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Old 09-29-2008, 02:00 PM
  #33  
npaden
Nontypical Buck
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Lubbock, Texas
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Default RE: What's in your daypack? What's back at camp?

Well, I'm back from my hunt and thought I would update this post.

One thing that I REALLY was happy that I brought was the backup pair of boots! I only bought them the week before I left and only got a mile or so on them before I left, but after some heavy rain and walking through waist high wet brush my regular pair of boots were soaked even though they were Goretex. I was wearing my backup boots by the evening of the 2nd day! I actually ended up putting more miles on my backup boots than my regular boots. It took forever to get my first pair of boots dried out and then it was getting warm and I sweated so much that I only wore them 1 day before switching back to the backups.

The 2nd most essential item on this trip was rain pants. They were awesome wading through the thick wet brush.

I did use the saw since I had it with me, but it didn't make it back in my pack after that. I only used it to cut the back legs off at the knee and I could have done that with a little more work on the joints with my knifebut since I had the saw I used it. We didn't gut him and just quartered him out and cut the backstraps and tenderloins out.

I didn't use the bungee cords and they won't be in my pack again although they don't weigh much. I did use my zip ties. They worked to repair a pack frame as well as closing up meat bags. We could have used the parachute cord to tie the meat bags up but the zip ties were quicker and easier. Without the zip ties the pack frame would have been difficult to repair, the parachute cord might have worked for a while but it would have probably worn though before we got it back to the truck.

The guys I was hunting with gave me some grief over all the stuff I had in my pack, but they were sure happy I had those zip ties and even more happy that I had the TP in there on time!!

They also made fun of my fanny pack, but it worked out pretty well, especially on the days I was wearing my rain pants because the rain pants don't have any pockets.

I had too much clothing and could have trimmed down on some of it. Some of it would have been good to have it hadgotten colder, but some of it was just overkill. We killed my bull on the first day and they encouraged me to wear the same clothes as long as I could stand them because they said the elk scent made a great cover scent. I wore those clothes for 3 days before I decided I stunk too bad. I did wear every pair of socks that I had and even swapped a couple pairs out after they dried good on some days where we came back to camp for lunch.

My "I might use it, but probably won't" container ended up being exactly that. I didn't use anything in it. We had plenty of room but if I was limited on space it would be pretty easy to leave that stuff at home.

I think that's about it.

Nathan
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