Lightweight help

[MW357]

This is true for most, but not everyone. I'm a fit 5'11" 165 lbs and I'd rather put on 10 lbs of muscle rather than lose 10 lbs of fat. Fat keeps you warm, and if you lose too much of it not only is sleeping on the ground uncomfortable from loss of padding, but you need heavier clothes and heavier sleeping bag to keep you warm enough (extra weight to pack). Once you've shaved off most of your fat, further weight loss mostly reduces muscle mass. I've backpacked at 145 lbs and at 170 lbs and at 170 I did not notice the extra weight, but 145-150 lbs was very uncomfortable.

Awesome man. Sounds like you know your body well. That's my point mostly, know your body. If you can stand to loose weight it can help a lot with a heavy pack and cost no money. I'm a poor man, I need cheap ways to improve my abilities, lol.

 

[Treeshark]

One thing that helps me is I have a fair size folding “hunting table” in my basement that I lay all of the contents of my pack out on a few weeks before a hunt. Look everything over carefully- you’ve been on x2 hunts already, so ask yourself if you used it both times (and if you did, did you really need it?)?

Obviously things like an Inreach, first aid kit, and rain gear would be exempt- but if you didn’t use it/need it the last two times, you can do without it. I have a spreadsheet as well, but something about seeing and being able to feel the weight of each item in my hands helps me get my pack contents as lean as possible.

Don’t bring a ton of bullets. Lithium ion batteries, and try to have gear that all takes the same type of battery so you don’t need multiple sizes of spares. As mentioned, water is super heavy so filter is a no brainer. And rain gear is also a wind shell, puffy is also a pillow/sleeping bag liner, undies can be turned inside out washed in a stream, etc...