Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Pack Weight ?

7500 inches.

My gosh man, ^^what do you have in that big sack^^^??? Especially that last picture!

Is that during meat pack out or not? How many days of food in the pack?

First was pack in. 14 mountain house meals, plus other food, plus Ed T medium stove and golite SL4. It was gonna be nasty and we got 18 inches of snow that night some we had all the snivel gear to include zero degree bags. The food is bulky but doesn't weigh too much.

Last two are pack outs after putting elk down. So all the extra chit adds up.

It's not bad if you squat heavy and deep 3 times a week and do cardio 3 times per week.

It's just a big load if you staying 7 or 8 days and trying to stay in relative comfort. I did that travel light / freeze at night in the army. I'm 49 and like a full nights sleep now, plus a full belly.

The reason I went to the big bag is I had a MR crew cab and with 5000 (+/-) inches it wasn't enough when you put 2/3 of boned out elk in it! ;-). You had to strap all your gear outside like a vagabond. Yes it was freaking heavy. 9 hours to go 6 miles downhill.

Also, the load lifters now sit correctly with the real bag.

Yes I was fatter a few years ago. That was my first backpack hunt. :-)

Nasty weather will definitely change the ratio of "snivel gear" vs. "non-snivel gear"! 10 days of food and all of the other schit I carry when guiding will fill my big Kifaru up pretty quickly and it looked like you had quite a bit of stuff there. Snow gear/ cold weather clothing change the game, without a doubt.

I've not really weighed my pack before long trips, but I'd venture a guess that it's a solid 50# without bino's, rifle etc for a 10 day trip. Most of my stuff is fairly lightweight, but I pack what I need and don't really fret small stuff too much. I'm always fairly amazed at guys that can pack less than 40# for a 5+ day trip.


Kifaru AMR loaded with 3 Man Hilleberg Nallo, 6 days of food, etc for a sheep hunt...



Kifaru loaded with all 4 boned out quarters of a caribou, 4 days food, and camp...



Kifaru loaded with all meat from a boned out sheep plus camp, and probably 2 days of food.

Okay, 8 days and packing elk out. I guess that makes sense. Looks like you were packing a VW Beetle in there.

I keep forgetting about the elk. We don't have them out here. Well actually we do, just can't hunt'em, not legally anyway. 100 pound eastern whitetails won't fill one quite that full.