“Ultralight hunting”

backcountry hunting almost always equates to shoulder season weather, which equates to more sleeping bag, more pad, more clothing- that's a pretty good hit in itself

backcountry hunting almost always entails boning and carrying your game out, this eliminates pretty much all "regular" lightweight packs- you need good volume and more importantly a suspension that can handle 60-80+ #'s, hard to believe Kifaru was able to do that for under 3#- bully for them :)

I pack a small fixed blade knife and a Havalon w/ a few extra blades, I don't think you can cut much more weight out for dressing/boning

I use a now discontinued pair of Leupold glasses (10×28) that weigh in @ 10 oz, there are definitely times I wish had more glass

my rifle could be a little lighter, but it's got sentimental value :) it's a Winchester Featherweight in .30-06, topped w/ a Leupold 2×7 scope – it's just under 8 lbs w/ scope/bases/rings- not too shabby

if you're counting your rifle and optics into your base, you'd be doing really well to be under 25 lbs imo

-first year it was great, did a complete job without sharpening, it was a boker folding…
-second year, I brought the Timberline with guthook, was TERRIBLE. I don't know if it was a function of the knife not being sharp from the beginning (suspect this was at least a part of it) or if it was my somewhat more hurried technique, dulling it on bone….but after the second episode, I'll at least bring two, or possibly go back to steel and sharpener.

Check out the article by Dave Chenault on the Paradox Evolution pack.

I'm selling my old Dana Terraplane pack and buying the Evolution for hunting and winter backpacking. It's much lighter (by almost half!).

Kevin, the company owner/designer, is working on a rifle scabbard for the pack. The shoulder harness has been recently re-designed to be more comfortable and for my needs it's a "modular" pack, good for general backpacking, hunting and carrying out deer or elk quarters on the bare frame.

"Gun control is hitting your target." :o)

Want to thank everyone that's posted useful information to this thread. I am looking to add a hunting component to my outdoor pursuits primarily as a means of putting local, sustainable meat on my families table. I am blessed to have the camping aspects of this sport already very well dialed in but the hunting specific gear, practice, and techniques is still very new to me.

I seem to be leaning toward a synthetic stocked .308 Win rifle with a +/- 22" barrel topped by a 3-9×40 high quality optic and a simple nylon sling. Considering firearms from Savage, Remington, and Tikka at this time but nothing I've laid hands on thus far has felt like "the one".

Two words… AIR RIFLE.

I can carry 2000 pellets for my 22cal air rifle, its subsonic so its extremely accurate, large game would be gone in weeks if the stuff really hit the fan.

Benjamin Marauder comes to mind. You can recast lead etc etc etc, light weight, simple, leaves plenty of room to carry self defense rounds in your pack since pellets weigh nothing.

Lewis and Clark carried an air rifle, not a powder burner, on their expedition.

This is what I use to protect my garden. In a backpacking survival scenario I would use it without the stock and with open sites. It Cal cleanly take out squirrels birds and even raccoons or jack rabbits. I would never take something as big as a coyote with less than a 25 caliber marauder but this is my varmint gun.

Pre charged pneumatic air rifles like a 25 Cal marauder throw 40 to 60 grain at 900fps but are far from light weight.

My 17 Cal varmint gun has custom built internals, valve, take down pin, and a brass piston. For a few pounds it would last me 30,000 shots carrying a mold to recycle lead into pellets and a few orings plus an extra valve and can be serviced without tools just using a stick and any oil around with a rag.

I replaced all the seals and valve seats with petrol safe plastics/rubbers. This, a glock 19, and a 223 would be the three things to come with me if I ever had to bug out.

It don't get lighter for varmint hunting than a 17 cal air rifle. Unless you're any good with a sling shot. I'd never consider carrying a 22 again. However, air rifle, like a 22long, are very limited in application. I feel that the air rifle meets all the needs of a powder burner without the risks, laws, and annoyances of it rotting because you have to carry cleaning supplies for powder burners that would likely be gone rather quickly.

If you're talking light weight, air rifle. If you're talking doomsday, air rifle. If you're talking large game, go on a hunting trip :)

There's no such thing as too overprepared when it comes to protecting your garden. I have strategically placed IED's all over my yard to keep the critters at bay. I've lost a few good friends that way, but you can never be too cautious when it comes to keeping your veggies safe…

There is a lot of good (and bad) advice on the forums at the "Long Range Hunting" website. As knowledgeable UL backpackers here at BPL you will surely be able to cherry pick the good advice on LRH.

Ex. I have a Browning Stainless Stalker bolt action rifle in .300 Win. mag. but never knew until I got a reply in LRH's "Backpack Hunting" page that Browning made a titanium action.

Now THERE is a great use for titanium!

Kill them goldurn critters from 800 yards! Butcher them and eat 'em at camp. Meat eaters UNITE!

Not at all against hunting, but shooting at animals from half a mile away has always struck me as:
A) A great way to wound an animal and give it a hell of a head start on you
B) A great way to have an accident with something you didn't see in your field of view
C) More of target practice than hunting…wear sparkly clothes, make loads of noise, and reek to high heaven and it won't even matter. Hell, shoot from a lazy boy on a ridge….

"Not at all against hunting, but shooting at animals from half a mile away has always struck me as:
A) A great way to wound an animal and give it a hell of a head start on you
B) A great way to have an accident with something you didn't see in your field of view
C) More of target practice than hunting…wear sparkly clothes, make loads of noise, and reek to high heaven and it won't even matter. Hell, shoot from a lazy boy on a ridge…."

Then, when you trail something and shoot it at 10 yards, someone will comment on how un-sportsmanlike it is to shoot so close you can't miss.

Hey, where I live if you can get within 10 yards of a deer during hunting season, I think you deserve to eat.

I haven't looked into the "Long Range Hunting" website, will check that out later today. I have been perusing the 24hourcampfire forums though as well as the Hill People Gear forums (very friendly and educated users there).

As for the distance one shoots a critter from, so long as you're competent and are able to get a clean kill shot it's far more ethical than pretty much anything that goes on in a cattle slaughterhouse.

I'll just be over here eating my local, organic, grass fed venison meat thank you very much.

Air rifle is real hunting. If you want to take critters from 300 yards you're being a bit unrealistic in calling that hunting. Air rifle for my garden effective range is 30 yards, preferred 10. Effective range for a 25 cal is maybe 100 yards, 50 for humane kills.

Its interesting to see everyone's responses to hunting in this thread as well. If hunting within the season, under the determined restrictions and laws, I don't see an issue with it at all.

If you live in a house, with concrete streets, electricity, and plumbing, you've done far more damage to the ecosystem and habitat than any legal hunter could ever do in a lifetime.

Further more, where exactly do we believe light weight synthetic materials come from? Bambi's ass? Give me a break. They're an industrial product made in a country that couldn't give two poops about the environment called CHINA. Shipped on a boat that absolutely DESTROYS everything about the ocean in its path, and then put on truck that does the same, then finally to the retail shelves where you can go look at the fancy plastic displays, under giant air conditioners, in the comfort of a retail environment which has destroyed everything you claim to care about.

In the end I guess we should all just carry burlap sacks and never kill anything, not even a little ant on the trail. Never mind the part where hunters play a vital roll in the ecosystem which has been completely thrown off balance by deforestation, logging, mineral mining, agriculture, and development.

And I'm done. Good luck "hunting" with your big ol guns from 300 yards and good luck "protecting" the environment with your stockpile of synthetic, electronic, and light weight gadgets.

Bernard, as far as my pellet gun goes. It is very low powered compared to a powder burner and as a result needs the optics and upgrades to humanely protect my garden. Accuracy is how you take animals humanely, not power. I would put up IED's for you any day though. I rely on my garden to actually survive, sorry if you don't understand that. Believe it or not, 99% of the critters taken by that pellet gun are invasive species introduced by well meaning biologists to help fix problems agriculture caused that have since taken over the ecosystem.

/end not looking at this thread again so don't bother responding to me.

Yes, 800 yards/meters is likely too far for 95% of hunters.

1. They do not have the necessary rifle/cartridge/scope combo for this distance.

2. They do not have the proper training AND practice to be competent st this distance, even with the proper equipment.

But 600 meters is well within the range of hunters with the proper equipment and training when hunting big game. Once you have trained at this distance you learn when and when not to take a shot. ("A man's gotta know his limitations." Dirty Harry)

The proper use of good laser rangefinder, proper scope (and reticle), good weather meter/ballistic calculator combo like a Horus-Kestel 4200 make taking a distant shot very ethical.

Those who have never trained for this need not comment.

But yeah, none of this gear is light except the weather meter.

"Anyone have experience with the AR-7? The waterproofness and the breakdown really appeal to me."

James,
I own one of the newest Henry versions and it is really an awesome little rifle for the money. I have owned one of every other manufacturer through the years and all but Henry's version have been horrendously unreliable! Previous versions of the gun made by different manufactures we very troublesome. I would highly recommend the new Henry AR-7's as the quality went through the roof when Henry took over the design. Stay away from the Armalite and Charter Arms versions as they are HIGHLY unreliable. All that said, even the new Henry version needs quality ammo and likes to run well oiled. I have had the best luck with CCI 22LR rounds. With the CCI ammo, it runs flawlessly with no FTF or FTE's. It's also super quiet when fired. As for it being waterproof and floating, I have never tried it (and never will!). Water is the enemy of a firearm and I refuse to test out the claims. The whole gun is teflon coated, though and the butt-stock does have a very good seal to it. I am 100% confident that the gun will do fine in the rain or snow if dropped and have seen lots of videos of torture test of the new Henry that ease my mind on the subject. One other tip…stay away from aftermarket mags and extended mags, they just will not work and are not quality built like the OEM Henry mags. All in all, a very good value on a very unique weapon.

Henry AR-7

Another cool little single shot gun that just came out is the Chiappa Little Badger. It's folding 22LR.

Chiappa Little Badger:

If I were going to buy a new hunting/plinking/"survival" type gun, I would actually get the Chiappa X-Caliber, a Springfield Armory M6 Survival rifle clone that has been updated for 2014. The neat thing about the X-Caliber is that it will shoot 8 pistol calibers ( .380 , 9 mm , .357Mag/.38SP , .40 S & W, .44 Mag, .45 ACP , .410/.45colt), as well as 22LR and a smooth bore .12 GA. So one gun and 12 different potential rounds to be used. Talk about multi-use!

Chiappa X-Caliber:

Oh…and since this is BPL…my Henry AR-7 with 4 magazines, 50 rounds of CCI Stingers (in the plastic case) and a small DIY 1/2" webbing sling is 3 pounds 12 ounces on my digital scale. Can't beat that weight for a semi-auto 22LR.

M

It seems that an UL hunter/hiker should be a bow hunter. One with the prey– that sort of thing. A bow is kind of a Tenkara kind of thing too.

In that case, Dale, how about Goprimal's Compact Folding Survival Bow?

http://www.goprimalnow.com/Compact_Folding_Survival_Bow_p/cfsb-1-50.htm

That looks really interesting, Matthew! Though a yew self bow is just so much cooler! ;)

Stephen,
I agree, but the Yew is like $900.00 for the take down model. I could get 6 or 7 of the others for that price, but they aren't heirloom quality, like the Yew. Maybe we should go with Dave Canterbury's $30.00 pocket slingshot bow?

http://www.basspro.com/Marksman-Pocket-Hunter-Slingshot/product/12120406103822/