Dave Claycomb wrote an excellent article illustrating the contents of his elk hunting day pack below (“Lose the Boat Anchor You Call a Day Pack”). For those who attended the Extreme Elk Hunting Class at Cabela’s in Boise last week, we spent a few minutes going through our day pack during the gear portion of the class. I’ve had a few people e-mail since and ask if we could post a picture of the contents of our pack, so here you go.

Corey's Daypack

We are using the Sitka Ascent 14 Pack, which is the best size and weight pack I’ve ever used for a day pack. It is incredibly comfortable and carries weight extremely well. It also fits lower on your back allowing free movement for drawing your bow, hiking hard up the hills, etc. The gear that I carry in my pack is as follows:

Bushnell Yardage Pro Rangefinder (carried in hip pocket)

1 Liter Water

Scent Killer

6 Alaska Game Bags (“vacuum-sealed” in 1 gallon ziplock)

Moist Wipes

Toilet Paper

Flagging Ribbon

Food (Protein bars/trail mix/jerky)

License/Tags

Nylon Cord

2 Knives/Sharpener

2 Flashlights/Extra Batteries

Lighter/Matches

“E-Scent-tial” Wind Detector

Extra Diaphragm Calls

Camera

Basic 1st Aid (include bottle of super glue)*

The total weight of all my gear plus the pack comes in at a whopping 9 pounds! We have everything we need to make it through a full day of hunting, whether successful or not. Like Dave mentioned below, once we have an elk on the ground, we’ll usually send one guy back with all the unneeded gear and to retrieve the pack frames for packing out the quarters. Obviously, if we are bivy hunting back in several miles, our approach, as well as our gear list, will change drastically.

My packs are already loaded and ready to go…now we’re just waiting for September!!!

*The “Super Glue” idea was given to us by a gentleman at the class and will definitely be in our packs from now on! It’s a great idea for dressing a wound in the field.