Lots of emails over the last year asking what I take in my pack on an extended walkabout hunting trip has prompted me to post up an article on the subject  

But firstly a few tips  
This is mainly for bush hunting trips. ie, Ureweras, Kawekas, Ruahines, Tararuas, West Coast (get my drift / ) with maybe short stints on the tops or traveling over the open tops to get into the next catchment    Tahr hunting trips are a different kettle of fish entirely

Forget about big thick heavy hunting coats/jackets    I for one overheat in them and find the layering system far superior as far as performance and comfort go. Plus they take up way too much room in your pack   The exception may be if you set out knowing it's going to be a pissing wet freezing weekend so want a silent waterproof hunting coat. Then I may take a Swazi Wapiti coat   But this winter I've had a 100% strike rate on wet days using a noisy Gortex coat that only weighs a quarter of my Swazi  

Treat your sleeping bag as a part of your spare dry clothes & keep it dry at all costs  

Use a pack liner

Keep all gear as light as you can   Ditch all packaging before packing for the trip  
Measure items like porridge, brown sugar, milk powder etc into serving sizes using ziplock plastic
bags. Only carry what you need.

24 hours of food should only weigh 1Kg   800grams is all you really need & you can go down to 600grams per day if you choose the right food. Pre portion everything before you pack

Dont be scared to use a fire for cooking to supplement the fuel supply  \ On trips longer than a weekend I use fires a lot  
If you're worried about spooking animals with your smoke then your either camping too close to your hunting or hunting too close to your camp hoping for that perk animal   but if it really worries you then no problems, just carry more fuel  

Sort your gear out by catergary  
Sleeping & accommodation
Cooking & food
Hunting gear
Personal & incidentals

The one big tip is that your gear for a weekend trip is exactly the same as your gear for a 10 day trip.....or visa versa  
It's only the expendables that increase on the bigger trips. ie food, toilet paper, rifle oil etc  


Sleeping & accommodation
Sleeping bag
ground sheet & thermarest
tent fly
camp footwear
Beanie & mitts
Goretex raincoat
Dry bag with spare clothes ( Woolen singlet, long sleeve microfleece top, underpants & socks )
Plus of course....the clothes your wearing  


Hunting gear
Pikau
knife  & ammo belt
camera
PLB
binos
water bladder with sipper tube
rifle cleaning kit ( 1st yellow tin)
first aid kit ( 2nd yellow tin)
torch
the pencil case holds.... Knife sharpening steel, spare lighter, rifle sling, nylon cord, Survival bag, spare compass & whistle, torch batteries, fire lighting rubber, spare ultra light knife & perhaps one or two other small items (army can opener etc)
I don't use a GPS but you would include one here if you do  

Contents of first aid kit
My first aid kit is only designed for major trauma. Primarily to stop major bleeding  
Any injury that stops you from walking out is going to be a biggie  
A first aid kit to cover all scenarios would be far to bulky   and any minor injury wont stop you walking/hobbling out. A small cut or splinter though annoying, can be put up with & wont prevent
you from getting out of the bush under your own steam  
Broken bones can't be treated by a small first Aid kit   but stopping the bleeding from a compound fracture can be   and depending of course on where the break is you may still be able to walk out  
Just a note here, unless you have a mate with you to do it, splinting your own limbs is a difficult job  
Like wise, there's little you can do in the field for a bullet wound except stop the bleeding  
So my first Aid kit is designed to stop major bleeding to allow me to walk out without bleeding to death, or to at least retain enough red stuff until help arrives   and to do so in the most comfortable way it contains lots of Panadeine & anti inflammatorys
So its wound dressing, Plastic electrical tape to bind it securely in place, Voltaren & Panadeine   Oh yeah, and some antiseptic cream to ward off infection
I'm not Rambo   so there's no needle & thread  
Take a look at any feild kit an infantry Grunt carries, it's primarily based around stopping you from leaking and making the hurt go away, or at least tolerable until your free ride gets there and if it's not serious enough for a free ride your told to keep on soldiering on 

The 4 main ingredients, but all condensed into a waterproof container  

I'd probably have 2 full packets of Panedeine in it to get me by until the experts arrive. Note: taken at the recommended dosage over the recommended time frame......repeated as necessary. Not all at once!
And don't forget to class the PLB as part of your arsenal in the First Aid kit   Just make sure you always have it with you  



Cooking & food
gas & cooker (with foil wind shield)
Billy (with chain) & dixie (or fry pan)
breakfast (porridge, milk powder & brown sugar)
Main evening meal ( Pasta & sauce, dehy mince & veges)
Snacks (Traveling snacks, snacks while hunting & lunch) in big plastic bag
plastic mug & spoon
Tea bags & Berroca
Pot scrubber
The food in this photo is for 24 hours & weighs just under 1kg (not including the Berroca)

Contents of lunch & snack bag
Dried bananas & peaches on the plastic bag
Venison jerky in small zip lock bag
Mixed raw nuts in small zip lock bag
Sunsweet individually wrapped prunes
Nut bars & muesli bars & One square meal bar

Personals & incidentals
Map & compass with whistle (dont forget glasses if you need them for map reading)
pen & Pencil (pens don't work if things get a tad damp)
Film cases hold Voltaren & Panadine
bike tube for firelighting
bog paper
toothbrush & toothpaste
Permit & hut tickets & nylon cord
Lots of clean plastic bags for your meat (keeps your pack & gear clean) but take it out of the plastic once you get home  

From about this time of year on you'll want something fly proof for your meat This is made out of mosquito netting and weighs about 200g. Cost was about $21 and that was enough materials to make 3 bags


And there you have it, just keep adding 800g to 1kg food for each day your going for
For trips over 3 days I throw in 250g of dripping/Chefade, more bog paper & thats about it really
Remember, "a heavy pack is full of many light things"
Oh yeah, & not forgetting the Pack & bang stick


Remember the "good old days" ?
We didn't carry a tent fly...... The huts were never full  
We didnt carry billies.............The huts were always stocked with them
We didn't carry cookers.........The huts always had open fires & plenty of dry firewood. Anyway, savaloys were easy to cook......if we bothered to cook them at all

When I'm heading out after a successful trip I prefer to carry my venison out on the bone with the skin still on it. This helps keep it cleaner and lets me hang it in my beer fridge for 10 days without it drying out  

I put a leg down inside each side of my pack, inside a fresh plastic rubbish bag each, and cram all my gear down in the space between them. A 65 litre pack will handle this easily. Any more than 1 deer then I have to bone it all out



[Edit: added first aid kit contents -- blackbunny]

Very informative Nimrod, thank you.  

What model macpac is that? also, nice bang stick.

Brilliant post! 

Loving the Erinmore Nimrod. 

Raging Bull wrote on Sep 12^th, 2009 at 9:27am:

Macpac is a Ravine.......no longer made so I brought another one when I heard they were stopping making it and it's hanging in the shed for when the 1st one wears out  but it's not showing any signs of wear yet after 5-6 hard years 

Cheers  I love these sorts of posts, always learn something new, get some new ideas

What's in the pouch on the belt? And Berocca - what for? 

Spot on mate, very helpful

Very good post Nimrod it will be a great help to new, and not so new hunters, alot of thought and years of experience has obviously gone into that.
I carry a part roll of insulation tape for the end of the rifle barrel, track marking and other uses. And also a needle to dig out prickles in with your first aid gear are about the only other things i might suggest  

Nice post Nimrod. It's good to see what experienced hunters deem as essential and how they pack it all.