent most of my early married days flyfishing for outdoor entertainment. We traveled cross country on vacations pulling a pop-up. Flyfished as far west as Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and north to Maine. Hiked quite a bit in Yellowstone region.
Started a business in 1998 and threw ourselves into it. Spent vacation money on yearly ski trip to Colorado. Didn't spend much outdoor time except turkey hunts in early 2000's. Had a baby in 2006 (well actually my wife did) after 18 years of marriage. Last couple years picked up deer hunting again and turkey hunting. Got a doe with BP rifle last fall and a good gobbler this spring.
I decided over a year ago to do a mule deer hunt out west while I still could. Months of research, checking out outfitters, areas, logistics, $$, etc. brought me to the conclusion a DIY backpack hunt was the way I wanted to go.
So I've been backpacking some, taking short trips, buying gear, buying gear, buying gear...spent a bloody fortune. Absolutely fallen BACK in love with backpacking. All trips so far have been here in my backyard, Appalachain mountains. Did a short turkey hunt this spring and though I didn't get a bird that trip I had a blast.

Lord willing I'm going to Idaho in October. I have an Idaho mulie tag and a wolf tag. A fine gentleman and forum member here on the 'Fire' has given me some helpful information. I would like to meet him in person some day. If I collect nothing but memories the trip will be a great success. I can hardly wait.

Currently doing some hammock camping...great fun, simpler and more comfortable than a tent. Not sure I want to transition to cold weather in one just yet.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I am not a frequent back pack hunter but all my experience has been in south centeral Idaho where I will be going again this year. Usually 4 or 5 miles into a central location near water and branching trails. Mostly 3-5 day hunts. We are planning another this fall for a full 5 days hunting in country. My biggest problem is finding someone to go in with me. Most of the guys I have hunted with in the past went for 3 or 4 days total and were not equiped to camp out. I will be 67 in a couple of months so my days on the ground may be limited.

Here is the hike I'm doing this summer. It's been on the bucket list since the 80's. It'll be a good conditioning hike for fall alpine hunting. Check out the elevation gain on the map page.

http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/chilkoottrail.htm

These days most of my extended outdoor recreation involves boating. Lots of water around Juneau. We probably have 30+ day hikes within 10 miles of the house. I'd like to do some winter camping also. I've been scoping out a few places to get dropped off and set up a camp for several days of hunting- after the brownies go to sleep. I have a tent with a stove now so its looking up.

I agree with the above statement. I have hiking friends and hunting friends but need to work on my hunting friends and get them into hunt/hike shape. Unfortunately one needs new knees.

I also need to branch out and hike new parts of the world. My wife has hiked in Europe where you hike between small mountain towns. Not any camping involved but she enjoyed it. That might have been in Germany.

Backpack hunting for me started at an early age, but mostly developed as a way to supplement my backpack camping diet... Started with a lot of small game and fishing one week at a time trips as a teen during summer vacations. Mom made us check in at least every week.
The Army, married life, work, parenting, etc put most of my overnight hunts on the back burner, limiting me to mostly long hiking day trip hunts. These daytrips sometimes became arduous when harvesting a deer at the end of the day, forcing night hikes packing out animals.
The invention of the cell phone, coupled with a light weight tarp shelter allowed me to notify the wife that I would stay out overnight, and pack out in the morning.
Lately I have been updating my equipment, and now have more time for trips.
Most of my trips are just overnighters when I have a downed animal far from the road, but I plan to start planning more trips as overnighters as I find hunting this way much more relaxing.
Most of my trips are in the Kittatinny mountain range not too far away from the Appalachian Trail in both NJ, and PA.

Same mountain? That suggests something that might be more fundamentally different than backpack vs hike in. Are you hunting in the same location for some consecutive days?

I've never had the patience for sitting or glassing. 2 hours (who am I kidding, 30 minutes!) and I've got to move. Back problems that interfere with extended sitting make it even worse.

When I backpack hunt, I'm not toting a spike camp to a location away from the road, then hunting from it for some number of days, I'm really backpacking .. moving camp 5-8 miles each day as well as hunting. If I'm setting up camp by the road, I may not move camp but likely I'll drive to a different spot each morning and tackle a different canyon or ridge. Same thing if I do an early morning drive from home to launch. I can't think of the last time I hunted the same spot more than 2 consecutive days.

One difference may be cover ... by preference I still-hunt in heavy cover, I don't like open country hunting. Sitting and glassing in the brush doesn't make much sense.

Tom

I've done both. I usually set up a base camp, about half a mile from where I think the elk are. I carry a spike camp and am prepared to move if need be. Often it's same mountain, different drainages, or same areas of the mountain, just trying to close the deal. I'm not much of a glasser either. There aren't many areas that I would need to move 5 miles or so every day. I like to get past the area where most of the day hunters are.

From just day hunting with other folks, I find most are only good for day hunting 2 days in a row. Often they waste all their energy getting to a location, and don't really have the energy to take an animal where the animals are. Packing in saves the energy for the hunt, not the getting to the hunt.

I started backpacking in my early teens. One day just up and decided that it was something that I wanted to do. My poor Pops who was just about 50 was game and we went shopping and bought the needed gear. Being from B.C. Canda and 1 hour east of Vancouver we did most of our hiking in Golden Ears park. This consisted of the Golden Ears themselves and Allouete Mtn. We also did a little bit of hiking in E.C. Manning Park as well as doing the Juan de Fueca Trail just down from the famed West Coast trail. I also did one hunting trip with a family friend in my teens and was annoyed about driving everywhere and always worying about being close to the vehicle.

It all came to a halt as i got my drivers licence and graduated from highschool. An apprenticeship, full time plus work, chasing girls, a number of non at fault car accidents and 4x4ing took me away from backpacking.

Fast forward to 3 years ago, now 26. I am now married, house renos are done and i want to fullfill a life long dream of hunting. I go out with that same family friend from almost 15 years prior.We end up in the Tunkwa Lake area of BC. This is road hunter central.Once again i am sick of driving and sitting around.

I come home from this trip and start going through my old backpacking gear. I am so excited to do this my wife told me i was like a little kid.

I am still limited by time and do most of my hunts in the Harrison Lake area, where i and others have had success. I am now scouting new to me areas closer to home and planning my first solo overnight hunt with my dog Grizzly in the Burke-Pincecone Park area. The areas i am headed to are steep,rugged and doesnt have much of a trail system this seems to keep the masses out.

I will be 30 this year and look forward to 30 plus years of hunting and backpacking.

Fuzzyone

While I nearly always carry a backpack when I hunt, I don't always backpack hunt. To me, a backpack hunt involves packing in camp gear, food and other necessities and setting up camp. Although, I guess that a full day of hiking and hunting would probably count as well.

My favorite places to hunt are the CO Rockies (for elk), and deer near the badlands in S. Dakota, the mountains in SE Oklahoma and the flatlands in SW Oklahoma and the TX panhandle. I have several backpacks but my favorites are my Eberlestock J34 and Kifaru Longhunter.

Kevin -

No argument from me, just picturing how different approaches apply, or can be applied, to particular settings. The one hunt I think would be really cool to do with an off road camp is far enough back in the woods I think it requires pack stock. I haven't been in there in elk season before. I think I may hike in this year, might buy a tag, might not, and see if anyone is setting up camp or if people are avoiding it entirely. Maybe it's where all the elk magically vanish to.

Tom

I started backpacking with the Boy Svouts over 50 years ago, mostly in Southern California and the High Sierras. I suppose that LRPs in Viet Nam could be considered backpacking if you stretch the definition. I did some more backpacking in Arizona while I was going to school, mostly in the high deserts, Grand Canyon, etc. I moved to Colorado in 1976 and started climbing and a great deal of the backpacking that I have done in the Rockies was to gain access to climbing.

I started big game hunting in 1978. In the early years hunting was mostly from base camps at the end of a 4x4 road on the wilderness area boundary. But it only took a couple of years for me to realize that I could do a lot better if I setup a backpack spike camp a few miles from the nearest road. In the '90s I would hunt Colorado's 1st rifle season and I was very mobile, carrying everything that I needed on my back and I would camp where the sunset found me. I was still strong enough then to haul out an elk from way back in.

Now I'm getting too old to make four or five trips carrying 80# on my back for many miles. So in recent years I have been renting a horse to setup a spike camp several miles from the road, then stabling the horse at a ranch near the trailhead. I'm not nearly as mobile as I use to be. I've hunted the 3rd season and the gear required to be prepared for winter conditions adds up in the pack. Snow conditions are not predictable enough to count on hauling a sled.

Last year I backpacked in to hunt coues deer in AZ and that looks to be an annual event. A field dressed coues deer is pretty light weight. I've done some climbing in Canada and some of that was backpacking. I've hunted in Alaska but none of that has been true backpack hunting.

When I was younger my gear was determined by the price and I routinely carried a 50# pack before I started adding hunting gear, gun, ammo, etc. I've heard it said that the cheaper your gear is, the tougher you have to be, and I've learned that there's a lot of truth in that statement. Now I'm willing and I can afford to pay the price to get better gear and ultra-light gear. I posted a thread a couple of years ago regarding the gear that I use for backpack hunting and the total weight was about 40# for everything.







I use a 30-06 and my rifle is one place where I carry a full weight piece of gear to get the job done. I suppose that familiarity with one tool and the confidence that comes with that has a lot to do with my decision.




KC

Chamois in the Alps this fall next.

"Backpack hunting for me started at an early age, but mostly developed as a way to supplement my backpack camping diet... Started with a lot of small game and fishing one week at a time trips as a teen during summer vacations. Mom made us check in at least every week."

That's how it started for me too. We didn't call it backpacking--we called it camping. Started out eating crawfish, bluegills, frogs, snakes, squirrels and rabbits, whatever...

These days I'm mostly in SC/GA/NC/VA. Have done several stretches of the AT. Spent some time in Colorado and N. California years ago. Some up in Mannitoba. And in Austria for a year in my teens.

I do both walking in setting up a camp and thru traveling. Usually the former involves other less inclined folks--kids or other couples. Thru traveling is usually just me or one or two other folks I don't have to worry about. We usually do some general foraging as well--berries and shrooms when the season is right. We're not pushing for distance and leave lots of time and energy to make up worthwhile meals.

I'd like to pick up one the new ultralight backpacking boats--seems like that would open up a whole new range....

Stories and photos would go on forever!

CMG, that's some gorgeous countryside!

Ella

My fascination with backpack hunting started here and on other boards reading about the adventures of others. Always wanted to try it and some tragedies in the last couple of years were the catalyst I need to jump in with both feet. I attended one of EdT's backcountry skills camps last summer and put together a backpack bunting trip with my brother and a buddy. Hiked our gear about 3 miles into the Daniel Boone National Forest and hunted from basecamp. We had planned a 5 day trip but horrible weather (high wind, lightening, driving rain) drove us home after 4 days. I was very fortunate to harvest a really nice little buck on the trip. This fall, Lord willing, I've got plans to chase bears in Montana. I can't wait, I already know it's going to be the adventure of a lifetime!