Back country backpack trip for Coues

[MT_Sourdough]

I think Weston and Str8shot got it right. Walking through canyon country at night is extremely dangerous, Depth perception is about gone in the dark.

 

I carry in water in advance of the hunt. Stash it in some thick bushes or bury it. You do not want to de-hydrate on a solo hunt. Nobody to help you if your hurting. Plus, gathering/filtering water can be time consuming and an unnecessary expenditure of energy when you want to be hunting.

I like a base camp and spike out. I will always have some sort of shelter because these central AZ mountains can and will form micro-climates that will not appear on any weather forcast. It's happened to me almost every year I have hunted here in AZ, so I use a tent big enough to ride out a big storm and keep important things like my rifle dry so it isn't a rust bucket by next morning.

I don't bring in cooking stuff for spiking out. I am so tired by the time I stumble into camp, all I want is to stuff some food in my face before my eyes go shut. Cooking and cleaning is fun when you are camping. This aint camping.

I'll take a whole loaf of bread and turn it all into pb&j sandwiches. I'll compliment the sandwiches with some snacks and lots of Cliff bars. I also carry 5 hour energys to substitute for no coffee in the morning.

Tylenol or ibuprofen. My head and eyeballs are aching after humping through the hills all day in the heat.

[GreeneMachine]

I don't comment too much on gear recommendations because there's a million opinions. But I always put my two cents in about bivy sacks. I'll never use one again. Had a late December tag few years ago and planned a backpack hunt. Bought the best "waterproof" bivy REI sold. Forecast called for a storm the first night and I was excited (for the deer activity). One of the worst nights of my life. Storm came through with rain/sleet/snow. Once your zipped in your bivy, your basically stuck until it stops raining. If you open it up, your sleeping bag and whatever gets wet. This particular storm didn't want to stop. And go figure the bivy starts to leak. In two spots. Now my down bag is slowly getting wet. It's 10 degrees out and down doesn't do well wet. I've got a horrible headache but can't get out of the bivy to access my meds in my pack. I get so wet and cold from the leaking I start worrying about my well being. Started to think about bolting back to the truck in the middle of the night. But I didn't know if all my thick warm weather clothes were drenched (again, because they are in my pack and I can't open the dang bivy to check). So making a run back to the truck in drenched gear wouldn't have been safe in 10 degree weather at night. My option was to lay there in misery all night. Couldn't sleep a wink.

 

My suggestion, compare the weight of one of those super light backpacker tents. They literally weigh nothing these days. Well worth it. Gives you space to have your pack with you and out of the weather at night. Room for your rifle or bow.

 

Bivy sound cool and some like them a lot. Never enjoyed them myself.

[Edge]

Got to agree, sawbuck, packing animals into the outback is a lot of work. Its good to give your self a break and mix it up. But I must admit I went hiking a few days and really missed my horse.

 

Can't go back and read all the great responses again but I don't recall seeing big trash bags. You might come across a dead head or something you want to keep but might not want to smell. A garbage bag saved my butt once when I ended up wearing it as a pancho. Can gather rain water or make a solar still with one, too.

 

Also didn't see soap. A visine size bottle of Dawn unscented makes for Godliness.

Have fun out there.

[CouesHunterAZ]

Definitely bring the .300 even with the extra weight. My family bought a 22-250 after a friend let us use it on a hunt (in which the 22-250 killed two coues with no problem). The next year I used it on my coues hunt and it took 7 shots in the deer until it died. Many of these shots were misplaced after the first, but it was very difficult for me in my mind as I felt like it was an "unethical" kill. Don't know what others experiences have been, but I have been using a .270 or .300 ever since.

[cohofishing]

I have used the platypus gravity filter for years. I like it. The thing I like is that they make a hose attachment that you use on the clean bag of the filter eliminating the need for another drinking bladder. Their storage bags attach to the filter also if there is a need for that.

 

Here in Arizona, I pack in water. To many of my water sources dry up between early fall scouting trips and late November hunts. Been doing solo coues bivy hunts for eight years. The only way to go for me

[jp0212]

I'm planning a backpack hunt this year as well. Praying and crossing all appendages that I score the 22 December WT tag. If not that one, I'll gladly take the October hunt I put as my 2nd choice. No matter what I plan to backpack though, draw will dictate when and whether or not I'm carrying a rifle or a bow. Plan is to hike 5-6 miles back into the Mazatzal Wilderness to try some areas out. I'll post up my gear here soon when I get it all together. Just ordered a Kifaru Timberline 2 that I'm waiting on, then I'll get it all squared away. I'm thinking we need to have a little get together for some brews and get to know each other so we don't all have to fly solo on these backpacking hunts!

[idgaf]

I got the sawyer one from walmart for twenty bucks. One item I would suggest is a small bottle of hand sanitizer. It serves two purposes one is to clean up and the other is it makes a great fire starter (100% alcohol)

[jp0212]

I don't comment too much on gear recommendations because there's a million opinions. But I always put my two cents in about bivy sacks. I'll never use one again. Had a late December tag few years ago and planned a backpack hunt. Bought the best "waterproof" bivy REI sold. Forecast called for a storm the first night and I was excited (for the deer activity). One of the worst nights of my life. Storm came through with rain/sleet/snow. Once your zipped in your bivy, your basically stuck until it stops raining. If you open it up, your sleeping bag and whatever gets wet. This particular storm didn't want to stop. And go figure the bivy starts to leak. In two spots. Now my down bag is slowly getting wet. It's 10 degrees out and down doesn't do well wet. I've got a horrible headache but can't get out of the bivy to access my meds in my pack. I get so wet and cold from the leaking I start worrying about my well being. Started to think about bolting back to the truck in the middle of the night. But I didn't know if all my thick warm weather clothes were drenched (again, because they are in my pack and I can't open the dang bivy to check). So making a run back to the truck in drenched gear wouldn't have been safe in 10 degree weather at night. My option was to lay there in misery all night. Couldn't sleep a wink.

 

My suggestion, compare the weight of one of those super light backpacker tents. They literally weigh nothing these days. Well worth it. Gives you space to have your pack with you and out of the weather at night. Room for your rifle or bow.

 

Bivy sound cool and some like them a lot. Never enjoyed them myself.

 

I agree. It stings when you buy it, but the super light backpacking 2 person tents are awesome. I have the Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2. The tent, fly, footprint and the rest of the whole shebang weighs about 3.5 lbs. Not the biggest tent in the world, but my wife and I have both slept in it with our gear before comfortably. Worth it to buy an REI membership then use the 20% off coupon then use it on the tent.