Critique my gear list

Joined
Oct 5, 2015
Messages
352
Location
Alaska
Nice comprehensive gear list, with a lot of quality equipment. Assuming the handgun is meant for bear protection. You might consider exchanging the G20 for bear spray. From my perspective, running the numbers for energy on target, most handguns including 10 mm’s are relatively week for terminal performance.
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
Thanks everyone.

I have spent a long time accumulating that gear on sales, used, and when I can afford it. Usually years I didn’t draw tags. I have definitely become a buy once cry once hunter. Now the money goes to hunts.

The Glock is probably redundant. Plan A is be smart and avoid bears, plan B is the 300. I thought on the uneven ground though the 300 might spend a lot of time strapped to my pack so I can use both trekking poles. The Glock would be accessible then.

It probably mostly comes down to me packing my fears by having both. That and me using this trip as an excuse to buy the Glock. Better hide it from the wife if I leave it home! I tried a lighter 44 but the recoil was enough with bear loads I did not shoot it well.10mm or 357 seems to be about my limit of what I shoot well and practice with often. I like to practice at least some of the time with the same ammo I carry.

Do you all take a cot on the tundra? I am still debating if I need that cot or just the air pad.
 

Voyageur

WKR
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Messages
1,015
No experience with cots, but I did think of one other item you might want to consider adding to your list. Somewhere on this forum someone recommended taking several of the Hot Hand chemical hand warmer packets. I have never taken them to AK, but as cold as my last caribou hunt was I can definitely see their value and added them to my list for future hunts.
 
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
93
Location
Gakona Alaska
Gear List AK caribou



Guns/accessories/Personal optics


-Rifles Inc 300 Win mag, 3-12x Huskemaw, scope caps, sling 133
-20 rounds 180gr E tip ammo in factory box 26.4
-Glock G20 w/ KKM barrel, empty mag, and Streamlight TLR-1 light on rail 37
-16 rounds Underwood 200gr Hardcast ammo in factory box 14.8
-Otis 30 cal cleaning kit (part of repair kit 3.4oz)
-Partial roll electrical tape for muzzles (repair kit .5)
-laminated wind drift chart for 300 win mags .5
-Leica 10x42 Geovid HD-B binos 36
-FHF bino harness w/ Razco holster for Glock 15.5 (wear in)
-Polarized sunglasses (wear in)
-Sunglasses hard case (won’t smash glasses in pack 3.9)

Sleep
-Thermarest Mesh cot 70
-Kifaru Slickbag +20 wide 39
-Thermarest Neoair X therm pad large 5.7 R value 20
-Kuiu Storm Star 2 person tent 93
-Granite Gear 25L dry bag (stuff with extra clothes for pillow, extra protection for them)

Clothing/Footwear
-
Simms G3 wader boot 64
-Chota Tundra Hippie waders 22
-Kennetrek Mountain Extreme boots 86 (wear in)
-Kennetrek gaiters 12 (wear in)
-FL Wilikin Aerowool long sleeve zip shirts x2 (wear one 9oz each)
-Kuiu insulated snap shirt 10 (wear in)
-Kuiu Peloton 240 fleece hoody 18 (wear in)
-Sitka Mountain vest 10.2 (wear in)
-Kuiu Superdown Pro puffy jacket 18
-FL SEAK rain jacket 27

Total pairs of socks and underwear taken are 4, take 3 in pack and wear one in
-FL Aerowool boxers 4oz each x3
-FL Aerowool 200 base layers 10.2oz each x2 (wear one in)
-Darn Tough full cushion boot socks 3.8oz each x3
-Kuiu Yukon rain pants 26 (wear in)
-Kuiu Superdown Pro puffy pants 16
-Kuiu Chugach rain pants 17 (these fit over the puffy pants, Yukons are sized to wear as normal pants)

-Kuiu Peloton 200 fleece gloves 3
-Sitka Downpour GTX warm waterproof gloves 5.6
-Kuiu Axis water resistant glove 2.8
-FL Aerowool baklava 2

Pack/Meat Packing/Game Processing
-Exo 3500 pack w/ factory dry bag, weapon carrier, and Nalgene Holder 100
-Kifaru rain cover 3
-Leki carbon trekking poles 16
-Hunting & Fishing license 1
-Caribou and wolf tags 1
-Buck Alpha Crosslock knife (S30V blade, back-up bone saw) 3.9
-Bark River Classic Clip point hunter (tougher 4.5” 3V fixed blade knife) 7.2
(Benchmade field sharpener in group repair kit, ceramic steel in my DSK)
-Tag Bags 5 bag 24”x44” caribou set 18

Cooking & hydration personal
-Snow Peak 24oz Titanium mug w/ lid 4.6
-Silver Ant 29oz TI water bottle 4
-Smart Water bottle 33oz 1.4 (NOT a Gatorade bottle so it doesn’t get confused for pee bottle)
-TI long handled spork .7
-GSI plastic fork .4
-GSI Cascadian tall sided plate 3
-MSR Pocket Rocket stove 3 (take if I want when leaving camp)

Fishing
-Bass Pro 6’6” medium action Micro Lite pack rod in factory protective case 15
-Flambeau WP 3012 small waterproof tackle box w/ spinners & spoons 11
-Shimano Sahara 2500 spinning reel w/ spare spool of line 12.5

Misc
-Gatorade 28oz bottle 3 (pee bottle for tent)
-Black Diamond Re-Volt headlamp (re-chargeable or 3AAA) 4
-Streamlight Microlight re-chargeable min flashlight 1.5 (carry in bino harness)
-Dark Energy Poseidon 10k battery pack, mini dry bag, 2 micro USB and 2 I phone 6” cables 15.5
-Anker 26500k battery pack 18
-Sawyer 3oz bottle 100% Deet in ziplock bag 4.2
-Seek Outside DST tarp w/ guylines and stakes 30
-Kuiu Taku 5500 waterproof duffle bag 32 (haul gear home)
-Plastic tote for food on trip up, meat on way home 64
-personal med/ higene kit kit (pills, vitamins, lotrimin, deoderant, Carmex, etc) 7
-Wet ones antibacterial wipes 20 packs x5 3.5oz each 17.5
-1/2 roll blue shop towels (cut a roll in half to make it large toilet paper roll size)
-Rite in Rain notebook & pen 3.7 (hunt journal)

-Daypack survival/med/repair kit 20.7oz is the total of everything listed below
-Contained in Granite Gear zipper pouch, qt ziplock in pouch for small items:
-2 gauze pads 3”x3”
-2 Band-aids 1lg, 1 small
-packaged suture 1 small
-Adventure Medical space blanket 96“x60“
-Gorilla superglue single use tube
-partial roll Tenacious Tape
-trotline cord 10yds 142lb green
-50ft 1.9mm paracord
-3 6” zip ties
-2 repair needles (one curved, one straight)
-6 safety pins (2XL, 2med, 2 small)
-1.2oz fishing/snaring kit
-4 wetfire cubes
-1 Mentos bottle Vaseline soaked cotton balls
-mini Bic lighter
-Light my Fire firesteel and striker
-lens cloth
-Danner boot lace x2
-Silva compass
-10 aquapure tabs (1/qt of water, 30 minutes)
-Benchmade tactical carbide sharpener (.5oz)
-mosquito head net
-synthetic bandana (pre-filter water, etc)
Damn! That is a big list! Make sure that you do not overlap items that the group needs. Eample would be a water filter-Only bring 1...Think about carrying a Life Straw filter when your in the field.

How many guys in your group?
Only need 2 pairs of boots
Tents...This can be a a tough question. All of my groups go out with Cabela's Guide 6 man tents. Perfect for 3 guys with cots and 4 using pads. 27 pounds We also offer Cabela's Warthog tents as they are a perfect fit for 2 men only weigh 9 pounds and have 2 vestibules which are nice. Many experienced groups will take a second tent just to have wet gear and its a great place for the guy who snores like I do!
Gun case: Do not take a hard sided cane into the field. Get yourself a Gun Boot which is a drying for your gun. Its the best way to keep it dry and weights under 5 pounds depending on the model you buy. I have about a dozen Gun Boots and send them out with my groups who don't have one.
Cot question...How much does your cot weigh? We supply Roll-A-Cots for all out trips. They cost a bunch but they weigh 10 pounds for the standard version and Camp Time has a bunch of different sizes to choose from. Price tag is about $120 but worth it. Super comfortable and strong as He!!

Link: https://www.camptime.com/collections/cots/products/standard-roll-a-cot

Ok...Thats one Outfitters advise.

Walt
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
Thanks for weighing in. I was hoping guys like you with experience in the area I'm headed to would.

It is a big list. It always looks so huge to me when I have each item listed like that.

To answer your questions:

We have only 1 main water filter for the group planned. I had planned to bring my Steripen as our back-up for the group since it can't freeze and have an issue. We could bring Life straws instead if you think that would be better. I have a Lifestraw filter bottle, and one of the little straws I usually have in my emergency kit in the lower 48.

I have 2 pairs of boots planned as of now. One pair is the Simms G3 wader boot to wear with the Chota tundra hippies (hip boot height waders basically) if we get put in a really wet area. As of now I'm planning to take those instead of my full Simms G3 chest waders. The waders are 25oz heavier. Biggest reason is they are hotter to hike in than the Chotas. Nice thing about waders though is they are awesome rain gear and I can sit on anything wet with them. I bought the Simms set for my moose hunt last year and had to wear them every time I left camp. The second pair of boots is my Kennetrek Mountain Extreme hiking boots and I have a pair of gaiters to wear with them. If it's dry enough, they would be my pick of what to wear.

For tents we are still trying to figure out what is right. We may contact you about renting one. I have a Kifaru Megatarp we talked about taking for gear storage that's pretty light. We just need to decide if we want a larger tent so if we get weathered in we can all hang out together, or if we want smaller individual tents. Either way we will have a tarp we can hang out under for cooking or sitting when the wind isn't howling.

I had not put a soft case on my list yet but need to, thanks for the reminder.

My cot is a Thermarest mesh cot that weighs 4.25lbs. It's a pretty light, low sitting cot that is their large size rated for 450 pounds. I also have a Cabelas cot like Papa Bear provided on our moose hunt, but it's 11lbs 4oz. It's a nice cot and was perfect for a floorless tipi in that swamp, but it's heavy. I like it for truck camping, used it a lot last year in Colorado.

Thanks for the advice, Heath.
 

rayporter

WKR
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
4,251
Location
arkansas or ohio
skip the extra stove
skip the handgun

ask about the stream -some streams up there will clog a filter in one use.

the wet fire may not make it past the TSA, just sayin cause i have had matches and fuel tabs confiscated.
 
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
93
Location
Gakona Alaska
Thanks for weighing in. I was hoping guys like you with experience in the area I'm headed to would.

It is a big list. It always looks so huge to me when I have each item listed like that.

To answer your questions:

We have only 1 main water filter for the group planned. I had planned to bring my Steripen as our back-up for the group since it can't freeze and have an issue. We could bring Life straws instead if you think that would be better. I have a Lifestraw filter bottle, and one of the little straws I usually have in my emergency kit in the lower 48.

I have 2 pairs of boots planned as of now. One pair is the Simms G3 wader boot to wear with the Chota tundra hippies (hip boot height waders basically) if we get put in a really wet area. As of now I'm planning to take those instead of my full Simms G3 chest waders. The waders are 25oz heavier. Biggest reason is they are hotter to hike in than the Chotas. Nice thing about waders though is they are awesome rain gear and I can sit on anything wet with them. I bought the Simms set for my moose hunt last year and had to wear them every time I left camp. The second pair of boots is my Kennetrek Mountain Extreme hiking boots and I have a pair of gaiters to wear with them. If it's dry enough, they would be my pick of what to wear.

For tents we are still trying to figure out what is right. We may contact you about renting one. I have a Kifaru Megatarp we talked about taking for gear storage that's pretty light. We just need to decide if we want a larger tent so if we get weathered in we can all hang out together, or if we want smaller individual tents. Either way we will have a tarp we can hang out under for cooking or sitting when the wind isn't howling.

I had not put a soft case on my list yet but need to, thanks for the reminder.

My cot is a Thermarest mesh cot that weighs 4.25lbs. It's a pretty light, low sitting cot that is their large size rated for 450 pounds. I also have a Cabelas cot like Papa Bear provided on our moose hunt, but it's 11lbs 4oz. It's a nice cot and was perfect for a floorless tipi in that swamp, but it's heavy. I like it for truck camping, used it a lot last year in Colorado.

Thanks for the advice, Heath.
I forgot...100 feet of Para Cord is a must and what about light weight tarp for your kitchen. Lots of guys think that cooking in the tent but that is a major no, no. I have had full blown grease fires and splatter destroy tents over the years. Those tents cost me about 450 $ per tent and I have 20 I guess. How many guys in your group? We send the 6 man out as a standard part of our drop camp package but we also have 2-8 tents and 2 4 man tents. Needless to say I am invested in Cabela's. The 8 man tent weighs 34 pounds.

Who are you flying with? The reason I ask is there are a few flight services I don't work with and I will explain why but not on a public forum..

Its all in the planning boys! what I do on all of my own fly you trips is to weigh each bundle -Dry bag and attach a tag with its name on it. Have all of your group do the same, you provide the beer and do by cheep beer! after you have weighed in your gear you know where you stand with the 80 pounds. When everyone is finished weighing in lay your gear out for one last look and you will see some duplication that can be eliminated. Always keep in mind you can lighten your load by wearing layers of close if it is tight.

About 9-10 years ago I was doing a fly in Dolly trip into the Kelly drainage. Everything was perfect until I went to fire the cook stove up and guess what? No lighters or matched!! My partner-wife reached into her go bag and she has a striker and the 6 day trip was saved!! One of you should bring along a striker. I put 3 new lighters into all of my kitchen boxes so that little thing does not ruin a great trip..

PS DEEEEET, lots of it. Even when its cold the black flies find you and most of the time its about 3 mins. after you start gutting you're caribou. Hate those suckers!

Enjoy
Walt
 

Legend

WKR
Joined
Jun 13, 2017
Messages
774
Did I see a 2 man tent and a pee bottle? If I went along I would recomend leaving the pee bottle behind.....to save weight.
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
Thanks for the replies. The 2 man tent will be used by 1 person only.

We have a 10x10 tarp to cook under in our group stuff plus poles to elevate it. I have another light 10x10 to carry in my pack and we have an 8x10 to put meat under. Got Deet too. Got paracord too. We are flying with Golden Eagle.
 

Voyageur

WKR
Joined
Feb 12, 2020
Messages
1,015
Thought of one more item last night...
On last year's hunt, almost as an afterthought, I threw in a 3/4" closed cell foam pad to sit on. Not sure of the dimensions, but it was slightly bigger than the seat on a tree stand. I debated taking it because I already had a Crazy Creek chair packed, but figured this would be lighter and less bulky to pack around to different vantage points. By the end of the hunt I was sold on the worth of having that simple pad either in or strapped on my pack each day. In fact when writing end of the hunt gear thoughts I made note that this was a worthy item to have along. The Crazy Creek chair was good to have in camp, but the simple pad was far more convenient for me out in the field...FWIW.
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
I pack a piece of a Thermarest Z lite around most hunts for the same reason. Probably a good idea to take it along this time too rather than just having the camp chair. Thanks, good idea.
 

Kerrbow

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 22, 2018
Messages
141
Location
Tx
Two of us are going out of Kotz on Sept 1-10th with Jared also. We looked and studied all the gear needed and weighed shipping costs and the like and after talking with Walt, we decided with his years of experience up in that country to go with his service. That way I don't have to come up with the big stuff and just concentrate on the smaller items. I am thinking about using a soft sided cooler as my carry-on bag and taking things like axis deer summer sausage and cheese just to break up the freeze dried meals. Wondering about one of those rollup deer drag sleds rather than trying to carry a caribou on this 72 year old back of mine.
 
Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
93
Location
Gakona Alaska
Two of us are going out of Kotz on Sept 1-10th with Jared also. We looked and studied all the gear needed and weighed shipping costs and the like and after talking with Walt, we decided with his years of experience up in that country to go with his service. That way I don't have to come up with the big stuff and just concentrate on the smaller items. I am thinking about using a soft sided cooler as my carry-on bag and taking things like axis deer summer sausage and cheese just to break up the freeze dried meals. Wondering about one of those rollup deer drag sleds rather than trying to carry a caribou on this 72 year old back of mine.
Those drag sleds are becoming more and more common. For a moose hunt they are a must because in Ak you have to bring the meat out on the bone. A hind 1/4 of caribou is no big deal but a decent moose hind 1/4 will tip the scales at 180 pounds so the sled is a dood idea. The soft sided cooler is also a good idea. The flight services do not like cooler very much because they dot stack well in the back of a 206. Dry bags, Dry Bags!

Be prepared or wet and windy weather as it is the norm.

Walt
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
We brought 2 moose out on our backs bone-in last year. We did not have a sled but I could definitely see where it would have helped. We used our pack frames like stretchers and each carried an end across one sketchy stretch of bog. If we broke through the vegetation we did not want the weight attached to us.
 

mooster

WKR
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
599
Some thoughts on our gear we used out of Kotz last year...

We used our own gear. We used a floor-less tipi w/stove, and cots to get off ground. The tipi was awesome. We brought some extra long w/twist tent stakes and didn't initially use them. However, one day the wind became horrendous, so we deployed the larger stakes and had no issue, were thankful we had them.

The stove was fantastic as it really was nice to warm up at night & first thing in the a.m.. Since the stove is small, you just pick up dead branches off the brush around camp for firewood. At the end of the week, we did start to portage some nice deadwood we found further from camp since we could just strap it to our packs. A lightweight hand pruner would have been nice to cut / size limbs for the stove. By weeks end, it was a bit tiring to break / bend twigs constantly to fuel the stove. A small stove requires constant feeding, but did raise our inside tipi temp to 50's and 60's when it was 20-30's outside.

While we had hip waders for de-planing and fishing, I used hiking boots and gaiters to keep feet dry while hunting. The tussocks are very unstable and at various depths from ankle to knee deep, so hiking books were a must. I was so glad I didn't run w/muck boots. In between the tussocks there is often water puddled, so it very hard to keep your boots dry even if its not raining. I was thankful I had good h20 proof boots as my feet were always dry. The stove helped too dry off boots each night.

Also a must, hiking sticks. And our experience was that the plastic snow flange on the hiking sticks would come off if you weren't careful. The stick would penetrate the tussock and you wouldn't realize when you pulled the stick out that the plastic piece didn't come out w/the pole. My buddy lost both of his plastic pieces rendering his sticks into spears, near useless. I duct taped mine once I realized what was going on. So word to wise, get sticks, get quality sticks, and maybe reinforce them. Luckily too, I carry some spare duct tape wrapped on the sticks themselves.

Another overlooked item is a foam sitting pad. I was nice to keep butt dry, also comfortable when sitting on rock outcroppings. In my notes it was something worth a very small weight penalty.

I had a neoprene type shell jacket and rain jacket. I would have been just as well of taking only the rain jacket and just wearing my puffy under as needed. Would have saved the weight of bringing the neoprene jacket.

Single serving, flavored water packets were great. My buddy didn't bring any, and mine were coveted. Just was nice to having something sweet to drink during the week.

We didn't use our camp axe, a hand saw was sufficient. Our Mossy Oak wood/bone/metal hand saw was flimsy, so post hunt we upgraded to a better Wyoming type saw for next year. A saw was necessary to cut larger limbs to make a structure to hang your game bags from, and occasionally to cut firewood pieces.

Reflective game bags (Black OVis) vs. buddy's non-reflective? It was nice to be able to shine the flashlight to navigate straight to the bags at night. Also to see if any eyes were nearby. My buddies bags were not reflective and we realized how nice the reflective ones were. Also bring tags to mark your game bags to ensure your bags aren't mixed up back in town w/someone else's. We took care of our meat and would have been disappointed to leave home w/someone else's meat not as well cared for.

Also, my buddy had some neoprene gloves that were awesome for butchering a wet animal (had just swam a river and in wet tundra in freezing weather.

"40 mile" walkie talkies sucked. We only got about 1 mile max in open tundra. We will get better ones next time as we had to split up to watch opposite ends of our hunting area in search of the very few animals we saw that weren't 50 miles away "tundra time". We could cover 1 mile of average tundra in an energetic 50 minutes. Not all tundra is equal. There was one glassing point we found a mile another way that was quite easy to walk to due to large amount of rock in that area. I guess its luck of draw where your dropped and what you might find. I'd be prepared for worst, and enjoy it when its not so bad if you get lucky.

Since we crammed our duffel bags so tightly, we actually accidentally turned on headlamps during travel. Good idea to reverse the batteries while traveling. We brought a solar charger & battery bank that we shared. No issues.

Our Platypus 16L water bladder wouldn't close properly. We filled it daily. Was proper size for us, but ziploc closure sucked.
 
Joined
Dec 29, 2018
Messages
1
I'm going on a caribou hunt this fall out of Kotzebue Sept 17 to 24 with a couple friends. It will be our first caribou hunt, and our first time on the tundra. I've had some time on some bad weather days to put together my initial gear list of what I am thinking of taking. I'm sure I have some unnecessary stuff and am probably missing some other items. Please check out my list and let me know what to look at changing if you have time.

Hopefully some of you experienced guys that helped me out before my moose hunt are weathered in and bored, and won't mind helping me again.

We are limited to 80lbs of gear each not counting our food and fuel we will consume in the field. Right now my list is right about there not counting what I wear in. I would like to shave some off of what I have, but I have not decided what to cut out. It's always harder for me the first trip to a new environment. I have a tendency to want to have everything plus a back-up in the vehicle when driving, but these hunts require a little more planning.

Weights of everything from my Excel sheet are out to the side of the item. I have things split between group items and personal items.

One thing we keep debating is tents. We are still deciding if we want to take several small tents and save weight, or go with a bigger 8 man and cut weight elsewhere. Tents, cots, and footwear seem to be areas we keep debating.

Thanks everyone for the help.
Looks good
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Messages
371
Location
Washington State
My initial two cents from hunting drop camps for moose and caribou in Alaska. I've hunted north of Fairbanks, the Alaska Range, and the Talkeetna area. I have not hunted the Kotzebue area. I'll second Twincedars advice of hiking sticks and a foam pad (I take a crazy creek chair that folds up and I can use it in camp or attach to my pack). I'd ditch the separate tents and go for something like an Alaskan Guide series tent and spend extra to get the light weight poles and stakes. When you get socked in with bad weather its nice to be able to talk to your buddies in the tent and you should be able to save some weight with just one tent. I also bring a sil tarp for emergencies and to keep the meat dry.

If you need to shed more weight I'd ditch the cot and just use the thermarest blow up pad and if you need something extra go with a thermarest foam rollup pad underneath it. Your Exo 3500 will serve you well, I've hauled multiple caribou with it.
 
OP
mcseal2

mcseal2

WKR
Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
2,671
I made a few changes to the list since I last posted.

Biggest one is in footwear and shelter. We are getting a Cabelas Instinct Alaskan Guide 6 man tent for the trip. The old Alaskan Guide tent is getting phased out according to a friend. This new model will hopefully still have parts available for a few years if we go with it.

Second big change is that I bought Crispi Hiland Pro boots instead of going with my Kennetrek's and gaiters. The more people I talked to about how wet of areas we may have to cross, the more I wanted ankle support and a knee high waterproof boot. They are ugly and expensive, but I will use them on this and other hunts. I've been fighting plantar fasciitis that started with to much time in soft soled Muck boots last fall, I'm going to try to take as good of care of my feet as I can going forward. With that change I went to Ridgeline made boots and chaps for my waders. They are lighter and have a Tingley ultralight rubber boot sealed to a nylon chap to make a hip wader. They are only 44oz and have worked well on a few fishing trips this year. The chap folds down so they can also be used as a slip on boot for around camp when I want to get out of my hunting boots.

Past that I lightened up a few smaller items and traded out a few things. I replaced a few layers with the HPG Serape that can add to my warmth sitting in the field or as an overblanket sleeping. It also makes a bag if I get caught out or want to take a nap. I added a partial Thermarest Z lite pad to sit on, and made sure my trekking poles have the rubber foot well attached.

My poles only have a rubber foot about 1.25" across. I guess that will be enough, they worked ok in the swamp on our moose hunt.

I changed some other stuff I'm sure, but can't remember anything else.

I have been told by several people who hunted out of Kotz that they did not filter their water? I might start another thread on that to ask.
 

mooster

WKR
Joined
Dec 2, 2018
Messages
599
My poles only have a rubber foot about 1.25" across. I guess that will be enough, they worked ok in the swamp on our moose hunt.

I hunted out of Kotzebue last year. Poles were an absolute must. My buddy and I both experienced the "snow feet" of the poles getting stuck in the tundra and pulling off. Once you lost a foot, the pole was worthless as it just speared down into the tundra offering no support. My buddy lost both of his "snow feet" and ended up just not using his poles anymore. I duct taped my feet to make sure they didn't come off, and it worked for the rest of the trip. If I were to go back I'd find poles with large snow feet and prepare them to avoid losing them. Duct tape or even epoxy would have been good.
 
Last edited:
Top