Every kilogram you don't carry up the hill is a kilogram you don't have to walk back down it. Tahr hunting punishes the person who packs for comfort and rewards the person who packs for efficiency. This chapter is about how to think about pack weight rather than what specifically to put in it.
Three numbers to know.
Base weight is everything you carry except food, water and fuel — the things that get used up. It is the number that does not change between day one and day seven of your trip, and it is the number you can actually optimise.
Consumable weight is food, water and fuel. It is mostly fixed by how long you will be out and how much you eat and drink. You can sharpen this with calorie density (chapter 11) and water strategy (chapter 12), but you cannot get rid of it.
Total weight is base plus consumables, plus the rifle and ammunition. This is what is on your back as you start walking.
For a five- to seven-day fly-in spike camp, a realistic ambition for a fit hunter is something like:
- Base weight: 12–15 kg.
- Food: 0.7–1.0 kg per day. Five days = 3.5–5 kg.
- Water: 1–3 kg depending on how much you carry between sources.
- Rifle and ammunition: 4–5 kg.
- Total day-one pack: in the order of 22–28 kg.
For a guided hunt where the camp gear, cooker, food and (sometimes) the rifle are provided, your day pack is much lighter — typically 8–12 kg with optics, water, snacks, and weather layers.
The Big Four.
Most of the weight in any backcountry kit lives in four items: the pack, the shelter, the sleep system, and the kitchen. Cut weight from these and the trip transforms.
Pack. A modern internal-frame hunting pack runs 2–3 kg empty. A carbon-frame ultralight pack runs 1.0–1.5 kg, but compromises on load-carry comfort above about 25 kg. For tahr country with horns and a cape on the way out, do not go below a 2 kg pack with a serious frame. Save your weight elsewhere.
Shelter. A four-season expedition tent runs 2.5–4 kg. A solid three-season tent pitched well runs 1.2–2 kg. A tarp-and-bivvy combination runs 700–900 g but is brutal in a sustained alpine front. The honest tradeoff in May–July tahr country is to pick a robust three-season tent rated for snow and wind, with snow stakes if you'll be exposed.
Sleep system. A bag plus mat plus pillow can easily total 2.5 kg if you choose poorly, or 1.4 kg if you choose well. The right answer is an 800-fill down bag rated to about -10°C, paired with an insulated inflatable mat with R-value at least 4. A small inflatable pillow weighs 60 g and is worth carrying.
Kitchen. A canister stove with pot, lighter and lid runs 250–400 g. Add a windscreen and a long-handled spoon and you have a kitchen. Cook one pot at a time, eat from the pot, drink from your water bottle. There is no need for cookware sets.
Worn weight versus carried weight. The kilograms on your back hurt more than the kilograms on your body. Wear your boots, your shell, and your insulated jacket on the helicopter or in the truck — that's two to three kilos that does not count against your pack weight.
Cutting strategies.
The first cut is duplication. One headlamp, one knife, one rangefinder. Spare batteries instead of spare devices. One pair of base layers worn, one pair of base layers in the pack.
The second cut is packaging. Repackage food into ziplock bags. Cut the unused length off a foam mat. Snap the handle off a toothbrush. None of this saves much on its own. All of it together saves a kilo.
The third cut is comfort. Camp shoes save your feet at night and weigh 200 g; a camp chair weighs 500–800 g. The chair is worth it on a longer hunt for the morale of being able to sit somewhere other than the dirt; on a five-day hunt it is dead weight.
The fourth cut is the things you "might need." If you cannot articulate a specific scenario in which you will use an item, leave it home. Two specific failure scenarios per piece of redundant kit is the rule.
What never to skimp on.
Some weight is non-negotiable.
- Optics. The binoculars that find an animal at 1,800 metres are not the binoculars that weigh 400 grams. Carry the good glass.
- The shell. A failing shell on day three is the start of every hypothermia story.
- The PLB. Eighty grams. Take it.
- Water purification redundancy. One filter plus a small tablet pack.
- A first-aid kit big enough to dress a real wound, not a paper-cut.
- Enough food. A 200 g per day shortfall over five days is a kilo of weight you saved and a kilo of fat you will burn. Calculate the cost.
The shakedown.
Two weeks before your trip, lay every item on the floor. Weigh each one. Group by category. Note the totals. Cut a kilo. Repack. Walk uphill with it. Note what hurts. Adjust.
The hunter who has done this dance walks on the hill with confidence. The hunter who packed in a hurry walks with regret.