Anyone take a small hatchet with them into the backcountry

[Mt Al]

If backpacking, stays in the truck! I try to figure out what value one would have when I go. The only value is torture, added weight, makes noise when using it to chase critters away and having unnecessary extra crud to try to find a use for!

Always have one in the truck to make sure I'm all mountain-man-looking by burying it in a log near camp. Awesome photo background accessory.

 

[pirogue]

On a lot of hunts with a daypack, I’ll pack my GB Wildlife hatchet, because I have seen multiple things I needed it on, when I didn’t have it. If I want to shave ounces, I’ll take my GB mini belt hatchet.

 

[Highhuntin]

Packed one a few times but it’s not worth the weight to me.

 

[gustafsj]

I bring a mora knife for buttoning to split wood. That and a rock in my hand replaces the hatchet for anything I need in the backcountry. Base camp near truck or canoe camping I will bring a hatchet or even my GB small forest axe.


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[Wyobohunter]

I have an H&B Forge Medium Camp Hawk tomahawk. I don’t bring it backpacking but if I had a horse I’d bring it.

H & B Forge Medium Camp Hawk

hbforge.com

I’d actually consider selling mine. IIRC is has a nice custom leather sheath.

Edit: I started wondering why I even have it… Too heavy for backpacking, I have nice Gransfors axes for family car camping. Then I remembered, motorcycle camping. Not for sale. It’s a nice little T-Hawk with a poll for tent pegs & stuff. The head comes off to use ulu style, it’s also fun to throw and if you ever break the handle you can make one in the field.

 

[Coldtrail]

I have a Gerber "pack hatchet" I carry in my day pack, seemed like a must have but I rarely use it. I have a fiskars axe strapped to my overnight pack....looks cool, but rarely needed. Only comes in handy on canoe trips where you are portaging a mile or two then putting it back in the canoe.

 

[Wyobohunter]

If backpacking, stays in the truck! I try to figure out what value one would have when I go. The only value is torture, added weight, makes noise when using it to chase critters away and having unnecessary extra crud to try to find a use for!

Always have one in the truck to make sure I'm all mountain-man-looking by burying it in a log near camp. Awesome photo background accessory.

All of the lumbersexuals require one for posting on the tick tacks & such.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Growing up I watched the entire generation before me wearing a hatchet on their ammo belt with their knife. I can't remember a single time my father ever used his. I watched a few over the years, quarter their elk with one.

I carry a very light weight saw with coarse teeth on one side and fine teeth on the other side in my vest. I use it primarily for cutting limbs to cover my animals so they will cool while keeping the ravens out of the meat until I can get back to them.

I use a gps to locate my kill and flag my way out with plastic flagging rather than blazing my way out. This allows me to select the best path for me to return on with horses given grade and downfall. I pull my flagging on the trip out rather than leaving a blazed path for everyone else to find.

A hatchet is handy for blazing main trails but since I cut them in the summer, I usually have a double bitted axe in a gun scabbard on the horse or just cut blazes with the chainsaw.

Even when I put in a camp, I split my wood with an axe or a maul as a hatchet was too light. In camp an axe was used to make kindling.

As a kid I remember slicing my arm on a hatchet my friend had on his belt without a scabbard while we were rolling a tire. I guess after that I deemed them a hazard as opposed to a necessity.

 

[Mosby]

I have a number of axes and I always keep one in my truck during the fall and winter but normally don't carry one hunting.....unless we are talking snow and bitter cold. and I need to feed my wood stove. I carry a 19" axe for that.

 

[Wyobohunter]

Me, hunting when it’s very cold and sleeping at a base camp. I don’t fuss with fire. I just sleep in the truck and run the heater as needed. A wood stove always seemed like something extra to deal with and tend to. The past two years I’ve done that in sight of people that have elaborate tent setups, they look at and talk to me like I’m crazy . Then it comes time to pack up or move and I seem a little more sane. In my opinion, axes and wood stoves in the backcountry are for those guys that have horses. Not us that carry everything on our backs.

 

[gustafsj]

I should add that it depends on the weather. We did a boundary waters canoe hunting trip a few years ago and it was 40F and raining/misting for the whole 4 days we were there. I did bring my GB small forest axe and my Sven saw, worth their weight in gold with how much wood we processed to dry out.

In regards to my earlier comment about the Mora knife, I do bring a Silky Pocketboy as well if I am processing wood for my wood stove or small fires. First thing is cutting a chunk of 2-3” log for using as a hammer to use for batoning/ splitting wood with the Mora.


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[Wyobohunter]

Or canoes… I’d bring my GB axe on a canoe trip. Actually I have. The Kenai Peninsula has a lake system much like the boundary waters.