Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Some Alaska pics and gear thoughts....

Copy and pasted from ARAIG so forgive me if you've seen it already.

Still just a greenie but I learned a few things about what worked well for me in some different conditions than what I'm used to. Hope somebody benefits from it, I know I asked a lot of guys a lot of questions and sure am grateful for the intel I got. Not my critters, just a few of the ones I packed out and worked on.











Clothes.... I pretty much wore Cabelas Micro-Tex pants and a Marmot Fleece 1/4 zip or a Icebreaker Merino 1/4 zip as a go-to hiking and hunting outfit every single day. Absolutely no complaints there.

Rain Gear- I used a Westcomb Spectre LT shell with eVent... this may be one of the best pieces of gear that I've bought. Beat the hell out of any Gore-Tex that I've worn and breathes way better.
I wore the Kuiu Chugach (Canadian make) pants, and they worked fine too. Kept me dry but took a bit longer to dry out than I'd like.

Insulation- I bought a First-Lite Uncompahgre before the season started and was grateful that I did. That thing kicks ass.

Boots- I wore exclusively Lowa Civettas and wouldn't use another boot out there. They simply kick ass for the terrain and hold my weak ankles together really well. Coupled with Darn Tough socks they made a great combo.

Sleeping bag- Mountain Hardwear Ultra Lamina 15.... great bag and I didn't wish for anything else the entire time. Even when it got wet it kept me warm as anything. I used a Thermarest Z-Lite and Thermarest Neo-Air and couldn't have been happier.

We used a variety of tents, mainly MSR Hoop 2's, Hilleberg Jannu, Kaitum 3 and 4, and a Hille Tarp UL-10. The Hille's are the bomb for this country IMO, but overkill for Colorado....

I used a Barney's Pinnacle and SG 7400 the whole time, mainly using the Barney's. Carrying a lot of stuff for clients just called for the use of the Pinnacle, even though I found the Stone Glacier to be way more comfortable and definitely the pack I'd prefer to use every day.

Optics- I ran my Cabela's/Meopta Euro 10x42s every day and loved 'em... great glass for the money. Spotters used were a Nikon ED-50 and Leupold Gold Ring HD 12-40x60. I will be investing in some bigger glass, but was very impressed with the Leupold.

What didn't work....

Sitka Rain gear (Downpour I believe?) my boss used this stuff and it simply sucked heavy ass. It wetted through even in light rain and the zippers busted everywhere, leaving him wet from shoulders to feet.

Gore-Tex- I am convinced that the VAST majority of Gore-Tex is completely useless, mainly the stuff used in boots. I saw more of this crap fail this year than I could believe.


That covers most of it, I'm sure I'll think of more gear that I liked and didn't like here soon...

Good man Charlie Brown. Oh to be young again.

There has never been anything good about Gore-Tex.

GoreTex is the ultimate in an oxymoron - 'breathable AND waterproof' my ass.

Hermaphroditic gear - a little bit of both and not enough of either.

Tanner - Where were you working?

For Ultimate Alaskan Adventures, Alaska and Chugach mtns.

eVent is the good stuff.

Tanner

Bad ass dude.



Travis

Thanks for the review and look forward to more gear reviews later. Granted I dont know the first thing how to judge sheep but that Dall looks fricken huge to me.

Cool. I wish I'd done that when I was younger, but the guy that tried to push me into it was one of my 4h rifle shooters... hence younger by a good bit and I was to old by the time I'd even thought about it...

Enjoy it. I know about packing moose just a tiny bit too. They mean many loads.

Goretex. I thought everyone knew it was a joke for years now. Wife and I have military stuff, wear it around here for light rain and such, and unfortunately or maybe fortunately.. it comes on lots of hunting gear insulated outerwear... standard... guess its ok when its light rain though... but I hate paying for the crap.

Good stuff!

Why the two sleeping pads?

Tanner,

Thanks for the write up and review. Spending that amount if time certainly allows one to ferret out the good and the bad. I think too often hunters overlook some really good gear, just because it doesn't come in camo.

Experience if a lifetime!

Nice write up Tanner. Guessing elk season won't require a lot of conditioning for you.

Congrats on having the foresight to do what you did. Hope you took lots of pics and wrote some of what went on down. You'll treasure it later.

I'm not 'old' yet, but wish I would have done something like that instead of following a more traditional life path. Wife and kids preclude that from happening now. Good on you for going!

Looks like a great adventure Tanner! My experiences with a lot of that gear mirror yours.

So...what's next?

Tanner,

Nice and memorable way to spend the summer.

Thanks for the write up and pictures....

Good report.

Gret info Tanner! Clear and thoughtful.

Glad that you got to do this adventure at this time in your life.

Tanner,
Welcome back man!!!
Did you hunt alongside Steve on any of these hunts?
He's an animal, no?

Great write up Tanner! What a gig. Keep it coming, more on the rifles, scopes and loads.

Z-Lite for insulation and the Neo-Air for sleepin' like a baby. Took me about a month to figure out the Z-Lite isn't really for sleeping on... grin



I'm going to try to whack an elk starting on October 11 for 5 days, then starsky and I are going to chase a mule deer for him starting October 18, and I'll hunt a different spot a few days after. That'll about wrap up October, then one more mulie hunt in November! Should be a great fall.... Back to school in January.

I'll be back in Alaska next year doing more of the same!



Yep- Steve and I hunted together for the last 3 weeks. He is indeed... we call him "Animal Mother".



Man... I saw some interesting rifles and scopes! I think it suffices to say that none are even close to what I'd consider taking into sheep country were I hunting for myself. Lots of heavy stuff, .30 mags that shot less than good... just interesting choices.

Tanner

Z-Lite stacked in 2 sections comes in handy when yo ass is tired of sitting on rocks too...