Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting 2013 Gear Thread

Some thoughts from this year. Much of this is copied from my elk hunt thread, but I added to it a bit.



The Seek Outside BCS tent and ED T Ti stove are incredible. Borderline life savers the first night this year. The ability to go from dark, cold, wet conditions to reasonably comfortable in minutes is amazing. I will likely upgrade to the new version of the BCS with two zippers for ease of access though.

My MRE Pocket Rocket and the Ti cup worked great yet again. I may add a small, light skillet so I can cook up eggs or pancakes (luxury items!).

Need a backup lighter. Only had a single lighter. Had that failed I would have been in a difficult situation.

Gaiters are a great thing. I picked up some from Cabela�s (Alaskan Guide Gore Tex) and they proved invaluable when plowing through snow all day. Great to get back to camp, pull them off and have the bottoms of my pants and top of boots be dry.

Salomon Quest 4D GTX boots were excellent. Although not insulated, my feet remained reasonably comfortable when paired with wool socks. Despite slogging through wet snow for days and the occasional bog and creek, my feet stayed completely dry. Toes were a bit cold when standing in camp in the evenings after it cooled off or after stopping during the day for a length of time. I would want more insulation if I knew I was spending significant time in snow and cold (our forecast was a small chance of an inch or two, it actually snowed 8�+).

My Eberlestock J104 again worked great. The versatility is amazing. Used the top bag and existing straps to hold the antlers and it was like they weren�t even there. Opening it up to carry the camp or closing it down for day-pack use while hunting worked well. Could be lighter though. Given that, I am looking hard at the Paradox pack. I would like to have a really light pack to have on while hunting. Just needs to carry a few things, but be able to take on a load of elk meat.

I switched to Mtn House meals vice MREs. I think I�ll go back to MREs for lunch. That eliminates need to carry source of hot water all day (stove) and the MRE is easier. And, I prefer the variety of an MRE (Main course, snack, etc.). I will use single serving Mtn House for dinner and keep the PowerBars, fruit snacks and almonds to cover the rest of the day.

The small Wyoming saw worked well. Only drawback is that it is not large enough to cut the skull plate of an elk in one cut. Have to turn the head around come from the other side to finish. Moving and twisting a dead elk�s head is easier said than done.

The 338 FED with the 160 TTSX is great for elk (the 185 TTSX worked real well too). Given its excellent accuracy in my rifle and what I saw it do on elk, I think this is my go-to load for now. There just might be something to the light and fast for monometal bullets. A 338 Cal bullet hitting the chest at ~3000 FPS makes a mess, in a good way! Combine that with the Kimber Montana rifle and it is an absolutely fantastic mountain hunting rifle. I will never carry a heavy rifle again in the mountains. Here's where he was standing when hit. He's down just on the other side of the timber in the upper right side of the picture.



Checking to see if it was still sighted in properly prior to leaving. (Truth in advertising, that was only 50yds - length of indoor range)



On a related note; I did learn the importance of proper rifle care. During the hike in it was snowing very heavily and the rifle got placed in the snow on a few occasions. Apparently some snow got inside the trigger, or possibly it got in around the bolt. Either way, the next morning it was quite chilly (~15 deg) and discovered during a quick function check that it would not cock. The small piece that catches the bolt would not engage. One minute of heat from the MSR Pocket Rocket fixed the issue. I have since cleaned and degreased it all out.

Kuiu DCS Guide jacket worked great. Hours in very heavy snow and I never had the slightest problem with moisture. They don�t recommend it as a true rain jacket, but it certainly did well in heavy snow and then in significant melting snow in the forest the following days. It�s a keeper. Layered with a Cabela�s Switzer Primaloft jacket and Kuiu and/or First Lite Merino wool kept me comfortable with temps in the teens.

Need better gloves. Mine got wet working through heavy snow and getting them dry was always a challenge. Priority for next year. I picked up some warm gloves at Cabela�s. They claim to be waterproof, we�ll see. I�ll try them out during deer season this year.

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