Packing and Re-Packing

So when you go on a hunt how do you pack? Meaning:

1. How long before the hunt do you start packing?
2. How many times do you pack, then re-pack?
3. How much "junk" do you end up packing that you never use?
4. Do you use a list to make sure you don't forget anything?

I packed today and am leaving on Wednesday. This is pretty typical for me, no more than a week in advance and then throw a few last things in the day before. I also don't personally re-do the gear a bunch of times (but I'm also not talking about a backpack hunt either, that would be a completely different story). I know a bunch of guys do though.

I've found that I've become much more of a "minimalist" over the years. I'm not a gear guy so I keep it pretty simple. For example, when elk hunting I take two pair of wool pants for the week. For Africa I'll take two pair of convertible pants (love the daily laundry service!!!). Even with this I find I take stuff that I never use, although some is stuff like first aid kit and compass that I will always take regardless.

I do use a list and have at least off and on for years. I remember laughing at my dad as a teenager for using a list. Until that time I forgot my bedroll for the deeer camp.... After that I borrowed his list.

Even with a list I do go back and check to make sure I've packed certain things - passport, 4457, gaiters, etc... I'll check these things multiple times, even though I've "checked it off the list."

Love to hear any ideas, or rituals!

Thankfully, I have not gotten to the stage of repacking.
I have a packing list. I lay the stuff out and then I pack once.

There are specific locations for the documents and the passport.
The documents are the only things that get the truly obsessive repeated checks.

At the end of it all:
Credit card, passport, airline ticket, Camera Bag, guns & Ammo; "We're are a GO for launch Houston!"

+1 on documents! Everything else can be replaced or borrowed!

I literally started packing for my trip to Africa in April in October! I do the same for my fishing trips as well because for me that's part of the excitement that leads up to the trip. I am heading down South this summer to go fishing and I already started the process!

I also use a list, especially when I was getting ready for Africa because there weren't Wal Marts all over the place like there are in the South.

I started packing yesterday for my up coming flight next week. I packed my backpack which is going on the plane as a carry on and then started on my duffel. The backpack is now unloaded and things are being sorted a little, the duffel has the bottom compartment packed and ready to go. The upper and side compartments will get packed next weekend for the flight out on May 12.

I also have a list and as I place the items into one or the other it gets checked off of the list. If it gets unpacked for any reason the check mark gets a line through it. So when I am ready to go I can look at my list with all the check marks and know that I am now ready.

I did one year after getting all packed and ready and then heading out the door got 10 miles down the road when I had to turn around, I had forgotten my suit case with my clothes. Another year I headed out for a 5 day hunt and had to turn around because I had left one of my homes doors wide open.

Even good planners forget sometimes. But I have always left with my firearm, license, and tags for my hunts.......I don't forget the important things.

+ 1 on the list. I start mine as soon as I have a trip booked. Use the info from the P.H. or outfitter/guide, as well as the travel docs and 4457. Use the best of everyone's lists, including Lori at Travel Express. Then pare it down to the minimum, call Global Express, and
then obsess over every detail until wheels up.

JimP said:

tags for my hunts.

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I will admit I was 10 minutes away from leaving a license one time...

1. Current 3 months 3 weeks out
2. A couple of times
3. Not so much stuff this time I have learned
4. Yes I use a list and check it off.

Now for deer camp our club has a building in south Arkansas out in the middle of nowhere. I have a room to my self because I have two memberships! Trust me that room is full of hunting stuff with backups for everything. I have put way too much stuff in there. But all my hunting clothes stay there and once I get the hunting permit it stays at camp too.

Having taken two trips now to Africa I realize I don't need that much stuff.
If I could put ammo in a roll aboard there would be just one bag in the hold of the air plane and that would be for the guns.

I can relate on the deer lease. By mid season I'm taking almost nothing. Gun and ammo and maybe cleaner clothes. Oh, and extra car battery that I use for electricity.

Royal27 said:

Oh, and extra car battery that I use for electricity.

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There has to be a story there for some reason.........

1. Hunt and airfare are booked weeks/months out.

2. Documents are verified a week or so out. Prescription, the same. Cash for trip picked up.

3. Everything else is packed the night before. (For some reason a month in Africa takes about half the gear of 3 days at the deer cabin) Haven't used a list in awhile but I probably should. Toiletries stay packed under the sink. Clothes are clean and in the drawer or closet. Hunting gear is on closet shelves or in gun case. Takes about 30 minutes to pack carry carryon and checked bag. If carrying guns add 15 minutes for tuffpak and lockbox. Checked bag is never more than half full. Probably need a smaller bag when this one wears out. (If the wife is going, the checked bag gets closer to full) In reality, my stuff is "laid out" for my next trip within a week of returning from Africa. It's just on shelves or in drawers.



Have a great trip and hunt Royal. May Diana smile on you.

Certainly looking forward to hearing all about it.

I've only been to Africa once, so there was some time put into packing........not sure if I would need this, or that.....and maybe some other thing; better to have and not need that to need and not have......but then there was the weight issue and dammit I need to take my ammo, for cryin' out loud!!! I should have used the 200 grain bullets instead of the 250s!!! That would have saved me some weight!!!

Now that I've been once, I think that packing for the next trip will be easier......and yes, I am a man of "lists".

When? Depends on the trip......if it is just a local trip, then usually the night before; if it is a long, week type excursion, usually a week before......depends on the work schedule, which is so damn varied that it's impossible to plan much of anything. Repack? Once it's in the suit case or duffel and checked off the list, NEVER........
I do pack a lot of extra "stuff", because I might need it (usually hunting stuff, like game calls, decoys, different shells, etc.).......most times I don't need it, but sometimes it comes in handy. For example, my last trip to the U.P. of Michigan I was primarily planning on hunting grouse, but I took a duck call, decoys, waders, boat, nontoxic shot, etc, as well as fishing gear, and since I had a turkey permit, I took some turkey shells and calls and decoys, etc. Didn't catch any fish, and the duck hunting was a bust, but I did bag my first turkey, as well as some grouse.

The one thing about hunting Africa vs hunting here in the states is all the paper work one needs to keep track of......4457, passport, letter of invitation, cash, etc, etc, etc. Kept all this in a folder with sub folders of various colors to determine what went to SAP, what was needed for outfitter, etc.

GOOD LUCK, ROYAL!!!!!!! looking forward to photos when you get back!

after doing several fly in moose hunts you learn real quick what you need and what you want, weight restrictions really make you decide what is a want vs a need

JimP said:

There has to be a story there for some reason.........

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Not really. My camp is just primitive and that is the only electricity I have in the camper. when I want running water, I run and get it.

Two trips to Africa and many others in the US, Canada and Mexico over the past 30 years and I start about a week in advance putting out the "gear" and clothes. Finish it up the day prior to departure.

Royal I left a soft gun case behind for you to use. Actually left two, they are cheap ones.... but the one is really cheap and smaller. I think the better one is 46" so not sure if your CZ will fit. Check with Loodt, to me the soft gun cases take a lot of room but I like having them. There are also two bags of jelly beans for you and Nancy to hand out to the kids if you visit the school... and if Loodt stayed out of it! Two bags seemed to be about the right amount.

Ann left the sweets behind and I don't remember but she may have left 4 so Tim and Cathy have a couple as well..... If you all four go to the school together you can have some for yourselves and trackers... And maybe even Loodt

ActionBob said:

Royal I left a soft gun case behind for you to use. Actually left two, they are cheap ones.... but the one is really cheap and smaller. I think the better one is 46" so not sure if your CZ will fit. Check with Loodt, to me the soft gun cases take a lot of room but I like having them. There are also two bags of jelly beans for you and Nancy to hand out to the kids if you visit the school... and if Loodt stayed out of it! Two bags seemed to be about the right amount.

Ann left the sweets behind and I don't remember but she may have left 4 so Tim and Cathy have a couple as well..... If you all four go to the school together you can have some for yourselves and trackers... And maybe even Loodt

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Thanks Bob!

I use a Tuffpak, so I will have soft cases. That's another thing I love about that particular case...

I've seen @Tootabi Hunting Safaris eat, so I'm not sure it the jellybeans will make it, or not.... Although since he knows they are for the kids I guess there is a chance!!!

We are definitely going to the school. That is actually very high on the list of things to do. Loodt has been telling me about it since I very first started speaking to him. It was, and is, another reason we ended up with him.

I must have packed and un-packed a dozen times for my first trip way to much Crap, then I misplaced the most important item My Damn Passport, next trip I'll be going a lot lighter.

I currently have gear scattered all over my living room weighing and noting to a spread sheet for a trip in September. Only thing that is not subject to change on my packing list is my .375 H&H and my Swarovski Binos.

A lot will depend on where you're going. In South Africa, if you forget something, it's usually not a big problem to drive somewhere to get it. In Zimbabwe, that may be possible, but it could mean a lost half day (at least) of hunting, and likely more. In Cameroon, if you forgot something, then you better really forget it, because there is no way you will be flying out of the jungle to get it (unless it's anti-venom . . .).