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  • Bruce Smithhammer
      Post count: 2514

      colmike wrote: Bruce

      Sure you know this but–a couple of biners can give you from 2 to 3 MA and they do double duty for other uses. Having said that a brass pulley just large enough for your line works great and is easily unfrozen–well don’t hit it to hard:shock: Can find at most hardware stores

      Mike

      Good point, Mike. I found an ultra-light climbing pulley that only weighs 3 oz. and is stout enough for anything I would need it for. But a couple carabiners would be about the same weight and more useful for other things as well.

      Bruce Smithhammer
        Post count: 2514

        One dilemma I was having with the Duiker quiver was a good way to carry a small game blunt or two in addition to broadheads. The latter would be secure with the heads buried into foam, but the small game heads would just be loose in the quiver and rattling around. And they were hard to locate in the moment and pull one out without swinging the quiver around so that I could see which arrow I was grabbing. So the best solution I could come up with was to glue a little plastic divider into the foam:

        This way the small game arrow is easy to locate by feel, and it doesn’t move around much at all.

        Bruce Smithhammer
          Post count: 2514

          donthomas wrote: Lots of good things named here, but of course the trick is to make the complete package as light as possible. When weight isn’t critical, the sky’s the limit. Backpacking I light to go light, but I still haven’t heard three things mentioned that I always take, at least in most circumstances: 1. An extra set of rawhide bootlaces. A destroyed lace can make a boot miserable, and you can always loose them for tying down things around camp. 2. A little spoll of fishing line and some flies. In Alaska during spring and fall there are almost always fish in the streams and they won’t be hard to catch. Great survival food. 3. A good paperback book.If you get weathered in badly and have to stay in a tent flat on your back for a couple of days, this will keep you from growing crazy. Good supply of TP too. Make it long. Dostoyevsky saved my life in New Zealand once, but that’s another story. Total weight of all this is less than a pound. Don

          Don –

          For multi-day backcountry trips the items you mention are good thoughts. However, instead of spare rawhide laces, I carry some extra p-cord. It will work as a backup boot lace in a pinch, and it’s useful for lots of other things.

          As far as books in the backcountry go, this was my reading material when things were slow in the field last fall:

          😉

          Bruce Smithhammer
            Post count: 2514

            I shot for an hour with my Thunderchild the other evening, and deliberately shot for the first 1/2 hr. with a lightweight bow quiver (EFA) on it, and the last 1/2 hr. with no bow quiver. I honestly couldn’t see any difference in how the bow shot at all. Accuracy was identical either way.

            There are advantages and disadvantages to any arrow-carrying system, whether on the bow or off, it’s just a matter of deciding which factors you want to live with. Lately, I’ve been really enjoying shooting without a bow quiver, to the point that when I put one on my bow the other night, it just felt kind of weird and clunky on such a nice, light bow. I don’t know that I’ll use a side quiver for every type of hunting I do, but I find that I’m using them more and more.

            Bruce Smithhammer
              Post count: 2514

              David Petersen wrote: Man, youse guys must do some serious backcountry adventure hunting to pack all this stuff “just in case….

              Dave – the “just in case” part of my kit weighs < 1.5 lbs and fits into two 3"x5" pouches. It really ain't all that much, and worth it's weight in gold if something happens and I can't make it 5 miles back to the truck, which isn't an unrealistic scenario. But to each his own – that's why I find this thread so interesting. 😉

              From the side quiver thread:

              David Petersen wrote: When I hunt I have a big daypack with an attached fanny pact, and other stuff on my belt so that entire waist area is already taken up. I have stuff in my cargo pants pockets also….

              Jeez, it sounds like you’re carrying a lot more than I am, compadre!

              Bruce Smithhammer
                Post count: 2514

                One thing I’ve been thinking about adding to my pack is a lightweight pulley.

                Bruce Smithhammer
                  Post count: 2514
                  in reply to: Fire Kit #26485

                  ausjim wrote:

                  Do you reckon that folding stove above is considerably faster/more efficient than the kidney stove?

                  The Emberlit is a little bigger/taller so I think you can keep a more substantial, focused fire going in it. I think it would be nicer as well if you were actually cooking and not just boiling water with it. But yeah, the canteen/cup/stove combo is pretty sweet.

                  Bruce Smithhammer
                    Post count: 2514

                    ausjim wrote: Something that never goes in mine but always should is a crepe bandage for snakebites.

                    Plus, you can always drizzle a little creme and strawberries on them if you get hungry. 8)

                    paleoman wrote: Good stuff but who brought the t.p.!

                    Meh – natural t.p. is everywhere! Well almost everywhere. I do remember a few times in prickly pear/cholla forests where I uh…oh, nevermind.

                    Bruce Smithhammer
                      Post count: 2514
                      in reply to: Fire Kit #26453

                      Jim –

                      Like one of these?

                      Bruce Smithhammer
                        Post count: 2514

                        etter1 wrote: Smithy,

                        You’ll surely bring that wonderful bird dog of yours right?:D

                        I doubt the little freak would leave me a choice. 🙄 😀

                        Bruce Smithhammer
                          Post count: 2514

                          I should add that while mine might seem like a long list, the whole kit, minus food and water but including the pack is < 10lbs.

                          Bruce Smithhammer
                            Post count: 2514

                            Basics:

                            Headlamp/extra batteries

                            Map

                            Extra clothing as needed

                            H20

                            Snacks

                            Game calls

                            Bear spray

                            Rain jkt

                            Camera

                            Bow-related:

                            Extra string

                            Stringer

                            Spare tab

                            Wind powder

                            Game kit:

                            2 fixed blade knives

                            Strop/extra fine sandpaper

                            Game bags (at least 2)

                            Zip-loc freezer bags

                            25ft. of heavy cord

                            Orange flagging

                            Emerg. Supplies:

                            Small 1st Aid kit

                            Small fire kit

                            Compass

                            Whistle

                            Signal mirror

                            A couple small glow sticks

                            Emergency blanket

                            Bruce Smithhammer
                              Post count: 2514

                              I’m thinkin’ the backstraps on that doe could feed a family of 10.

                              Bruce Smithhammer
                                Post count: 2514

                                I always seemed to bump into them pretty regularly when I was chasing quail down in that part of AZ. They’re not exactly uncommon. And even though they have poor eyesight, you better watch your scent and noise.

                                Bruce Smithhammer
                                  Post count: 2514

                                  Congrats, Duncan. Can’t wait to see it!

                                  Doc Nock wrote: I kinda envy you shorter draw guys with shorter bows. I was “gifted” a Lost Creek once, that is 56″ and 48#…I can shoot it ok at my 28.75″ draw, but it’s not something I’d want to shoot 30 targets with…but it surely is SWEET in the woods!!!

                                  Doc –

                                  I’ve never shot a Lost Creek, but there would be no reason with your draw length that you couldn’t shoot a Thunderchild or a Kanati (the two short bows I have personal experience with), or a number of other short bows available these days. Big Jim has a 30″+ draw length and I believe he shoots a 56″ Thunderchild. And I have a friend with a 29″ draw that shoots a 54″ T-child, and he says he doesn’t feel any pinch or stack with it at all. It sounds like Greg Coffey’s ‘Elkheart’ or the Thunderhorn ‘Coup Stick’ would be in the same category.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 1,096 through 1,110 (of 2,403 total)