Snubbie, how much of your advise is actually based on real use and backpack hunts? Sorry if I am calling you out but its my understanding you have never been on a backpack hunt. Just wondering where all this knowledge came from all of a sudden.
We have had plenty of dicussions about budget gear and money saving deals. Your a big boy you dont have to give in to the peer pressure and buy every cool peice of gear out there. Like you said a guy that goes on one or two backpack trips a year does not need "top of the line gear". When your out in the mountains 5-6 days a week you find out what works and what does not. Top of the line american made gear is what I rely on, my life on. I have found spending money on quality gear the first time will save you money in the long run. That is if you use gear enough to find its weaknesses, if you dont then picking up gear at Wal Mart will do you just fine. Your sig line says it all and I agree.
I have been backpacking, and I have taken backpack hunts. Typically though, a backpack hunt here in my backyard will consist of one or two days, and not more than a few miles from the trailhead. We simply don't have quite the wide open spaces you guys have out west. I realize an overnighter 3 miles back is laughable to some, but it is what it is and I go when I can work it in to my work/life schedule. Time requirements for owning a retail store, an elderly parent, church, and a 6 year old(at age 51) just doesn't leave much time for dinking around in the mountains...as much as I'd love to.
However, I have not been on a typical hunt like you and others frequently take. I posted on here about taking a solo hunt, out west, in strange territory, and the wisdom of such an undertaking. I had many great responses from those, such as yourself, that are much more knowledgeable than I about that type of hunt. And, as a result, I've gleaned much useful information, and I do intend to take that solo hunt come October, i've purchased a mule deer tag and a wolf tag. Will I have success? Actually the odds are low, having never visited that particular area and no chance to pre-scout. The trip will be a success regardless of collecting a mulie or wolf.
As far as your first question, I have quite a few years in the outdoors, I've backpacked and I've hunted, I've hiked and I've flyfished out west, up north and points between. I've logged many miles in these Appalachain mountains. I've hiked into gorges to flyfish and I've packed deer out in a backpack and turkeys over my shoulder. I'm confident I'm knowledgeable enough and posess enough woodsmanship and common sense to take care of myself in the outdoors. Thus, my experience coupled with a good dose of common sense is not something that has come about "all of a sudden" to use your quote.
I clearly differentiate between the gear requirements of one with limited opportunities to spend in the outdoors, or a style or type of hunting that simply doesn't require quite the commitment of time or ruggedness of terrain, from the gear requirements of one who's type of hunting, time spent outdoors or terrain type my be catagorized as somewhat "extreme".
No, I've never taken the big "out west backpack hunt" but what knowledge I do posess from my research on that particular subject is at least partially obtained from people such as yourself, from this site. I feel I can gain more from real life people than from a book on the subject. I've obtained and upgraded to some decent gear as a result of info from the people on this site, many who are much more experienced than myself. I hope I can perhaps pass on some information that is useful to someone who may have less experience than me, or like me, is just fishing for information to be better informed to try things that work for them. I think it reasonable for all to participate in the discussion, regardless their level of "expertise".
My only point was one person's true "need" concerning gear may not be the same as another's and thus, the impossibility of assigning a price tag on the sum total of gear needed for backpack hunting. I don't have to spend 6 days a week in the mountains to be qualified to say that.
And besides, you say the same thing ^above^.