Backpack hunting gear for kids

[Moserkr]

Just re-read this thread after getting back from my last outing with my son. Took him to our usual opening day spot that we hunted last year for archery as well. No luck as far as bucks go, just saw a nice one being packed out. Good for that guy, its not easy.

So far the same setup has worked for my boy except the osprey pack has one glaring flaw - the waist belt cannot go any tighter. My 6yo kids 4' tall, weighs 46lbs and is well within the recommended age/height/weight range. Hes skinny with broad shoulders and an average waist. Last year with basically no weight in the pack he was fine. This year on the way in I loaded up 13lbs to see what he could do - a hair over 25% of his body weight. It was all his gear and food. His shoulders bore most of the weight and he only carried it 1 out of 2 miles. Once we dropped camp and were at hunting weights he carried his pack no problem.

On the way home I took more of his gear and he carried his own pack the 2 miles downhill to the truck. At home I weighed his pack and it was 8lbs. Pretty good for his weight but the waist strap needs help.

For sleeping we have been using an amazon'd floored tent, nothing special but works great. He wants to try the floorless tipi now though so during rifle season Ill bring that and the wood stove. Considering my giant 13' diameter tipi and ti stove weigh the same as the cheap amazon floored tent, Im happy to bring it and have more room.

The last few mentions - forgot to bring a little blanket and it would have been nice for sitting around at the hunting spot. Wind was blowing, it was cold. Glad my wife bought him a mid weight fleece lined puffy jacket.

 

[Deckerp]

I had plans to take my now 8 year old on our longest multi night backpack trip today this year in the Indian peaks with permits secured and everything. But after drawing a goat tag I decided we better do that trip in the goat unit and look for goats.

When the week arrived the weather forecast was calling for a fair bit of rain and I pivoted to thinking we could backpack some and truck camp some and check out more spots. Wish I had stuck to the backpacking only plan as the weather proved pretty decent. We didn’t get the epic backpacking trip I had planned but we did do a 9mile day which is the most my son has hiked in a day to date and he was in good spirits for basically all but the last mile. It was also the first time we didn’t take a zillion breaks - we had packed in 3 miles the night before. Woke up and did 3 miles to a glassing vantage. Then 3 miles back to camp and then 3 miles back to the truck - with no stops during any of those 3 miles stretches. That’s highly atypical as it’s usually a snack break every 15min! I think the presence of mosquitos may have helped.



Also got my 4 year old daughter out for her first night of backpacking this year as well. She is a solid hiker already.

 

[Moserkr]

Nice @Deckerp There will be more chances for backpacking with the kids, but thats great you got your 4yo out. Best of luck with your goat tag!!

Planning on a 3 day rifle opener backpacking trip with my kid, wish we had more time. A canoe ride across a lake to a hidden access point, then a hike to a "goat path" up a ridge, follow that ridge to the main ridge which connects three basins with hidden meadows to the mtn top. Wish it was for goats, but we will be on a poor man's sheep hunt (bear too). It's to a favorite spot of mine where Ive seen some really big bucks (for otc CA).

 

[Deckerp]

Nice @Deckerp There will be more chances for backpacking with the kids, but thats great you got your 4yo out. Best of luck with your goat tag!!

Planning on a 3 day rifle opener backpacking trip with my kid, wish we had more time. A canoe ride across a lake to a hidden access point, then a hike to a "goat path" up a ridge, follow that ridge to the main ridge which connects three basins with hidden meadows to the mtn top. Wish it was for goats, but we will be on a poor man's sheep hunt (bear too). It's to a favorite spot of mine where Ive seen some really big bucks (for otc CA).

That sounds wonderful!

 

[NEWHunter]

My son is twelve and he just moved up out of the kid sized shoes to adult shoes. Only problem is his feet are fairly narrow. The clerk at REI suggested a women’s boot as we could get them narrower. They’re working good until his feet fill out a bit more.

 

[kodiakisland]

May have been mentioned but Mystery Ranch women’s XS/S packs can be a great option that can grow with your kid for several years as they are adjustable and the women’s fit both sex’s fine.

 

[That7MagDude]

Anything you buy doesn't have to be expensive, as long as they're warm, dry, and not bored it's a success

 

[Deckerp]

I got my son out on our most epic backpacking trip to date this summer. 4 nights and 5 days to an un-named alpine lake. The cutthroat fishing there turned out to be amazing as those fish hardly ever see humans. He did awesome doing about 23miles and 4500’ of climbing. We didn’t see another person for about 3 days straight. We did have a bear chew in our Ursak the first night and destroy a decent amount of food. But we still had enough.

 

[Moserkr]

Thats awesome @Deckerp Bet that was an amazing trip with no one around!!

Wish I had time for longer trips with my son. We got out for one trip this year so far and did a little fishing, caught one nice cutthroat. Heading back out there in a few weeks with some other dads and their sons on a group trip.

Only gear changes we made this year were shoes - bought him some keen waterproof hiking boots, and wrangler atg pants. Otherwise just using whatever cheap amazon gear we can find since he outgrows it so fast.

 

[Deckerp]

That looks great!

I ended up having him do this longer trip in his vivobarefoot style shoes rather than the Solomon boot we had. On some other one nighters he indicated that he felt like he trip and rolled his ankles more easily in the boots. I did cut some of my stock insoles to fit his shoes to give the shoes just a touch more cushion for a longer day. That seemed to work well. It was mostly on trail except for one super steep off trail section up and then back down. He would probably be a good candidate for the barefoot hiking boots when he is older and would be able to get them in his size.

 

[Moserkr]

Interesting. I will have to take a look at the vivo's. Theres a lot to be said about foot conditioning in that style shoe vs the standard boot type. Have no gotten any complaints yet from my kid but we arent climbing that much elevation. Did maybe 2000' of change over 14 miles in the weekend. Theres some spots we will try next year that will push him harder.

All the gear we got this year was a size bigger than needed so hoping it lasts 2 seasons...

 

[Deckerp]

Interesting. I will have to take a look at the vivo's. Theres a lot to be said about foot conditioning in that style shoe vs the standard boot type. Have no gotten any complaints yet from my kid but we arent climbing that much elevation. Did maybe 2000' of change over 14 miles in the weekend. Theres some spots we will try next year that will push him harder.

All the gear we got this year was a size bigger than needed so hoping it lasts 2 seasons...

We have had both kids wearing only barefoot style shoes their whole life (most of the time anyway). Figure that’s the way to end up with strong feet and ankles if you start out like that. Seems to be working well so far. Foot wear is always a compromise when hiking/hunting. I so much prefer shoes on trails but feel more stable on steep stuff with a sharp edged stiff boot. I run shoes enough that ankle support isn’t really an issue and I think that’s true for my kids too. But to be able to cut an edge into a hill is also so nice! I have been on the same terrain last year scouting and then hunting goats, first with shoes and later boots, and it can go from terrifying to very solid. So eventually there will probably be a place for some kid boots but that’s terrain I don’t really want them on yet anyway.

 

[Deckerp]

Not backpacking but I recently started taking my older one to the range to start learning to shoot. He is about 2.5years out from being able to hold his own big game tag here in CO (assuming he wants to). I built a 6CM this past year and shot my own bull with it this year. Now I have added as much weight to it as I could along with a giant surpressor and a buttstock I can adjust down. I put it on a tripod and he has taken to it pretty well the first two times. The recoil is very mild (though not of course as mild as a 22). Next time I will hang some smaller steel and challenge him a bit.