Colorado 1st Rifle Gear Weight

TOGIE

TOGIE

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@wllm1313 has llamas, all i have are legs.... right now at least

i'm also looking for some critique here. i'm still a relatively new hunter, and i find that my weight while hunting feel's like it's too much most of the time.

I'm going solo too. Colorado 1st Rifle.

This is prelimnary, but I'm working through what is my total weight of gear will be WHILE hunting. I'm base camp hunting, so tents, sleeping bag and most food doesn't matter other than essentially lunch and snacks

i'm trying to carry only the necessities of clothing. in the past i overpack on clothes, even on day trips. am i still? keep in mind, green is the plan for what will be on my body and in my pack.

i hate the under armour hoody, but it's also a great piece of layering. but should i just swap it out for my golite puffy? can't hike in the go life puffy though, over heat immediately no matter the temp

here is the breakdown:

1601660200743.png

i'm still thinking about my gear list, but shouldn't be missing anything crucial as of right now. I might be totally giving up on wearing long johns this year, they've never worked out well. buying the puffy pants makes me feel better about that.

what are most of your guys gear weights while elk hunting in october? i'm sure i'm close to average but it feels like a lot. or do people only care about their backpack and what's in it weight? i can't think about it solely that way. more weight anywhere equals more energy use, and burning legs

essentially my raw pack weight and a rifle on my shoulder and binos is gonna be in the 41 ish pound range with carried cloths. total weight of everything i have with me for hunting is 47 pounds.

keep in mind i am a younger, and at least in my opinion, quite fit dude. but i still like not having unnecessary weight. unfotunately it seems the only option to decrease weight for the most part would be a lighter gun, less water, no tripod, lighter backpack....

i dunno. thoughts?
 

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i forgot to weight my trekking poles. probably only hike with one anyway. it could also replace the tripod.

one of them weights 9.63 oz, 0.6 lbs

swap that out for the tripod i save 1.5 lbs
 
Way to many jackets in my book, check and no need for a second pair of pants in a day pack. I would definitely swap the puffy for the sweatshirt, I hike cold so when I start I’m comfortable not sweating my ass off. Then throw on a layer at the top of the mountain. I also don’t use a bone saw, they weigh a lot and don’t really use it. If your shoot something and want to skull cap instead of do a euro you could always get the saw on your first trip out.

Still seems a bit heavy but not sure there is much to take out. 11 lbs for the pack seems heavy.

Edit, I would take my tripod and trekking poles over most of my other gear. They are both at the top of my list.

I will have to weigh out my stuff this week before I head in.
 
Dsnow9 said:
Way to many jackets in my book, check and no need for a second pair of pants in a day pack. I would definitely swap the puffy for the sweatshirt, I hike cold so when I start I’m comfortable not sweating my ass off. Then throw on a layer at the top of the mountain. I also don’t use a bone saw, they weigh a lot and don’t really use it. If your shoot something and want to skull cap instead of do a euro you could always get the saw on your first trip out.

Still seems a bit heavy but not sure there is much to take out. 11 lbs for the pack seems heavy.

Edit, I would take my tripod and trekking poles over most of my other gear. They are both at the top of my list.

I will have to weigh out my stuff this week before I head in.
Click to expand...

items highlighted green are all i plan to hike with, i was just weighing all my hunting clothes. i'm actually not planning to carry a jacket, other than a vest

11 pound pack is not the pack itself, has a number of items in it already.

i'm really jonesing for more heart this year after ripping my last two deer hearts to shreds with my gun, i so i really want that bone saw.
 
Last edited:
wllm1313 said:
Looks pretty good. I don’t see anything unreasonable, you could shed weight various ways, we all can, but if you are too uncomfortable it will be hard for you to stick it out.

This is my gear list for 1st rifle.
View attachment 156239
Click to expand...
not overly dissimilar in weights, 1 liter less water i see

but this includes "pack in" items right? not necessarily day hiking while hunting weight/
 
TOGIE said:
not overly dissimilar in weights, 1 liter less water i see

but this includes "pack in" items right? not necessarily day hiking while hunting weight/
Click to expand...
I took it as day weight for hunting with. He said he was camping at the truck.
 
Dsnow9 said:
I take the heart always and have never used a saw. Packed one for years and realized I never actually ended up using it
Click to expand...

i guess i've never tried to get a heart out with cuttin er open.

i'm already convinced actually. my bone saw is getting dull
 
TOGIE said:
not overly dissimilar in weights, 1 liter less water i see

but this includes "pack in" items right? not necessarily day hiking while hunting weight/
Click to expand...
Yeah basically pack in weight before distributing to llamas. Llamas with get approx, 30lbs for the 11ish mile pack in, hiking weights will be weight on body then pack weight minus sleep system and food. Pretty similar to your weight.

We have two elk tags, pack out will be horrific if we tag out, no two ways about it.
 
TOGIE said:
i guess i've never tried to get a heart out with cuttin er open.

i'm already convinced actually. my bone saw is getting dull
Click to expand...
Cut the interstitial muscle and pull the ribs apart.
 
unless you are sitting quite a bit I'd ditch puffy pants pretty quick, long johns are usually plenty for first rifle. I'd also consider dumping the tripod, how are you hunting? if it's not sitting on a hill and glassing big, thick, country (in which case you would probably want a spotter or 15's) I find a tripod to not be all that helpful for elk... but more than those things I'd work pretty hard getting that 11# pack down a bit and ditch a bunch of the water... are you really drinking 3L a day? admittedly I'm a fit, skinny guy who is pretty used to not getting as much hydration as I probably need but I roll with a liter a day unless it's really hot... or I go pretty far out of my way to fill up in the field, Aquamira or iodine is way lighter than a filter, or get a filter bottle... at least pound a liter with a ton of electrolytes before leaving camp and ditch one liter... as to the pack, spares really add up, how critical are they? if you are day hunting and can walk back to the truck redundancy is a lot less important, I roll with two knives but one is really, really light and strictly for if I break the other one, no bone saw, you can get to the heart fine with a knife, bring the saw back for the second load if you want to notch the skull...

one way I keep from getting too much stuff is that I have a pretty ruthless "two-day" rule, with the exception of a minimal first aid kit and stuff like game bags if it doesn't get used at least every other day it isn't coming along... if you stick to the program it's surprising how much you don't really use that gets dragged along for "just in case" my pack usually weighs in around 17-20 lbs depending on how cold it is and how far I'm going.
 
GrantK said:
unless you are sitting quite a bit I'd ditch puffy pants pretty quick, long johns are usually plenty for first rifle. I'd also consider dumping the tripod, how are you hunting? if it's not sitting on a hill and glassing big, thick, country (in which case you would probably want a spotter or 15's) I find a tripod to not be all that helpful for elk... but more than those things I'd work pretty hard getting that 11# pack down a bit and ditch a bunch of the water... are you really drinking 3L a day? admittedly I'm a fit, skinny guy who is pretty used to not getting as much hydration as I probably need but I roll with a liter a day unless it's really hot... or I go pretty far out of my way to fill up in the field, Aquamira or iodine is way lighter than a filter, or get a filter bottle... at least pound a liter with a ton of electrolytes before leaving camp and ditch one liter... as to the pack, spares really add up, how critical are they? if you are day hunting and can walk back to the truck redundancy is a lot less important, I roll with two knives but one is really, really light and strictly for if I break the other one, no bone saw, you can get to the heart fine with a knife, bring the saw back for the second load if you want to notch the skull...

one way I keep from getting too much stuff is that I have a pretty ruthless "two-day" rule, with the exception of a minimal first aid kit and stuff like game bags if it doesn't get used at least every other day it isn't coming along... if you stick to the program it's surprising how much you don't really use that gets dragged along for "just in case" my pack usually weighs in around 17-20 lbs depending on how cold it is and how far I'm going.
Click to expand...

i kinda have the reverse mindset. i feel long johns are too much for first rifle and if it's really cold i want the puffy pants for glassing.

my style is hike far to spot and glass long, then take elongated timbery paths to evening glassing spots throughout the day.

i'm a pretty tall skinny dude myself, but tend to be pretty thirsty. 3 liters is also a planning number. but also, perhaps 3 liters will be barely enough when you're out from 4 am to 8 pm.. maybe the days will be cold maybe hot, maybe i'll glass more than hike. though not really looking to get my water from wallows when all i carry is aquamira. that said, if on the first day of scouting i do actually find okay water sources in the general areas i'm hunting, i'll dial back the water. but i'm also not looking to lose tons of elevation or spend too much time keeping my water stores up throughout the day. like everything it depends. i guess one of my points, is i feel like the energy i lose in carrying extra water might be less than energy and water spent dropping potentially 1500 feet or more to get fresh water. depends on the area though. maybe i'm underestimating how much freshwater i'll find. or need to man up and hike more to get more

i like your every other day mindset. i will probably sift through my pack and ditch some more stuff. i probably tend to be too conservative on headlamp batteries, and perhaps blades.

bone saw is definitely out
 
wllm1313 said:
Yeah basically pack in weight before distributing to llamas. Llamas with get approx, 30lbs for the 11ish mile pack in, hiking weights will be weight on body then pack weight minus sleep system and food. Pretty similar to your weight.

We have two elk tags, pack out will be horrific if we tag out, no two ways about it.
Click to expand...

yeah, going back for more ain't a realistic option.

do you only have like 4 llamas?

i expect hell no matter what if i shoot one. but it's realistic for me to take the next day or two and do multiple trips with no excess baggage like rifles, bino's and so on
 
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