Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting 3-5 Day Pack Review Preview

I really was a lot more organized than the photos show. It was mostly that bulky vest I kept on the outside of the pack to stay warm when I stopped and dropped my pack.

And the final photo tells the story------------I was coming out and heading home, so fug it. I was moving too fast to get cold wearing wool for all layers, so I just let the snow soak me. It was nine miles and not worth trying to stay dry. Broken ankles/bones were the real concern. I was warm, happy and tired.

I got some looks of awe from the late arrivers sitting at the trailhead in their warm rigs trying to decide what to do.

A Back Country Shelter with a Ti stove could have made the difference there. Not much of a weight/space penalty either.

Don't worry. Dan needs a 6500 for an overnight.


Travis

I thought I did too---------but for two weeks. Pain is a marvelous teacher however, and I learned that I'll never go IN with that much weight again, and I'll never use a NICE frame again.

nice pics. wish you would have included one of the river you had to swim with that panel loader.

Another thing I learned is that while leaving my pistol at home I saved about 978grams, it was NOT worth it. The photo of my tarp camp will forever hold a warm place in my heart. Learning occurred that night. I laid there (English teachers feel free to step in here) all night thinking about Oregon's woof problem, in addition to the cats, and bears that probably weren't sleeping yet. I was in a mummy bag, which was inside a bivy, and my 700Ti lying next to me would have been zero help if I awoke to being chewed on. The logical side of my brain kept saying "shut up and go to sleep," while the side kept waking me up saying "what was that?!" I swear I could hear mice at 200yards that night! I've never had that kind of fear (how about hyper-vigilance?) before, but I've never slept w/o a pistol before. Another lesson learned.

I'm fully aware of what this confession might cost me, but this thread needs a boost.

I've got a Paratipi, but wanted to try a lighter approach, and one that didn't require driving lots of pegs in potentially rocky ground. My previous hunt (photo#1) involved a non-freestanding one man tent and setup did NOT go well during a heavy rainstorm and 3-4" of topsoil. That was another lesson learned. With my E-vent bivy and tarp, and synthetic mummy, I could crawl into the thing w/o setting up a camp at all in a worst case scenario. Or add a tarp to cook/hang out/sleep under if given the chance. I could have stayed drier if I wanted, but that country was steep and rocky, and once covered in snow I was worried about getting in over my head with an injury. Poles helped a lot coming out.

In my, albiate limited experience, it's because some people put their entire existence and self worth into what they did one time twenty or thirty years ago. They also believe that because they walked somewhere with a pack, or swam on a coast, or got drowned in a pool, that they now have some ultimate knowledge pertaining to all things. Never realizing that carrying a pack at camp Mackall in no way has anything to do with carrying a pack on a backpack hunt, or really anything for that matter. Some also have a hard time understanding that life is a fluid environment that changes and advances and if you don't stay in the game you become obsolete.

Meanwhile some who have walked with a pack, swam on a coast, got drowned in a pool (or more), realize that much like making the football team in high school, it was a one time event that really denotes no particular expertise or knowledge.


My meager experience has revealed that even at relatively high levels the military is rather mediocre in comparison to the "civilian" community in technical skill and knowledge...... But hey- I'm not a Green Beret so what do I know.......

222,

That wasn't 2011 by any chance was it?

I was one ditch over from HC that year for rifle deer. It went from hot/dry & dormant sage, to full-on snow!

Sorry to sidetrack...

Just started playing with the Bikini & Highcamp 7000. I like panel loaders in theory but wanted to go as light as possible. I'm used to organizing with stuff sacks on my packs and motos. Not as easy as a panel loader for sure, but I'm a wimp and want everything featherweight until I can afford a mule.

Jason

That's not true at all... If you're packing the whiskey

I'm Irish, I have demons that require being drank to sleep.

I think this one beats your drywall statement. Classic!

I have had a couple of trips where the snow came down like that. It can be brutal, but a camp with a heated shelter can make all of the difference. Drying out is a must, I won't do that kind of weather without a stove.

I will be shipping off the paradox to Dan in the morning, he should be able to comment a bit more on this pack in particular.

Namack and I will be heading out the week of the 15th with the Kifaru and Stone Glacier for a deer hunt. If I can prolong my phone battery life I will post updates here on both of those packs.

If something should die i will send out some pictures to be shared as well.

Me either, although I don't know what it has to do with drying out.

Fixed.....

That Hoffman Triangle gobbled you up, didn't it?

Nope, but the same weather system hit several of the NE Oregon units. More the rule than the exception that time of year, and a heated shelter (especially if returning to a base camp) is the way to fly IMO. The guys with wall tents always smile the biggest. In fact I'm starting to think with the consistently inconsistent weather each fall that hunting from a large comfy base camp with a few other guys makes more sense than trying to go fast and light solo. More comfortable, and much safer if something goes wrong.

Sorry for the 2nd hijack......

The closest I've ever been to hypothermic, both times, was getting caught in a freak Montana July rainstorm. Wes laughed when I said my rollup Ti stove from EdT was in my "essential gear" pile when we through hiked The Bob. I never even used it, which isn't the point

I'll keep an eye out for the pack. Kevin can tell you a story about how you never ship USPS contract PO without a tracking number. I work next week, then I'm gone bowhunting for 8-9 days. If that pack gets here, I got a spot I'll take it with a pile of gear and hunt and fish for a few days.

Should anybody in NW Montana be bored 9-18 through 9-22, and you like to bowhunt and fish for cutties, and you don't got plans, and you have friends who are asain strippers, fire me a PM. My hunting buddy is in Afghanistan right now.

I did two winters in the arctic infantry but the coldest I've ever been was in S.Carolina, soaking azz wet. I camped near Moose Creek below the Chinese Wall last summer, right near where that young Marine's body had been laying between some rocks for nearly two years. They found him a couple of weeks after I was there.

I could be a smart azz and say something about not properly waterproofing your pack might be a contributing factor to your demise but.....

I hate to say it, but I usually use Sea to Summit silnylon stuff sacks with the roll top closures, and I use the eVent S2S compression sacks for my sleeping bags. Both times, everything in my pack was dry. I was being a stubborn idiot, since it was July and I was already sweaty..... Blahblah stupidness.... I probably could swim a river with my pack on, and keep my goodies dry. I just don't see the wisdom in it.

I'm assuming you're talking about Noah Pippin? It was actually Luke Lauteret's dad that found him. That family knows that part of The Bob VERY well. He has been on the S&R on several trips in The Bob over the last 20 years. No shocker that Luke's band is named Marshall Catch...

If Noah had a tent with a stove, he'd survived a Bob Marshall sleet and snow storm in September. I've hunted hundreds of days in The Bob in September. I've seen everything in the way of weather that Montana can throw a guy.

I realize this is a total hi-jack.... Sometimes a guy just has to know when to puss out and pitch a tent and light a fire. Once it's too late, you're pretty much F'd. Even if you waterproofed your pack.

Wood stove in the Bob in July? Talk about a minimalist...




Travis