Does anyone carry a small axe or tomahawk with them while backpacking? I love having one around camp but all my recent camping has been vehicle based where I could carry a decent sized axe and didn't have any weight concerns.

Right now I'm looking over a gear list for backpacking into the back country and trying to decide whether the benefit is worth the extra weight. I'm not sure how useful a really small axe would be anyway. What says the crowd?

- stu

Yes! I carry the Gerber Backpax, a small hatchet with a plastic handle. Light, but much more useful than a big knife. And so sharp I could cut with it, and use it for skinning. Strong enough to be invaluable for collecting fire wood.

Frans

Whatever for????? I have a small folding saw it does everything I need-splitting pelvis, cutting wood, building ground blind. I don't take it packing very often, it's more weight. I assume you are carrying a knife for skinning.

the chef

No, I very seldom pack an axe or hatchet in my pack. A pair of small, very sharp knives plus a Leatherman tool are sufficient for hunting uses and I almost never build fires, especially in the alpine where this should not be done.

To build a fire in the timber, I just break branches of dead trees and leave them long while igniting them in the middle. This is easier than cutting firewood and works just as well. I prefer to carry a canister stove and not use fires, at all, this is for many reasons of which energy expenditure is the most important.

I always have an axe at my basecamp which is usually packed in several hundre yards from my vehicle to avoid unwanted visitors. I now have a Kifaru Six Man tipi plus stove, so, I can backpack this and then need a hatchet to get wood for this brilliant rig. But, for general use, a hatchet is just superfluous weight.

My Scoutmaster preferred saws over axes because he had to bring 25-30 active boys home from campouts in one piece. Decades later, I found myself in his position in the military, when a citified trooper assigned to me tried to chop firewood without knowing how to use an axe properly. One medevac later I collected all the axes in camp and issued saws.

My Scoutmaster also felt you could cut more wood more easily with a saw, and after decades of using both, I agree. A compact folding saw is also lighter than a hatchet. Hatchets and axes beat saws for splitting wood, but they rely on weight for cutting power. I keep one in the truck or the boat, but a folding saw in my pack.


Okie John

quote:

One medevac later I collected all the axes in camp and issued saws.

Guilty as charged! I almost took of my thumb with that little axe, one gloomy afternoon. Luckily I was only 45 minutes from medical attention. Never got round to buying one of those fold-up saws... might be a good addition to the pack. Leaving the axe at home.

Frans

I have the same axe as Frans and I have a fold up saw and the hand chain saw --I take 'em all--they go on the belt ---chris

I have been using a axe, hachet from the time I could remember. As useful as I think one is I don't back one. If I am in a area the I can bulid fires I take a folding saw. Works very well.

folding saw lighter and most come with a bone saw blade for hunting.

When I am backpacking, I have gone to the lengths of cutting my toothbrush handle off, trimming tags, trimming straps and laces, etc. Axes are definitely OUT.

I mostly "cold camp" when backpacking, but I do take a light folding saw on some trips. Otherwise, like Kutenay, I just snap dry branches off of trees to make a fire, when its available.

I have watched a pile of guys carrying 65 to 80 lb packs into sheep country, and laughed my butt off inside. Why people do this to themselves is beyond me.

Cheers,
Canuck

I must say I laugh every time I hear of someone cutting off the handle of their toothbrush and all the tags on their clothes.

How much weight do you save? A few ounzes? I do admire the guy who goes so full-on that those last few ounzes make the difference though.

- stu

Its as much about discipline as anything.

If I will go to the length of drilling out my toothbrush handle, you can bet I've scrutinized everything else in my pack to the same degree.

It does add up if you can shave an ounce or two from everything in your pack! And I don't mind if others laugh at me for doing it....by the time they eventually catch up to me (and my dog) at the end of the trail, they aren't laughing anymore.

Cheers,
Canuck

I'm sure I'd be one of the ones eating your dust too.

You've got a nice collection of trophies in your signature.

- stu

Hi Guys

I've carried a tomahawk for years, mine is a 1 and a 1/2 lb job, but fitted with a longer (2 lb or 1/2 axe) handle. If I was in dry country maybe a saw would be better, but down-under here in the bush (which is really "rainforest") often you have to break into the centre of bigger bits of wood to get something that will burn. A saw isn't best at that job. So maybe consider what type of forest you'll be hunting in.

Cheers - Foster

Most backpack hunters don't realize how noisy are axes and machetes. You can hear somebody hacking and splitting for a mile or more and if you can hear 'em so can every game animal, game warden, and predator in the woods. Also noisy is the breaking up of sqauw wood. On the other hand, saws are quiet and will keepHere's another vote for the folding saw (especially the pruning type saw, the one that folds out of the handle like a big jack knife). They're much lighter than even a Gerber axe or hatchet and will do everything but split your firewood. For splitting, if you absolutely must break silence, you use your sheath knife and a baton.

This is the one piece of gear that I am never without when afoot in the woods and/or wilderness:

http://www.swiss-knife.com/asp/detail.asp?lan=EN&code=0.8873&shop=SK

I was introduced to this knife by an older elk hunter who is a minimalist as a result of his wisdom and declining strength. He uses this knife for everything from bushcraft, fire building as well as field dressing a quartering elk.

I've had mine for three seasons and find it to be the best such piece of gear I've used in 31 years afield. I've been out on a backpack hunting trips as long as 21days straight with nothing but this knife using it for everything listed above with the exception of elk but to include field dressing, skinning and quartering five whitetail deer and one black bear.

This knife combined with the smaller gerber pack axe would weigh not much more than some of the heavier bushcraft knives I've seen. The pack axe does come in handy for heavier chores such as hammering, splitting and building emergency shelters and such.

Gary

Yup, two very good points, from CC and GVa, I am planning on getting a couple of the SA Hunter knives in the near future. Being a 'minimalist" here in B.C. is pretty much mandatory at my age and it is just much more relaxing to carry what you actually NEED, rather than what you THINK you need.

My outfit is constantly being tweaked and this past season, I was packing my Kifaru Longhunter Rendevous off a fairly steep Elk hill and noticed that my Integral Designs Unishelter and Moss "Wing" tarp were heavier than they needed to be, ( one notices these things more as one ages!); so, I promptly bought an I.D. eVent South Col and Sylwing tarp, saving myself about 1.5 lbs. for my emerg. hunting shelter.

So, for us old pharts, the minimalist approach actually helps us to "walk our talk" and I actively seek any reduction in weight relative to acceptable function that I can find. This SW knife fits that criteria, IMO.

Yup, I've carried the Swiss Army Knife lock-blade most days for about 10-years, and I'm on my third, lost one and broke one. However, I also usually carry one of the colapsable Wyoming saws. Axes and hatchets are for people who are a lot stronger than me to carry.

As to the gear in my day/hunting pack, I also carry enough to stay over night even if I will only be out a few hours. The only exception is when I am hunting within a mile or so of the house, and sometimes even then.

Dave

I am a bit of a fanatic about weight, like Canuck. So I often take a 3 season tent for 1 person. It gets breezy in the moxquito netting with no storm flaps (just the exterior rain fly), but it's worth it to not hump a lot of weight. Other areas where weight can be saved:

knife - a real small folding one with a plastic handle. No sharpening tool - there are plenty of rocks in the mountains

food - take light stuff, and not much of it. A backpack hunt is a great opportunity to drop some weight. Unfortunately I drop muscle first from my pectorals and biceps, but that's ok.

leather - I take no leather. Nylon weighs less.

flashlight - None. No need to walk around in the dark and get a sprained ankle.

clothes - nothing extra, except 1 extra pair of socks.

soap - I cannot resist taking a small container of liquid soap.

ammo - not more than 15 rounds.

medical kit - none.

Cold weather gear - When hunting in remote places, I stay warm either by walking/climbing, or by laying in a top quality sleeping bag. Synthetic long undies, a fleece pullover, and a gore-tex/thinsulate jacket, and either wool or gore-tex/nylon shell pants make up the entirety of my clothing ensemble (plus hat and gloves).

Lighter weight = cover more distance. That means greater ability to reach the areas likely to hold game.

500G

I'm surprised that you don't carry at least some sort of flashlight even for emergency purposes. If you hunt until dark do you just set up your camp by feel?

quote:

Originally posted by Rattlesnaker:
500G

I'm surprised that you don't carry at least some sort of flashlight even for emergency purposes. If you hunt until dark do you just set up your camp by feel?

No, my camp is already set up. I only travel with my pack from one location to another. THen I set up the tend, toss the sleeping bag and sleeping pad inside, and that's all there is to setting up camp. I then hunt without the backpack.

Although I return to camp at or after dark, it seldom gets so dark that I can't see well enough to walk back to camp. In the past I have had a little LED light on my key chain. It can vaguely illuminate the patch of ground in front of where I am walking, but it's no good for anything beyond 5-10 feet. Usually I don't think of it so I do not take even that.

The other thing I am guilty of leaving behind is matches/lighter. Only once have I failed to make it back to camp and had to spend the night out overnight. There was a very wet snow that night, and I slept in a 2 foot tall bush above the timberline. Everything was so wet that it would have taken an acetylene torch to get a fire started, so lack of matches made no difference.

500gr,

When it's that wet, a road flare will get a fire going...only weighs a few ounces but will get the job done....I always have one in my pack.

Joe

I have probably spent too much time in the military, but for me a machete (cut down to about 12", and on the pack), and a Leatherman tool or Gerber multi tool on the belt has served me well for some 20 years.
Of course the kit around now is way ahead of anything when I started out, so it only makes sense to save weight were you can. For example, an ALICE Pack is no longer the cutting edge of technology.
I do like the look of the Gerber saws that slide back into the handle and lock open and closed.
Does anyone have any experience with them? They look to be very handy, and lightweight.

Cheers, Dave.

500 grains you really are a minimalist!!! If there was ever anything I would not be without it would be: folding saw, led headlamp, bic lighter. If I had to choose only two I'd leave the lighter at home. I'm fairly adept at starting fire by friction but I can't do anything in the dark. I'd take the flashlight as my number one survival tool.

the chef

500Gns raises a very good issue. In my youth we did a lot of night-time pig-hunting, to catch pigs predating on our sheep. This involved dogs and spotlights. Basically we walked a lot in the dark (you don't turn on the light till the dogs have detected the pig, then you flick on the light and try and get a shot at the pig(s) before the dogs get on them) and it is very surprising to most people how well humans can see and walk in the dark. The secret is to give your eyes time to adjust, and let your feet find their own way.

Most hunters/outdoorsmen resort to their flashlight/headlamp far to soon, and don't give their night vision time to work (it takes at least 20 minutes). Once you night vision comes in you can see much better than with a flashlight (eg better depth perception, which is very important walking in rough country). I do carry a headlamp, but only use it as a last resort, or if I'm in a very difficult place (eg under heavy forest)

Cheers - Foster

quote:

Originally posted by calgarychef1:
500 grains you really are a minimalist!!!
the chef

I am with the Chef on the flashlight! I take a light one everywhere.....I absolutely suck in the dark without one. I have next to no night vision. Give me a little light and I am golden though. I once packed 15kms in the dark on a trail I'd never been on, through some high density griz habitat, to meet a buddy that went in a day earlier. I wouldn't do it without a light though.

I am with you on the rest, 500gr. I am somewhat liberal with socks though, depending on the length of the trip. I like to swap into dry socks partway through the day.

WRT light packs, one of my buddies always says, it isn't how far you pack a load, its how long its on your back that counts. Light weight means less time with a full pack on your back.

Cheers,
Canuck