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Here is my sheep hunting gear list. I'd love to hear some comments/suggestions. Am I missing anything?

Tent: MEC Tarn 2 - 4 lbs 11.7 oz
SB: MEC Aquila down -7 and MEC GO down pillow in stuff sack - 3 lbs 5 oz
Pad: Thermarest Prolite - 17 oz
Cooking: Jet boil zip, 2 fuel cans, mug and titanium spork - 1 lb 13.5 oz
MSR water filter -1 lb 2.5 oz
Rifle: Rem 700 7mm-08 w/ Leupold scope - 7 lbs 1 oz
6 rounds of ammo - 4.8 oz
Pack: don't have a big one yet. Thinking a Osprey Xenith 105L at 5 lbs 11 oz. Hunting specific packs all seem heavier and way more expensive.
Spotter: Redfield 20-60×60 - 2 lbs 4 oz
Tripod: Manfrotto - 5 lbs (definitely need a lighter tripod, thinking Vortex summit, yay or nay?)
RF: Leupold RX-1000i - 9.4 oz
Binos: Redhead Epic - 1lb 4 oz
Knife: Buck Vantage Pro
Para cord: 2.2 oz
FA Kit and spare headlamp/GPS batteries - 8.3 oz
2 Vaseline smeared cotton balls and 10 matches in waterproof tube w/ tape: 0.7 oz
2 lighters and compass: 3.7 oz
Petzl headlamp: 2.8 oz
GPS: 5.7 oz
Game bags: 7.9 oz
Map 1.9oz
Bug spray
Sleeping pad repair kit
Glasses, sunglasses 
TP and baby wipes
Deoderant
Adil, tums
Crocs
Camera
E-reader: 4 oz (only for longer trips, rain days are much more bearable. )
Tags
Bear spray: 12.5 oz
Salt to be cached on scouting trip
2L H20
Food (Mountain house, oatmeal, cliff bars, GORP, beef jerry, fruit bars, Nescafe 3 in 1, herbal tea)
Clothes ( Merino base layer, 2 pair liner socks, 2 pair wool socks, insulated or non insulated mountain hardware pants depending on season, underwear, fleece or down mid layer, goretex shell, HH touqe and gloves.)
Zamberlan Boots

Most say to skip the pillow and use the sleeping bag stuff sack with clothes as a pillow. 5 oz for a comfy down pillow that compresses to nothing is worth it to me and it will not be left behind

Could probably ditch the water filter.

Any other areas that I could lose weight for little cost? Tripod for sure and it's next priority.

Looking at getting new optics next year as well. (Nikon monarch 7 Binos and Nikon fieldscope. )

Ditch the bear spray.

Pad- you could save a couple of ounces and gain a bunch of comfort and warmth by going to a Thermarest Neoair

Water filter- ditch the MSR and get a Sawyer 3-in-1. Put it inline with your water bladder hose.

You're hunting- ditch the deodorant.

Shouldn't need bug spray at that time of the year in the mountains.

I often ditch the GPS, E-reader, and camera, and just bring my smart phone, which replaces all 3.

Tripod- the Summit is fairly good, but it's also quite minimalist. You'll give up some steadiness for weight. If you're spending hours on your spotter each day, you need to consider that a bit of a weight penalty there may be worth the sturdiness.

Pack- like your boots, a premium pack is worth the money. Check out the Paradox Evo or Unaweep if you want a lightweight, bomber hunting pack. Stone Glacier and Kifaru also make fairly light, awesome packs.

Jordan nailed it, except for the bug spray.... Black flies can be horrendous after a good frost or two. And mosquitoes last August were some of the worst I've ever seen. A head net and bug spray were necessities.

Think really hard before ditching the water filter as well. I like the idea of the sawyer, but it sure wom't help you suck water up from a depression in a rock thats the size and depth of a saucer... Several times water filters have saved me big walks back to known water sources that would be deep enough to dip a bladder or bottle.

I would take Tenacious Tape in it's package and a short piece of GOOD Duct Tape wrapped around a water bottle and ditch the pad repair kit, have yet to see one worth carrying.

Agree with Dave above, don't risk Giardia in todays high country, being alone in the mountains and sick is NOT cool.

Deodorant- you will sweat it off, just wash as often as possible and it is not too bad. I have used that Israeli stuff that some bowhunting outfits used to sell, but, while they say it lasts for days, it usually sweated off in 3-4 hours. Anyway, there are far worse smells than hunters human sweat.

I wont pack a fleece layer anymore, am seriously compromised in what I can pack at 69 with spinal stenosis, and really prefer Primaloft over merino under Wesstcomb Neoshell for clothing and I have used it all. I also like silk undies over any synthetics, but, am now experimenting with some neat stuff from Underarmour.

One point, DO NOT stint on your first aid kit, this is NOT the place to risk by cutting ounces.

Good luck on your trip!

I always bring a headnet. Rarely bug spray. A headnet can turn miserable bug environments into... less miserable.

We do the sawyer filter. You need a way to back flush if you are going to use glacier water as your water source. I was backflushing multiple times per day in one spot. A hard bottle is also required for many times that you are using seeps. One spot we hunt, it is a very sketchy 1000 feet down to water, and there is enough of a seep in a boulder field that we can camp without doing that trip every day. A nalgene seems pretty light at that point.

I just assumed he was hunting in AB. Most of our sheep country is much less buggy than a lot of BC.

I spent three seasons, from four to five and a half months alone on AFS towers, two on Athabaska out of Hinton and one on Doucette out of Wabasca. I spent four seasons on four BC Lookouts in different regions of BC and, believe me, there were LOTS of bugs on all of these!

I used headnets and now use The Original Bug Shirt, the best rig I have found in the 59 years I have been carrying packs in the mountains. These are made in Ontario, I worked on a tree farm there and they have bugs by the freakin bazillions, they can be had in camo and would be ideal for sheepists in early season.

I'm not saying bug repellent in some form isn't useful anywhere in AB, or especially BC, but in the areas I hunt sheep in Aug. and Sept, it's not usually needed at all. The OP will have to determine for himself whether his hunting area necessitates it or not, I guess.

OP,

Any update on your gear list plans?

Got back yesterday from a 3 day scouting trip to a new area. Bugs were not bad at all and I won't pack it next time. I have been to bad bug areas in AB sheep country, this place was not bad though. Definitely not like in BC.

Won't take Deoderant next time.

I have ordered the Osprey 105 L pack. I tried on the 88 L version and really liked it.

Lighter tripod is needed ASAP.

Left my spotting scope outside of tent the first night and a marmot decided to help me cut some weight by peeling off all the rubber armour for me. Good thing it wasn't a Swarovski.

I've spent many days in the hills. Used to do a lot of alpine climbing. I've never seen the need for trekking poles, but could really see their usefulness in the event of packing out a sheep as camp is 13 km and a little over 1000m in elevation from the car. I think I may ad these for the hunt.

Immature bachelor group of rams:

Great when your glassing sheep below and some start coming around the ridge behind you:

Goat hanging with sheep at a mineral lock

Saw this goat two mornings right from camp:


Looks like a good spot and I'm looking forward to opener.

Awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing.

I used to average 165+ days in the BC mountains, almost always solo and started using a wooden staff about age 28, in 1974. I started with old ski poles a year later as hiking poles, other than when climbing steep faces and now I am too old and crippled to even consider not using Black Diamonds top end poles.


These really are a huge help toting a heavy pack in the bush.

Agreed. I never used to hunt or hike with trekking poles. Now I wouldn't even consider leaving them at home. They are like 4-wheel drive when hauling a heavy pack or traversing difficult terrain.