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by Mark Penninger
These days, if a hunter wants to enjoy a hunt for big game on public lands, he or she may have to invest some effort into getting away from all the commotion associated with roads, campgrounds, ATVs, UTVs, and other general annoyances that detract from a quality outing with your bow.
Don’t get me wrong; I often only have a few hours after work when I grab my bow, a fanny pack with a knife and some water and head up into the woods for an evening hunt. These short hunts have provided some good memories, as well as venison on occasion. However, there is nothing like striking off into the backcountry for multiple days with no itinerary except to hunt and enjoy nature. This type of hunt is exciting, adventurous, physically taxing, and somewhat romantic.
Longer trips into the backcountry require more preparation and planning. Poor planning and careless packing can quickly ruin the best-laid plans.
It is critical to know your personal limitations for a multi-day backcountry hunt. If the weather is hot, is it practical to kill an elk ten miles from a road when you’re alone?
I have hunted with some tough customers, but I question anyone who claims that they can pack in ten miles, kill an elk, then pack their gear plus at least four heavy loads of meat out before it spoils. That’s over 100 miles with excess weight on your back and knees, and in hot weather it needs to be done rather quickly. Going ten miles deep may be a little more realistic if your quarry is grouse or even deer. Making two ten-mile trips out with a deer on your back is more reasonable, but still a mountain of work. Cool weather, a strong back, and lots of determination can get game out from way back in the mountains. These kinds of experiences usually find you making deals with God.
My point – plan for a successful hunt just in case your arrow meets flesh. Ethics, respect, and the law all require that we care for game meat properly.
Once you decide what you are going to hunt and how far you plan to penetrate the backcountry, it is time to think about packing.
Sure, you can throw some gear into a sack the morning of and strike off, but with a little thought and planning you can pack wisely, allowing you to hunt longer and be safer and more comfortable. Here are some simple rules of thumb that I apply when packing for a backpack hunt:
The first and last items in my list are somewhat related. “Need” is a pretty strong word and can be taken to ridiculous extremes. I consider a toothbrush a necessity even though I could suffer through several days with moss growing on my teeth. Good hygiene is a “need” and can tie into safety.
“Needs” are basically clean drinking water, food, shelter, and basic hunting tools.
Reading materials, deodorant, electric shaver, etc. are examples of things that you do not “need” on a hunt. Make a list, and as you lay out your gear, pick up each item and ask yourself, “Do I need this or can I get along without it?”
Keep reminding yourself that you will only be gone for X number of days and nights. Our cluttered, luxurious lives in civilization have conditioned us to think we “need” all kinds of things. A few days in the mountains with the bare essentials can be a reminder of how good simple can be.
Considering space and weight when packing is important for a comfortable load on your back that will not snag on every branch in the forest. I enjoy discovering ways to fill nooks and crannies, protect vulnerable equipment, and shed ounces. I always pack my titanium cooking pot with a lighter, fuel tablets, tea bags, and granola bars to fill that otherwise empty space. “TEA BAGS’?! is that a “need? No, but it is a low weight, low volume nice-to-have that adds to my enjoyment. Rigid water bottles or anything that can be noisy or scratch against other gear are slipped into socks or clothing as padding.
Thin layers of clothing like silk base layers are excellent for filling small corners of your pack without adding much bulk or weight. Silk is an incredible fabric that many hunters overlook. It is comfortable against the skin and is warmer than you might imagine.
Merino wool is another favorite of mine. A polar fleece or puffy (synthetic or down) jacket packs down small, is warm and makes a pretty good pillow when rolled up with a few extra clothes. A down sleeping bag is my preference for dry weather. They compress very well, weigh very little, and keep you warm. If there is any chance of rain, you must use a tent, bivy sack or other shelter to keep your down bag dry. There are some treated down bags and jackets now that are water repellent, but don’t think they are water proof.
Allowing your down to get wet could be a fatal move.
Think about how an item of gear can serve multiple functions and leave unnecessary items at home. A sturdy bushcrafter knife can do all camp chores and field dressing, skinning and boning. Although a scalpel, hatchet, axe, and a couple of knives may be nice to have in camp, a single knife can get you by in the backcountry.
Safety and survival should remain in the back of your mind as you pack every item.
You never know when a misstep or an act of God will put you in a world of hurt. This is when small decisions earlier can mean life or death. Let’s assume you break a leg and cannot walk out. Did you pack a whistle to summon help once your voice is gone from hollering? Is any of your gear brightly colored that you can lay out to signal aircraft that may be involved in search and rescue? I have two Therm-a-Rest pads, one green and one orange. I use the orange one when going into the backcountry so it can be used as a signal if needed. Do you have a compass with a mirror that could be used as an emergency signal? Do you have enough water and basic first aid supplies to manage pain and survive a few days if needed? These are the questions that should guide your planning and packing.
Communications in the backcountry have come a long way over the past decade. It used to be that large clunky satellite phones and undependable cell phones were the only options for a hunter to contact help in the event of an emergency. That has changed with the advent of SPOT devices, and my favorite is the In-Reach that allows you to summon emergency help from anywhere on the planet.
The In-Reach unit that I carry is also a GPS, and my subscription allows me to send and receive texts and for others to track my route if I choose to allow that. Cell phone coverage has also increased, but there are still many wild places where a cell phone is useless.
Bears, venomous snakes, poisonous plants, biting insects, and accidents are real hazards. These all pale in comparison to the risks from very hot and dry weather or cold and wet weather. Heat exhaustion or stroke can kill; so, can hypothermia and frost bite.
Dehydration can be accelerated by weather and can be deadly under some circumstances. It is critical to know the general range of weather conditions that you may encounter on a hunt and plan for the extremes for that time of year. Plan for clothing that layers, and blocks wind and sun. Think of how you would respond if an unseasonable snow or cold rainstorm stranded you. Your clothes, raingear, shelter and sleeping bag should be appropriate to keep you protected from the elements.
Although I emphasize the risks from weather, if hunting in grizzly country you absolutely need to plan for that very real hazard. When hunting the northern Rocky Mountains or much of Alaska, you should not be paranoid about grizzlies, but you should take them seriously and practice proper bear etiquette.
In closing, if you skimp so much that you are miserable, there is no use going, in my opinion. What more do you really need than a bow, some arrows, a knife, and hunting license when hunting? If you kill something, use some ingenuity to get it cooled off as quickly as possible, pack some meat on the first trip out and bring a pack frame with additional game bags back in for subsequent trips. Some details are best worked out under pressure, but good planning can ensure safe, enjoyable and productive backcountry
Hello Everyone,
At the end of each archery season, I receive several phone calls about the mess that archers have left behind. From messy camp sites to someone leaving a gut pile in the middle of the road. I do not believe that all of the messes are created by archers, but archers are usually getting the blame for it.
None of us likes to clean up after others, but we need to start doing so. It could be as easy as picking up micro trash or carrying out trash that someone else left behind from a lunch break. I am surprised how many cans and bottles appear along the sides of the roads in the course of one night. There are those cases that are so big that you should bring in the authorities and let them deal with the issue.
I am not talking about the large messes for you to take care of but the small ones. When you are getting ready to leave to go back home, take a walk around your campsite and look to see if you or anyone has dropped any trash; this would include micro trash, the corner of a candy bar wrapper or a small piece of plastic from your new batteries’ container, and make sure there is not a bag of trash still hanging from a tree.
If you are one of the archers who like to pack back into a remote area where there are fewer people, I hope when you arrived at your area, it was clean and looked like no one had been there before you, and that is how you should leave it for the next group of hunters and campers to find it when they arrive in the same area.
We all have a darn good idea of what the outdoors should look like (forest, high desert, grasslands, water frontage, and wilderness). So, let’s do our part to keep the outdoors looking like we have never even been there.
Then, the next group of people who come after us can enjoy the outdoors as much as we did.
Thank you, John Wainwright