Hey gentleman. My group has to do this on a budget, seeing if I can pick your brains a bit. 1) Army Surplus. Any good? I figured alice packs and standard issue boots have got to be at least decent. 2) Units. How many different units can you hunt on an Archery tag? 3) Water cleaning & Eating. Any of you DIY dry your own food for this, or Vacuum seal? I haven't had a cigarette since November, 22 years old and build decks and fences. 6 ft 185 lbs, I think this should all help, but I certainly want to get in as best shape as possible for this. Thanks, Jim
The main issues I have seen in regard to Army surplus products is the additional weight. Units depend on what kind of tag you apply for, some tags only allow you to hunt the unit you were drawn for, while general tags let you hunt all general units. I am currently attempting to DIY dry out my own food and then vacuum seal them in individual sized packets. Much cheaper than Mountain House. Also, look up a Podcast called "The Gritty Bowmen", Aron Snyder is on there all the time and offers some awesome advice.
I agree with the weight issue. It all depends on how far you want to care a heavy pack or boots. In 2014 I made due with a lot of fear but I didn't stray too far from camp. Maybe 5-7 miles from camp. This year I'll be packing all my camping supplies so super light gear is coming with. Definitely not cheap but worth it IMO.
My son and I made and dried all of our food for our backpack elk hunt. Everything turned out really well. And was a lot cheaper than buying the commercial dried foods. Check this guys videos out ( MrBabelfish5 ). We got all of our recipes from him. He gives grocery lists, cooking instructions and drying instructions. As for water, we used the Katadyn water filter and it worked like a dream.
I agree with the drying your own food. It saves alot of money and there are millions of recipes online. As far as your boots go it depends on your area you hunt in, I hunt in snake country that has creek bottoms and steep canyons so a good waterproof, snake proof boots are definitely worth it when you get many miles from civilization and cell service. Also as far as getting in shape for an elk hunt, if you're a taller person and you have to pack an elk out, your back takes a killing, if you can get to a gym or weight room and do some dead lifts, straight kneed dead lifts, and back extensions to help strengthen your back up. I'm 6'5 and I did those exercises religiously four times a week before hunting season and it makes a world of difference.
I went with a Molle pack, and swapped to the more comfortable Alice straps. Worked great for me. Might be heavier, but it was sturdy & cheap. Cheap. Sturdy. Light Weight. <--- you only can have 2 of the 3
Unit/zone laws vary state to state and unless I'm missing something you don't say what state. I think the best budget packs on the market are ALPzOutdoors. I have 2 (one is full frame) and love them both. I don't know what stores charge in your area, but down closer to the city they are not exactly bargain bin prices. Secondly, my wife is in the ANG and her general issue boots are Danners. So I don't know what general issue is sitting in your local army surplus, but if they are Danners they are still going to be priced pretty high but along with that goes good quality. I wore Irish Setter Vaprtreks in Idaho and never had a problem. They feel like rugged athletic shoes. I still wear them in warm weather early-season whitetail hunts too. They're really comfortable. Lastly as far as food goes, I made my own trail mix and jerky sticks, but my once a day meal was always Mountainhouse. Tasted great, lots of energy, and very lightweight. You can feed yourself for more than a week on 60 bucks on Amazon. Keep an eye out for sales. Also, if you're a coffee drinker, Nescafé makes single serving pouches that are awesome or backpacking.
