Packing a tripod with you every day.
Most hunters can relate when it comes to cutting down on pack weight. In my experience being involved in an outfitting camp for over two decades I have seen it all when it comes to packing unnecessary items.
I was on the mountain with a client one day having lunch and as he was rifling through his pack looking for a granola bar a whole box of rifle shells must have been on the lunch menu.
I couldn't help but chuckle a little, but then realized it was my own fault for not consulting with him prior to the hunt about what he needed to have along. Then I began to question to myself his shooting ability. I usually don't ask about shooting ability as it tends to create anxiety for the shooter. There are better ways to find that out. Needless to say we stayed in the woods that day to avoid the temptation of a long distance shot. On another occasion we packed in a group where one guy claimed to be very proficient at long range and he packed a rifle to do it. He also had us pack 4 boxes of ammo for him to the camp for a 5 day hunt.
Which brings me to the topic at hand. Though all people are created equal, hunters are not. And I am not just talking about my clients here. Some require help, some don't. Some like to be solo, some like the company of a friend or someone they can visit with on the hunt. Some feel the need to pack with them anything imaginable for a hunt and are ok with it, while others cut their toothbrush in half to save on weight. And still others who might call themselves minimalists, that somehow get a charge from being uncomfortable, hungry, thirsty, cold and one could even say unprepared. I've even been one of them a time or two. But with age and experience comes wisdom.
There have been many advancements in the outdoor industry when it comes to backpacking. The one common theme throughout is saving weight. Anyone can relate to what you feel like when you get back to your camp after a long day in the field. You are feeling every ounce that was in your pack. Though this feeling is often related to how successful you were that day and how you define success.
A true minimalist knows what items they need, because they've experienced needing it before and know the advantages of having it, whatever it might be. A true minimalist will have cut down on the size and weight of every one of those items knowing that they will be more productive as a result.
They know, they don't guess. Guessing can only lead to being uncomfortable, hungry, thirsty, cold and unprepared. Or in worst case even lost. But when talking about hunting and gear, having this knowledge also means more often than not, success requires a full size toothbrush and knowing how to use it.
The Top Hand Tripod is a very packable piece at a mere 2.5 lbs. If you haven't noticed, the majority of hunting packs today have been getting more slender to fit the torso of your body best. This makes these packs taller and in most cases the Top Hand will easily fit along side or in any part of these packs.
All hunting packs should allow you to strap an accessory like a tripod to it somewhere. There are many packs that have side pockets that can hold the bottom of the legs along with a strap to keep the top of the tripod held in place. Some packs even incorporate a gun scabbard that make for a great spot with quick and easy access to your tripod if you're not already using it for a gun.
Some higher end pack makers have accessory bags designed to easily add onto the side of their packs that can be a good option for a tripod as well. The Top Hand legs connect together tighter than the head diameter creating a tapered effect that allows the tripod to easily slide into or out of deep pockets. Using a sling of sorts can also work well for those quick hikes up to some high ground to glass without taking your whole pack along.
If you do a lot of glassing you like to have a spotting scope or binoculars with you daily when the type of hunt requires it. The Rally Clip is designed to either remain attached to the tripod keeping your set up intact and always ready, or the Rally Clip allows you to keep just your scope and pan head intact or just the spotting scope or binoculars and quickly remove or attach them to the tripod. Yet they can be kept stowed separately inside your pack. It is a much faster setup than screwing around with plates, knobs and buttons that only add weight and complexity to your setup.
The Top Hand head is designed to pivot using any one of its legs as a handle. So you can mount the Rally Clip directly to your scope or binoculars and still be able to operate the setup much like using a pan/tilt glassing head by keeping two of the tripod legs on the ground and using the third leg as the handle to rotate the view point around. When you find something to look at you simply set the third leg back to the ground while keeping the object in the view and then fine tune it by slightly moving the legs individually until the object is centered in the view for a closer look. It works great and you don't have to have the additional weight and bulk of a glassing head
At this time in our R&D department we have our own Molle strap type tripod scabbards and even a sling that should be available soon. These will be great options for making it easy to plan on taking your Top Hand along with you daily. After all, if you don't have it, you can't use it.
With all this being said, you may already know there are a ton of tripod options available and many of them have been very refined and are very well made designs. We are not here saying those tripods are anything less than perfect for what they are designed for. We are here saying that as a hunter there is a new approach you should consider when choosing your next hunting tripod. And that is being better prepared for not just if, but when you are successful.
Packing out
A few things to consider when you do become successful is the fact that you will now need to move your harvest back to your truck or camp. This dynamic is quite often thought out after the harvest has taken place. But not to worry, I have a few suggestions to help with your decisions after the kill.
#1. No matter what time of day or what the conditions are you are now legally and ethically responsible for utilizing all edible meat portions of that animal. And the best thing you can do is either begin to break it down or get it set up to cool the most in the time it will take before you can begin to break it down. If you don't act on these things you will likely have some bad tasting game. Sometimes you may want to only roll the guts out while other times you will want to do the no gut method. Either way works, however I wall almost always quarter an animal immediately as this will allow the meat to cool much faster. Even if it's laying right next to my pickup. There's really no better place to be than out in the wilds breaking down your harvested animal an hour or two after dark by yourself. It's an experience that every dedicated hunter should have, at least once.
#2. Once you have the animal broken down or gutted, you will need to position it or it's parts where air can come in contact with the most outer surface area possible. You can place logs, rocks or brush under a carcass and you can hang quarters and meat bags from any available tree branches. If no tree branches are available then use anything around, all the way down to a clump of grass to set it on. Sometimes you can set up the Top Hand to hang Game quarters from. It can easily handle 3 elk quarters at once while you are making pack trips. You will need to make quarter hangers from rope or use the Top Knot meat hangers we offer and hang them from the head of the tripod. You can also leave one quarter hanging with the rope hook on the head and use the tail end to lash on the other two quarters. All quarters should be in bags or meat wrap to minimize contamination. Always place a stick or small rock between the quarters to allow more air between them. Unless there is no other option or the temperature is suitable, you should never leave any of the hide on the quarters, with its insulation value this will slow the cooling process significantly. Besides it can create an undesirable mess of hair covered meat.
#3. When packing out you will want to make short trips. Recovering on the return to the kill site. Don't think you can throw on more weight and make less trips all the way to your camp or truck. You should always consider that the max load in your pack to be under 50% of your body weight. This will help you in the long run. Trust me. You can be way more efficient like this; you can load your pack heavy but only take it as far as your legs can take it. Don't push further. Stop and unload, then immediately begin hiking back to the kill site. You will recover on the hike back and be ready to take the next load to that same spot. Of course you will want a pack that you can quickly unload and load without dealing with a bunch of lashing on. Often times the big bag type packs work the best for these quick trips. If not just throwing a quarter over your shoulder and moving them a couple hundred yards at a time. If you do that be sure to leave the lower leg on to the hoof as it will aid as a counter balance when your run the over the shoulder routine. Before you know it you have just moved your whole animal quite a distance by yourself and not have turned your legs into Jello. This way you will always maximize your time and how you will recover. If you load heavy and go the whole distance you will likely be moving much slower at the tail end and will be taking multiple long breaks. Then you will have to repeat that again. If you have a packing party then you'll obviously be able to spread the love a bit more but you'll also be required to share 😉.
#4. Deboning. I only have a few things to say about this topic other than it is purely preference and often times with a little bit of ego attached. I have deboned my share of game. It has its advantages and disadvantages. I will give you some of each starting with disadvantages.
First, it takes time and if you are in a hurry (which for some stupid reason most hunters can be) you will always leave a lot of good meat in the field.
Second, it opens up a ton of surface area of meat to be exposed to contamination and if bears are a concern it creates significantly more amount of blood/fresh meat smell in the area.
Third, all that exposed surface area will allow more moisture to leave the meat over the time it takes for you to get it to processing.
Fourth, you will be removing the structure of the meat and this does two things; it makes for a much more difficult and bulky package to handle and the meat will not be pulled back to its original state after rigormortis time passes which I believe causes the meat to become even tougher. Without the bone structure the meat naturally tenses up but then there's nothing to pull it back to it's relaxed original state.
Fifth, blood rots first and deboning allows blood to concentrate in areas on the meat surface and it can initiate tainted meat. Besides this it will make the inside of your pack an absolute mess.
Sixth, you will not have the bone in flavor that many believe makes a big difference when aging the meat.
Had enough? Ok let's go over some advantages. First, obviously you will have lightened your pack by about 12 to 15 pounds per load.
Second, you will have started the butchering process and it will go quicker once you are home and you won't need to disgard the bones.
Third, it can shave off one pack trip to the carcass when you are solo. But you will be more apt to overload your pack not having manageable pieces anymore.
So now you can weigh the advantages and disadvantages here (pardon the pun) and you might be able to add one or two things to each side of the scale. However, from experience, once you have over 50 lbs on your back you will not notice the extra 15 lbs and you just might find that the disadvantages outweigh that extra 15 lbs.
This same concept is applied to packing the Top Hand Tripod with you daily. You really don't notice the extra 2.5 lbs and the advantage of having it along far outweighs the tripod itself.
Now, there is a new product out there that has been developed to replace the bone with a hollow perforated aluminum rod that requires you to actually sew the meat onto this lighter weight rod using Paracord and a large fid needle. This is an attempt to solve the fourth disadvantage above. It probably works just fine if you have the skill and time to do so. And if you have the rods with you. Most likely you will have made one trip back to your camp where these would be kept and then have to make a complete return trip. If you deboned correctly you will only make necessary cuts to open up the quarter and remove the bone. This is more difficult to do on the front shoulder with the scapula and it can often times be more advantageous to leave the scapula in and only remove the lower leg bone. Again, unless you are skilled at this, most often it can result in an undesirable experience that does not warrant the small amount of weight savings.
With all that said there is one more thing to consider when either moving boned meat or quarters. If you move it in shorter increments there will be less chance of a critter getting to your meat because it will be left alone for shorter periods not allowing your human scent or presence to dissipate. Another good practice is to leave a garment of sorts with any stored meat, this can detur larger scavengers, and always initially move all your prize game meat away from the carcass a ways if it will be left there for more than 12 hours, especially in areas of high predator concentration. You can also cover the meat with pine bows to keep the birds from finding it.
Good luck out there!
Jamin Florell is 47 and considers himself a proficiently standard outdoorsman. He is a professional hunting guide working exclusively for Medicine Bow Outfitters on Colorado's public land back country for over 20 years. He has been hunting Big Game since he was 10 and killed his first Elk when he was allowed to get an Elk tag at the age of 12. He has hunted Elk every year since then. He has also successfully hunted and guided for Deer, Bear, Mt Lion, Pronghorn, and Moose. He's an inventor, and the proprietor of the Top Hand Tripod.