What’s up with counting partial pack weights?

[dotman]

Gatorgriz27 I understand what your saying. Most people post those 22 pound packs as a way to make themselves feel good. If you are backpack hunting, total weight is the number to look for as you are responsible for carrying it all, whether in your pack, harness, hip or pockets, it is all on your person.

And early season hunts of five days, most people would struggle to get under 50 pounds for all their gear.

I have to agree, weigh everything including the clothes you are wearing. Pack weight only is just a number, total system weight while hunting is what matters.

 

[dotman]

Exactly. I don’t care what everyone else wants to carry, but at 6’ 160 lbs I’m far from the biggest guy out there, so having a light pack makes a big difference to me. You look at people’s gear lists, drop several G’s on the lightest gear out there, with what seems to be a reasonable goal in mind, but still end up toting close to 50 lbs. My fault for not doing more reading, you just wonder how the hell guys are claiming a 33 lb pack with an 80mm spotter and 2 sets of extra clothes.

Maybe I’ll try to talk my hunting buddy into carrying the camping gear and optics while I haul all the food. We will start out the same but I’ll have a better time as the hunt progresses.

Truthfully if you did this you must of saved weight.

 

[C Bow]

Troutbum your stove is BR5 are there different models

 

[Tag_Soup]

My problem is I’m at a pack weight where I now have no excuses left to not start losing the weight off my fat a** instead....lol


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[AK Troutbum]

Troutbum your stove is BR5 are there different models

They may make different models I don't know. This is the one I have. Amazon.com : BRS Outdoor Camping Gas Cooking Stove Portable Ultralight Burner 25g : Sports & Outdoors

 

[Boxerboxer]

That's generally not the best way to do that. Not everybody can carry the same weight, not everybody carries the same stuff, not everybody hunts the same way, everybody has different levels of comfort, etc.

The only one I'm competing against is the elk, and I don't think they really care how much weight I'm carrying.

You don't see the value of gaining some context when trying to lighten your pack? No value in learning from what dudes with experience are doing? Both seem pretty reasonable to me.


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[Lawnboi]

Am I the only one that dosnt weigh anything?

I try to buy nice gear, and do consider weight. But when it comes down to it, I know what I need and stuff it in the bag.

 

[seldomseensmith]

New rule: All pack weights must include body fat in excess of 15%.


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[Justin_the_EDG]

I'll agree that I was confused as heck when I was reading/listening to podcasts about 20# packs and then hopped on the scale last year to discover I was toting over 60#, wondering how I was supposed to drop over half my weight.

After watching the "what's in my pack" videos from Exo, I realize I'll always be disadvantaged because I'm gonna haul more water than any other sane person. With that in mind, the "base weight" concept starts to make sense as I'll ALWAYS be an outlier if I include consumables. So I can knock out those and compare apples to apples to see if I have room to grow or if I'm in the ballpark already.

Similarly, someone who intends to carry a particularly heavy weapon (ELR rifle hunting) or is willing to carry that bottle of celebratory liquid can separate that and have the ability to see if they could cut another 10# or if they're already min/maxing their gear before the personal indulgences that they know they're sacrificing weight for.

 

[MuleyFever]

Am I the only one that dosnt weigh anything?

I try to buy nice gear, and do consider weight. But when it comes down to it, I know what I need and stuff it in the bag.

Exactly. I don't care what your pack weighs. I know what I need and I take it with me. Sure I try to buy items with weight in mind but I have never put my pack on a scale. As a mater of fact I have ditched lighter items for heavier items after realizing that lighter is not always better.

 

[5MilesBack]

New rule: All pack weights must include body fat in excess of 15%.

Exactly. I have never heard of anyone including their boot weight in their pack weight. But if you must include everything you're wearing as well as your pack weight, then body fat should be included too. But why stop there? Muscle weighs more than fat, so might as well throw that in as well.

This isn't rocket science, you load up a pack and go. It weighs what it weighs. If it weighs too much, leave something at home or buy something lighter. If it doesn't weigh as much as you expected it to, then throw in some luxury items.

This is where "experience" comes in. You can read about it all day and night on the internet, but until you do it for yourself you'll never know what "your" pack weigh is or should be.....regardless of what you include in that weight.

If it's a competition, I would expect it to be "how heavy" I can get my pack for that 15 mile pack in hunt.

 

[tttoadman]

My worksheet serves as a punch list just as much as anything else so i don't forget anything. Having accurate weights on items is just free information. My worksheet tags everything in a category first: Base, Optics, Weapon, Sleep System, Kill Kit, Food, Water, Clothes. Then I group everything into 4 buckets as to where they are: Wear, Pack, Bino(meaning the harness and everything in it), Belt. The grouping to me lets me see where the weight is really distributed. I never put my boots on the list, and I likely won't. That would be excessive, and what I already do is completely normal??

 

[BradNSW]

Always been a minimalist (others pack all the latest gadgets). To each their own.

That said, I've got little high tech light weight gear. (Stove 30years old Optimus8R, bag - Heavy synthetic, 30 year old ceramic katadyne filter). Only "new" lightwt "stuff" is a new groundpad and tent.

Pack for 6 day hunt weighs 37-40lbs (everything in/on pack). We called that 2nd line, ditched in firefight. 1st line, on the body (cargo pockets/belt/harness/etc) is for E&E (or final stalk in hunting) also adds weight. Bow/rifle, 32oz water, knife/bone saw, bear spray, map/compass, binos, calls, rangefinder, beacon, tag/ID/pen, game bags, clothes you're wearing, boots, hat. My guess is that all comes to 15-20 lbs depending on weather, right? Never weighed it. Desert hunt (no filterable water, pack weight would probably double)

Then there is body fat/metabolism, like others have mentioned. After two x 6 day hunts with 1 rest day in between, for me, that's always about 5-10 lbs extra because on day 13, that weight went somewhere...I feel lighter (and more alive)! Wish I could start w/o that!! Metabolisms are different. I only eat 1 Mt House for dinner and power bar for b-fast, handful of trail mix for lunch. Others probably need double that.

Bottom line, take what you like/need/can carry. No one is going to weigh what lightweight backpackers weigh (or you can't be hunting, right?)

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I get the “it weighs what it weighs” part, my goals are based on what is easy for me to backpack with from my experience in a non-hunting environment. I’m going to have a bad time carrying 60 lbs at 10,000 feet for a week, period. Comparing my current gear to others is a way to see where it’s worth spending $ and where I can save it.

I agree that it’s comical hearing a 300+ lb guy bragging that his new sleeping pad is 2 oz lighter than his last one, but that’s not the case for me. I haven’t done body fat testing but by the calculators online I’m between 8 and 10%. I’m 6’ with a 32” waist, and flat from my chest to belt. I’ll stop there since it’s starting to sound like a personals ad, but cutting weight off myself is not an option.

I did realize that I will need less water for the 5 mile pack into camp than I will for a full day of hunting with no water source, so I might be closer to 40 lbs than I originally thought.

 

[ssssnake529]

My packing lists include everything. I use Colin Fletcher's "from skin out" benchmark, so I don't really distinguish between what's in my pack and what's on my body or bino harness, etc. If it has to be moved uphill using my muscles, I count it.

I have my gear and clothing as my base weight, and then add 1.6 pounds/day for food, and then add water.

So, my base weight is pretty standard from trip to trip, but food and water weight will vary a lot depending on the length of the trip, the terrain, and the availability of water.


Generally, for a solo deer or elk hunt, my "From Skin Out" weight, not including food or water, is about 45 pounds.

 

[5 shot group]

If I'm carrying it, I'm counting it. In my pack, in my hands, in my bino harness, where ever it is, I have have to get it up the mountain. Weapon, water, food, fuel, I count everything. You could stuff everything inside some cargo pockets and a fanny pack, and have zero pack weight, but you are still carrying the weight up the hill.

Personally, I have a spread sheet where I weighted every single item in my pack. This allows me to look at adding or removing items and see what it does to my weight. Also let's me see where I should maybe focus on possibly replacing some items with lighter options and where replacing said items, really isnt worth $500 for me to save 4 ounces.

 

[MallardSX2]

Personally, I count everything except for my pants and my shirt.

EVERYTHING.

When i'm geared up im at 60 pounds minimum.

Thats 2 days worth of water in that figure. Like I said EVERYTHING

 

[Poser]

Weight is weight. Put it on your chest, balance it on your head, carry it in your hands.... it’s all weight you carry. If I carry 20 labs in my pack and 30 pounds in my pockets and I still UL?

 

[juan trueno]

Reality is- and i learned this living out of a rucksack or an assault pack or my plate carrier and cargo pockets- the difference between leaving in the am for a dayhunt from a trailhead and a 3-4 day bivy hunt is MAYBE 10 lbs. probably like 8
You have to bring everything you need when you leave for a day. All that’s staying back is 6 or so lbs of bivy and sleeping bag and a couple pounds of food and a jetboil. I never weigh my pack. I just make sure it’s got what I need.

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[MuleyFever]

Weight is weight. Put it on your chest, balance it on your head, carry it in your hands.... it’s all weight you carry. If I carry 20 labs in my pack and 30 pounds in my pockets and I still UL?

Depends how old the labs are