"Day Hunt" pack - Ever regret not having overnight gear?

[lifeisgoodsteve]

So how many times have you been out on a "day hunt" and wish you had your overnight gear?

I have heard of a number of guys packing light then for one reason or the other (ran into animals they wanted to stay close to or an animal down) and ended up spending a cold night in the mountains.

How do you pack for your Day Hunts and allowing for contingencies of overnight stays or not?

Cheers,

s

 

[2rocky]

I've overpacked more than underpacked when it comes to dayhunt backpacks. I've never had to spend an unplanned night on the mountain either. Your clothing system should get you through the night if it had to. Maybe an emergency bivy like an SOL? and definately chemical hand warmers.

I do like a jetboil and coffee while glassing so an extra mountain house doesn't add much bulk.

The idea is to survive a night out, not necessarily enjoy it.

 

[Schaaf]

A Titanium Flask of fireball has kept me warm long into the night on more than one occasion. Drink Hard Hunt Easy. The titanium flask drives all the Kuiu fanboys crazzyyy

 

[A207X2]

Include in your pack at least a Space blanket and rain gear. Also some fire starting method (BIC lighter).

 

[Bambistew]

If I planned in staying over I'd just bring camp. My overnights were due to safety. Once it's dark it's sometimes better to wait for the sun and not fall off a cliff

I always pack a big space blanket, a little rope fire starter and have a foam pad (1/3 of a Zrest) along. Always have more food than I think I will eat in a day as well. I've slept on the mountain a few times. It's not fun or comfortable and really sucks if it's cold. Even with all my clothes it's still not warm once you stop moving. I pack a small siltarp sometimes as well. I bought a Kifaru Woobie but haven't packed it. It's really bulky, and am looking for something less bulky like a down blanket to pack instead. The woobie is bulkier than my 10deg sleeping bag.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

I always pack a big space blanket, a little rope fire starter and have a foam pad (1/3 of a Zrest) along. Always have more food than I think I will eat in a day as well. I've slept on the mountain a few times. It's not fun or comfortable and really sucks if it's cold. Even with all my clothes it's still not warm once you stop moving. I pack a small siltarp sometimes as well. I bought a Kifaru Woobie but haven't packed it. It's really bulky, and am looking for something less bulky like a down blanket to pack instead. The woobie is bulkier than my 10deg sleeping bag.

I like the idea of the woobie, but it's 1lb 15oz., so my 40 degree quilt about 1lb and probably warmer. It too is bulky and at least during archery elk when I'm not glassing much, it would only be for emergencies.

I have brought a sleeping bag in cold late season day hunts purely for glassing, which was a real blessing.

@2rocky nailed it in that even though I've tried to minimize, I still overpack always vs underpack.

I've been packing a dcf tarp for those "just in case" scenarios, like last minute shelter when glassing, or unplanned overnight, but honestly I've only used it once or twice for shade. With stakes it's maybe 8-10oz but it all adds up.

 

[Wrong Burgundy]

I lean towards a bit more gear in case I had to spend a night out, but I also check and double-check the weather to see just how good/bad it might be not only for the hunting itself, but in case I had a really late night or had to just spend the night somewhere on the mountain.
I usually think about an unplanned night out due to an Oh Sh*t situation where I was injured. I do carry an InReach but also hunt solo a lot, so I think it comes down to what is the tipping point where you would hit the SOS button (serious injury and/or rapid change in weather = high winds + subzero temps, etc.) or just let someone know that it is too late and you are too far from the trailhead/truck to get out that night, especially with an animal down. Coupled with hunting later in the season and short days, and I plan on always coming out in the dark. Whether that is 8pm or 3am, it depends...or whether or not I am going to be sleeping under a tree...

As others have stated, it is going to suck, but you will live through it, so bring the basics to do that: siltarp for quick shelter/windbreak, bivi sack, foam pad for a little comfort/warmth from the ground, plenty of high calorie food, water (filter too), firestarter kit and two headlamps. The titanium flask idea is genius, and I think at 2am in the freezing cold a nice sip of liquid courage would make me see some sort of god, in a good way. Really the only thing I am adding to my usual gear in the pack is the tarp and bivi sack.

 

[EYJONAS!]

I haven't hunted without a tarp shelter in years. Only weighs a pound. Why not. Pretty decent insurance plan in case the mountain has other plans for you.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

I haven't hunted without a tarp shelter in years. Only weighs a pound. Why not. Pretty decent insurance plan in case the mountain has other plans for you.

I get the insurance part, which is why I've always kept one in my pack.

How many times have you actually used it when it was closer to a "need"?

 

[Wallydeuce]

Always have a way to get a fire going. Water proof matches, lighters and a "reflective wrap" have been in my pack since I can remember. This may seem silly to some but even hiking the trails in the mountains near my home here in Las Vegas, I still carry them. (and a gun)

 

[EYJONAS!]

I get the insurance part, which is why I've always kept one in my pack.

How many times have you actually used it when it was closer to a "need"?

More times than a guy thinks. Long days glassing in rain and snow, good wind break, hell even long days on plateaus when the sun is just beating down on ya all day. Gives a decent spike camp option. For a pound it'll always stay in there.

 

[SilverDollars]

Howdy,

Emergency Overnight Stay(EOS) List:

Dry Bag to hold "EOS" contents below =>

Vaseline Cotton Balls-20 balls (in plastic pill bottle w/cap)
Ferro Rod w/Steel OR Bic lighter
Bushcraft Knife (belt knife)
Swiss army multi-tool (pocket knife)
SOL Tarp
Rain gear(top & pant) or Poncho
Flashlight w/fresh batteries
ARMY Canteen(metal) Kit filled w/water
Energy Bars(2 bars)
Instant Coffee Mix(3-4 packs)
Leather Gloves
Waterproof Area Map
Compass
Coaches Whistle for SOS(. . . - - - . . .)

This list compliments what you have on/wearing.

 

[Irrelevant]

Never.

Day hunts for me are never than far from the truck. And I'm cold-blooded enough that I pack enough clothes that with a fire it wouldn't be that bad.

 

[marshman]

Fire starter
Compass
Rain gear (it's WA always have it anyway)
Space blanket
multi tool w/sawblade
2 spare sets of batteries for headlamp
Water purifying cup

 

[A207X2]

I get the insurance part, which is why I've always kept one in my pack.

How many times have you actually used it when it was closer to a "need"?

Only had one situation where I needed it, and that was on a boat that broke down offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately I had a space blanket with me, food, and plenty of water to drink. On that night I learned what the definition of Dew Point was LOL

 

[BillDoe708]

I typically have a 6x6 tarp to put meat on if I am so lucky, fire starter and a few handwarmers.
Something is better than nothing.

 

[JAG]

Randy has an old show where he was day-hiking in Montana with his camera guy and didn't bring warm sleeping gear. They were on elk and he didn't want to leave. The camera guy was not too thrilled to be there.

 

[David658]

A story...

My first elk was shot back in about 1991 - I was a very good shooter, but 400 yards, a twitch instead of a jerk, and not continuing to shoot made for a long day.

I shot the elk at about 0700 - it was an agricultural damage hunt, but since we'd had a very warm and dry winter the elk never came out of the mountains. ODFW simply sent me a map with a circle drawn on it, saying "Hunt here". We (a friend of a friend took me out, this rookie needed and still needs help) sat for the better part of an hour to let the elk die - I had started to shoot again after the first shot, but my guide told me to hold off, I'd killed it by his interpretation of the wobble in her walk going up the hill.

That wobble was because I'd shot her in the hip joint. Shoulda kept shooting.

At the end of the hour, we walked down to where we last saw her, followed the blood, and then jumped her out of her bed some 30 yards away. Off and gone into the rhododendron and "reprod" (reprod is the term used in the PacNW for the replanted trees in logged areas). Off we went, following a surprisingly scant blood trail.

I had a fanny pack, which included a map, a compass, a knife, and not much else.

After about four hours of duck-walking through the rhododendron thickets, the reprod, up and down hill and dale following that very light blood trail, I finally finished the job. Four hours of that kind of exercise (and I was fit and young in 1991, all of 33), and I was whipped, my legs jelly, and my brain functioning on adrenaline only. Myron went back to get my rig, since he knew the country intimately, and I was left to field dress my first big game animal, solo (I had more or less seen it done and helped a little on two deer...).

When Myron returned with my VW Vanagon, he was able to get within about 200 yards of where I was. When he arrived, I grabbed the rifle and the elk's head (that was what I thought I had to have as evidence of sex), and struggled up to the rig. Where there was water. And food. I stinking had no idea how whipped I was. But with Myron's help, got the critter dressed, in the rig, and I was home about 4pm.

I still remember the struggle up the hill to my rig for that drink of water (it was about 70 degrees and dry in March, when in western Oregon it should have been about 40 and rainy). All I needed to have had with me was a couple of water bottles and a couple of protein bars, and I wouldn't have been so wobbly. In otherwise doggoned ideal conditions.

All this goes to why I pack more rather than less. I am always ready to spend the night, and here in NM I carry more water than I think I might ever need. Down puffy, rain pants, emergency poncho and blanket, as well as some food, even a SOL bivvy shelter. I realized that, thirty years ago, I could have had a very, very miserable time had I struck out later in the day, or had weather come in, and so on and so forth. So my pack will tend to be heavy during the day, and of course heavier on the way out. There is some gear I can leave cached near the meat, but for the most part the difference in weight is the water since I will still carry the overnight stuff with me on the way out, unless I am really close to the car and the weather is predicted to be innocuous for several days.

ps

A friends son-in-law took a shortcut to camp when hunting in the coast range in Oregon. Winter, foggy, drippy, but he "knew" camp was just over there. He and his rifle. Never found him. Now, he may have fallen, had a heart attack, been the victim of foul play, but he didn't have what was needed to spend a night out there. Packing more gear rather than less might not save my butt, but I do it anyway.

 

[GlockZ]

Never had to spend the night on a mountain. But yes, I carry some things in my daypack to get me by if forced to do an overnight.

 

[JustinsDad]

I used to carry around a bunch of emergency stuff. As I got older, less weight became more important. I can and have survived nights out there—uncomfortable but safe. I only carry an emergency bivy, bic lighter and a space blanket. Just a few ounces worth. I wear good clothes which is important. I have an InReach just in case. I do carry more water than some but I don’t consider that emergency equipment. I think many people carry around more weight than they need. I sure used to.