Archery Talk

Nothing wrong with that moose !. good meat

 

Since season is over I’m gonna go slightly off topic here.

prepping for the trip to Montana next year. Looks like I’ll be solo due to a nasty breakup between me and my old hunting friend. Because of that I’ve been trying to get the truck ready and organized for the upcoming season. Pulled the trigger on the new Decked system. Those of you that are considering one, this thing is awesome! Install is a pain in the ass if you’re solo but doable

 

I've always been a big fan of Decked. But just can't seem to be on board for putting a Decked system in a Tacoma. I think they're awesome for full-size trucks, pretty cool for mid-sized trucks, but give up so much usable space in a Tacoma. I feel like there's so much more room to be had and used in a DIY solution, like a bed platform, drawers/sleds, etc, but there's definitely something to be said for easy bolt on solutions too. Looks awesome!

 

Yea I’m gonna kick myself when the 5-6 times per year I haul larger items in my truck but I feel like that headache is worth the convenience made in other times. Mostly my truck is just for pulling trailers so 90% of the time it’s tools and whatnot floating around n the bed

 

its not even so much the space it takes up being an issue for me, as I'm used to a bed platform and camper shell, but its the amount of space it takes up in comparison to the amount of space available in drawers. The drawers are just so small and theres alot of unused space underneath beside the drawers. But again, I'm talking strictly the tacoma models. Its definitely not an issue in full size trucks, and those drawers are huge! Super useful on other trucks, and I love them.

 

Anyone on here do any backcountry solo hunts? While I’m stoked on being solo this year, I want to make sure that I’ve got as many of my bases covered as possible before being 2500 miles from home and xx miles deep in the backcountry.

I’m a former wilderness guide and trained in wilderness medicine so I ain’t one to be a risk taker.

those with experience (or those with an opinion, I’d love to hear it) what’s your absolute non negotiables in these situations as far as planning/prep and required gear?

 

Every year. I do expedition hunts.
Not just hunting, I’ve mountaineered Whitney’s back portal, and a ton of other things as such.

I bring what’s appropriate for the situation. Nothing more. Food is by far the trickiest of your not experienced. Pack for calories. I do about 2500 per day. Or about 2 lbs per day. On a 5 day backpack hunt, I still lose about 5 lbs of muscle which makes me sad. Just a heads up in case you lift.

Sleep system is dialed in. 4 season for 4 season weather, 3 season for 3 season weather. I have different bags. For things 0 and below, I have a non commercial mountain hardware bag, but you get the point. Plan for the prominent weather.

I try to keep pack weight reasonable. 35-45 lbs is the end of “reasonable” for 3 season weather in my opinion. If you don’t use it, don’t bring it.

I carry a inreach gps, the explorer or something. The chip set is onx. I use that for land ID. Even in the backcountry, I have run into leases and allotments for cattle, and such.

That said, for navigation I still get paper maps. I usually use gohunt and do all my scouting there, and transcribe it the map. All my glass points, access, potential camp/bivy spots, and a series of other species specific details like elevation bands recommended in biology reports for certain hunt seasons and so forth.

The big thing is water. Less for animals and more for me. Filter water, don’t carry it if you plan on going far and high on foot. I’m in pretty good shape, i workout year round, but I want to hunt when I get there, not work out. A side note on water on certain hunts might be more a priority for animals like a NM hunt. Either way, you need to know or find out which water sources are year round or seasonal and if a seasonal one is in season. Late season hunting is a little different with snow fall.
With all this on the map, I use this for figuring routes off trail. Thats where the hunting usually is. Don’t get cliffed out. It’s almost happened to me on a few occasions. Thats a way to die. Look at what you’re jumping into. Know how to navigate if you’re not on a trail. Many people do not know how to identify topographical features (terrain association), use a compass, resection, shoot an azimuth, or adjust for declination.

I’m sure it’s controversial to some, but I don’t know any sectional hikers, thru hikers or backpacking hunters in real life that actually in real life at a moments inspection carry a med pack. I know everyone says they do. I have never seen in real life these people also do 5-10 days in the backcountry. I don’t do med bags or kits. I too have a little knowledge in medicine.

Unless you have a hospital on your back, you’re not going to really have whatever it is you think you’ll need. If you have an arterial bleed on an extremity, you going to walk 15 miles back to your truck that’s parked at a trailhead in a remote area, with a tourniquet on? As if you couldn’t use your belt and a stick as a windlass. Or carry zipties. I have some in my kill kit for tags. That’s a long time to have a tourniquet on. You can carry a trauma kit on you, but you have to at least recognize that there’s a inherent risks to being alone in the wild.

 

All good stuff. Not my first rodeo backcountry hunting, just my first doing it solo. Thank you for your input!

food wise, Peak Refuel is my go to cause it’s so calorie and protein dense. I do lift and often lose 8-10lbs every time I go (we do 10 days of hunting per trip out there) it’s a bummer but I’m not shredded so I always welcome the weight loss lol

 

gotcha.

I try to stay about 10% bf in my normal diet but I burn mass before fat usually, especially just doing to aerobics for 5-10 days on incline.

Peak is good. I like the Mendez meals. They have a little more calories. Pinnacle is popular with some non hunting hiking. They taste fire.

Mountain house chicken and dumplings are a favorite. But less than 700 calories.





Some deers in there

 

I’ve got the sawyer squeeze and rock a few collapsed water bottles from the gas station too

I wasn’t a fan of the Mendez variety of peak. Stroganoff is my go to. On a rest day the biscuits and gravy are best. But they sit too heavy to eat then hike

Only downside of the peaks are they give me gas that’ll kill any fur bearing animal within 10 square miles if I eat them for more than 3-4 days straight. The athletic greens added to my daily supplements helped a decent amount last year though. Last year wasn’t a great sample cause I spent more time flat on my back with altitude sickness than I did actually hunting. That was brutal and definitely ain’t making that mistake again

 

You don’t bring any Motrin and Tylenol? Motrin is a decent way to deal with altitude sickness if you don’t have time for acclimation and also don’t have a prescription. Tylenol for bumps and bruises. I don’t usually get altitude sickness but for the few times I have, vitmain M was money.

pssh. Those Mendez bison mashers had me full for like 18 hours..
I think the only dry freeze meals I had that I didn’t like was the old readywise stuff.

 

I bring a full med kit. I ate more Tylenol and ibu in 4 days than I had taken in the 365 prior to that. Nothing relieved it for me.

 

Pretty cool ! I have not seen any major Rut activity around here in a few years but I still manage to shoot a pretty good buck every year . They are usually alone when I get em ! A few years ago when I was home from hunting early afternoon because it was Thanksgiving I did see a huge buck for this area breeding a doe across the road from my house . Watched with the binoculars. I really had a hard time not shooting him but I do not have permission to hunt over there and the land owner possibly could have been over there somewhere hunting

 

I’ve got an 18 acre lot across from my house that I have a hard time not slipping into to hunt. There’s a real nice and wide 6pt that lives in there and crosses my road into the neighborhood daily. I bleated his girlfriend in and he followed last season just to let the kids see them up close

 

The guy that owns the property hunts but I would not call him a hunter at all . I was home one day years ago during rifle season and watched this guy drive through a field up to a patch of woods he owns . He got out of his vehicle and from the back of the patch of woods about 20 deer ran out up hill through other fields and onto the mountain. Also watched him sit in his truck in the middle of the field with his lights on during the afternoon waiting for deer to come out
Some of this guys property borders where I hunt behind my house and he drives his fancy side by side right up to his box blind making a racket right at first light and is usually gone before 10am without firing a shot .

 

Weren’t me this time