npaden

Well I gave into the pressure and bought a saw today. Just to make sclwald happy it is a Gerber! (That's the onlyone they had at Gander Mountain)

It's the Gator I collapsable saw and comes with a nifty little pack and has a wood and bone blade. It is fairly heavy compared to all the other stuff on my list (like my first aid kit, trash bags, zip ties, etc. but I'll have it with me just in case. I did a trial run loading my backpack last night and I had a TON of room and it was quite a bit lighter than I expected.I also have a saw in my outdoor edge butcher set, but I'm not planning on taking that with me in my pack and I never felt that it was a very good saw. I think you use more energy sawing through the bone than working the joints with a knife. If I get one on the ground I'll try to work the joints with a knife first and if it is more work than I think it will be I'll go with the saw.

I do take the tenderloins but not the ribs. It is very easy to get them out without gutting the animal. You just stand behind it and reach right in and cut them out after you cut the backstraps off. On a deer or pig you can almost pull them out by hand without a knife but I usually end up cutting them to keep them from tearing.

The only thing mentioned so far that I don't have is iodine tablets. My friend said he had some though so I'll just get some from him.

The extended weather forecast is showing 70 degrees for a high with isolated thunderstorms for opening day with a low of 35. It is showing it getting a little cooler toward the start of next week with slight chance of snow showers each night. Hopefully they will be moving and talking!!

sclwald

I WIN!!!!!I think you will be happy with taking a saw. Makes life easier. Not happy about the Gerber but it's better than nothing.

You brought up another good point in Water. Have you checked out the filtering water bottles? If you get a good one they work well. I carry water and leave it empty for emergencies. I was thirsty two years ago and dipped it in a pretty bad water hole. Not flowing at all and never got sick. It worked as planned. Just don't look into the cheaperones.

npaden

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

charlie brown

I agree that a saw is not needed for butchering any animal if done right. With the "Alaskan" or "Gutless" field dressing method, the animal is not even field dressed in a normal fashion. No saw is needed as all cuts are made through the tendons holding the joints together and nosaw is needed.

As for what I have in my pack:
2 liter water bladder (I have 2, but opt to carry my water filter also to save about 3 pounds, and just fill my single bladder up as needed), extra pair of socks, gloves, and hat, poncho/emergency shelter, 50 ft 550 para cord, medications, snacks, emergency blanket, marking tape, electrical tape, TP, fire starters, Cutco knife, Wyoming knife, 2 1/2" Old timer knife with stone, Gerber tool, headlamp, compass.

I don't bother with a GPS or maps. The maps stay in the truck, and I don't have a GPS. Around here, its very simple. If you get lost, stay there, or if you need to get down in a hurry, just go down.

I wear Synthetic long underwear, and either Poly or 60/40 Cotton/Poly during the early (up tomid-October)season, and then my uninsulated duck coat for an outer shell. In the winter, lion hunting, I make sure its wool pants and shirt, and I am good to 10 below with no discomfort.

Later,

Marcial

charlie brown

Just noticed you posted the results of the hunt. Congrats on a successful hunt!

sclwald

Congrats and now you know first hand what you need and don't need.

npaden

I did find my gps VERY useful. We were only on trails 10 or 15 percent of the time and the rest of the time we were bushwhacking through some pretty rough stuff, sometimes in the dark. Without the gps I would have spent a LOT of time messing with a compass or going the long way around. A few times my friend who has hunted there for nearly 20 years ended up heading off in the wrong direction walking through some rough timber. I doubt he would have gotten "lost", but he was going to end up quite a bit out of the way.

Also it was nice to have all the different spots marked as waypoints so you knew when you were only a mile from the trail, truck, etc.

sclwald

This is how I use my GPS most. Putting in waypoints. I also love my GPS to walk out in the dark out of the high country. I don't need it to walk in the dark because somewhere in the back of my mind I know the sun is coming up in a few hours. At night it could be many hours of darkness to get even more lost.

npaden

Well, I'm getting ready to go elk hunting again and figured I would check over my list here. Thought I might bump it back up to the top so it might benefit someone else trying to figure out what to pack.

I've bought a couple more pairs of uninsulated rain pants and another light rain jacket. Last year even when it didn't rain there was enough moisture on the brush to make you want to wear rain pants anyway.

Sounds like it's been a cool wet summer and things don't look that promising on the elk being very active, but hopefully the start of the rut will change that!