What is a good base weight for elk hunting?

Typical planning ranges. These are not measurements from Backcountry Hunter loadouts, not an average of any hunter sample, and not a target you have to hit. The ranges above are pack base weight before food, water, fuel, and the weapon. Early-season archery, a few nights, mild nights: about 20–35 lb (9–16 kg). Rifle season, colder weather, most of a week: about 28–45 lb (13–20 kg). Weigh your own kit before you treat either band as your number.

Should I count the rifle or bow in base weight?

Say which choice you made. Hunters often quote base weight without the weapon. In a Backcountry Hunter loadout, a rifle or bow counts in base weight unless you mark it worn. Two lists are only comparable when they made the same choice.

Where do gear weights in the app come from?

Catalog weights are community-reported, stored in grams, and shown in pounds and ounces. They are a starting point. Flag an entry that looks wrong, and weigh the item yourself if the number will decide whether it comes on the hunt.

Elk hunting

Backcountry Elk Pack Weight

Q: Does water count as base weight?

No. Mark water, food, and fuel as consumable. Water weighs about 2.2 lb per liter (1 kg). How many liters you carry depends on the drainage, not on a fixed rule.

By Austin Christensen · Updated October 23, 2026

The number that matters is the one you weighed, split into base weight, worn gear, consumables, and the meat you did not have on the hike in. Use a range only until that weigh-in exists.

Typical planning ranges

Typical planning ranges. These are not measurements from Backcountry Hunter loadouts, not an average of any hunter sample, and not a target you have to hit.

Typical elk base-weight planning ranges before food, water, fuel, and weapon
Trip	Base weight to plan around
Early-season archery, a few nights, mild nights	about 20–35 lb (9–16 kg)
Rifle season, colder weather, most of a week	about 28–45 lb (13–20 kg)

The ranges above are pack base weight before food, water, fuel, and the weapon.

A common planning figure, before you have weighed your own menu, is about 1.5–2.5 lb of food per person per day (0.7–1.1 kg).

Water weighs about 2.2 lb per liter (1 kg). How many liters you carry depends on the drainage, not on a fixed rule.

How a loadout splits the number

In a Backcountry Hunter loadout, base weight is every item that is not marked worn, not marked consumable, and not marked left at camp. Worn is what you hike in. Consumable is food, water, and fuel. Left at camp stays out of the total. A rifle or bow you add as an item counts in base weight unless you mark it worn. Catalog weights are stored in grams, shown in pounds and ounces, and community-reported. Flag an entry that looks wrong.

Where an elk pack gets heavy

The heavy ounces on an elk hunt are usually water, clothing you packed for a storm that is not in the forecast, food you will not eat, and a shelter built for more nights than you will sleep out. Cartridges you will not shoot add up the same way. Game bags and a saw belong in the weight. Forgetting them is how the pack-out goes wrong, not how the pack gets light.

A camp chair that has never left the trailhead is the usual candidate to drop. The gear list is the place to decide that before you are standing at the truck.

Meat is not hike-in weight

Do not add the elk to the weight you hiked in with. A boned bull is its own load, often more than one person should carry off a steep face in one trip. Split it. Keep the meat in the shade, in bags, and cooling, and do not type a guessed meat weight into base weight so the hike-in number looks complete.

When you are planning the haul, add the meat as its own line and say that it is the pack-out. The hunt checklist covers who carries which load.

Weigh the kit you will actually carry

Put small items on a kitchen scale. Hang the packed pack if you have a scale that can take it.
Or enter the list in the pack calculator (no account) or in a loadout. Mark worn and consumable before you compare your number with someone else's.
Catalog weights are a start. If a number will decide whether the item comes, weigh that item.
Read public elk loadouts as examples. Their totals are whatever the hunter entered.

Common questions

What is a good base weight for elk hunting?: Typical planning ranges. These are not measurements from Backcountry Hunter loadouts, not an average of any hunter sample, and not a target you have to hit. The ranges above are pack base weight before food, water, fuel, and the weapon. Early-season archery, a few nights, mild nights: about 20–35 lb (9–16 kg). Rifle season, colder weather, most of a week: about 28–45 lb (13–20 kg). Weigh your own kit before you treat either band as your number.
Should I count the rifle or bow in base weight?: Say which choice you made. Hunters often quote base weight without the weapon. In a Backcountry Hunter loadout, a rifle or bow counts in base weight unless you mark it worn. Two lists are only comparable when they made the same choice.
Does water count as base weight?

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