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The Hunting Gear We Use – Hunter Bloxham
279 Plays4 months ago
This week Drew has Hunter Bloxham on the Tricer Podcast. Hunter Bloxham is a member of the hunting group Public Land Sportsmen. Drew and Hunter spend some time on this podcast talking about the gear they use during the season and what are some of their favorite pieces they use. From elk to deer hunting these guys have their packs dialed in.
HUNTER BLOXHAM
PUBLIC LAND SPORTMEN
Instagram - @public_land_sportsmen
TRICER USA
Website – https://tricerusa.com/
Instagram - @tricerusa
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tricerusa/
YouTube - @tricer
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Transcript
Introduction to the Tricer Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
You are listening to the Tricer Podcast, where we talk all things hunting, gear, and the great outdoors. Before we begin, let's start things out right and put God first. Lord Jesus, I thank you for Tricer, and I ask that you can use this podcast as a way to bring joy to all of our listeners. We lay Tricer and this podcast at your feet. Amen.
00:00:22
Speaker
All right.
Introducing Hunter Bloxham and Collaboration
00:00:23
Speaker
I got a fun one today. I have hunter bloxham from public man sportsman, public land sportsman on the podcast, not public man, public land sportsman. So, uh, we, me and Hunter have been doing stuff together for a few years, running our gear. Um, they film all their hunts. It's him and his two brothers. Just all around great dudes out there killing animals and, uh, backpack hunting and getting it done. So, uh, Hunter, how you doing, man?
00:00:50
Speaker
Good man. True. I appreciate you having me on. So this will be, this will be fun. Yeah, dude. I mean, I'm excited to have you on here too. Um, so public sportsmen, I mean, you guys are, you've been around for a while now.
Social Media Focus: Instagram vs. YouTube
00:01:03
Speaker
Are you guys mostly YouTube, mostly Instagram, but mostly YouTube, right? Um, actually mostly Instagram. We have dabbled in the YouTube game. Um, we're not as good.
00:01:16
Speaker
at film as we would like to be. um So we're always upgrading our equipment, always trying to learn different tips and tactics with editing. And ah my brother actually went to a film school, so he's kind of teaching us a little bit behind the camera. But it's a lot of work, man. So mostly what we do now is, I mean, we pack around nice cameras. um I think we all have the Sony a7 III. And we all just love to shoot content.
00:01:43
Speaker
um product photography, just cool pictures in the, in the outdoor space out while we're hunting. Um, yeah, that's, we just like to capture the hunt. Um, pictures worth a thousand words. I wish we were better at video, but we will get there. So, so you guys like more of the short form stuff versus the long form stuff right now.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah. And I think we'll always kind of be that way. Um, even when we do start filming or getting better at filming hunts, I think our, our hunts will always be shorter hunts, um, more action packed. Um, I feel like everyone wants instant gratification right now. They don't want to watch an hour long hunt on, on YouTube, especially if there's no action in it. Um, so I think we'll always try to keep our stuff short, sweet. And yeah, just get down to the punch.
Video Content Creation and Equipment
00:02:29
Speaker
On the Film Tunt stuff, you know the the trick to editing film? What's that? Pay someone to do it. That's true. So I actually, like, I just went to Hawaii with Brad from Gritty and I have and i have an editor that just, I send all my stuff to. He edits all my stuff for me for for YouTube, Instagram. And then I also have a girl, my girl Yolanda, you talk Yolanda, I'm sure.
00:02:57
Speaker
She has a lot of her short form stuff on YouTube because that stuff just kills you. And I don't mind like filming it and doing it, but trying to turn it into something cool, it's hard. Like I have the software to do it, right? I bought like whatever the diver the name of it, like the expensive software, like 500 bucks or whatever. I have it, but ah it takes me like hours to make something that these guys can make in 10 minutes better, you know? A hundred percent. Yeah. And I think we'll definitely get there. You know, as the budget allows, we'll start to,
00:03:27
Speaker
maybe pack a cameraman around or something. I'm actually bringing a cameraman on all my huts this year, so that'll be fun. This will probably come out in October, but right now it's the end of August. I just got back from Hawaii and now I'm leaving for Colorado for over-the-counter elk on this Saturday and I'm bringing a cameraman for that whole thing.
Upcoming Hunting Trips and Strategies
00:03:51
Speaker
That'll be awesome, man. Heck yeah.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see how it goes, man. Just bring my buddy Joey and my buddy Cade. Cade's going to film for us and we're going to try and kill a public member. I think it's like seven or eight percent success rate over there. And I'm going to try and give it 10 to 14 days. And typically if I can find something, I can kill something. So I just got to find them and then be in the right place at the right time. And then all I have to do is put an arrow on the side of it, right? It's it's that easy. That's it, man. and It's that easy, our trail cut. Put an arrow into the heart and lungs, or both lungs, and they die. So hunting's easy. We'll figure it out. My buddy Joey said he said he's willing to shoot a cow, which is kind of cool. So it's like either sex tag. So that's really cool. Fill the freezer, man. Fill the freezer and get him done. Because honestly, trying to get two bulls down, I won't shoot a cow. Trying to get two bulls down is a little bit more than I want to do.
00:04:47
Speaker
I shouldn't say I won't shoot a cow. Cause if it's like the last day, I might shoot a cow, but I know I won't shoot a cow. I have enough meat. Um, so I won't shoot a cow. Let's just throw it out there right now. So the world knows I will not shoot a cow on the side. If I shoot a cow, message me that I'm a douche bag. Cause it's came out afterwards and no I have enough meat. I have enough. So yeah,
00:05:10
Speaker
so yeah dude, you guys have been doing it for a long time, right? You and your brothers.
Hunting History and Passion with Family
00:05:14
Speaker
Yep. Yeah. We started. And I don't even know the year we started. We started hunting together probably, I don't know, 10 or 15 years ago. Um, my brother and I have been hunting together forever, but my brother-in-law, he married into the family, obviously was a hardcore hunter. And we just started going on all these hunts together. And I actually think it was an archery elk in our home state of Idaho. And, uh, yeah, we were just talking about sharing our adventures. This was before even Instagram.
00:05:46
Speaker
Um, we just packed around a little camcorder and would try to like relive the hunt. It was really cool. Um, but yeah, man, so we just kind of slowly grew. We don't do it for the growth or the followers. We just do it because we're passionate about it. We're going to be hunting every year, whether, you know, we're packing cameras or not. We're just going to have tags in our pocket and go and get after it. So my brother Jake and my brother-in-law Garrett, um, are the ones who, who started it with me and we just kind of.
00:06:15
Speaker
all share our hunts and adventures. And now that we're all kind of, you know, spread apart, I'm in Southern Utah now, so I live in St. George. My other brothers are still in Idaho, but we get together when we can on hunts, but we also do a lot of hunts separate now and we're still sharing our adventures. So. Nice. And that actually isn't that far of a drive from Southern, I mean, it's what is it, like six hours to get up there or something? Yeah. Yep. Six and a half hours. So not bad.
00:06:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, hopefully you meet in between hunting Utah and uton
Mule Deer Hunting Passion and Approach
00:06:43
Speaker
stuff. Um, you guys, so you, you've killed some bulls in your bow, right? But we're gonna, we're gonna pretend that elk season's over when this comes out. It's kind of more mule deer focused time. Uh, you told me, you've told me before in the past that your your favorite animal you could pick one would be mule deer. Yep. That's it.
00:07:03
Speaker
So let's ah let's talk about, let's explore that a little bit more. Um, you got a pretty big bucking wall behind you. are what What's your style of hunting? How are you hunting mule deer? Were you looking for them? What units are you looking for? Not, you know, say unit numbers. What kind of terrain are you hunting for? Let's talk about it. Yeah. Um, so I don't even know when the book came out, but, um, I'm, I'm all things hunting. I want to learn more. I want to read about it. I want to get better. I want to sharpen my skills.
00:07:32
Speaker
Um, and a book came out by David long called public land mules and David long, uh, ah originally why I think he's bounced around, but Wyoming, I think. Um, but anyways, he was like, wrote this book on all things, public land mules, more like backpack style hunting. And when I read that book, I was like, I gotta start backpack hunting. And this was, you know, I had grown up hunting hard, but we never really camped out overnight. So I got into backpack hunting with my brothers. So my style is living off my back. I mean, if I can throw all my gear on my back, backpack in a couple of miles, get away from the crowds, that's my style of hunting. I will take it any way that I can get it. third I've got a third season Colorado gear tag this year. So that's going to be totally different. I'm not going to be sleeping in a tent when it's, you know, two feet of snow on the ground and below freezing.
00:08:33
Speaker
fingers crossed. but But yeah, so backpack style hunting mule deer, that's my my cup of tea. Yeah, I have a third season tag as well. I will have like some hot tents with me, like my seek outside tent with me. But I'll also have my 16 by 12 Davis tent, well tent with my big stove.
00:08:53
Speaker
because I don't want to be I mean, like fingers crossed it is snowing fingers crossed there is two foot of snow on the ground the deer is getting pushed. I think we exchanged units I think we're a few units apart from each other I can't remember we talked about that or not.
00:09:07
Speaker
but um Yeah, I'll take it as I get it to right depends on the hunt because we're ongoing like I'm hunting a unit in New Mexico for mule deer this year, and to muzzle or tag, but it's very roaded. We'll have a base camp, and then we'll probably have my truck or side by side to move around be mobile.
00:09:27
Speaker
hit glossy points then we can do like two or three mile treks from the trails and the roads there you know what I mean and do it that way um you have to play it as it is you can't just go I'm only a backpack hunter I'm only a road hunter I'm you like you kind of kind of work however you can get it right like I'll take a tag I can get muzzleloader rifle archery however I can get it then I'll figure out how that unit works you have to really play the unit play the cards and it deals you, right?
Backpack Hunting Guide: Essentials and Tips
00:09:52
Speaker
Some units aren't conducive to backpacking. It's just not like in San Diego here. It's not very conducive to backpack hunting. I do backpack a little bit in some unit some areas, but mostly you can hike into everything within an hour or so. um Sometimes I like to backpack in only because I don't like to wake up at 2am.
00:10:12
Speaker
and get out, get, you know, drive an hour and a half to where I'm hunting. So I'll back back in this for that reason. It's kind of nice to have that and be sleeping there and then get out of your tent at, you know, whatever. 5 a.m. And beat your glass, you know, by six or whatever it is, you know. Absolutely. Versus first time to drive.
00:10:26
Speaker
um We're talking about different units. And then I do have a tag in Utah this year, my son does, um in Utah this year, and that will be a backpack cut. like that i it ah That unit is conducive to backpack cutting. i If I had to choose, I would rather backpack cut every single time because it's just nice to have everything you need right there. I feel like there's something to be said about I go backpack hunting and my whole life is in a little backpack behind me right now, set up for Colorado. Um, or if I bring my wallet, my truck is filled to the brim. I put everything in there, the stoves, the freaking black stoves. I mean, just, it's just like, you just have so much crap, right? Like it's so nice to be, just simplify your life in backpack. That's why I love it so much. Absolutely, man. And the best hunters that I know, the the ones that are most successful, they,
00:11:20
Speaker
You know, they're nimble. They shift as it as needed. They go, you know, hunt different styles, different weapons, different seasons. um So yeah, that's awesome, man. Yeah, you know we should do is we should break down your kind of your backpack hunting setup because like a lot of guys don't know right so like I'm taking my buddy Joe with me on this hunt I said Colorado and it's gonna be a hybrid like we're bringing canvas cutters. I have three canvas cutters now So I have my filmer and Joey We're gonna be driving the roads calling at night sipping in the canvas cars at the truck and hiking in a mile two in the mornings there's also a few areas that one of them is like a
00:11:54
Speaker
anywhere, depending on if i if depending on what I get there, if my truck can get anywhere I need to go, either it's three miles or five miles from the road, we'll get a backpack into that. So we're going to be hybrid on that hunt. And Joey's never backpacked in his life, especially hunted. And he's like, you come over, set me up. So I go over there and he's got like, four knives. I mean, cracks all boot dryer. He's got, he's got everything in the kitchen sink on his table. And I just looked at him and I was like, okay, what we're gonna do is this, go get me a bin. So go get me a bin. And we just started throwing stuff in the bin that wasn't gonna go in the back.
00:12:31
Speaker
Right, because once you've done it long enough, like I got my whole pack done with optics in there. I'm at 29 pounds right now for that elk cut, right? I'm sleeping with the ease of the super tarp. And I can break down my kit, I guess, as well for that. But once you've done it enough, you really kind of learn what you need and don't need. And a lot of guys, when you first start doing it, you get sucked into this like a REI, like gimmick, bring all this stuff. You need all this.
00:13:01
Speaker
and you don't need the vast majority of things. There's certain things that you do need, certain things you don't need, certain things you must have. certain things that are comfortable um and you kind of pick a kit that works for you. But then my biggest thing is like I tell people is almost start with less and then add onto it rather than start with too much and then have to bring, you know, and then have to like have all that crap on you and you're out there. Cause I guarantee you a lot of stuff in your pack is not going to get used. And if it's not getting used, it should not be in your pack. I can tell you that my kid I had right now for elk is pretty much the same kid I run for every single hunt.
00:13:37
Speaker
This year the only thing they'll change would be shelter possibly sleep pad And you know, whatever the clothes that are in my pack right now like everything's basically the same I don't need to change it. Everything's there, you know different size game bags for deer, right? um So yeah, I mean, I guess you want me to break down my pack first, you know break down yours or I mind your mind guys did it Yeah, break down yours. Let's hear it So I'll give you my art by archery elk kit that I have here. And I actually have a cool app. is There's an app called Packlight that you can get. And you can put all your gear in there, your gear inventory. So you just put all your items in there. You know, like I have a mattress blower. This is one of my bigger ones. I have a smaller one. I put them in there. I put the poundage in there or what they weigh, the ounces, right? Like my Jet Boil Minimo weighs 16 ounces. A small fuel cartridge weighs seven ounces. My first aid kit weighs one pound, three ounces. And you put all that in there. And you continue to add to that list.
00:14:34
Speaker
Right. So like I said, so I might want to run my, my standard Jetwell, what those are called, whatever the standard Jetwell is a skinnier one that's on this list. And then I go and build my pack out. And with that I go and you go to a thing called packing list. You build a pack of those 2024 archery elk. So for this hunt, I'm going to be running the initial set 5,000. Um, I fell in love with that pack. Uh,
00:15:02
Speaker
I have an Everly stock I'm going to run as well this year on a few hunts because I, I, the Everly stock really is conducive to like some of my day hunts that I want to do. Um, but the initial set, it just stole my heart this year and getting to ruin a couple of times. It's just carries weight. and It fits me perfectly. I think packs are like boots. Um, I did a backpack series with like seven backpack companies and every one of those packs is the best pack for somebody. Um, but right now I'm.
00:15:28
Speaker
in love with the initial set. So I run that 5,000 initial set with a top lid. Not too many accessories. My backpacks, I don't run a lot of accessories in my backpacks. um I don't run a lot of compartments. I don't like zippers. I'm very, I like to be minimal. I don't run stuff sacks really at all. I just shove my stuff in the pack. That way it fills it up better. um In that, for my cooking setup, I'm running the Minimo on this hunt because it has the bigger bowl to it. I like to eat ramen and it's just easier to eat ramen out of it.
00:15:57
Speaker
um So ramen is just nice. This hunt is going to be like anywhere from 75 to 85 degrees. So I probably don't know how much I'm going to be into ramen. But there's something about ramen in the middle of the day that's just good. Especially on these hot elk out like this where I'm probably going to be like just laying around for basically 9am till 4 p.m., because there's nothing's gonna be moving, including me. I'm running the small fuel cartridges on this one. If I had like an eight day hunt, I'd bring a big cartridge, just one big cartridge. It'll get me through. Honestly, a small one could get me through probably eight days. They frickin' last forever. A lot of my food that I do for breakfast, we'll talk, well, I guess one of the food will do that. For dinners, I'm gonna have peak refuel dinners. I don't know which ones. I just pick them. I have a box of like 50 of them right now. I'm just buying all the dishes. They're all delicious.
00:16:44
Speaker
delicious and then I'll have for breakfast I'll probably just use the peak refills as well but I'll use I like granola I have a bunch of their breakfast like the warm ones but I'm really a big granola guy because I don't like to on a backpack style hunt typically you're waking up and you're having to hike you know a mile from your tent to hunt. like you shouldn't be You shouldn't be camping on the elk necessarily or on the deer. You should be a half mile away, something so you're not blowing into them all night. you know I don't like to wake up, warm up a meal, and then wait for it to hydrate and then eat it. like That's a minimum of 30 minutes, minimum, maybe more.
00:17:29
Speaker
um And I don't really like to cook when I get to my glassing spot in the morning, I don't know. But if I take those ones that are granola, I just honestly just, I'm using a, I'll talk about that in a minute, a hard side Nalgene this year. I use like a bladder style Nalgene. I'll suck some water in my mouth, spit it in that bag with the granola, shake that thing up, stir it up in my spork, tricer spork. And then I will let it sit for like five minutes, eat that sucker right on the mountain, anytime in the morning. I don't have to, it doesn't take any work other than spitting some water in it.
00:17:57
Speaker
um And then for snacks, I typically will have like almonds, Fritos. I'm not really a big bar guy, I might have a couple bars in there.
00:18:08
Speaker
um I'll definitely have some sour stuff, like some Sour Patch Kids, because they're just nice when you're hunting to have some sugar. i I definitely will have like baby bell cheese. I'll definitely have cotillam but corn cheeses from Costco. I'll leave those things in there for 10 days all day long. They start, especially on high, I guess they're going to start sweating, but I don't care. The cheese just stays. They're all, they're so much preservatives and it just stays.
00:18:32
Speaker
um I always have salami, that's something I started doing. like I was on a hunt a few years ago, I was like 10 days in the Frank Church, and I just had like all processed foods, and my buddy had salami, and I was just like, he would share a little bit with me, but like I just craved his fresh food, like and I just wanted it. So I always have salami and cheese on my hunts now, because it's just good. You can make sandwiches with it. I'll probably have some of those Sunkist tuna packets with me.
00:19:00
Speaker
um I like the Sunkist tuna packets. um I could put some, ah bring some flatbread with me or smash, or you can make bagels and smash bagels down and puts put ah but that tuna packet on there. We got a nice little sandwich in the middle of the day. Those are good. I will have on a hunt like that for food.
00:19:19
Speaker
um I like the Celsius powder packs, honestly. like It's like 15 bucks for like 12 of them. But dude, they taste, they taste 16 ounces. I do it 32 ounces with one of them. And they're probably one of the best tasting drinks I've had out there. And they have 200 milligrams of caffeine in them. They're pretty awesome. um And it forces me to drink some water. I'll have some liquid IVs. I always have liquid IVs because if it's hot and I'm just putting a lot of miles in, I mean, you're gonna be sweating through your hat, your pants, you're just gonna be,
00:19:51
Speaker
ah sweaty balls man it's 85 degrees it's hot you're crying mountains you're wearing merino socks and i wear leather boots like you're just gonna be sweating you need salt you know um i don't do any kind of salt tablets or anything like that but i think these are good those elements are pretty good too um I probably won't have any mountain op stuff. I could have someone there. I kind of like their BCA stuff as well. But if I have the liquid IVs and the Celsius, that's all I really need. um Something I'm trying this year, i don't i never I don't dip or smoke or anything, but ah my kid got these like LFGO like dip packs.
00:20:26
Speaker
but all they are is caffeine. And you throw it in your lip, like a lipper, like just like a Zen. And there's 200 milligrams of caffeine in that thing. and You just let it sit in your lip for like an hour and you get 200 milligrams of caffeine. I've heard of those things, yeah. Dude, and it like, at first I was like upset with my kicks. He's 17, he brought them. I'm like, I don't want you to have like even mess the illusion of doing that. You know what I mean? But then I was like, threw one in this weekend and I was like, oh wow, these are cool. So I stole them from him. I put my pack because he hasn't really been using them.
00:20:56
Speaker
um And I'm going to try those out because they're pretty cool. And they honestly make a lot of saliva too. So you're kind of like forced, you swallow, you don't spit it. So you just, you're swallowing. So it kind of forces you to kind of feel like your mouth's a little satiated, which I like that. That's probably it for food. I don't know. There were some other snacks in there. I'm sure I'll grab some stuff, but I'm pretty basic on my food. Back to my list here.
00:21:19
Speaker
Cool thing is on this art this thing too is you have like cooking, first aid, you everything there. um First aid kit, I got a first aid kit. I used to just carry like a Ziploc bag with like band-aids and some tape in it. And then I went to the Western Hunting Summit this year and I felt like a terrible father because he's just showing me all these pictures and all this stuff. So my first aid kit now weighs One pound, three ounces, which is barely anything, but I pretty much have everything I need there to handle saving my life if I have to. And if I can't, I'm hitting the button anyways at that point, it doesn't matter. I've got a in that kit, I've got a tourniquet now, never had one of those. I always figured it was a tie belt or something.
00:22:00
Speaker
I've got like a syringe just to squirt the dirt out of the wounds. I have these things that are pretty cool. They're like a zip tie style butterfly patch. I know you've seen those. So you can put it on both sides and you pull the zip tie and it'll actually close your wound. Especially when you're messing around with freaking halvelons and stuff, dude, and you're tired, you're doing an elk.
00:22:18
Speaker
it's so easy to get cut so easy to cut your friend or your kid whatever because you're in there you're holding it you're talking and you're just you're not paying attention you're throwing meat and it's so easy to get cut man if you haven't been poked while you're doing an elk like i don't know who hasn't done that um so i got those things just in case i've never had anything terrible in the backcountry happened with comes to cuts but i did i did fillet my wrist open doing a deer in my yard one time um I was like, my friend shot a deer and I was like, bring it to my house. We'll clean it out of my whole junior high career from church. And we had like 20 kids running around. I'm talking to him and I'm trying to train him, his father-in-law and his his like uncle how to like clean a deer and do it. and like i go And I had just sharpened his fixed blade knife. And i went to like I was like, hold this. I was like cutting it right through, right into my wrist. And it was like through an artery to spraying blood everywhere.
00:23:07
Speaker
um I ended up taping it up because I was so pissed off. My buddy taped it up super tight, so my hand went purple, finished the deer, drove to the hospital. I had pictures of it. You can see the artery and everything. It's pretty gnarly. But that would happen in the backcountry. No matter what, I'd probably have to come out from that kind of cut. It was a good cut because it was one of those ones where you'd actually hear every time your heart beat it, it would just spray blood. It was gnarly.
00:23:31
Speaker
Um, but with those zip tie things, I can actually get I think closed up really good and be able to tape it up and get out of there and not be, you know, in trouble. Right. Like something like that was like, it was one of those ones where you're like, yep, I have to get stitches right now. But some of these other cuts, I probably wouldn't come out. I have a pretty good tendency just to stay out from things I'm cut. I don't really care.
00:23:52
Speaker
But now I now I have more than duct tape, which is nice I'll have some like diarrhea medicine in there. I always have some like stomach stuff in there I have I love towel PMs. I spend the package of that stuff. So if I tell little PMs Cuz like that and bow trim will be my pack always cuz I just get sower, you know You're hiking around doing this stuff your muscles get sower your knees get sore your hips get sore But I take two of those towel PMs at night. and It really helps you go to sleep and it kind of works on you know Anti-inflammatory, right? Absolutely So I run those in there and that's my first aid kit in a nutshell. I mean, there's some other stuff in there. I'm sure, oh, I got a mouth to mouth thing now, which I kind of don't really care. I mean, I'll use it, I guess, but honestly, if I'm out with you Hunter and you go down and probably you mouth to mouth and I don't even care, I'm not putting it very wrong, but I'm saving your life, you know, figure it out with the end. If you give me some disease, we'll talk about afterwards.
00:24:45
Speaker
um Hydration on this hunt, I've got a 32 ounce Tricerin Algene. I always have one 32 ounce in there, just so I can mix my drinks, do stuff like that, have it in the tent with me at night. I like having algenes. But I am like, especially on hot hunts, like I do love bladders, but at the same time I hate when bladders fail.
00:25:06
Speaker
So I bought a hard side this year from Gohan and actually had to meet the owner of hard side a couple of times and just go talk to him too. Super cool company. So I have a 48 ounce Nalgene hard side Nalgene, which is basically a Nalgene with a tube built into it. So it's like a bladder in an algae. So now you don't, it's like the best of both worlds. I can put it on the side of my pack. I don't have to have it inside of my pack. So I have it like in my little pocket on the side, right? Like everyone has a little, so you know, those little elastic pockets on the side. So that's right there on the side of it. 48 ounces of water.
00:25:36
Speaker
So between these two, it's not as much water as I like to carry. I like to have three liters, which would be about 110, 120 ounces of water, but I'll have 80 ounces of water and hopefully there's a bunch of enough water out there. If needed, I'll throw another Nalgene in my pack. Again, this is one of those hunts where I could just, I'll have more Nalgenes in the truck, but in my pack will be those two Nalgenes.
00:25:56
Speaker
um I'll have an MSR gravity filter. It weighs one pound, it's heavier than most, I get it. But again, this is where I tell you, like I have the pumps as well, the little 12 ounce pumps. You gotta pick what's comfortable for you, what's nice for you, and those gravity filters when you gotta do a bunch of water are awesome.
00:26:17
Speaker
Um, I'll have a six liter drama light bag with me, which is basically an MSR bag that you can put water in. Um, and with that guided filter, you hook right up to it. You fill 10 liters of water in that thing. Go away for 10 or 15 minutes. Come back. And that bag is completely filled with purified water. My partners will also have a six liter and a four liter. So we'll fill theirs up as well. So you used to all, you you go put instead of having to pump water for a freaking hour and like, you know, sit there and.
00:26:41
Speaker
I don't want to say jerking off or whatever. you're just like in there you know to mean this like and You're trying to keep the hose in the water. You're putting rocks on to keep it under the stream. It's floating everywhere. Like, dude, that, that gravity filter is just freaking rad, man. You do have to be careful not to use too dirty of water. Cause I had to filter like the cattle truck, cattle drinker last year. It was pretty gross. Oh man. It kept clogging on videos. Only water back there. a So whatever. Yeah. That's brutal.
00:27:07
Speaker
So you need to make sure you back flush it a little bit to make it work, but it works good. So that's been water set up. um MSR gravity, Dromelite, the hard 32 ounce Nalgene. And they're hard to work with any Nalgene as well. You can like cut the tube and run it on your, on your 48 ounce or your 32 ounce as well. if It works with any Nalgene out there. um Hygiene, really I just have dude wipes. That's it.
00:27:32
Speaker
I got some dude wipes in there. I always have dude wipes, freaking great for the butthole and great for washing yourself at night. There's nothing feels better than ah that. On a longer, I don't have some like Dr. B's in there. I take like a little shower and like a creek or something, you know? But on this I always have that in the truck. um So I can just do a little, I have like a sponge bath shower thing in the truck that I can run that warms the water up and everything is kind of cool. But in my back will just be wipes, that's it. And then I'll have like a roll of, I use like these little rolls of toilet paper like this right here if you've ever used those before.
00:28:01
Speaker
Uh-oh. Dude, it's like two bucks at Walmart. You buy these things. It's a toilet paper with no tube in the middle. And one of these things lasts, it says 75 sheets of toilet paper, 300 inches. Okay. This thing will last you like almost all season, especially if you're mixing dude wipes in. They're awesome. They weigh, I'll tell you what it weighs right now, actually. Oh, you know what I can't tell you what it weighs. I think it's in my, in my, my red bag kit. Yeah. I don't know.
00:28:29
Speaker
way think two boy three ounces or something like that. You got a whole roll of toilet paper with no tube. It's independent into a bag and, you know, have the big square bag all bunched up on you. You can actually leave it in here and pull it out and make it and tear it off. um So that's my hygiene, toilet paper and food wipes. If I can't deal with that is what you're going to smell. I mean, get over it. Like you're going to smell. I don't bring, I bring like maybe one extra pair of underwear, one extra pair of socks. That's it.
00:29:01
Speaker
I'll bring extra pants. I don't bring extra shirts, really. I just smell. That's how I do it. um Clothes, waist, everything adds up. ah Lighting, I have two ah Black Diamond in headlamps, the way two white ounces eats. I always have two headlamps in my pack, no matter what, because if you lose one, can't find one, something breaks. Actually, headlamp is great to have. I always have two of them.
00:29:28
Speaker
I don't use rechargeable headlamps. I just freakin' use batteries. I don't know. I don't use crazy battery ones either. I use these ones. I use triple A's. I keep like six triple A's in my bag and I can fix them up whenever I need to. I have a blow up lantern as well. It weighs 2.8 ounces as well. I'm gonna be using some at Walmart, like 15 bucks. It's just like it looks an accordion. They smash down their solar.
00:29:54
Speaker
I always have one in my pack. They don't really last long. You might get a season or two out of them. I'm gonna get two seasons out of this one, it looks like, until it breaks. um But they weigh nothing. I'll blow it up and hang out in my tent. Now I have like a light in my tent versus a headlamp, like something up on top. um They weigh nothing. I highly recommend them. It's a stupid piece of gear. They cost 15 bucks. Buy one. Some miscellaneous stuff I have in there, kind of like my kill kit type stuff. I mean, we'll call it the kill kit.
00:30:20
Speaker
um Paracord, I have 100 foot of paracord no matter what in my pack. 50 foot is not enough, especially when you're hanging elk. It takes like at least 30 foot to hang a quarter in a tree. So you'll run out of cord really quick. Um, I find a hundred feet kind of gets me to where I need to go. Plus paracord is just so useful in so many ways. if You got to tie a quarter to your backpack for some reason, or your shops aren't there, or just. You can use paracord for so much stuff, guidelines for your tarps, for your, um, your tents, fixing things, freaking make a belt out of it for your pants, your pants are falling off. I don't know.
00:30:57
Speaker
Fix a backpack strap. You can do a paracord. and i have I always have like gaff tape as well so I can make it work with that. I have four carabiners in my pack. I love carabiners. I use those for hanging quarters, hanging food, doing all that stuff. They're pretty nice. I might actually cut that back. Four's kind of a lot. I might cut that back to two or three. We'll see. Again, they weigh, they don't weigh anything.
00:31:19
Speaker
um
00:31:22
Speaker
I have a stealthy glassing pad on my pack. I've burned that this year. It's pretty durable. It weighs 6.8 ounces. I like to run a lot. It's a cool glassing pad. It does everything I need to do. I have something I call the red bag. It's the outdoor research, backcountry, something or another. They don't make them anymore. I bought one. It must have been eight or 10 years ago.
00:31:55
Speaker
Always a red bag, got some zippers in it. I keep everything in that bag. That bag has my Havelon in it. It has my multi-tool in it, which I use like at the expensive um multi-tool like the $120 Leatherman Wave, I think it is, because it has it's heavy, but it's so worth it because it has all the tools I need. I have the toolkit for all the allens. Everything's a rifle scope gets loose. Something goes wrong. I have it right there. It has a saw. I think multi-tools are pointless. They don't have saws on them. So multi-tools have saw on them. So I need to saw a branch down. I have that right there. I can do that with it.
00:32:30
Speaker
um It's just a great tool. Multi-tool is a must in your pack, especially if you're hunting desert stuff, dude. I get cactus in my butt all the time. you get you need to using multi-tool for that. It's great to have around. It's in my bag. The red bag also has batteries in it, also has zip ties in it. It has some electrical tape. It's got two lighters in it. It's got the stuff on top of my head. This is the same stuff. This stuff never gets in my bag. It's got ah an extra chapstick in there. I always have two chapsticks. I have a chapstick in my vinyl harness chapstick in there because my lips just get chapped and there's nothing worse than that.
00:33:03
Speaker
um My tags are in there. i My license is in there. Everything is in that red bag. It's kind of like my like... It's almost like the junk drawer of my pack. Like you don't even have a junk drawer in your house. That's my red bag. The red bag, I had my toothbrush is in there. Like when I get in my tent, my my spork is in there. That's what comes into with me. Like I pull that out and everything I need to sleep is in that bag. Like I don't need to get out. I don't need to, I and don't want things in my pack all over the place and zippers. Like that's like my, like almost like your toiletries bag. When you go to like a hotel, like that's what I bring into the the bathroom. This is what I bring into the tent with me to do everything I need to do.
00:33:38
Speaker
Everything's there that I need to to make it through the night. That's the red bag. They make some, my buddy's gonna queue you one as well last night. It's like 40 bucks. You can buy one of those. I highly recommend having some sort of ah just like a random bag for your crap. It's nice. Oh, I also have fire starters in there. Fire starters, those are in there. Yeah. Shelter for this hunt. ah I'm going to have my Kefaro super tarp with steaks.
00:34:08
Speaker
ah It weighs 1.9 ounces. I can fit two people in there. I'll probably put me and my cameraman in there. I'll have a little ground tarp with it. I guess I'll be under my sleep system. um But that's that's all I'm gonna run, super tarp. No, I have like the out thing for it. I'm not gonna run that. Cool thing about super tarp is it can be a shelter and it also can to be a tarp. So I can run it over you. I don't go anywhere without a tarp, especially when I'm going to high altitude places like this. We're gonna be up around I don't know if you consider it high, but anywhere from eight to 12,000 feet on this hunt, we are going to get rained on. Like 100%, we will get rained on at some point in these 10 to 14 years we're over there. I want to have a tarp to put it under me because honestly, rain gear is great, but sitting in the rain and rain gear sucks. You're going to get wet. It's going to get down in your shirt. It just sucks.
00:35:02
Speaker
um So yeah, so I always have that on me. So the super tarp will be on this side. I have an another tarp that I run. So like, at basically the same weight. Super tarp's not that heavy, man. That'll probably make my pack almost every hunt this year, even if I would tent in there.
00:35:17
Speaker
um I also have that seek outside twilight as well. If it's three people, that'll be in my truck. And I could possibly switch to that. If it's like we could have switched that have all three of us sleep in that thing. I just figured we bring, I'm going to bring the super tarp. i bud you bring I gave him one of my tarps to run. The standard tarps is easy. theyre They're quicker to set up. That's kind of why I want to do it. I want to be mobile on this. and I don't want to be build able to find the elk, pitch a tarp, tarps, super tarp takes two trucking poles and Maybe six stakes or something, you know, it's just set up some guidelines or art everything. I have all my guidelines tied off. I've installed the guidelines myself. I had to go buy the strings for it. It doesn't come with some of the strings, which is kind of weird, but whatever. um And I can just set it up really quick. I got that thing set up in probably five minutes versus my,
00:36:06
Speaker
Hot tent, which is basically a teepee. There's a lot more stakes involved, a lot more work involved in it. It might take me 15 minutes. I don't want to deal with that. So, um, I will be wearing that tent on my, um, use on a hunt this year, though, might seek outside twilight. Cause now I'm a cameraman on it. I mean, me and my kid, so we'll just use all use that thing. Um, so that's awesome. That's my shelter. That's Kafaro super tarp is rad.
00:36:32
Speaker
It weighs nothing and it is a giant shelter for what it is. You could put two dudes in there all day long. It's awesome. um
00:36:42
Speaker
And sleep system, I'll have a, I did have some Tyvek tarps, but I tried to put them in my dryer to like get them out specifically crinkly and I melted them today. So, I don't know how many Tyvek tarps, since I can find some oil that says Tyvek around, because I'm not buying $80 roll. So I'll just use like these little quilt, these little, like, I have these like little tarps that I buy, they're like three foot. I recommend any kind of tarp being at least three foot wide. If you try and go with like a narrow, like two footer, you're gonna get super dirty, your pad's gonna be in the dirt, your sleep bag is gonna be in the dirt. So I run a three foot by like seven foot tarp on the ground.
00:37:11
Speaker
I am getting older, not necessarily really old, but I'm 38 now and I am really liking the Thermoresse Neoware Topo Luxe. It's basically like a 30 inch wide or something or 24 inch wide by four inch thick, just bitchin' pad. I don't run anything except for Thermoresse on my pads. I have a Thermoresse Exterum that I probably have eight years on now, plus never had an issue with it. I have a Therm-a-Rest Neo-Air, the yellow one, the mummy style. I have that one as well.
00:37:46
Speaker
um It is for me, like, which the, the new air weighs less than this i the new air is like 12 ounces or something like that. Like I'm definitely picking up an extra, not necessarily a pound, but definitely extra 10 ounces probably with this other pad. And it is taking more space in my pack, but dude, like if you have to sleep on something for days on end, it's so nice sleeping on a, uh, this, this thick one, it just feels like a ah bed from home. It's awesome. So, uh, it's one of the things where you have to make this big a decision.
00:38:16
Speaker
And I am really light in other places. So like I use on this I'm using an inflate pillow to track ology from Amazon It says point three ounces. That's not right. It's think it's I think it's 2.3 ounces. I just think fix that these two point three ounces It's basically a seat of summit as Amazon brand. I had a seat. I haven't seen a summit to somewhere I just can't find it right now So I have these other ones that are my kids and we run there's cuz I don't buy my kids the nicest stuff all the time So I'll run in there's all this hot Uh, and then I am running on this hunt, my enlightened equipment, 10 degree quilt. And you might be like, 10 degrees is really cold. A really cold weather quilt. It is, but I don't have a 30 degree quilt. And the cool thing about a quilt is you kick your feet out and be fine with it. Uh, I'm not running a hot pad, so I'll be cool that way. And honestly, you can just run it with a quilt. You can, I find from that thing through which any temperatures are out there, I'm fine.
00:39:08
Speaker
sleep and mind-aware in this freaking cracker thing over in your your goal. I think it's gonna get in like the forties of night anyways, so 10 degrees really isn't that hot. So it'll be a good quilt. Honestly, I'd rather be a little warmer than cold. um i do have it absolutely I do have a degree bag. if it's All my stuff for quilts, I don't run bags at all at all anymore. I have a 50 degree and I have a 20 degree, but the 20 degree is like a regular length and I like a long length. I like to like get myself underneath it.
00:39:35
Speaker
So they're all the Lightning equipment, I love Lightning equipment. I'll probably buy a 30 degree down quilt for them at some point. But that quilt only weighs 24 ounces. It was one pound, eight ounces. So again, like I said, like, oh, my pad is a little bit heavier. Well, yes, it is. But my my sleeping bag weighs probably two pounds less than anyone else's sleeping bag. you know i so Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:00
Speaker
And it's so warm. Why do I run quilts? Because I spin a lot when I sleep. I go to my stomach, go to my side, just spin all night. And I sleep on my back and twist me up. I hate it. I guess I don't like it. I went to a quilt.
00:40:14
Speaker
It had to have been like 2017 or 18. I don't know when I did it. I've i've used this same quote forever. It's just held up and I love it. I'll never go back to sleeping bag. It can get a little drafty sometimes, especially using a tarp like I'm gonna be doing on this hunt. I don't really use, I have this bungee cord sworn to shop underneath you. I don't really use them that often, but if it's gonna be really windy, I'll use a bungee cord so it's really cold. It's like a bungee underneath me under my pad, but mostly I don't do that because like again I can always be tied down to anything. That's my sleep system.
00:40:44
Speaker
Um, optics on this hunt. I'm going to be running. I'm kind of debating. I have the SIG Zulu sixes, the 16 power ones, but dude, I also have my Swarovski Eel range, um, eights, which are just so clear. They're just heavy, man. And I don't need, I don't use it for range finding for, for, uh, archery because it's harder. They don't really do great under 50 yards, honestly. Um,
00:41:14
Speaker
so um learning probably Probably my eel ranges because they're just so clear. Like I was just on a hunt in Hawaii and it's thick brush. And you can just see, even though they're not stabilized, they're only eights because they're pretty dang stable. You can just like see through thick forest with those Isorovskis. I just, I don't know. I'm a, I'm a snob. I like Swaro. So Um, I'm going to bring a spotter on this I'm hunt. It's going to be the Cowa 554. running probably It's like a one to 45, 60 millimeter spotter. Um, it's a phenomenal spotter.
00:41:49
Speaker
I'll have that with me. That's my optics. I'll have a Tricer AD and LP on this hunt with me. It's all I need. I tell people all the time, which Triforce should I get? like Literally, you probably get away with the Tricer AD and LP. It's all you really need to do the vast majority of your hunts. Only time I'm going to switch over to a BP is I'm running my big...
00:42:15
Speaker
BTX, which I'll be running with my desert hunts, my New Mexico hunt, stuff like that. um Possibly my kid, I possibly will pack out all my kid's hunt, honestly, because he's going to be carrying the rifle. So I'll have that weight savings for me. So I'll pack a BTX with me on that. That's when I want to run the beat the bigger BP band head. For what I'm running with these small optics, I only use the LP. It's lightweight. If I had to pick one tripod around my life, it'd be that set up right there. I can get away with it with everything.
00:42:43
Speaker
um You really don't have to run a BTX. And the BP is good. If you're were a guy that runs 85 millimeter spotters, 90 millimeter spotters, you want the BP. The LP will handle 85. It's kind of like the max right there. It's not going to be the greatest at it. It'll do it. For most guys, if you are going to be glassy with your binos 90% of the time and using your spotter to check animals, the LP is perfect for that. For 85 millimeter, it's fine. But if you're like, I want to run my spotter all day long, which I don't know many guys who do, you probably want the BP for that.
00:43:10
Speaker
um
00:43:13
Speaker
Oh, sleep system. I also have a flex tail pump. It weighs 3.7 ounces. It's like a little tiny pump. I thought it was lame and tell her to read me more and talk about helmet how awesome they are. and Then I bought one and then I realized, oh man, after a long day of back of hiking, um not blowing up, especially that four inch pad, like that four inch pad, it takes a long time to blow up by mouth.
00:43:36
Speaker
um That flexed up pump is rad. And I don't like the stupid bags they got once we can like fill with air and like put, I just blow up my mouth. Like honestly, like my, my ex-therm probably like, if it finally goes out, I'm going to cut it open and like to picture everybody. It has to look like a science experiment. I've been that thing for a long time. I don't still, I don't even know if it's ever going to break. It's, things are bulletproof. That ex-therm is just, anything, anytime I'm hunting, anything less than like,
00:44:08
Speaker
probably 30 degrees, that's the path I'm gonna run, cause it's just so warm. It's hot. Pads are everything too. If you're going on a hunt and you're gonna be in cold weather, like the pad is so much more important to sleeping bag, like get a cheaper bag and a better pad. um That's that set up. I also have on my pack this year, I'm wearing that shield arms knife. It's like, I don't know what they call it. It's almost like their Skinner knife. I actually killed like six pictures of it last week in Hawaii. It's got like some flex to it, almost like,
00:44:38
Speaker
almost like a filet knife but not as much flex like it's really good for like fishing on an elk like I'll use a have one a lot but like when you're deboning it's so nice to have a longer fixed blade knife to debone an elk because you just it's so easier to like to get the the muscle groups pull apart fixed blades are nice cutting around bones it's nice cutting around like back straps on an elk like using a have one you could do it but it's almost like two cuts where if you use That fixed blade is all the way down, right around the spine, down into the rib cage, slide the sucker down, it's good. I'm not the best at sharpening knives, that's why I like half-alones, because it's just nice to just freakin' just put a new blade on, not to worry about sharpening, especially when you're all covered in blood. I do wish that knife, and I've told Shield this, was orange. I got like a red like a red color, it's like ah like a dirt red though, and they make like, basically it's brown.
00:45:27
Speaker
It's like a brown, red, they make a black. And like, I want all my knives to be orange all the time, because I'm a train wreck and I put it down. And again, you get, you know, if we're home as a new animal and things just start falling apart, where'd my knife go? Where's this? There's parts everywhere. There's hide everywhere. That's just me. oh I'll have a 20 liter tri bag in there, weighs 2.4 ounces.
00:45:55
Speaker
in my pack just so I could like take things out of my backpack and put it into that and camp like food and stuff hanging from a tree I'm gonna eat my bears. I'll have my Tricer elk bags I'm actually running four elk bags and one deer bag it weighs 1.8 ounces all in those things are pretty awesome man there's freaking built like a tank um they're definitely the lightest out there I know that but they don't rip and I want bags that ah when I hang them from a tree, they're not gonna rip. So that's what I built them for. um The last item I have in there is my in-reach Explorer Plus.
00:46:32
Speaker
um i Hopefully in the next two years, I won't need that anymore. Hopefully we'll have Starlink going and I won't need to have... Anymore in reaches. Big things are coming in the industry for all of us hunters because we're not going to need to run it and reach anymore or garments. It's going to be all on your phone. I'm excited for that. Um, that's all my stuff, dude. Like my gear clothes wise for this hunt, I always have rain gear in my pack. I'm running. I don't know the names of this stuff, dude. Like I'm terrible at that. I'm going to be running like the, the first lights ultra light rain gear. It's not super thick.
00:47:09
Speaker
Um, I just like it. I find like I have some thicker stuff, but unless you're going to be like in torrential rain for like days on end, you don't need it. Um, I'll have a pair of Kenitra gators, probably my pack. Those probably in the truck. It depends. Like if I know it's going to be weather, I'll bring the gators. If I know it's not going to be weather, I won't bring the gators. Like I don't know. I'm not the biggest gator guy, but they do help a lot when you're never going to see me. Like, like if you're one of the guys listening to this and you're at tack wearing your gators, like your dork.
00:47:37
Speaker
Like if you're out out and it's 75 degrees, you're wearing gators, you're a dork. Like don't do it. Like you don't need them. Like it just makes you hot. It's just, you don't need gators all the time. I'll have a pair of Crocs in there probably. I like having Crocs, especially around camp. What else am I gonna have? five I'll have a Marina t-shirt on. I'll have like an Exo Fichio underwear. I wear those. I'm wearing the same underwear forever.
00:48:06
Speaker
Um pants i'll probably run like the de Havilland pants from stone glacier. They have the big zipper on the side I have some of these new pants from first light the 308s Uh, they're a little stickers. I don't know. I might try those out. I just feel like they're gonna be hot I have some ultra light pants from first light like they're super light ones I just follow with light pants like you're just gonna tear them and rip them. I don't like to wear gear that's gonna rip Um, so for the warmer former pant, I guess none of them are warm weather pants that i'm bringing I'm probably one of those 308s in this de Havillins. Pick one, bring it in. I'll have no base layers. I don't need them. No, no thermal pants. I'm not going to need them on this hunt. I'll have probably 2.0. 2.0 gave me one of their, their merino, like long sleeves. It's like a 250 merino and I'm in love with it. Like it's the best beast merino I've ever wore.
00:48:57
Speaker
It's a little hoodie, Reno long sleeve from 2-0 gear. I don't know what they cost. I think like a hard box or something, but it's like of all the Reno I've ever worn, and I've got Reno from Stone, First Light, not Stone, First Light, Kuyu, Mary Wool, you know, stuff on the backpacking stuff. Like this is by far my favorite Reno that I've had. um I'll have probably, like I have like a hybrid Sitka. It's like a puffy slash,
00:49:28
Speaker
a hard shell type jacket. I probably have one of those in there. That's it. So it's basically a shirt, a long sleeve 250, and then like one jacket of some sort in there that'll keep me warm at night. So if it gets down to 40, it can be warm. Nothing more than that. I don't need to bring my big puff here. I think it's not gonna be cold enough to knead it and get away stuff. So I'll probably add a couple more pounds on my pack. All in. The gear I gave you.
00:49:53
Speaker
I'm at like 29 pounds even right now without the couple clothes items. So I'll probably be at like 31 pounds before water and food. So I throw my bow in there, throw some food in there. I'll be under 50 pounds, which is pretty much the goal, right? I throw a camera in there. I'll probably be right at 50 pounds. I can run around 50 pounds on my back all day long. It's not the funnest, but honestly, if you do set up your camp, you could leave it. i One thing on this hunt I will do,
00:50:23
Speaker
is if I am backpacking, I will, or even if it's truck hunting, I'll have this, my sleeping bag and my pad in my pack. Because a lot of times like you'll get on elk and you don't want to leave. And if it's good weather, I'll just sleep out under the stars. But when you do that, even in 40 degrees with no sleeping bag, it sucks. And I've done it so many times. So I'm too stubborn to hike back to the truck cause I'm on elk. So that'll be in there. But dude, that's my, that's my kit. That's my kit for elk. And that doesn't really change throughout the year for anything. Shelter has changed a little bit.
00:50:54
Speaker
Clothes change definitely on hunts. um I'll run the darn tough socks. I've run those forever. I'll run the kidda truck, hard scrabbles on this hunt, the leather boots. They just took me best, the boots I like. And that's me, man, a hat and let's go hunting. That's awesome, man. That's a solid gear list down to the ounce. I like it. out of the Down to the ounce, dude. that That app is freaking rad. If you're raising an app, like definitely do it. cause You can really just like make your kit a puzzle reminds you what you need, right? Like you could be like, Oh, wait a minute. I missed this off my kit. Why is that in here? Because so much stuff is just, it transcends every hunt, right? It's not just that one, honey. It goes across to every one I go on this year. Even if I'm not back back, I lost us in my pack. What's that app called one more time for everybody? Oh, dude. That app is called pack light. It's free. It's free on
00:51:53
Speaker
I'll actually send to you right now so I can text you. Share app. Message hunter. There, I'll send to you right now so you can use it. Yeah, packlight app. I do think it'd be rad to make a hunting version with a couple of different categories in there for like, cause like, obviously these are made for granola eaters. So it doesn't have a category for like optics or tripods or kill kit or, so you guys do everything in miscellaneous. But it'd be nice if they added some stuff on there for us who are actually men.
00:52:23
Speaker
but whatever. Yeah. So dude, that's my backpacking kit. what What are you running? How are you doing it?
Hunting Gear Preferences and Recommendations
00:52:30
Speaker
I'm sorry, I take over the podcast but what do you you look what do you look like on one of your, what do you got an October mule deer hunt? What's that pack gonna look like for you? Yeah, it's very similar to Drew's. um Very, very similar to yours, man. I mean, I start from the ground up. That's how I always build my system. So I start with my boots. I've been running k crispy boots for the last seven or eight years. um I've got, I don't know, eight or nine pairs of them. Depending on the hunt, I always have cold feet, so I'm going to run an insulated pair. um In October, I usually either run the guides, which are a 200 gram insulation, or I will run the Wild Rocks, which are a 400 gram insulation. wilder Wild Rocks always go to Colorado with me. Anytime there's snow on the ground, I always get cold feet.
00:53:22
Speaker
so Yeah, I'll run i'll run my 400 Kennetrex in Colorado in the snow, but I almost never run insulated boots. My feet sweat. I almost never run them. I like to run non-insulated boots, so that's that's um that's surprising to me. Yeah, my first insulated or non-insulated pair of boots I actually bought two years ago when I moved down to Southern Utah. Other than that, even in archery season, I would run an insulated pair of boots, which It's totally crazy to some people, but like I said, I have really bad at circulation and my feet and my hands are always cold. Um, and it's not because of the the gear that I'm, you know, covering up, covering them up with, um, you know, I run solid boots, I run solid gloves, but I always get cold. So that's what I start with. Um, man, I kind of mix and match a lot of gear. I've ran stone, glacier, sick, uh, cool you first light. Um, so my clothing layers.
00:54:19
Speaker
I've got a closet full of everything. Um, I usually try and mix and match, but I have either marinos when it's hotter just to keep the scent down. But I actually like running synthetic, um, base layers when it's a little bit colder. So, um, my favorite synthetic piece of all time is the, um, stone glacier Avro synthetic. It's like a three quarters zip super light. It's more like a sun shirt, but dude, it's amazing.
00:54:48
Speaker
Um, so I'll run that as my base layer. Um, and then as I, as it gets colder, i'll obviously layer with down and, and, you know, marinos and different things like that, but favorite pair of pants. Um, love the stone glacier to have a land pants. Like I said, with that full length zipper that you can just basically dump heat, um, at any time, you know, you're going on a brutal couple thousand vert climb in the morning or whatever, dump that heat really quick when you go to sit down. So you're not freezing.
00:55:18
Speaker
Um, so yeah, October, I always have down pants and a down jacket in my pack. Sometimes they don't come out, but you never know when you, when you get in the high country in the late season, especially weather can come in and then just gets nasty in a hurry. So, um, I don't always run brain gear. Um, in October, I'll usually have like a waterproof jacket of some sort, but most of the time I'm running Gators, um, and just like,
00:55:47
Speaker
a waterproof jacket if it gets crazy, but obviously September is totally different. So I run rain gear in my pack all the time in September, but not in October. um My pack, what goes in my pack depends on... What kind of pack is it? Yeah, so I run ah an XO K4 5000. That's like my backpacking pack. I also have the 2200 bag that I love running on just like day hunts.
00:56:17
Speaker
Um, so that's awesome, but I've been running XO for shoot six or seven years. I had the K2, K3, K4. K4 is awesome. and They've made some massive, massive improvements. Um, but all in all, yeah, it's been a good, good pack for me. I also have a stone glacier, um, pack and and that's been a solid frame, solid pack too. So, but, um, yeah.
00:56:46
Speaker
backpack style hunts, a lot like you always obviously got my med kit, my kill kit. I always run just breaking it down. I always run a, like a replaceable blade knife, as well as a fixed blade knife. um One of my good friends, Travis Nawatney with goat knives, he actually makes some super solid knives that have like a I guess a little drive bit in them that you can actually fix like your scopes and stuff. They're awesome. So I usually carry one of those in my pack. Um, and then I also have a, another buddy that makes some solid blades, um, fixed blades. Uh, and he, he has a company called gamble knives and he actually made me these custom, um, like blaze orange knives. Cause I'm like you, you know, I'll set them down after, after gutting an elk or keeping out something. And I'm just like,
00:57:41
Speaker
Where'd my knife go? You know, but if it's blaze orange sitting on a hillside, it's pretty easy to find. So, um, I'm a big glaze guy. I do run stuff s sacks, but I don't get carried away with it. I'll run, you know, one for a kill kit. I'll throw my med kit, which is in like a little zipper pack. Hopefully that med kit never has to come out, but it's got all the things, tourniquet, um, splint, bandages, gauze.
00:58:06
Speaker
Oh, I have blood clot in mind as well. i mentioned Do you breathe like blood clot stuff in there? just ah Yeah, quick clot is what I use. i so i have something thing Yep. I run that in there. Um, a bunch of different tapes and, uh, I also do super glue. I like super glue for cuts and different things like that. It just, it's magic, man. It's like, you know, run a, run a couple of things of super glue over your cuts. Um, usually does pretty good, but, um,
00:58:34
Speaker
Other than that, I have a couple of different tapes, obviously med tapes, but I also do like electrical tape for fixing tent poles or fixing trekking poles or different things like that, if something were to break. um I think that's one of the big things that when I first got into backpacking, I didn't really realize, um I didn't really prepare for, I should say, is I didn't prepare prepare for the worst. And anything can happen in the backcountry when you're you know six, seven, even two, three miles in, it's an inconvenience.
00:59:03
Speaker
to have to hike back out so anything that you can you know fix your fix your gear with while you're out there i usually try to think about it and pack it in my pack um yeah i mean i always carry like a little i guess bathroom bag if you will with a toothbrush and a little toothpaste um i also like to keep a little bit of floss in there i know it's annoying but there's nothing more annoying than like something in your teeth. Like I eat a lot of jerky. So I always get yeah jerk no jerky in my teeth, but, but, uh, yeah, it's pretty simple. Um, like I said, I'm, I'm a lot like you, man. Really. The only thing that changes is either my sleep system a little bit, depending on the bag. Um, I've been running the stone glacier, um, zero degree, uh, whatever their bag is called. It's their down zero degree, the chill cute, I think it is.
00:59:57
Speaker
So I run that bag and then I also run the thermorest x-therm on all of my late season hunts um The x-therm is like I said anything thermorest is Bomb-proof and awesome, but the x-therm goes with me. It's just freaking noisy, dude. It's like it is noisy. Mine's gotten better over the years but it's set the x-therm has like foil and if no one's ever read it, you know around it's like you can hear it It is the for sure. But I love it. It's like this great gauge heat, like nothing other. Yeah. it's super warm So I run that. Um, I also work with those guys over at seek like Ryan subpoena and those guys, they're, they're legit. So I have a bunch of different seat shelters, but, um, I ran the sunlight on my hunt, uh, on my Wyoming deer hunt last year. I also have a couple of different hot tents. Um,
01:00:51
Speaker
The Cimarron is great for like two guys in gear. I also have the red cliff. Yeah, I run a bunch of their tents. They're awesome. um One thing that I just actually started doing is carrying a tarp. I know you mentioned yours, but I've never really been a big tarp guy, but I just got the the stone glacier sky tarp tent. It's like a huge tarp. It's got all the guy lines and everything, it's legit. um It can either be you know a shelter for two guys or we actually were camping this summer, doing a little scouting on on a Utah um elk unit, limited entry. And we just got torrential downpours in the afternoons for some reason. It would just be like sunny and blue skies and then pour just for like 10 minutes. So we'd throw that up and just keep like 10 of us dry underneath it. It's awesome. so
01:01:47
Speaker
I'll probably always have a tarp in my bag. On the tarp thing too, if you want to listen to this, you don't have to go buy like a super tarp for like 400 bucks. I think I still have glaciers like 250 or something, right? Yeah, something like that. Like I bought, like probably my favorite tarp is an REI quarter dome and I'm bringing it on this hot, my buddy's running it. I think it's like less than, it might be a hundred bucks. It only weighs like 12 ounces.
01:02:12
Speaker
It's a phenomenal tarp because not all tarps are created equally. A lot of tarps are really heavy. Like on eight you on Amazon, it's going to be heavy, but the REI quarter dome tarp is just a super lightweight, really packable tarp with guy lines, everything on it. yeah A lot of times you I'll use sticks to stick it up or a couple of trekking poles, you know, and just run it back and tie it off. And you do I throw like, you know, six stakes in there with that thing and you can pretty much do everything you need to do with it. So check out, if you're listening to this, check out the REI quarter dome tarp.
01:02:43
Speaker
Heck yeah. um But yeah, that's pretty much what I'm running there. um Game bags, I'm running the Gohan game bags. I always keep like some Z chord or Z line. I don't use usually use paracord just because you um from what I've seen is unless you get something like slick, that paracord when you're trying to hang quarters and stuff, sometimes it gets snagged um So I usually run like a z-line or z-cord It's basically the same thing. It's basically the same thing. It's just more like a It's really thin and it's like it's bomb proof. Yeah, it's it's just a little bit I guess thinner and More durable as far as getting snags and stuff like that more snag proof It's more like the stuff you'd see on like your guy lines and stuff i really Yeah, yeah i walk yeah that for ride that's what I used on that
01:03:39
Speaker
<unk>oar when i had to but I had to add some lines to it. And that's what I used was that stuff. Yeah. and i would bos It's expensive. It's more and more money than like my, I bought these things at Home Depot yesterday, 50 foot rolls of paracord for five bucks. I think that Z line's like 25 bucks for a hundred foot or something. Yeah. It's definitely more expensive. I just have found over the years, it's, it can fix shoelaces easier. Like trying to thread paracord in your boot laces is annoying. oh i did So that's what I definitely recommend. um But.
01:04:09
Speaker
It's kind of worth ah worth the extra money, in my opinion. um Let's see. What else have I not covered? um Optics. Optics are... I mean, they go with me on every hunt. My optics never change, but I run the NL Pure 12x42s, and then I also run the Swarovski ATX85. I love swirl glass, in my opinion. Just save the money until you can afford Swarovski, because There's nothing like Swarovski in my opinion. Just sell one of your kids and get it, because it's it's so worth it. Yeah. Sell some organs, sell a body cart, do whatever you got to do. It's expensive. Just get Swarovski. I need to get those new 14 by 52s. I've had the same LLCs now for probably eight years. And I'm like, gosh, i the 15s. And I'm like, I need to get those 14 by 52 and I'll pierce so badly. Yeah. Yeah. those Those are sweet. I've got a couple of buddies with them and they said that they're unreal.
01:05:09
Speaker
Completely replace the SLCs and way lighter, but yeah, man. Um, and then I run the LP pan head and the BC tripod. Uh, I want to get the AD don't have one. I've more of a, I mean, most of my glassing, I'm sitting on a glassing pad. So I just like to sit and glass. I mean, the majority, probably 85% of my glassing, I'm just sitting on my butt. Um, but the LP.
01:05:36
Speaker
Believe it or not, does handle a Swarovski 85 mil spotting scope. Granted, I'm not glassing all day long, but um yeah, I'm more of a class on the binos, throw the spotter up, check it, digiscope, throw the spotter back off, back to my binos, but it's great for that. um So yeah, that's kind of my optic setup.
Custom 300 PRC Rifle Details
01:05:57
Speaker
um My rifle, I just built a 300 PRC. um It's kind of a custom build, so I have a chassis stock.
01:06:05
Speaker
XLR element magnesium chassis on it with the folding stock um It's got a proof research barrel. It's built on our Edmonton 700 action Jam it in at 300 PRC. I shoot a 208 grain Hornady ELDN Handload so it's pretty it's pretty sweet for deer and elk Yeah, it's dropped a lot of animals. So it's pretty sweet um Yeah Anything else I haven't covered man just the basics I think kind of covered everything that you covered. Um, but yeah, pretty simple. The only thing that changes is clothing and, and food. I guess I didn't cover food, but food changes from hunt to hunt.
Backcountry Food Choices
01:06:45
Speaker
A lot of peak refuel, a lot of, I do eat a lot of bars, um, a lot of tuna and bagels, um, very similar to your, your stuff. I also eat a lot of like, um, smoked stuff. So I'll smoke like.
01:07:00
Speaker
some salmon from Alaska and cube it up and that like hits different on in the back country. I'll just vacuum seal it and it lasts forever. Um, but yeah, man, tuna packets, different things like that are always on always in my pack. So.
01:07:17
Speaker
You get pretty like crafty like day four or five.
Post-Hunt Cravings
01:07:20
Speaker
You're like trying to make some sort of a meal. Like you're like taking some of that tuna with some of that salmon, some cheese sort of on that big one. You're like trying to make up the taste somewhat. Like I don't know about you, but like I'm not a huge soda guy, but dude like.
01:07:33
Speaker
I will go and get a burger and a soda after every long hunt. Like it's all I crave, dude. And like, hopefully it's not Carl's Jr. Jekyll box. Hopefully it's like a place I can sit down and get like some onion rings and it's a giant cup, like a cup of Coke with like the ice in it. Like not like a can of Coke, like a, like a big old thing to Coke or Pepsi. And like, that's just, it just hits different. Once you're out there and you're just like burning all those calories, you just want something good. And you're never, you're never going to replenish what you burn on a hunt. Like.
01:08:02
Speaker
I'm already planning on dropping probably 15 to 20. I'm going to hunt so much this year. I'm going to lose a lot of weight. Like I've been in the gym like four, or five days a week all year. And I'm just like, I know I've already gone a lot this last month. Like once honey season, sorry, I'm just going to start losing everything I gained, but it's fine. Like it's what you work out for. Like literally I work out all year long. So I can go out and freaking kick butt.
Simplicity in Backpacking Gear
01:08:20
Speaker
And it's a different kind of shape, but I'll have to help myself in a shape a little bit on some of this hiking and stuff. um I haven't hiked as much as I wanted to all the travel I've been doing, but, um,
01:08:29
Speaker
Yeah. You're good. You're never going to, that's why i I want a burger because you're just burning. So you're burning 5,000 calories a day and you're only eating, you know, I try and bring 3000 calories a day is my goal. Um, for food, something around there. That's why peak is so nice because peak actually has like a thousand calories and 50 grams of protein. Like a a peak refill hits different than like a mountain house. Like I still have some mountain house stuff. They'd up their game a little bit, but peak is just good. It tastes good. I'm a big fan of peaks, man. Absolutely.
01:08:57
Speaker
But yeah, dude, you pretty much hit it all on the head. I mean, I think the whole reason I wanted to do this for everybody listening, if you're new to backpacking, is like to understand how simple our kits were. Like 28 pounds, that's it, right? Like so often, like the biggest thing I see in people is they just bring too much stuff and you don't need it. It's a simple, like ounces lead to pounds and you have to remember that. Like there might be some stuff that you have to have cause you want it, you know, I mean like a thicker pad for me, right? or
01:09:28
Speaker
I want to have ringing in my pack all the time. I mean, depending like I'm in Arizona, I might not, but I want to, you know, I just, there's some things you're going to change it for everybody, but like, don't be one of these guys who goes down and you're all of a sudden you're buying like shovels from REI and this special towel they have and this and that.
01:09:48
Speaker
You're not gonna use it. It's gonna weigh you down. It's gonna take up space in your pack. um Honestly, I do most of my hunts with a 5,000 bag. i don't I could do an eight day hunt with a 5,000 bag, less than carrying cameras.
01:10:01
Speaker
um So I just, man, keep it simple, stupid. Go out there, do some stuff locally. do And I would definitely recommend in your first backpack hunts, doing like two to three days. Don't do one night. One night doesn't count. you know One night's a camping trip.
01:10:18
Speaker
do you know Do two or three nights out in a tent. Figure out what you need. Figure your kid out. Hunt like that. you know Do that a couple times and just minimize it, man. and Once you do that a couple times, you're going to be ready to go.
01:10:30
Speaker
and be self proficient. And that's the biggest thing for me too, is like, when I go hunting with people, like I know that if I'm hunting with Hunter, I wouldn't be having to take care of him. Right. And the last thing I want to do is go on a hunt with somebody who's never backpacked and they don't know what they're doing and it's a mess. Um, go do some two to three day hunt or hunts on your, you know, backpack hunts, see what works for you and get your kids set up. Then you'd be ready. I mean, once you've done that, the two to three day stuff, you can do an eight day hunt. Like you could do a five to eight day hunt all day long. You know what you need and you can make it.
01:11:01
Speaker
Absolutely. And I would say too, if you're just getting into it, um, you know, like Drew said, don't go too crazy, but also there's gear lists everywhere.
Building a Backpacking Kit
01:11:10
Speaker
Gohan has a million gear lists. Um, rock slide has a bunch. Like go, go to guys that have done it for years and years and years, learn from them, learn what you need, learn, you know, what you don't need and, and just, yeah, kind of go from there. And also it's, it takes time to build these kits, right? Gear is expensive. It's super expensive. So it might take you several years to get.
01:11:32
Speaker
your kit dialed, but just keep after it. And you're always improving your gear. That's one thing about backpack hunters is you're always going through your gear every single year. Yeah, for sure. And my kid, I feel like it's gotten so simple. One thing you got to look out for too, is like getting caught up in this, like, I had to buy all Kuya stuff.
Practical Gear Choices
01:11:53
Speaker
I need a Kuya backpack, a Kuya tent, a Kuya tarp.
01:11:56
Speaker
The fanboy clubs, man. You don't have all Stone Glacier, all whatever. like There's so much of this stuff you can get at REI, or you can get at, like I said, that tarp I told you about. like I'm not knocking. like that that I've seen that, ah like, Peeks has a new tarp, and so does Stone Glacier. They're freaking rad. If you want to buy that tarp, buy that tarp, by all means. They're great. But like you don't have to get caught up in buying like hunting brand stuff for these hunts.
01:12:21
Speaker
You can find your kit, like my kit, even my clothes, dude, like I don't wear all hunting clothes. Like I wear a little Mary wool and smart wool and darn tough. Like, um, I just wear what works for me. So like, you don't have to go buy, you know, just pick what works, buy stuff on Amazon. Definitely don't cheap out on your pad. Definitely don't cheap out on like a shelter. Don't go buy some, you know, Chinese shelter. That's terrible. They're all made in China, but like,
01:12:48
Speaker
Don't buy some like $100 shelter. You said it's going to keep you alive out there, especially at a backpack hunt. Um, which I've done a bunch of shelter podcasts. So you guys can listen to my shelter takes all those things as well. But, uh, yeah, man, that's it, dude.
Upcoming Gear Video for Elk Hunt
01:13:00
Speaker
I'm going to put, I'm going to put a gear video together for this elk hunt. Actually, I probably, they've been asking me to do it in the office for like two weeks now and I haven't done it. So I felt like three days left to do it. So at some point I'll put a realistic video together before I leave. Um,
01:13:13
Speaker
kind of showed everybody my breakdown of my summer elk hunt kit. So it'll probably come out after elk season, which is great. It's real smart of me, but it'll be all there for years to come. So hunter dude, that was an awesome pod.
Challenging Wyoming Deer Hunt
01:13:24
Speaker
We always end with a hunting story. So you want to give us like a, you know, five minute hunt story about a deer, maybe that deer behind you or and yeah absolutely you any, any deer, that's the idea behind you. And that deer behind is pretty impressive. Yeah. So this deer behind me, um, that's last year's Wyoming deer.
01:13:43
Speaker
Last year for anyone that follows the Wyoming deer herd, um it was a brutal year. So two, two winters ago, the Southeast corner of Idaho and Southwest corner of Wyoming just got absolutely hammered with winter. And the winter kill was worse than we've seen in 30, 40 years. Maybe, maybe the worst winter we've ever seen. um The deer herd just got smashed. And so I was sitting on.
01:14:13
Speaker
with my dad, I was sitting on all of these points and not sure what to do. I knew that it was either gonna be four or five years till we hunted that unit again, or we needed to burn our points. After talking to a lot of different people and some locals, some buddies that I'd had hunt it, um we decided to burn our points and just go hunting. We figured that it was gonna be a long time before the deer herd ever bounced back, if they ever bounced back. And I've taken quite a few Average to good deer in
Deciding to Burn Hunting Points in Wyoming
01:14:45
Speaker
my life. No Giants, but a lot of good deer and I just told myself Dude, I'm gonna go hunt. I'm gonna try and find the biggest buck I can I am totally fine not killing the buck so Anyways, I hunted my butt off um I put in a total of 18 days between Archery and rifle season not including scouting so anyways, uh
01:15:12
Speaker
My dad and I had hunted for the first couple of days, backpacked in slept out of ah our tent, packed in like two, three gallons of water. Um, and it was awesome. We passed a lot of good deer, but just hadn't found anything next level. My dad had to go back to work. Um, this was in the rifle season. I'd already hunted some archery, but in the rifle season, my dad had to go back to work for a few days. So I went back out. Um, we had drove over to a totally new spot that we hadn't scouted.
01:15:42
Speaker
Um, just e-scouted, there was a big burn that I knew about and we went into the burn and within, I don't know, the first, the first evening of glassing, we found four, four bucks that potentially would be shooters.
Stalking and Hunting a Buck
01:16:00
Speaker
I just needed to get a closer look. So I ended up watching that buck for three days. Um, just the first two days, he kind of gave me the slip, couldn't get on him and, and then.
01:16:12
Speaker
I was actually solo. My dad was coming up um from work that that evening. I had told my dad, texted him on the in-reach, hey, got the buck found. He's bedded in an Aspen Grove. I'm going to go make a play. You know, let me know when you get here. And I went up, I think around noon, um the buck bedded like around 10 o'clock, maybe like 9.45. I went up around noon, sat on the buck for like five, six hours.
01:16:39
Speaker
um waiting for him to stand up out of his bed. And anyways, he stood up out of his bed at I was like 275 yards. So built this nice long range rifle and then find this bucket 275 yards. um I knew he had a little cheater on him. He's got a two inch cheater um on his right side and a little one inch kicker on his left. So they had a couple stickers and he had good forks and good mass. um So that was the
01:17:10
Speaker
That was the best buck that I'd seen all season. And I knew that, you know, I was going to shoot that buck. And anyways, he was bedded with another three point. They fed out in the evening and I was just laying prone waiting for him to stand. And they finally stood up and gave me a shot and put him down. And then ah my dad came to help for the pack out. So it was awesome, man. There's nothing that I love more than sharing memories with my dad. Um,
01:17:37
Speaker
you know, and my family in the in the mountains. And it was a really special, special to walk up to that deer together when he got there. So yeah, hunted my butt off, but that's what, that's what makes it that much better. So it's a stud buck. Did you put a tape on it? Um, yes, but just kind of rough taped him. I've never had a, had him officially scored.
01:18:05
Speaker
um He doesn't have eye guards. No eye guards. I was going to say that. No eye guards at all. Where did he go? 170s? Yeah, he's a 170s buck, mid 170s. Probably would have been that 180 buck if he would have had some eye guards, but he just doesn't. Carries his mass all the way up though. Yeah, he's a solid buck. Yeah, I was looking at him and I'm like, he's probably, he could be 180. I'm glad I judged him right because I was like, he'd probably be 180s buck, 185 probably if he had If he had eye guards, there's like no eye guards at all. yeah No eye guards. Nope. He looks good. It's got some good mass to him though. He's got that good kicker on his left and it's just like, he's a cool buck. You're really cool buck. But the yeah, the eye guard thing is weird, man. Eye guards are what make animals big, you know, 10 inches, 10 inches onto a buck real quick. with something iphon Absolutely. Yep. So red dude, that
Social Media and Podcast Conclusion
01:18:57
Speaker
was awesome, man. Where, uh, where can we find you on Instagram and YouTube and stuff?
01:19:02
Speaker
Yeah, so Instagram, my hunting page, it's at public underscore land underscore sportsman. It's not sportsman, sportsman, because there's multiple of us. But yeah, public land sportsman, you can find me there. YouTube, the same thing. We do have a private Facebook group too. But yeah, you can catch me there. DM me. Let me know how you like the pod. So. Rad dude, I'm all about it.
01:19:31
Speaker
Good pod, dude. Let's do it again. Sweet. Thanks, Drew. Thank you for listening to the Tricer Podcast. Do us a favor and like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on. Give us a follow on Instagram and Facebook at TricerUSA and go and check out all of our innovative gear at www.tricerusa.com. Until next time, shoot straight, have fun, and always put God first.