Training Day Hike AAR, June 12

Weather: 60-70 degrees, partly sunny, intermittent rain showers. Wind 5-10 MPH

Terrain: Hilly

Objectives:

• Evaluate Bongo Gear Becker Mk. II pack over varied terrain
• Conditioning hike
• Inspect missing/ unknown land nav points
• Scout for resources

Equipment Loadout: 3 day Scouting/hunting, 40 degree sleep rating. 47 pounds total.

I recently got a Bongo Gear Becker Patrol Pack Mk. II and I wanted to evaluate it as a patrol pack in realistic terrain as opposed to road marching. I decided on a trip out to my training area so I could do that, and in addition check on a couple land nav points that I didn’t know the status of yet after last winter. Any trip out is also a good excuse to get some exercise in as well as further explore and learn about the resources available this time of year in my area.

I started out leaving my truck and heading up a small wash. Within a couple hundred meters I spooked up a Mule Deer doe. She stopped broadside to me about 75 yards away and had I been hunting it would have been a very easy shot with my .30-.30. Soon though she took off at a trot headed directly south.

This encounter served as a good reminder that I wasn’t mentally shifted into my environment, instead I was “hurrying”. We do that as humans, always on a mission from one place to the next, whereas the animals are better at conserving their energy and do things at a slower pace. I think it’s makes us stand out to them and they spot us from a long ways away because of it.

I slowed way down, moving quietly and cautiously from cover to cover, stopping to scan and listen often. This slower, more observant pace is more of a “patrol” pace than the “beating down the trail” pace I started out with.

I worked my way south, keeping an eye out for my friend the doe. Soon I spotted her, she was standing up about 10 feet down from the top of a ridgeline. She had seen me already and was eyeing me over. I’m sure my slow, plodding pace was helping to confuse her. Soon though, she trotted off again to the south.

I continued moving up through a large saddle and eventually reached it’s peak. I was crossing a large ridge that parallels another large ridge. Both of these ridges are covered in thick Juniper and Ash trees and are full of deer sign. I found a nice fold in the ground and dropped into it to glass the opposite ridge for sign of deer.

The fold

My rifle has a fixed four power scope but I also brought along my eight power Vortex solo. I spent about ten minutes scanning and soon I spotted another Mule Deer doe about 500 yards to the south. I could spot her in a small clearing surrounded by thick trees, no doubt well hidden to anything close.

The view from my fold

A view out the other side

The doe is the bright spot in the middle

I drank some water and decided to start moving again. I knew I was going to have a hard time spotting any deer on this next leg because the wind would be at my back now. I got my gear on, then slowly began reintroducing myself to the environment. This is a technique we cover in the Bush Tactics Course.

The Becker MK. II has multiple pockets on the outside that easily carry a 1L bottle and some snacks

Sure enough, as soon as I started moving a deer took off about 200 yards away, straight down wind. He no doubt could smell me, and as soon as he saw movement bolted.

Watch your step – holes like this are common

I continued, moving at a patrol pace as I weaved my way along the sides of this valley I was now in. (A valley is the low area between two ridges.) After a few listening and water stops I was at the top of the valley and crossed to the other side.

I went up a hill and found myself on a big flat. I knew I was in the area of the first land nav marker I wanted to check on. I got my map, compass, and protractor out and did a resection then got my azimuth and distance to the missing marker. I converted the distance to my pace count, wrote it all down, then started out.

Soon I was at my pace count, but there was no marker to be seen. I added another 10% to my pace count and continued on my azimuth. When I got to the end of the added 10%, I looked around and sure enough there it was, wrapped around a branch on a tree. It was about another 20 feet away, but on the exact azimuth. I took note of the actual pace count so I could update my pace count with it. This is the sort of activity students get the opportunity to do many times in the Fieldcraft Course and they get quite good at it.

From here I started towards the next land nav marker I wanted to check on. It was about 3/4 of a mile away on the other side of a cow dam. I decided to swing by the dam and see what things were looking like. I could see quite a few ducks on the water and hear the croaking of lots of frogs.

When I got there the water was very turbid, and I wanted to see if I could get it to clear up any. I decided to dig a couple coyote wells to see if they would fill up with cleaner water. I dug two holes about 1 foot square and 1 foot deep.

I then headed towards the next marker. I soon arrived there and confirmed the marker was intact. I decided to stop here and take a break, drink some water and eat some food. I was starting to feel a bit tired at this point so I popped a honey stick in and ate a Clif bar.

After about 20 minutes I started back to the dam. When I got there I checked on my coyote wells and while they had more water in them than when I left, it wasn’t enough for me to refill. I topped off one bottle with pond water and a Chlorine Dioxide tab. If this were a real situation where I was planning on being out overnight I would have drank the rest of my clean water and done both my bottles.

I left the dam and started moving up another valley back towards my pick up. I could have jumped onto a predominant cow trail and had a pretty easy go of it, but I chose to get into the thick trees and see if I could jump a deer. Deep down in the trees is a good place to practice moving through with all your gear to see how it snags on branches. It’s also a great place to practice moving quietly.

The way this tree has broken it has created the start to a good natural shelter.

I was moving along when suddenly there was a flash of white fur about ten feet in front of me and then it was gone. I’m not really sure what it was, I suspect a coyote because of how fast and easily it moved through the trees.

Notice the wear on this log indicating a lot of traffic.

I continued moving up the valley and it started to sprinkle on me. I popped out of the trees and from what I could tell about the incoming weather I decided to get moving at a quicker pace. I had about a mile to go and a big ridge to cross yet.

I made it up over the ridge without the rain causing it to get slick. I went down the back side and got to my pickup just in time for it to actually start raining hard. I checked to make sure I had all my gear, put my pickup in 4 high and moved out.

The Lowa Z8’s, still dry on the inside

Overall I hiked 3.5 miles through terrain that wasn’t really ever level. I’m a bit surprised at how tired I was yesterday evening, and I suspect that 3.5 miles through rougher terrain engages a lot more of your core and stabilizer muscles than cruising down a road or groomed trail. It took me six hours start to finish to complete.

Sustain

• The Becker Mk. II was a very comfortable pack, nothing to adjust there.
• The Lowa Z8’s again proved their worth in keeping my feet dry and also helping me navigate through muddy and slick terrain.
• The Hill People Gear Kit Bag is great when not running a full blown chest rig. It was very comfortable and easy to maintain good control of my rifle while resting it on the kit bag.
• I packed the Becker in a manner similar to what I would have packed my medium ALICE when I was in the Marines, it made for a light weight setup that I could carry all day and this was no different.

Improve

• I need to narrow my sleeping pad a couple inches on each side so it is no wider than the pack itself. Whenever I would snag on some branches it was usually because of the pad sticking out.
• Need more endurance. I’m not anywhere near a peak physically, in fact I have a lot of improvements to make. I was pretty tired last night after 6 hours of hiking around, I’d like to be in better condition after a hike like that so I’m more functional at the end of the day.