Exo Journal — Backpack Hunting Basics

The hunt ends, and the work begins. When you recover an animal, there is a combination of excitement, accomplishment, and often circumstances (such as fading light, rising heat, or quickly passing time) that can make you feel a bit rushed. But before you start turning this animal into high-quality protein to feed your family, it is worth pausing, planning, and organizing before you start skinning.

The hunt doesn't end when you shoot an animal. Immediately after you shoot, there are important decisions to make and steps to take. Amidst the adrenaline and excitement, take a breath, take a moment, and make a plan. In this video, we explain some of the first things to do after you shoot an animal.

Start sharp and stay sharp. That should be the goal for your hunting knife. When it comes to keeping your knife sharp on a backpack hunt, we have experimented with a lot of different options — from replaceable blade knives to a wide variety of sharpening devices and methods for fixed-blade knives. In this video, we demonstrate the technique and share some tips for using our go-to knife sharpener for backpack hunts...

The food you bring on a multi-day backpack hunt is critical; not only for your survival, of course, but also in determining how effectively you can hunt day after day with sustained energy, as well as greatly influencing how much your pack weighs and how much space you have as you pack your bag for a hunt.