Journal

A Little Kifaru History (Written in 1997)

As a foot soldier in the hunting fields, I’ve been carrying store-bought “hunting packs” for over 40 years. Not liking what was available to purchase, I started making my own. The first problem I had to solve when I began...

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Flexible Hunting (written in 1997)

I like things flexible. Versatile. Like my choice of rifles: keep them light and give them enough caliber to handle any situation you might encounter in the area you’re in. And so on, with all one’s hunting gear. When I...

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4 Season Camping (Written in 1998)

May as well start with summer. Ah, summer. A time of mid-day warmth and mosquitoes in the high country. You’ll probably want to open both nylon doors and close the mosquito netting doors. Don’t worry about pitching the floorless tipi...

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Backpack Check List (Written in 1999)

Here is my old checklist: Backpack, boots, extra sox, extra underwear, bandana, rain/snow parka, toiletries (TP, handiwipes, tooth stuff, any routine medication), first aid kit, hat and gloves, fleece, appropriate sleeping bag for the conditions, foam pad(s) for above, spoon,...

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Camp Cooking of Small Game (Written in 1998)

This discussion will focus on general principles to ensure toothsome meat, especially small game, collected and prepared in the backcountry. #1–try for center of mass hits.  This will usually place the bullet through the animals thorax (chest), not the gut....

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Getting Further Back (Written in 1997)

Good afternoon. Thanks for coming. I’ll set the tone for this talk by giving you a subtitle: “Making Meat on Your Own Two Feet”. I’m going to talk mostly about backpacking up and in to where the game is. We’ll...

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Meditations on Hunting Backpacks (Written in 1998)

As the founder, chief designer and former owner of Mountainsmith, one of the world’s best known manufacturers of technical backpacks, I spend about 200 days a year camped out testing designs. On almost every one of those trips, I carry...

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Shelter From the Storm

Greetings and Happy New Year to my colleagues and readers here on the Blog  My freezers are packed with moose and deer and elk—the results of a long and plentiful autumn of hunting and wandering my beloved backcountry in my...

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Patrick's Possibles Pouch

I'm finally getting around to revising my twenty year old essay on what constitutes a rambling man’s Possibles Pouch,,,,what it is, and what goes into it,  The concept is to store close at hand everything needed to operate efficiently, and...

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