Whats in your pack ?

[IDELKFVR]

I struggle with this because I have stuff in my pack that I never use and are just there in case of an emergency. So I will go a couple years packing stuff around and then think I need to shed some weight. Then I will take it out and go a couple more years read something and decide I need to carry that again. I am talking like water pump, first aid kit , multiple, knives, rain tarp , multiple fire starter's , extra gloves , rain gear ,fishing kit , survival type stuff that seems to add up and add weight that I never seem to need.

Its a yoyo game. I think back when I was a young man which was a while ago and would head into the hills with nothing but a knife, saw , bic lighter and a couple sandwiches and be gone all day drink right out of any creek I could find and never had any trouble. Now I carry a back pack with all kinds of stuff I think I need and half of it is for emergency's only and never have had to use it.

Send me your guys thoughts.

 

[kidoggy]

yep. there was a time ,all I needed was my gun , a knife ,A BAG OF DORITOES AN a few sodas an I was good to go for the weekend. now it seems I have to bring everything I own including the kitchen sink.. and food to feed an army.

I figure , a first aid kit is not important. rub some dirt in it! one knife should be sufficient.I still drink out of the lil creeks an springs but avoid drinking from the larger rivers or lakes. have yet to have a problem. fishing gear depends totally on how long I am out or how access to fishing is. if I'M GONNA BE BY A LAKE OR GOOD STREAM FOR A FEW DAYS ,I MAY BRING IT.if only a day trip,not worth the energy to me
how much i bring depends on how long I am planning to be out . if it's just one night I will just snuggle against a tree and tough it out. if it's longer then that I figure a few more comfort items like a bedroll may be justified.
one pair of gloves is plenty. if they get wet,well that's what sleeves an pockets are for. an I can dry em by the fire at night.good rain gear ,will save you misery. don't bother with a tarp but if gone for more then a couple nights, I do bring a 10x10 piece of plastic that I can roll up in.between the plastic and shelter under a tree or rock overhang and I can generally stay pretty dry,.unless it is a massive downpour.
probly the best thing to do is check the weather reports before heading out ,to get an idea of what you may expect. then pack accordingly.

 

[ivorytip]

first aid kit and a water filtration are the very first things that should go inside of every single back pack. the weight of those should be included as empty pack weight. that creek or spring only needs to make you sick one time and it is not a fun time at all. closest to death a man can feel.

 

[87TT]

I have a Platypus gravity filter that weighs like nothing and takes up very little room. And Giardia or other stuff is definitely no fun. With Giardia, the cure is as bad or worse than the disease. That said, the filter, fire stuff, knife and a little food. I usually have my Snowpeak ti stove and small cook set with coffee. It all fits in the small pot.

 

[tttoadman]

I will drink water from high streams once in a while up my local area. I know these streams are only a couple hundreds long coming out of the side of the hill. I always carry my filter package with me. That is why they call it a possibles pouch. You never know what could present itself.

 

[Slugz]

Water filter or pellets, tag, 2 zip ties, para cord, 5 x game bags, 4 x 5 gallon zip lock bags, Havalon knife, small bone saw, head lamp, first aid kit, baby wipes and food for the day. That's my day pack when hunting out of main camp, going in 2 hours before sunrise and coming out after dark most days. I stash a frame pack and trekking poles in a central location about 3 miles in.

 

[tim]

are you talking about what is in your pack for a couple of hours hike or a couple of days? Remote or front country? mountains or desert? to many variable to have an inclusive list.

 

[JimP]

I agree it going to depend on weather I am packing in for a 5 day hunt or just out for the afternoon.

For the most part I don't pack a official first aid kit. I do however pack a number of reinforced paper towels and a couple rolls of electrical tape. This can be used from just about anything that you can think of from covering a deep cut to splinting a broken leg. I also pack a tube of Neosporin for any use that I can think of for it. And that is about it for my first aid kit. However if you wear contacts, hearing aids, are prone to blisters, or any other problems then you should pack a lot more. I just get by with a lot less.

Water filters are beyond my time. I still pack some iodine tablets to disinfect my water if I need to get it from a unknown source. Perhaps there is something to the story that some of us older folks have germs in our bodies that take care of a lot of the other germs that we may ingest that younger people don't have. But I have never gotten sick by drinking the water that I have collected during my hunts. If you feel that you need to pack one then by all means pack one, I promise I won't laugh as you are filling your belly by using one.

Other than that I usually have 100' of 770 para cord. Make sure that it is actually 770 or 550 para cord and not the junk some retailers are selling with a cotton core. I have also started to carry some 2400 lb mule tape that I got from where I used to work. This stuff will work where the para cord doesn't. It is a braded nylon pulling tape and I have used it for a lot of different things when I wanted to save my para cord.

Then comes the head lamp with a couple of sets of extra batteries and to back up the head lamp I also have a pen light.

For blades I have a Gerber pack saw with a bone and wood blade. I also have my Havalon and extra blades just in my pack, and depending on where and what I am doing I may even have another knife in it also. But then I also have a Leatherman Wave and a folding blade on my hip along with a small folding knife in my pocket. I hate being without a blade.

Food wise, you can always find a number of granola bars in any of my packs. I keep putting them in as the year goes on even if I don't eat them. There have been a couple of times that I have pulled one out that looks more like just something flat other than what it started out as but they sure taste good. I also usually have a couple of packs of the Capri Sun drinks that come in foil packs. They are nice and compact and give you a little bit of flavor in your drink for lunch.

So those are the basics in each pack that I own. Depending on where and when I am going somewhere the other items will vary quite a bit from not much more other than a canteen of water to enough supplies to last me out for a week.

 

[IDELKFVR]

Yeah I am talking day pack leave before light and come back after dark.

 

[mcseal2]

Most items depend on where and what I'm hunting. For survival gear I have a kit I always keep in whatever daypack I'm using that day or season. Even if I don't need it for an un-expected problem some of the items come in handy for gear repair or other stuff.

Basic Full-time daypack kit including medical (1lb 7oz)
-stainless steel water bottle
-spare wool socks
-Adventure medical heatsheets bivy (the 3.8oz one)
-cheap mylar space blanket (mainly for a fire reflector or to give to a second person)
-compass
-bandana (red for signal, pre-filter water etc)
-Mammut S-lite headlamp (1 AA lithium battery, 60hr life, 2oz) (this is part of the kit, and in addition to the second one I count as hunting gear)
-Smith’s pocket sharpener with whistle & firesteel built in
-fire kit: firesteel, lighter, vaseline coated cotton balls, 4 wetfire cubes
-50ft roll 2" wide duck tape
-small bottle superglue
-frontier water filter straw
-10 tablets potable aqua water purifier
-30yds 152lb bank line
-15yds 350lb bank line
-25ft bright yellow paracord
-blank CD (signalling)
-little bag with 12 45lb 18” cable fishing leader snares & 30ft 25lb fishing line, 20ft 10lb fishing line, 12 hooks, repair needle weighs 1.2oz)
-toilet paper. I take a roll of blue shop towels and cut it in half, then take some off the roll and put it in a ziplock. It's tougher than regular TP, doesn't fall apart or turn to mush when wet, and multi-purpose.

Medical: (stop bleeding, make splints)
-quick clot sponge
-1 roll hot pink vetwrap (bandaging with duck tape, marking trail, etc)
-small tube neosporin
-rubber glove
-6 pills immodium
-2 pills Claritin
-6 pills ibprofen
-1 tube sunscreen
-1 tub Carmex lip balm
-4 safety pins
-1 antiseptic towlette

I carry other stuff depending on the hunt and terrain, but this stuff goes every time. If I think I might end up staying overnight to be on an animal in the morning, the weather is real cold, or rain looks likely I add a Kifaru Paratarp, Hill People Gear mountain serape, and military poncho that can be raingear or a ground sheet. The HPG serape is an insulating outer layer for glassing that covers my legs and upper body plus a sleeping bag. I like things that are multi-use both for my hunt and an unplanned camp or emergency to keep things as light as I can.

 

[Never in Doubt]

I'll carry a backup blade/knife and a backup headlamp/flashlight. But other than that I don't really carry a spare of anything.

Sure, stuff could break or fail and a backup would be nice, but I dont want to haul it around my whole life just in case. My tent could fail but I'm not gonna back a backup tent every year lol

 

[kidoggy]

way I figure it, the majority of what folks carry are nothing but convenience items. decide what you can and can't live without . anything else your willing to pack on top of that is up to the individual who's gonna carry it.

 

[Timberstalker]

Day pack, one water bladder full of tap water, a few granola bars, kill kit that's it. When everything works out its full of meat on the way out.

 

[drifli]

3 extra bullets, 1 knife, 50' - static line, (climbing grade small diameter rope) Bug spray, Down Jacket, Kestrel, Rhino gps, water, couple Pb sandwiches, matches, lighter, small tarp, game bags. Headlamp.

I pack light for day hunts. Add my stove, sleeping bag / pad and dehydrated food for multie day over night trips.

When scouting I build small cashes for latter in the year. Dry bag buried with goodies.

I pray I never loose my gps with all my waypoints in it. I go overboard establishing secret glassing locations.

 

[7stwluver]

I'm never without aqua Mira drops and a stri pen. Trioxane tablets tenacious tape couple o small Bic lighters one wrapped with electrical tape aleeve. In my kill kit (I use a kifaru pull out) tag bags havalon 30 ft cordage and some 6-10ft marking ribbon. And a Nalgene bottle. The rest of my gear changes dependent on the duration location and time of year for a hunt.


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