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I bring along hand sanitizer and it also works great for lighting the wood stove and cleaning up after butchering an animal.

When I got to bed in my teepee at night I put wood under the wood stove to get it super dry. And then in the morning I load it all up from my sleeping bag, squirt in some hand sanitizer, light it up, and within in moments the whole teepee is warm and it time to leave the sleeping bag and cook breakfast.

Also I don't do 'spike' or 'base' camps anymore. I like to keep it all lightweight and portable and carry it all the time. You camp when you find the animals. On a recent elk hunt we brought along a teepee and woodstove that weighed 5 1/2 pounds total combined and all 4 of us fit inside comfortably. Not much of a penalty for portability - and also no need for propane if you cook on the stove. and so you save weight if going out for really long.

Patrick

Be careful. There is a difference between baby wipes and anti bacterial wipes. Baby wipes are great for cleaning up, washing your face, using in place of toilet paper, heck you can take a reasonably good backwoods bath with them. They're called baby wipes for a reason. They originated for wiping your baby's nether regions and are gentle, won't cause issues.

Anti bacterial wipes are a whole 'nuther animal. While they are handy with a number of useful applications, they are not something you want to "bathe" with nor use in the place of TP! At least I don't! I'd keep them away from any "sensitive" areas!
They are fine for your hands. Personally, I keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket for my hands, and carry baby wipes for other jobs.
Find some flushable wipes and they'll biodegrade if you're not carrying them out in your trash.

I always carry a pair of Playtex gloves, the yellow ones with high cuffs. They're great for dressing and skinning as they keep your hands clean and dry and they have decent traction for pulling on wet hides and innards. They're stronger than most rubber gloves and last longer. I started using them because they're the only good glove that comes in XL for my large hands.

I have antibacterial wipes I've been using to wipe my arse with for years. Hate to get graphic here, but first I use TP, then a wipe or two for complete clean-up, then another clean wipe for my hands.

It's never been a problem.

Alrighty then. If it works it works. I think I'd check what type of anti bacterial agent is in the particular brand of wipes. Whatever you use obviously works for you. I would think bleach or alcohol would be somewhat harsh.

But then maybe my arse is more sensitive!

I carried nytrile gloves for years. They always seem to break apart when you're up to your elbows in guts.
Learned this ^^ trick^^ from RC last year in Idaho. I now carry a pair in my field dressing kit. Playtex dishwashing gloves in XL fit me fine.

My mistake. I said Rubbermaid gloves but meant Playtex. This one:

That's easier to remedy by not gutting elk.

Tanner

Agreed Tanner

I use the Playtex gloves whenever I'm not backpack hunting. I know they don't weigh much but I do everything I can to keep my weight to a minimum. And anyways, a little game blood and gore on my fingers keeps me from picking my nose.

An added twist to the kitchen glove is a kevlar glove liner, they're warm and you don't cut through them with your knife. Did this trick when skinned and quartered a bison in the field, it was -15 that morning but it had warmed up a tad by the time I got to the bison - still mighty cold. Cheapest to get the kevlar gloves where they're sold to sheetmetal workers.

I used a Kevlar glove on 3 animals this year. It does provide a nice margin of safety, but I thought they were also a bit on the dirty side. Hair etc, seems to stick to the gloves pretty well. I will use one next year as well, but likely use it a bit more sparingly.

I sometimes envy those people that get animals in easy spots , that are easy to keep everything nice and clean

Kevin

Some good info on this thread...

I did find the spot reply hilarious as I don't carry one. My friend does, he was forced to after, shall we call it a "mishap", while on a backpacking trip. His gf's mother made him get one...he forgets they require batteries lol

The Kevlar glove is a good suggestion. If you accidentally cut an artery several miles from the truck, you could be in big trouble. Because of this I am always careful when dressing an animal, but a Havalon knife cuts meat like a hot knife cuts butter, it would do your hand the same way. A glove would reduce that risk.

I jabbed my finger a couple years ago with a havalon while boning an elk, thus the Kevlar glove for the non-knife hand. An LEM meathook would work as well.

The easy fix though is to replace the havalon. I quartered a deer last week with an outdoor edge Razor Blaze and found it superior to the havalon in so many ways. Weighs about 2 oz more, but is stronger and much easier to grip and maneuver.

great thread, many have been listed here already, but these are the ones I feel most advantageous ime

1. get in shape, carrying heavy loads while training makes up for the lack of time you can train vs. actually hunting. I try and work up to 90 lbs. at least to train with before a bp hunt, also I don't side hill when training, straight up in the nastiest slope I can find and through blowdowns, loose rock etc.
for a ten day hunt my pack usually weighs 55 lbs. or so going in, after used to hauling 90 it seems light and comfortable

2. trekking pole, at least one, I've never taken 2 due to weight, but a tripod is more stable than a bipod and with a trekking pole I can go faster and safer than I can on two legs.

3. Food, I don't take much of anything to eat if it doesn't make c/o calories per oz. I'm looking for 100 calories per oz.
also easy prep, if it takes more than boiled water, it ain't going

4. Lt. wt. gear, grams add up to ounces, ounces add up to pounds, I'm critical on gear being lightweight, if I can pare weight on gear I can take more food and stay out at least 10 days

5. I take a 3/4 length pad and also a butt pad to sit on rather than sitting on my pack as one poster suggested, it fits between the pack and frame. wet ground no problem, frozen ground I have insulation, a few rocks etc. takes the blunt edge off them Then I can use it along with my 3/4 pad when sleeping to provide more insulation from cold ground

6. Used Mtn. Hse bags, YMMV, but after hiking hard all day, I ain't crawlin outa the bag in a rainstorm to go take a leak. I unzip my sleep bag (if it's zipped, use mine as a quilt often too) grab an empty bag, pizz in it, open the door and pour it on the ground on the downhill side of the tent. Enough food and enough rest are key to being able to hunt hard ime.


7. I carry lt. weight binocs, in my shirt pocket to take a quick glance at.... is that a white rock or a sheep? The spotter and tripod get used for serious glassing. so I take a pirate looking eyepatch to put over the off eye to keep from having to squint and getting a headache from glassing too long. Also drill a hole in bottom of stem of tripod, use a lt. wt. carabiner and a mesh bag if it's windy, put some rocks in the mesh bag and now I have a lt. wt. tripod no longer lt. wt. that's more stable in the wind. Also use backpack and raincoat to shield my spotter from the wind as a windbreak as needed.

8. hydrate, for serious bp hunting, I like the platy type bags with a hose so I can use the bite valve and drink on the fly

9. Practice the way you'll play. Like to shoot my rifle with my heartrate up off my pack. I don't take a shooting bench with me. Practice also covers Calvin's very good suggestion of practicing with your gear before you go.

10. one very small headlamp and one photo micro II are all I need in the way of light. The two of them don't even weigh an oz.
I'll either take new ones or old ones with fresh batteries.


the two knives I take don't weigh much more than an oz. either.

Did I mention I believe in going light? thought so.


great thread, ain't nada like being on a windswept ridge in high country

dont do alot of cold weather back packing but have had good luck keeping the line from freezing up if after i take a drink i blow air in the mouthpiece which leaves the tube mostly full of air, not water....

If it's cold I just tuck the tube inside the pack and so it's placed in between the bladder and my back(where it's the warmest).

Take a drink every hour or two so it's not much of an inconvenience.

That's also useful in hot weather so you don't get a mouthful of hot, nasty tasting water from the hose.

Speaking of that nasty taste from some bladders, pick up one of these and never deal with it again:

http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platypus/hydration-systems/hoser/product

I think it was EdT who recommended it, keeps your water tasting good.

This is always a good tip but it is especially important when backpack hunting.