My pack weighs 68lbs...........

[deadend]

Lose all the knives but one. Lose the thermacell. Take half of those clothes out. Leave the batteries. Leave the bow press and extra strings/cables. Take half of those arrows. If you are only 3.5miles from the truck if push came to shove you could smoke it back to the truck in an hour and a half and get what you need. Then again, 3.5miles isn't far to carry your base camp so you may want to keep it all. If you were pushing in 15+ miles then it would be a different story.

 

[Ihunt]

I thought socks were toilet paper!!!!!

 

[The Arrow Guru]

This has been a fun thread. I trimmed the clothes and repacked. I got most of the weight in the main compartment and it carries a lot better. However, with every thing loaded and the sleeping bag and bow attached, it is still pushing 70#s.
Thanks for all the input, but at this point I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. 10 day forcast has it sunny, 41 for the average low and 71 for the average high. Every thing I have read puts us right in prime time for the bugle.
My goals for the trip are simple. There are three things I want to accomplish, if I do those three things the trip will be a success.
#1. I want to see the sun come up over the mountians.
#2. I want to see the sun set over the mountians.
#3. I want to hear a bull elk bugle with my own two ears. I have only heard it on tv.
I have found that the best stories I have to tell I was the most uncomfortable when it was actually happening to me. Did anyone here shoot the 2005 ASA tournament in Myrtle Beach SC? It was the worst tournament ever. It was on the back side of a hurricane and the range was between knee and waiste deep in water. 45 mph sustained winds and COLD. It was not very fun. However the guys that I shot with and I always talk about it with smiles on our face. I have no ilusions that this is going to be easy. I have not fooled myself into thinking that my legs are going to feel great. I am going for the experience. If I actually connect on a elk with my bow I will have done something that not many people have. 2 years of planning reading, mapping, phone calls, and buying stuff for the trip. Going into country I have never seen and hunting an animal that I have never hunted. I amso excited I could pop. I would leave tonight if I could. I will have lots of pictures ans some video when I get back. I hope to have plenty of stories.
I am also not proud. If after 5 or 6 days the bull doesn't seem to coming my way, I will shoot a cow and be very proud of it. As far as a bull goes, the first legal bull in bow range is going to be shot at.
BTW I have been in the gym since Jan. I have went from 211lbs to 175. I am as fit as I have ever been. Not that I am very fit, but better than before. we will see how it goes.
Thanks guys and gals, Byron

 

[northgeorgiasportsman]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but take a bottle of Motrin. Your shoulders and knees will appreciate it.

 

[The Arrow Guru]

Got a pair of Alpen Teton 10 x 50's I forgot to list. Got a thermorest self inflating pad as well.

 

[KY Red]

Cut the handle off your tooth brush. Big weight saver.

 

[whitworth]

68 lbs would be tough

if you were also carrying 35 pounds of overweight fat.

Who gets to carry out the dead elk?

 

[skidmark]

Wait till you go up and down with that pack....
Weather balloon lungs and billy goat legs.

 

[Scoutman]

"5 or 6th day shoot a cow if no bull comes your way". Brother if a cow pops up the first day you better let that arrow eat! If this is your only trip west,any elk with a bow is a great elk and they eat great.My first trip in 05, I shot over 2 cows at 15 yards at a bull at 35 and deflected off a limb! Learned my lesson and shot 2 cows since and let small bulls go. I hunt public otc elk so I take what opportunity I get. That said,I have let small bulls go and shot a cow instead but I try to go every year if I can.Leaving on 15th myself, good luck and have fun.

 

[vol man]

What kind of pistol are you toting?

 

[The Arrow Guru]

One more day in Georgia and it is off to Colorado. Tehnology is amazing. Between digital maps from Hunt Data, free maps for the GPS from Colorado topo, Garmin GPS, and Map Source, I have already killed one but he just doesn't know it yet!

 

[whatarush]

Sounds like an awsome trip. I envy you guys. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[tree cutter 08]

doing purdy good to get that much stuff in a pack that weighs 68lbs. air is thinner up high so it may be like toting 90lb around here.

 

[The Arrow Guru]

Here is all the stuff........

and here it is packed up!

 

[pasinthrough]

Good Luck, be safe and may your arrows fly true!

 

[The Arrow Guru]

Completed my last day of work. Leaving out in the morning. Driving straight through. Should get to Saguache CO sometime Sat morning. Got a hotel room there Sat night. Hitting the mountian Sunday morning. Talk to you folks around the 24th, unless of course we both connect early!

 

[nhancedsvt]

Good luck!

 

[ClydeWigg3]

Only one roll? What the hey? U packing a cork or something?