Preparing for our First Backcountry Hunt
In 2018 at age 50, James expressed his desire to take on a new challenge. Looking at 50 soon myself, I felt the same way… like time is moving fast now, and if we have some “Mt Everest” goal to accomplish in this life, we better do it soon.
“Time is Moving Fast”
Each year we spend one or two weeks hunting for elk in Central WA. We set up our large cabin tent, wood stove, cots, and kitchen for a nice cozy vacation with a large family group. We’ve all had some great times together, including tagging my first cow elk.
Last year we hunted the mountains for two weeks and never saw a single elk. It was a warm year, and the herds weren’t moving around as much as usual. On top of that, Washington State only issues so many cow and bull tags each year, and we weren’t drawn for either, so we were limited to spike elk only. It was exciting for James’s cousin Vance True though, as he was drawn for his first bull tag. His perseverance paid off, and when the opportunity presented itself, he got the job done! Click the video link below to see highlights from True Elk Camp 2018:
When the season was over, we decided to skip camp in 2019 and use our vacation for a different hunting experience. James reached out to buddies at work, and one in particular, Todd Warren, told him about his experiences backcountry hunting in the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. A search on Youtube led James to a 30-minute video produced by Argali Outdoors, called “The Frank.” We watched it together, and by the end, our new life challenge we were seeking had been found. We wanted to hunt the backcountry living day to day with only what we could carry in on our backs!
The idea was new to me, but James said, “This is something that I’ve been thinking about for a few years, and 2019 is the year. My first goal is to enjoy the area and what it has to offer an outdoorsman… being an area that isn’t overran by other hunters is priceless to me.” He reached out to Bradley Brooks at Argali for advice on which of the US Forest Service strips are best to charter a plane into for our hunt. Brad replied we would have luck at any of them and encouraged James to keep in touch and let him know how our hunt went. We are glad to have his support!
We had one year to learn and prepare for our first backcountry hunt. For me, the most valuable information came from a podcast called “The Hunt Backcountry.” Mark and Steve from Exo Mountain Gear, share their own amazing experiences and advice as well as bringing on other experienced hunters for their stories and opinions. I have listened to some podcasts over and over, jotting down notes, creating lists, and dreaming about our upcoming adventure. Our gear list was going to be the main challenge as our current hunting set up filled a truck and trailer each year. We were going to be doing some major downsizing into our first purchase, an Exo Mtn Gear backpack! These lightweight pack systems are built for the backcountry hunt, with an integrated shelf to haul heavy loads of meat between the frame and the pack bag.
The packs can handle large game, but James decided not to hunt elk this year and opted for a mule deer tag. He paid the out of state fees for the license required to hunt in Idaho. I decided to use my money for a new Sony Cyber-shot digital video camera instead of hunting. I wanted to capture his hunt and part of the two million acres we would be exploring in this remote wilderness, where some animals have never seen humans before. I’ll be using my iPhone, our GoPro and Sony to document our adventure into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.
I made a list of everything we would need to put in our backpacks at the beginning of 2019. Throughout the year, we watched for sales and coupons to make our purchases when a deal was available. We scored big time when we used $300 of reward points from Cabelas to purchase their 4-season, three-person Instinct Scout tent. We joined REi to get the best prices on sleeping bags, pads, cooking gear, and water filtering systems.
GENERAL LIST:
Backpack: Exo Mtn Gear K2 3500
Navigation: GPS, paper map, compass
Shelter: tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, pillow, tarp
Emergency: first aid kit, satelite phone, flashlight, matches, sunscreen, bug spray, blister kit
Nutrition: water filter, water bladders, propane stove system, food, coffee
Hunting: gun, ammo, game bags, scope, knives, gloves, bear spray
Clothing: base layer (long johns), mid layer, camouflage shell, orange vest, boots, hat, gloves
Personals: toilet paper, trowel, toothbrush & paste, deodorant, face wipes, medication
Luxury: flask, chair, video devices, solar charger, hikers saw and hatchet, fire starters, crocs
Researching the best lightweight options for our general list was very educational. I don’t like to be cold, and the average temperatures for a late October hunt in the Cabin Creek area of the Church are highs in the 30’s and lows in the teens. The 4-season tent was essential. I chose 800 down fill for our mummy sleeping bags and a 700 down RX rated air pad to sleep on, both tested at 15 degrees or lower. For clothing, we were both already prepared with our collection of clothes from years past. We did upgrade our mid-layer with a First Lite Uncompahgre puffy coat that conveniently converts into a pillow! I then opted to upgrade my base layer and purchased their women’s top and bottom merino wool long johns.
All of this gear was a huge investment. We needed the full year and a tax return to achieve it, but we have decided this won’t be for one use only. We want to use these packs and equipment for weekend hikes and overnight adventures in National Parks across the country. We plan to stay active for as long as we can. Backpacking is an excellent form of exercise and will help keep us strong, which we need to be, to haul these around in the mountains! With everything loaded in our packs, mine weighed 55 pounds, and James’s weighed 70 pounds! Click the video links below to see what we packed:
We also had to use the last year to prepare physically for this adventure. We both dropped about 20 pounds by watching our diets and switching from microbrews to light beer LOL. We stayed busy with our regular activities of walking, hiking, and horseback riding but added stair climbing and spin cycling on our Peloton. On top of that, we spent long hours on summer weekends fencing on our property. We did not do any weight training and probably should have. There is no doubt we will have aches and pains when this adventure is over, as we did after our first overnight hike to Lake Valhalla testing out all of our new equipment:
Again I say, time is moving fast, and the year passed in the blink of an eye. We left Sunday, Oct 27th, on a charter plane through G & S Aviation. They flew us for about 40 minutes into the two million acres of the Frank Church Wilderness and then dropped us and our backpacks off, to return for us Thursday, Oct 31st. We had five days worth of dehydrated meals and a flask of homemade blackberry brandy to survive on! Our adventure had begun.
“Keep close to Nature’s heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
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