tboehm
Well-known member
Just wondering what everyone has with them in a day pack on the sheep hunts. Also who carries a bivy with them and if so what model? If you can, please share make and model of what you bring.
Sheep hunting day pack?
- Thread starter tboehm
- Start date
4merguide
Well-known member
Why take a day pack? What if you kill something far from camp? I ALWAYS take the essentials in my main pack cause I'm planning on hauling meat back. Don't need any extra trips. But that's just me.....
I’ve been using a Stone Glacier for the past four years and love it. I can’t recall the model offhand - 6900 cubic inches if I recall? Anyhow, I upgraded to this after many years of running a Barney’s pack, and I love it.
If I’m not going to venture terribly far, I carry basic survival gear and a Kifaru paratarp. I don’t carry my sleeping bag every day, as I prefer to let it air out during the day and know I can survive without it for a night if needed.
If I’m not going to venture terribly far, I carry basic survival gear and a Kifaru paratarp. I don’t carry my sleeping bag every day, as I prefer to let it air out during the day and know I can survive without it for a night if needed.
Michael Strahan
webmaster
I agree with the need to carry a regular pack. Last thing you need is to end up three miles from camp with a sheep down and no way to get it back to camp. Hunt with your pack on!
Contents of mine included field dressing gear, game bags, jacket/sweater, small tarp, 550 cord, water filter/bottle, small stove and cookpot, dried soups and drink mixes, fire starter, GPS, headlamp, map, cleaning rod (for clearing barrel obstructions), foam pad for sitting, spotting scope/tripod, snacks, small first aid kit, "and a partridge in a pear tree". I probably missed a few things, but you have to go out prepared to spend the night. You never know.
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Contents of mine included field dressing gear, game bags, jacket/sweater, small tarp, 550 cord, water filter/bottle, small stove and cookpot, dried soups and drink mixes, fire starter, GPS, headlamp, map, cleaning rod (for clearing barrel obstructions), foam pad for sitting, spotting scope/tripod, snacks, small first aid kit, "and a partridge in a pear tree". I probably missed a few things, but you have to go out prepared to spend the night. You never know.
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4merguide
Well-known member
Sure, you probably could "survive" without your bag, but is trying to "survive" what we're doing now when we go hunting? Why not only "survive," but be comfortable in doing so when you've decided to put a ram to sleep somewhere far from camp? Ever since I learned the hard way about that, meaning that to be successful sheep/goat hunting, could very well mean sleeping out under a rock somewhere other than camp, I carry my bag every time I think there is even a slight chance that an animal might take me far from camp.
As a buddy and I were about to leave camp in the early morning I said to him, "Should we take our bags?" He quickly scoffed at the idea while looking at me like I was stupid or something. Well sure nuff'....we hiked, and hiked, AND HIKED! Miles without seeing any sheep. Next thing we know is it starts spitting wet snow and there are sheep over on the next hillside. But now it's getting dark! I looked at my buddy and said "Oh, I guess it's time to head back to camp now huh??!!!" Had we had our bags or at least a space blanket or light tarp we could have held up under a ledge somewhere, weathered it out, and continued the hunt at first light. But we had none of those things with us, so it was back to camp we go and all that hiking for not! We were unsuccessful that trip as we had a limited amount of time to be out there, as I believe most of us have to contend with,
Another time later on, we had split up and both killed rams, and then I ran out of daylight heading back. I had to stash my ram so I could beat feet back to my buddy somewhere on the mountain before I couldn't see anything. Weather had set in and I almost literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face much less navigate rocky terrain with a whole ram on my back. The difference between this time and the last was we DID have our bags with us and a poncho. When I finally found him we just got in our bags, threw the poncho over us and weathered out misty rain off and on all night long....comfortable. Woke up, retrieved our rams and headed back to camp.
I guess a guy could just take plenty of clothes with him and at least a space blanket or small tarp and stay relatively comfortable even if some weather comes in. But my bag is pretty lightweight and I'm a pretty big fan of comfort these days, or at least "trying" to be comfortable, so it's easy enough to go with me to insure a comfortable night a long ways from camp if the need arises.
tboehm
Well-known member
I should have stated better. Wasn’t meaning a second smaller pack, just what are you carrying in your pack when you head out each morning.
To each their own. It is very rare that I have had an issue getting back to camp at night. That being the case, my bigger day-to-day consideration in being comfortable is having a totally dry bag each night. Depending on temperatures/dewpoint, etc, my bag can get a bit of moisture on the outside of it while I sleep. If I pack that into a stuff sack in the morning and unpack it at night, it's going to retain some of that moisture. No thanks. I carry my down pants and jacket with me each day, and that combined with my rain shell makes for a pretty warm overnight if needed - or, at least warm enough.
