'Tis the Season!
All the preparation, packing, physical fitness…it’s over. The 2025 hunting season is here and the anticipation around the RuckList office is high. Archery elk seems to be on the top of everyone’s mind and for good reason; it’s action packed and the bulls will be screaming! With all that being said, let’s cover a few of the basic needs of an archery elk hunt and what that looks like from a gear perspective.
I’m not a “What if” packer. I pack for the hunt I’m going on and not a 1 in a million chance of something else happening to us. Many hunters that are taking to the field for the first time think they need to cover every possible scenario. This leads to overpacking and inefficiency. If you pack for the .03% chance of a blizzard on your early September elk hunt, you’ll end up with a zero degree bag instead of a 15 or 30 degree bag, a 4 man tipi and a stove instead of a 1P backpacking tent, and down booties instead of crocs for camp shoes. These are obviously just a couple examples of where people go wrong, but those few things can add unnecessary weight and slow you down.
Let’s run through my early season archery elk list and you can see how easy RuckList makes packing and optimizing your gear.
Clothing
Kuiu Attack Pants
Kuiu Ultra Merino 145-Zip Off bottom
Darn Tough Socks (3)
Crispi Summit Boots
Kuiu Belt
Kuiu 145 ¼ Zip Hoodie
Peloton 97 ¼ zip Hoodie
Sitka Jetstream Jacket
Kuiu Kenai Jacket
Kuiu Kutana Storm Shell Jacket and Pants
Gear
MSR Hubba Hubba Tent
Stone Glacier Chilkoot 15 degree sleeping bag
Thermarest Neoair Xtherm Sleeping Pad
Sea to Summit Aeros Pillow
MSR Reactor Stove
Fuel Cannister
Peax Titanium Spoon
Peax Duo Headlamp
Leki Corklight Trekking Poles
Two BIC lighters
SOL Fire Cubes
Windchecker
Stone Glacier 5900 Pack
Bow
6 Arrows
Sevr Hybrid Broadheads (6)
First Aid Kit
Nalgene water bottle
Optics
Kill Kit
I consider these lists the basics of what is necessary to take on an early season hunt with normal weather. I could easily survive for an extended period of time even if the weather turned for the worst, but I didn’t pack a bunch of gear that’s going to slow me down. Rucklist makes it easy for me to visually see what I have on my list and check it off as a go. All of these lists are simple to share, edit, and fine tune.
Good luck this season and reach out to RuckList with any questions or to request any of my gear lists!
-Heath