Close Look at my '17 Caribou Fly-In Gear List/Meal Plan

Flydaho

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Clothing:
- No need for the Uncomphagre vest AND the Super Down puffy. Choose one or the other.
- Shouldn't need 2 pairs of thermal bottoms and the Kenai zip-offs. I would toss one of the thermal bottoms.

Gear:
- Don't bring the hatchet, just the saw. If you can afford the weight, make it a Wyoming saw with both a bone and wood blade, but ditch the cheesy carrying pouch.
- Taking both the bow and the rifle is going to add up quick. If you are hiking a good distance from the dropoff to your camp (especially up some nasty terrain) that could get heavy quick. Pounds=miles so hopefully you can get away with your plan of only a 3-4 mile hike from the dropoff.
- Add a packet of citric acid meat preservative to your kill kit in case you down an animal early in the hunt. This will help it from spoiling.
- Don't need a head lamp AND a flashlight, lose one.
- Radio (i'm guessing this is a 2-way radio) is illegal to hunt with in AK.
- Eno Pro Fly Tarp - I would personally go bigger, like the Pro Fly XL tarp if its not too late.
- Spare lithium batteries - Meekins might let you get away with it, but unless the batteries are installed in the equipment, you can't fly with spare lithium batteries. Just go for the regular ni-cad batteries, you are only out there 9 days.
- Fuel canisters - Again, call Meekins to make sure they will let you fly with Jetboil canisters

Food:
- Brown sugar oatmeal packets - you can do better than that!
- Dinner - Mountain House - you talked about getting the most cal/oz, but MH are fairly ineffective in this category. Look at their labels and you will see they don't pack much punch in the calories department. The Beef Stew only has 190 calories (others can get up to about 290 cal/serving)! You can boost this by bringing a small bottle of olive oil to squirt into the MH. Olive oil has 250 calories per ounce, the highest of any food. In fact 1 oz of olive oil has as many calories as most MH meals (per serving). Also check out Heather's Choice backpacking food out of Anchorage. For about $6 more per meal you can get a far superior product (smoked salmon chowder, dark chocolate chili, tomatillo rancheros...) and support a local Alaskan company. For the extra $50 total for 9 days, you will be eating like kings compared to MH.

As somebody else mentioned, where's the GPS or paper maps?

I'd bring a contractor trash bag to submerge the meat in a creek if it gets hot during the day.

bring a 3' x 3' piece of tyvek or similar material to help with the field dressing process. It gives you somewhere to set the meat on the ground without contaminating it and it weighs next to nothing.

Don't be surprised if you run into some no-seeums on your trip (mosquitos should be gone by then). A uber lightweight head net might be worth it.

I usually bring one the small bottles of hand sanitizer.

Meekins will do you good, they are a solid outfit.

Other than that you guys should be good to go. Have a hell of a time and enjoy every minute of it, Alaska is a special place!
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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I appreciate that. I should edit my original post I have taken yours and a few others suggestions.
 
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Well, you are about 3 weeks out. What changes, additions, compromises have you made to your gear list? I'm 5 weeks out and can't seem to think about anything else!
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Well, you are about 3 weeks out. What changes, additions, compromises have you made to your gear list? I'm 5 weeks out and can't seem to think about anything else!

I hear you... The anticipation is killing me! I will go home tonight and redraft our gear/meal list. Everything is not going to be exactly how we would dream it up in a perfect world with endless amounts of money and free time, but we are happy with it so far considering this is our first AK trip. Looking back on how I would have geared up differently without the interaction with Roksliders. I believe we are leaps and bounds better than that! I would have liked to have had more time to experiment with different backpacking foods but oh well, next year I guess.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Does anyone know of a good spot to look up the local vegetation? I would like to take some pictures and/or descriptions of edibles while we are out there.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Well, you are about 3 weeks out. What changes, additions, compromises have you made to your gear list? I'm 5 weeks out and can't seem to think about anything else!

So I'm actually going to push this response to Monday. My buddy and I are going to do a dry run on Friday night, get it all into our backpacks and then see how we are going to squish it all together for the airline trip. I will film it all and post that video once we get back from the trip.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Any new updates? Weather looks good for the most part.


Updates.... Yes.... Just like Daniel_M said we are preparing for rain! We have had a third party member join here in the final moments, a resident buddy of mine so we'll have a few more tags in camp. I have switched my wool mittens for a pair of cabelas gortex gloves and still bringing my FL Fingerless gloves, researched a lot of meat care and have added a 1yd piece of silpoly membrane to my kill kit to help keep meat clean and/or protect it from rain. dropped radios and hatchet. We were going to drop the extra layers of clothing but have decided to take it with us and we'll make the decision right before we fly out. I think we've also accepted not moving camp, so the 3rd party member is bringing a pot for cooking on a fire, a bottle of whiskey buck knives. The food has changed as well, more variety of the same things added olive oil 1oz/day. Honestly I don't stop tinkering with my gear. I've made a few Silpoly dry sacks which are sweet. Tonight all the gear is coming out of my pack and getting loaded into my 150qt ice chest. The backpack will go as a carry on. Rifle and bow are performing beautifully, hopefully no adjustments are needed after all the traveling. WE ARE READY, taking the next two days off work for some quality family time before we head out. Wish I felt better prepared physically but being 26 has its advantages!
 
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Awesome! I leave on the 6th, and can't seem to think about anything else. I also decided to ditch the hatchet, added a second half liner to the tipi for the rain, made sure the .22 was hitting ptarmigan sized targets consistently at 50 yards, and spent way too long sharpening my knife

Good luck up there, and post some pics and video if/when you can.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Absolutely we are each bringing a judo point along for some daily meat as well! Hopefully they last a few shots in whatever terrain we are in.
 
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If you haven't tried the Montec small game heads, I would highly recommend them. I kept losing judos because they would snake under the grass when I missed grouse. The Montec SGH is badass.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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Too late to change that up but thanks for the advice! Will try them out when I am chasing elk here in Utah!
 
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Flying out tomorrow, went through gear for the last time (yeah right) last night. Guns are hitting, food and tags are packed, topping off the charge on the go pro and camera today, leaving way too early for the airport tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have at least some good sunrise pics for y'all in a couple of weeks.
 
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acmckeage03

acmckeage03

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I had an incredible time! I am going to follow up with a story! Gunner we had rain every single day! I loved all my gear choices but was deff overpacked! That's okay though because this was my first trip to Alaska and there were some comfort decisions made there!
 
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