{"id":38705,"date":"2026-01-30T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T08:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=38705"},"modified":"2026-01-26T11:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:01:21","slug":"lessons-learned-hunting-from-a-packraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2026\/01\/30\/lessons-learned-hunting-from-a-packraft\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned Hunting From a Packraft"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past fall, my friends Kylie, Hannah and I planned what we believed would be an epic, multi-day packraft mule deer hunt. The plan was simple: drift through a remote stretch of river with everything we needed fastened to our boats, hunt the area\u2019s rugged terrain by day, camp by the river’s edge at night and, hopefully by trip end, float out with meat for the year and a heavy set of antlers riding on the bow.<\/p>\n

After fantasizing about this particular trip for years, this November it all came together: I finally had the right crew, the time off and enough hunting experience to feel, perhaps mistakenly, ready.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to departure, I studied maps and planned meals, camps, shuttles and gear layouts down to the minutest of details. I obsessed over how to distribute weight between boats, secure rifles, and strip my kit down to only the essentials, though I somehow still managed to overpack. As the trip approached, I felt a low hum of nerves, dulled by a familiar and dangerous confidence. Ignorance, I\u2019ve learned, can be a powerful anxiolytic.<\/p>\n

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On the evening we were set to leave, the car loaded with packrafts, rifles, camping gear, and a small stash of hard liquor, I got a text from Kylie: Have you looked at the weather forecast?<\/em><\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t since earlier in the week. A quick NOAA search showed wind warnings and storm systems sitting squarely on the dates of our trip. It was time to pivot.<\/p>\n

After some frantic group-chat brainstorming, we abandoned the original plan and chose something closer to home. We opted for shorter floats on familiar water, using the packrafts primarily for river crossings to access public land. We would still hunt, camp, and most importantly, spend time together.<\/p>\n

The days that followed were filled with close encounters with elk and deer, cold mornings, wet hands, steep hikes and spontaneous riverside dance parties. We snacked on mountaintop charcuterie spreads while glassing nearby slopes for animals and laughed until we cried as we traded lengthy play-by-plays of first dates gone wrong and a host of other stories best shared in good company.<\/p>\n