Ozbow

just getting thing's ready for a trip to new zealand for 27 day's of hunting from fly camps and was wondering wot sort of thing's you guy's put in ya pack.
just trying to make a list so i dont forget any thing.
Thanks
Flyne

Wow, hope ya got a big pack as this list could be very looooooong!

I'll start it with a few things - compass & GPS now days, some form of fire lighting equipment and first aid kit.

Enjoy yourself mate and don't forget to post up the yarn and photos on your return.

Jeff

Toilet paper 27 days is a long time

Yer that is gonna be one big bag...

Seriously dude ,, stuff like a First aid kit ,, some form of lighting a fire ,, spare strings , spare broadheads , painkillers , some food in the way of light stuff IE muesli bars ,, some water ,, spare batteries for the GPS ,, knives ,, something to sharpen the knives with ,, Space blanket for warmth if ya lost over night .. torch and batteries ,, tampon and vaseline for the fire thing ,, some string ,, for tying ya shelter together ,and hoisting an animal up , a mirror , not for looking in , but for signaling .
Theres lots of stuff ,, it all depends on how remote you are going to be

Im with Coach, toilet paper...

Seriosuly, we want pics!!!!!!!!!

I have heard that the sand flys can be a killer!

Flynne
was it you that went with MikeDy on a boat cruise at Eildon? . From the story mike tells, if you were travelling with him then water wings would be worth packing if he was going to NZ with you. I hope I 've got the right person from Mikes story. If you are that person then you will know what I mean!!!
Cheers TonyJ

Flyne, mate whatever you take keep it light (cut your toothbrush in half).
Where and when ya goin, with a guide or self guided?
Take plenty repellant Bushmans work O.K, But if you can find it in NZ get hold of some Uncle Bens Formula (i think) or Dimp just don't get it on anything plastic.
Take a camera with plenty memory you'll need it.
Cheers Lindsay.

Trad bound that was me. lets just say flat bottems and lake eildon dont mix for all thos that dont know the story
Lindsay im going to the north island with a mate that used to live thea so going to his old spots around palmerston north new plymouth and lake taupo i think but i cant be 100% shore they just ring a few bells.
I think we will have a week hunting at 3 diff spot's so i dont need to carry 27 day's worth of gear on my back thank god but i do still have a big pack hold's 95lt's from meamory.
keep the sugestions coming coz thea is all ready a few thing's i had forgot about
Thanks
Flyne

flyne wrote: keep the sugestions coming coz thea is all ready a few thing's i had forgot about
Thanks
Flyne

You forgot the dunny paper , didnt ya ,, fess up now

first thing id do is get a smaller pack......95lts of stuff is too much stuff for me..the bigger the pack, the more youll take..

i forgot the poo tiket's and the big bag's more for bringing out meat and wot not
Flyne

mate best advise I can give you keep it as light as possible, your legs will thank you.
When you go through the airport and they try to sting you for excess luggage remind them that you are entitled to 10kg sporting goods allowance.
They tend to forget for some reason!!
Cheers Lindsay

Dont forget your medication , if you have any ,, that hurts

Flyne

Imagine that you've managed to get lost, or even worse, you've broken your leg in some out of the way place while you're actually hunting in the New Zealand bush. What sort of stuff would you like to have in your pack then?

I tend to think in terms of priorities. The first thing you would need, would be some method of maintaining your body heat. A good waterproof coat would go a long way towards keeping hypothermia at bay. A warm jumper to wear underneith the coat would be even better. I suppose a space blanket or similiar could be used to keep your dry and warm, but it wouldn't offer the same amount of mobility. You would also want some lightweight and nourishing food. It's hard to go past dried fruit and nuts, as they're fairly light and very energy rich. You would need some method of building a fire in an conditions, including waterproof matches and some efficient tinder, like some bike tube. Of course, you wouldn't go anywhere without a good knife. These would be my priorities when loading my hunting pack.

Once you're satisfied that you could handle a survival situation, it would then be time to think about things that will assist you when hunting. Things like a good pair of waterproof binoculars. Some way of keeping your broadheads razor sharp. A good camera. Spare bow strings and whatever else you think you might need (including dunny paper).

I'd be watching the overall weight like a hawk. The last thing I'd want, would be to be dragging an overweight pack up and down steep hills all day. I would rather hunt with a light day pack on, carrying all the necessary gear, rather than some huge 95 lt backpack. You could leave the big pack in the camp and only use it when you need to pack out the meat.

Have a great trip mate!

Mick

Don't think I could pack enough beer in for 27 days....

Sparra wrote:Don't think I could pack enough beer in for 27 days....

Yeah , they need to invent a powder that you just add water to

Instant beer just add water I like your thinking Coach why has noone come up with that yet.? I will even do the long term testing of the product.I might go and google instant beer.
Cheers KIM

Sparra wrote:Don't think I could pack enough beer in for 27 days....

Plenty of little country pubs all over the North Island you can drop into on your way to a new spot

Don't know about normal packs but daypacks I do know about

Over the years I've owned a lot of different packs and used a lot more that I've borrowed off others to try , and most of them have been good in their own right , had several packs with external frame and two of them I cut down to suit my needs better but I find a normal pack just isn't right for me , with a couple of damaged vertebrae down low , a curvature of the spine and a couple of damaged disks up high that give me grief and arthritis through pretty much every joint I've found the only system that works really well for me is a lumbar pack with shoulder straps ,

I can use this sort of pack all day with out trouble , most of the weight is taken on the hips with some being taken on the shoulders but not enough to make it stress my back , of course I have to make sure the pack is balanced so I'm not carrying more weight on one side but it's not as big a problem as it is with a normal back pack ,

In the past I've put my back out while out hunting [ hell I've put my back out sneezing ] and had to dump pretty much every thing I was carrying except my rifle just to make it back to my camp , I generally work on the idea that if I don't carry much out then I don't have to carry much back ,

I have a set amount of stuff that I carry in a day pack ,

Compass

Magnesium flint and striker ,

Waterproof / windproof matches ,

Half a expired flare [ can be used for signalling but mainly used for lighting fires when the timber is soaking wet ,

Poncho that doubles as a hoochie and folds up small ,

Net hammock that rolls up about the size of a tennis ball ,

Shower proof nylon jacket with silver coating inside that folds up small enough to fit into a pocket , very light weight ,

Old CD to use as signalling mirror ,

Pair of socks and spare jocks ,

Small space blanket ,

Small wet synthetic chamois in zip lock bag ,

Sunscreen/ bug lotion and lip balm ,

Condy's crystals (potassium permanganate) ,

Aluminium canteen cup to boil water in ,

Tea bags ,

Couple of packets of cup-a-soup ,

Dozen or so muesli bars ,

Pack of instant rice and pack of noodles ,

Zip lock pack of Jerky ,

Small pocket knife ,

Toilet paper and wet wipes ,

Haemorrhoid cream ,

Small tube of Savlon ,

Small roll of Elastoplast ,

4 Ultra thin Sanitary napkins

Dozen bandaids ,

Strip of Panadol Forte ,

Small bottle of Teatree oil ,

100 ml of Metho ,

10 metres thin nylon string ,

2 metres of stainless steel trace wire ,

Roll of duct tape ,

20 rds of ammo ,

The surprising thing is how little all this weighs and how small it packs , the weight of the pack actually doubles when I add 2 litres of water , all this fits into a army style bum pack with out any problem ,

When I was in my early twenties I used to carry more stuff but found I didn't need it , all the stuff on the list is there because It's stuff that got used

If I'm hunting in a area where I'm not far from the car or camp then I don't carry most of it , but I've often hunted areas that were very rough in variable weather where getting stuck out over night was always on the cards so the most of that gear is carried for that eventuality and it's been needed quite often , that bit of gear makes all the difference between being stuck out over night huddled under a tree trying not to freeze or being able to have a nice warming fire and sleep dry ,

I've often been caught out over night in hot dry areas where my natural curiosity about what lay beyond the next bend of the gorge or over the next ridge has found me too far from camp or the car to get back before dark and where trying to travel at night was just too foolhardy , and I have to say that being able to have some thing hot to eat , some where reasonably comfortable to sleep and being able to have a sponge down and change jocks and socks is very welcome ,

In high humidity areas like North Queensland I put a little Tee Tree Oil or condy's crystals into the zip lock packet with the chamois as it is a disinfectant and stops fungus forming on you ,

Some of the things on my list may have some people confused like the Sanitary napkin , but they are great as wound pad ,

On a rifle hunting trip I once slipped 50 metres down a almost vertical rocky slope and ripped a big gash in my leg , I didn't notice it at first because I was pretty banged up and hurting in so many other places that I didn't notice it until I started making sloshing sounds in my boot ,

Gash was a couple of inches long and about a inch deep , I washed the area off in Metho , put some Teatree oil on it and held it together with Elastoplast then put a sanitary napkin on it and wrapped the rest of the Elastoplast over it , took 5 Panadol Forte and made it back the 8 km or so to camp , fell asleep as soon as I got back ,

Next morning I wasn't feeling too flash and my ankles were swollen up so bad there was no way I could put a boot on , knew I'd hurt my knee 's , both were so swollen my legs looked like tree stumps [ legs look like tree stumps any way these days ] funny thing was I hadn't realised I'd hurt my ankle , drove the 170 km into town and saw the doctor at the hospital ,

Well he just freaked , seems that I hadn't noticed that the whole back of my head was just a mass of dried blood , had a screaming headache and was dizzy , but as every other thing hurt just as much it didn't register ,

I had managed to tear up all the tendons and ligaments in my left ankle and knee , broke a couple of bones in my foot , fractured my knee cap , managed to do pretty much the same on the ankle and knee of the right leg just not as bad , also managed to put my back out bad and had a slight fracture of my collar bone , a broken rib and pretty much every thing else was just badly bruised

When the doctor had me strip down to my jocks I was just a black and blue mess , the left leg looked awful as it was still covered in dried blood , and to add insult to injury the fall had completely destroyed my scope , I looked so bad I wasn't game to go home , if my wife Shirley had seen me like that she would have screamed bloody blue murder next time I wanted to go hunting alone , so went back and got my gear and moved down to my mates property close to town , that wasn't a fun job , driving 170 km each way with severe concussion on rough roads and then trying to pack up camp while getting around on crutches ,

Mate wasn't married at the time and was recovering from a appendicis operation , actually I run into him at the hospital as he was being released , we spent the next two weeks drinking beer , smoking cigars and shooting rabbits from the window of his house , [ had to drink beer , bloody painful shooting from inside a house when you have concussion if your not ] , he had a mass of warrens about 200 to 300 metres from the house so we just sat there drinking beer and sniping rabbits as they put their heads up for the whole two weeks .

My old setup was near perfect except for the metal clips scratching up my rifle stocks and I've tried different things like Elastoplast over the clips and catches and while it works for a while it's not a long term solution , also the heat makes the Elastoplast sticky and gooey and it looks like crap , I've since bought a Badlands monster pack , looks like the perfect solution , absolutely a brilliant pack , I can recommend them , but I still haven't worked out how to wear a quiver with it , may have to go back to a back quiver set at a different angle than normal , I usually use a side quiver

David

Thanks David - I needed a good laugh, hope you don't mind!
And thanks for telling us what the sanitary napkins were for, I was dying to know but too shy to ask.

I've never been lost for more than a day or seriously injured when out and about but I reckon after warmth, as much food and water as you can carry like dried bananas/stock cubes is essential. Food = energy = thinking ability = more time = will power and in the end that is what saves most.

Spare key for the truck.

Eperb - never had one and they reckon they can take a while to answer them but certainly a must have in case of serious injury or totally lost, maybe a satellite phone too, perhaps you can hire them for treks? Anybody know?

You need a pocket tool or belt pack of some sort in case the worst happens when you have just put your other pack down on top of a cliff and fell down it or similar - I have a stainless steel rectangle survival tool, credit card size which is sharp on one edge, magnetized and N pole marked, mirror finished and has spanner shapes cut into it, a file edge, ruler etc.

I truly don't know how much good it would do but I have carried it for twenty plus years and it is like a good luck charm now if nothing else! Got it in UK ages ago, might still be available.

Hydration....I like camel back types but even in damp areas do not forget to carry clean safe water and or means to filter found water.

It might come in handy to add to the beer powder.

Kevin

something to remember about the beer powder, dont drop any in river.

lewis

EPIRBS are a must, especially if one is lost or are hurt(sprained or broken limbs).or car accident. About 18 months ago some tourist up our way set one of due to car failure, had blowen 3 tyres and run out of spares. They were totally ill equipped for where they were, anyway they set the EPIRB off, Canberra picked up the signal and was able to give the local police,A/S the coordinates,they in turn notified the nearest bush police stn to the GPS cordinates who then notified the Pastorlist on who's station they were on and he went out to the cordinates to see what the problem was. He was able to help and all ended well. From the time Canberra centre picked up the signal to the people being rescued, time elapse or taken was less than 90 minutes. EPIRB'S cost around $450 to $600, I know some will say thats a little expensive. But
WHAT VALUE DO YOU PUT ON A LIFE. Cheers Roadie