Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting So what backpack?

YMMV- Kuiu came a very long way this last year and it looks much improved from the older one. Problem is that it is at the same price point as Mystery Ranch, Kifaru, Stone Glacier and Barney's.

I will give you a test that I can tell you will show the difference between the old dinosaurs that many treasure(K2,Barneys,Some Keltys in there too.) Load up your Kuiu with 200lbs of 5-25lb plastic coated kmart weights. The type you can get for just gear testing. They are made of some type of cheap concrete. You can find a 200lb set at yard sales for free or some such. Load the pack and walk 2.5-3 miles on flat country and see if the pack will be able to take the abuse. This includes you taking many breaks after the first mile. It is just like packing a moose quarter-remember you can seriously hurt your knees so be careful. This isn't for testing your capabilities its just for testing the durability of the pack. Putting it on and taking it off. It will stress the seams the suspension and make everything creak. Aluminum cotter pins on the old packs can actually kind of explode and pop off like 22 shells.
Packs of the first stripe will take this abuse and smile back.
There is a reason that those Dana Design Terraplanes are still outthere. They are plain tough.

I watched the testing of the new improved Icon on Jason's forum but I noticed that the Kroneberger guides didn't have them instead they had barney's pinnacles.

Kifaru right now is leading the pack debates because of Aron and Rokslide. The picture of Aron and the Ku5200 with a goat in it sold a heck of a lot of packs. The Alaskans that have them seem to like them. They sell them in such a way that there are constant addons. Kind of like AR-15s with rails, lights, bells and whistles.

One thing that has happened is that many of the new pack producers put a lot of webbing on their packs. I notice that their users cut a bunch of them off.

Jerry-Vek- We both were hurting units on that glacier. My foot ended up having a broken 1st Metarsal and was completely smashed severe contusion that extended to my ankle. I limped around for more than a month after I got back. However, at the time I was optimistic and thought it was just a really bad rock bruise. I knew you guys had another two weeks and wasn't going to get in the way of that. I was really hoping that you guys would catch up with that big ram. I found out this fall that that valley is where Toney Oney shot his big sheep. He went up it a ways and caught them near the top-I guess that there is a little green bowl up there. I don't know how you could of got by the "guards" but I know that the old guy probably died. Nobody got anything in there this year-either Claus or three different parties that were dropped by Gary. He dropped off an extra because all three groups went 1-2 barbeque and headed for pickup.
My wife and I made a go for the Cathedrals and for the creeks behind the lower strip. There were goats there including 1 good billy and 2 adult mature billys that would have been freezer fare. However, the next day they(the goats) worked their way up into the back valley above a 80ft waterfall. We got up into there and my wife vetoed my climbing attempt by just telling me what the hell was she going to do if I climbed up there and fell and broke my azz.
We backed down and went up the next creek. This is the back door to the cathedrals and we got up there and couldn't find a full curl. Plenty of 3/4s(5yeos 1 was a pretty good looking guy) but now you got to shoot a full curl in that unit. We climbed back over the lateral morraine on the back of the airstrip and waited hoping the stupid goats would come back to where we could get them. They never did for three days. we weathered the great tropical blow and ended up bailing after 6 days. Gary is talking more and more about retirement. I think that I can convince my wife to go into the glacier this year. I bought her a custom 6.5X55 mexican mauser and will put Z3-3X-9 ultralight on it.

Book is still coming along.

I put in for some drawing tags but I probably will have Gary fly me in someplace.

Back to OP. I have watched one of the kids at school abuse the hell out of his Marine Pack. I have never been elk hunting so I don't know but it looks good.

I hope people who read this know one thing.
1) Boots come first(German, Norwegian or Italian) get the best most durable boot that fits your type of foot. Get it wet and walk in it until it is dry.

2) Get the best possible optics that you can afford. I read these magazine writers who say that all you need is a 10X30 bushnell or Nikon or something. Good for them. Outfitter probably scouted the living hell out of the whole area. Under those circumstances they probably are right but if you are going into country green without scouting get a very good pair of 10X40s minimum and sit and spot as much as you can. I have a pair of 8X43 HD Elite Bushnells that were probably the best binocular that Bushnell ever produced. I also have a pair of Zeiss Victory 10X42 T* that I bought on sale. You can find a heck of a lot more animals with the Zeiss than you can find with the Bushnells. Whenever you go and shop for optics do the dollar test. Take a 1$ bill and pin it 30 yards from optics counter. Which binoculars can you see the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury. Now which ones can you see the script for the secretary of the treasury. You will find the big name binos can do it. Now a lot of people are going to say that they don't have the cash to buy the top step Binos. But I can tell you that it will make a considerable difference in how many critters that you will see. They are worth it.

3) Packs are next.

4) Sleeping bags, tents and stoves- All creature comforts. You can get by with $100 Marmot Trestles, Eureka Grand Mesa 2(150) and cheap MSR pocket rocket and a empty beef stew can. Maybe some trash bags but the top three are more important.
Best luck in the new year.
Thomas