Backpack Sheep Hunting Gear List
A few years ago I put out the first version of my backpack sheep hunting list, after a few more trips and miles on the trail I’ve upgraded some gear and refined the list a little more. This list isn’t the be-all-end-all of sheep hunting gear lists but it’s a good start, I may have missed a few items and will add them over the coming weeks if thats the case.
The total weight for all the gear on this packed up and ready for the trail is approx 63lbs. My partner usually packs the vestibule and saw, and our 3rd partner packs the stove and water filter bringing the total pack weight, including rifle down to about 59lbs which is a very respectable pack weight for a 7-8 day backpack hunt. Adjust your food accordingly for the duration of your trip.
| Sheep Hunting Gear List 2010 | Weight Lbs | Weight Oz | Notes: |
| Preferred Pack: Mystery Ranch MR NICE 6500. | 9lbs | 8oz | This is a great pack for all of your backpacking hunts. Lifetime warranty too. |
| Pack Cover: Integral Designs Silcoat | 3oz | Handy item to keep your pack dry. | |
| Boots: Hanwag Trapper Tops 12.5UK. |
These boots are awesome. Read my review. | ||
| Sleeping & Shelter | |||
| Valandre, “Bloody Mary” Down Sleeping Bag | 2lbs | 6oz | This is a high quality, very lightweight and warm down sleeping bag. Perfect for 3 season sheep hunting. Read My Review. |
| Exped Downmat 7 | 1lbs | 13oz | Twice as thick as my Pro Lite 4 and nearly twice the insulation value, yet only weighs a few ounces more. Read My Review. |
| Siltarp II | 15oz | This 8’x10′ tarp is a must have in any backpack hunters pack. They make a larger version. Read My Review. | |
| Integral Designs MK III Tent | 5lbs | 10oz | This is an expensive 4 season tent. Don’t cheap out on your tent. Read My Review. Read My Review. |
| Integral Designs MK III Vestibule | 1lbs | 3oz | Not really big enough for 2 full hunting packs, but it’s a good place to store boots. |
| 2 Industrial Size Black Garbage Bags. | We use these as ground sheets and they work really well. Not to mention many other uses. | ||
| Food, Water & Cooking | |||
| JetBoil Stove (Cooking Cup, Burner, Drinking Cup & Lid) | 14.6oz | Hands-Down the best stove solution for a backpack hunter eating freeze dry meals. Read My Review. | |
| 1 Large (230g) Jetboil fuel canister | 12.8oz | My partner carries the other one… Between the two we have plenty of fuel for 8-10 days. | |
| Katadyn “Vario” Water Filter | 1lbs | 4oz | I took this with me last year and was thoroughly impressed with it’s performance vs. price point. Read My Review. |
| Mnt House Meals 7 Dinners 7 Breakfasts | 4lbs | 1.4oz | I prefer Pasta Primavera, Beef Stroganoff, Stew, Lasagna, Sweet Sour Pork, Chicken Breast W/potatoes. |
| 8 Clif “Builder” Energy/Protein Bars | 1lbs | 4oz | Buy a case at Costco for $20 |
| 1 Spork | Sporks are awesome. | ||
| Snacks, Chocolate, Jerky, Trail Mix etc… | 4-5lbs | I usually have a snack at lunch and then a couple more throughout the day. Adjust accordingly for you. | |
| 10-12 Emergen-C Drink Packets | These little drink packets are packed full of vitamins/minerals and are handy to have. | ||
| 1 1.5 liter nalgene (w/carabineer) |
Use the carabineer to clip on the bottom of your shoulder strap. I can easily grab my water bottle this way, and you’ll never know it’s there. | ||
| 2 1 liter platypus water bladders. |
I only fill these if we need to store some water, otherwise they stay tucked away in my pack. | ||
| Clothing | |||
| 5 Pair Thorlo Level III Trekking Socks (approx 4.6-5oz each pair) |
1lbs | 5oz | These are the best socks I have ever worn in the mountains. They are thick, so make sure you can still fit in your boots. |
| 1 pair merino wool liner socks | I only throw these on if I develop a hot spot. | ||
| Hiking Underwear (willy wickers – 2 pair) | 5.4oz | To prevent chafe you want a light-weight, highly breathable synthetic underwear. Gold Bond Helps. | |
| Thermal underwear (1pair) | I wear these to sleep in at night. | ||
| Northface Convertibles Pants. (2 pair total) | 2lbs | 9oz | These pants are light, have a built in belt, lots of pockets and they dry quickly. Perfect for mountain hunting. |
| Wick-a-way t-shirt (2 t-shirts total) | 9.6oz | Just a light moisture wicking base layer t-shirt. | |
| Ice Breaker Merino Wool Shirt | 12.5oz | This is a nice, light and very warm merino wool sweater. (Bodyfit 260) | |
| Mid-weight Fleece | 11.4oz | Just a “North Face” mid weight polar fleece. | |
| Gloves – leather, light weight. |
After a few miles scrambling through rock and scree your fingers will be raw. Wear gloves. | ||
| Rain Gear | |||
| Integral Designs Thru-Hiker eVent Jacket | 13oz | This jacket is light, 100% waterproof and breathes better than most others on the market. Canadian Made too. | |
| Integral Designs Thru-Hiker eVent Pants | 12.4oz | Same as above, but these are pants. | |
| Light Weight Gore-Tex Gaitors | Any will do. They really help for bustin’ brush and crossing creeks. | ||
| Light Weight Gore-Tex Hat | Handy for keeping out the sun/rain. | ||
| Camera/Optics/Gun | |||
| Canon 110S Digital Camera | An OK digital camera with 10x optical zoom. | ||
| Zeiss 85mm 20×60 Spotting Scope w/eyepiece | 3lbs | 13oz | This spotter comes in really handy. Heavy, but it makes up for it by saving you lots of walking. |
| Swarovski 8×30 Binoculars | 1lbs | 9.3oz | Great, light weight set of binoculars, W/Crooked Horn Binocular Harness Attached. |
| Manfrotto 718 SHB Tripod | 2lbs | 11oz | This tripod is fairly light but lacks the sturdiness for the larger 80-85mm spotters. If you buy make sure you get the metal locking plate, not plastic. |
| Tikka .270 Lite S/S w/Bushnell 3200 Elite | 7lbs | 1oz | Very happy with this gun/scope combo. |
| Safety Gear | |||
| First Aid Kit | 5oz | This is just a standard first aid kit to take care of sprains, breaks, cuts, bruises, burns, blisters and pain. It includes: Bandaids of assorted sizes, Gauze, Moleskin, Antiseptic, Ibuprofen, Nail Clippers, Emergency Blanket, Eyedrops. |
|
| SPOT satellite tracking device. | 7.3oz | This is an absolute must have for any backcountry hunter. It could save your life one-day. Read My Review. | |
| Garmin 60csx GPS | 7oz | Great GPS with mapping, altimeter etc.. | |
| Myo XP Headlamp w/3 AA batteries | 6.4oz | Very powerful headlamp… There are smaller/lighter ones available but this was a gift. | |
| Trophy Care | |||
| Salt (NOT Course Salt) | 3lbs | 3-5 pounds for a shoulder mount that’s been well caped out. Use your own descretion as to how well you can cape, and how fast you can get it to a taxidermist. | |
| Havalon “piranta” skinning knife | 3oz | This knife will be replacing my handmade knife. It’s light weight and features interchangeable blades that are always razor sharp. | |
| 12 Havalon 60XT Knife Blades | 1.2oz | These are the easily changable knife blades for the Piranta skinning knives. They are incredibly sharp. | |
| 2 Game Bags | 2oz | Just two quartering bags will be sufficient for a deboned sheep/goat. | |
| Misc Items | |||
| Gold Bond Powder (you’ll thank me) | When you start sweating you know where, Gold bond comes to the rescue. A trick from my Rugby days. | ||
| 2 Packs Baby Wipes (you’ll thank me) | Toilet Paper will cause a rash, especially if you are sweating lots. Baby Wipes help. | ||
| Small Container Sunscreen | self explanatory | ||
| Small Container Lip Balm | self explanatory | ||
| 50′-100′ of rope (many, many uses) | Set up your camp, tie down tents/tarps, hang meat, haul meat, retrieve game… It’s handy, bring it! | ||
| Extra waist buckle for pack | It would suck to break one out there and not have a replacement. | ||
| Extra Boot Lace | It would suck to break one! | ||
| 1 roll tp | Use sparingly. | ||
| Trailblazer buck saw | This light and sturdy saw is very handy if you are camped low enough to have access to wood. It also works well for cutting the antlers/horns off of your skulls. | ||
| 1 tube fire paste | Small tubes of this stuff are awesome for backpack hunters. Get your fire going without screwing around. | ||
| 2 bic lighters | 1.4oz | An essential survival tool. I have one in my pack, one in my pocket. | |
| Travel Tooth Brush & Tooth Paste | 2oz | Brush your teeth after meals. Mountain House likes to stick around. |
thanks for takin the time to blog this — helps me plan my trip!
No problem Robbie, I am glad you’ve found it useful. If you have any questions about any of the gear let me know!
Carl
my lil bro just got a trophy sheep and now we are goin for non-trophy in Alberta….it should be a great trip!!
Great list, TY for this, I have hunted elk and deer in the Kootenays for years, just going to start the Sheep game.
Good list Carl
Someone should put a list together for the solo hunter … pack weight becomes more important then. It would be interesting to see the what items become nessessary vs are brought for comfort and “what if” scenerios. With meat, cape (live) , and horms I exstimated my pack weight was 140lbs plus which is probably the maximum the average person can carrry out of the mountains for 10+ km’s.I will take a shot at the solo list but dont have any specific weights.
1.External lPack
2.sleeping bag
3.Blue Foamy ( cut to 5ft)
4. Bivi bag
5.Siltarp II (no tent pegs or walking stick just use string tied to rocks over top of pack, will hold in the most windy conditions on top of ridges))
6.Binos
7.spotting scope ( no tri-pod, use pack and lay on the ground in the prone position)
8. rifle and 20 rounds (no sling, rifle should be in your hands at all times)
9.1 – 3″ knife
10.3 razor blades
11.pop bottle of fine salt
12.30ft para cord
13.Garbage (for everthing you want to keep dry)
14. 2 litre pop bottle of water
15.1/2 roll toilet paper
16.1 pillow case for meat
17.1 bic lighter and 1 cube of fire starter ( if camped on ridge then no wood anyways)
18. Mini DV spy cam ( new..with 4 GB can take 2 hrs video or 5000 pictures.. looks like a key chain)
19.3 bandages (no other safety gear required….just wacth your step. No GPS , SPOT , SAT phones, first air kit, or flash lights neccessary)
20. map and compass (even this is optional- with such larges drainages it is difficult to get lost)
21. light weight saw ( This saw can stay as use can use a knife to remove skull from vertabrae)
22. CLOTHING: wool base layer, wool sweater, Mid weight fleece, mid weight wool pants, light wool long under wear, rain gear with hood), 1 spair heavy wool socks, soccer shorts (ultra light and dry’s quickly), wool balaclava or toque, wool mitts.
23. 2 litre pop bottle (for water)
24. DRY Food (No cooking) – 8 -10 lbs of what every keeps you fed and energy up. ( No cooking allows to save on bulk and weight of stove, fuel, water, and utencils
26. No other misc items required.
The goal is to keep pack between 45lbs and 55lbs. By the time the sheep is taken a person should be less 10lbs of food, water, ammo….so 45lbs pack plus meat , shoulder cape ,and horns adding up to be 120 to 140lbs and in one trip… thats the goal. I know i left several things off the list compared to your list but i feel quite comfortable with what i have for 7 or 8 day hunt in August to late September. For others who dont spend much time hunting by them selves and over nighting in places where they have never been before items such flashlites, GPS, First aid kit and SPOT should be brought.
For a person to make 1 trip back to the truck some items have to be sacrificed and risks taken thats just the nature of solo hunting.
good work on all the blogs, I am sure many people appreciate it.
cheers
Hey Robert,
Thank you for the feedback! A few things I would note on your list….
The bivy bag, with a sil-tarp II would be a good lighter weight setup, getting rid of the tent.
Tripod – I would keep the tripod, or get a lighter weight one. Glassing with a spotter prone, wouldn’t be comfy for me. I like to sit and glass for many hours at a time.
Rifle & Rounds – I only take 12 rounds with me on a hunt. That would lighten you up a little bit more. 3 in my clip and 9 in my rifle butt shell holder. I sight in before I go, and most the time while trekking in bush the gun is strapped tightly to my pack. Even while hiking, as to not risk bumping it. Then again, it’s taken some good knocks and still been okay when checked.
Knife – I pack a Havalon Piranta now and it’s an awesome lightweight little caping/skinning knife. Perfect for sheep/deer/goat.
First Aid – Not really understanding why you would recommend someone NOT carry a SPOT? I would urge anyone who ventures out solo to have at LEAST a SPOT with them. Very, Very cheap insurance should something happen. The new SPOT II units are very lightweight, we’ll hopefully have a full review of them on the site sometime in 2011.
Map/Compass – With you on that one, My grandparents were outfitters for many years in Northern BC, I know the area we hunt very well and could navigate my way around based on the drainages. For a guy that didn’t know the country at all a small laminated Google map has been helpful for us before.
Saw – I do have a pack saw (trail blazer buck saw) that weighs less than a pound and is good if you want a nice camp, with a nice fire (down low in the timber). Smaller big game like sheep/deer you can cut right down into the vertebrae with your knife and then just twist the head right off. Sheep have much thicker cartiledge, muscle etc… around their neck/head though for the impacts they need to withstand when fighting.
Wool – Not with you on the wool! unless you are talking Merino wool??? I have many high quality synthetic layers of clothing that seem to work really well for me and are very light weight.
2 Liter pop bottle – This takes up quite a bit of space??? I use the Platypus 1 liter soft plastic bags. They are quite durable and pack really small, I pack 2 or 3. A 2 liter could be hard to fill if all you could find was tiny watering holes. Thats one area where my Katadyn Vario filter has really helped out. We can pump water out of the tiniest puddles and it’s nice and clean. With a 2 liter you’d need a deep pool or a little waterfall of somekind?
Food – Dry food could be alright I guess, MountainHouse is really light, but you DO need a stove/fuel to boil water. Unless you’re using a fire camped down a little lower, which would be fine too. Just more hiking.
My pack weight when full for a 8 day trip is about 58-62lbs with my rifle and all the creature comforts for a backpacker, so a pack weight of 45-55 lbs solo would be very doable, with some slight modifications to the list such as removing a tent and using a bivy/tarp. That would save 5-6lbs right there.
Thanks again for your feedback Robert!
Carl
good feed back Carl
I noticed your list did not included the weight of numerous items such as digital camera, fire paste , water bladders, rope ect…albeit small they will add up – maybe 1lbs or so . Speaking of water it looks like you carry 3.5 liters of water which was not included in your weight. It looks likes you carry more like 63 lbs + 7.7lbs water +1 lb misc stuff not accounded for, for a total approx weight of 72 lbs (going solo). Of course this wil be some what reduced if you have 2 partners sharing some of the items.
cheers
Hey Robert,
There is weights missing from the itemized list but the total pack weight of 58-62lbs is accurate. I only carry 1.5liters of water with me, and then 2 or 3 empty 1 liter bladders. We only fill up the bladders when we’ve made camp. There have been a few occasions where we have packed plenty of water up a hill, only because we’d been there before and knew water was scarce.
Carl
Excellent list and blog overall. Your site gave me lots of ideas when gearing up for a backpack hunt. Had a question for you on the tent. I am looking at a Hilleberg Nallo2 and was wondering – did you go with the Allak beacause it is free standing as opposed to a tent that needs to be pegged and cinched down to function? From what I have read all the Hilleberg tents are very well suited to sheep hunting. I do like the light weight of the Nallo!!
Thanks
Thanks Pete!
I chose the Allak because of it’s layout and the comfort it offers two guys. I’ve been using an ID MK III for the past few seasons, and like the Nallo it only has 1 door. 1 door becomes a bit of a hassle when you have 2 grown men, coming in and out of the tent, couple that storing stuff in the vestibule and getting in and out is a real pain.
When it rains, you’ll be taking turns removing gear/boots etc.. to get into the tent. With the 2 doors on the Allak you can come/go as you please and have a small vestibule for your gear as well. There is a 2 lb weight difference, but that’s not much if you have a partner to offload the poles/pegs too.
The freestanding tents are handy when you get up in rocky ground and can’t get pegs in as easily. My ID tent was also a free standing tent. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Carl