Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Backpack for elk hunting

I am looking to buy a new pack for carrying while hunting elk.

Looking for something that can be used to carry equipment and also pack out meat.

What is your recommendations.

You need two. One for gear and the first load out, and then an external frame freight hauler for the meat on the way out.

Kifaru, exo mountain, stone glacier, mystery ranch. All great packs, find one you can afford and fits you well.

I'm partial to Eberlestock packs for elk hunting. The X2 is my daypack for everything and was less than $180, it can haul out a first front quarter before switching to a meat hauler. I have hunting partners with the Team elk, Blue Widow, and Dragonfly versions , all of them are comfortable and carry weapons easily so you can walk in or out hands free in the dark.

I'm going to change meat hauler packs this year and retire my old Cabelas Alaskan external frame and go with a wilderness Specialties Bighorn.

Several folks here love Kuiu packs but I cant make myself spend more on a pack then my elk rifle.

Eberlestock J1 It will work for all of it.

Why can't you hunt with an external?

You can do it all with an external, but the pack will be heavier and more bulky--harder to slip through the timber, etc. Look at the ALPS Pursuit, etc. for carrying gear--mostly a day pack-- and maybe some meat and the head if needed. As noted above, nothing beats an external frame pack for bulky, heavy loads.

You can, but it gives up a bunch.

Seek Outside will do everything u want and more. It also rides like air.
HD

I agree with the daypack first load out then the dedicated pack frame for hauling out

For hunting from the truck the 2 pack idea works just fine...

That's where I was heading with my question.

If you go into the hunt with the mindset that getting it out is gonna' suck, you'll never be disappointed. When I’m hunting, I’m using a medium size backpack with a capacity of about 4,000 cu.in., (Osprey Zenuith 75) which is mostly empty. When I kill an elk, I carry out the first load of loose meat in that pack and then I switch to a bigger pack (North Face Back Shadow, about 6,400 cu.in.) capable of carrying 80#. I carry out the big quarters in that pack. Then I switch back to the smaller pack to go back in and get my camp.

North Face no longer produces the Back Shadow.

KC

I prefer an internal that I use for both. My choice was a Kifaru pack a bit over a decade ago. I've day hunted, touristed Italy, and fit both a front & rear quarter of an elk in it. if I was in the market today I'd be looking at Kifaru, Mystery Ranch, Seeks, and Stone Glacier packs.

Me too, on both counts.

I have an Easton Fullbore 3600 that I like quite a bit. I think it retails for like $170, but I got a deal off of camofire for like $100.

It expands from 1200 to 5600 cu in. I use it as a day pack and then if I get something I expand it out to the 5600 cu in pack. It has a lightweight internal frame that I like.

There is no question that an external frame pack is better if everything else is equal for hauling meat. But I like to take out a bunch during my first hike out after a kill. Everything has held up well on my pack so far (3 hunting seasons/1 dead deer/1 dead elk).

For my first season, my shoulders would really hurt after a day of hunting. But then I realized I had to tighten the waist strap better. After that, I haven't had problems. That's something that someone with more backpacking experience would have known already.

There are some great daypack size packs that are up to the task of hauling elk quarters and more. Exo Mountain 3500, Kuiu Ultra and Icon Pro, Kifaru, Seek Outside, Eberlestock, Stone Glacier, Mystery Ranch...

Here's a hind quarter and the head on a Kuiu Ultra 3000. The quarter is outside the bag so there's still room for water and rain gear/game bags, knives, rope etc.

That's news to me.

+1. Then again, what the [bleep] do I know. I don't road hunt.

Look at the Kifaru Mountain Rambler, a place for your rifle with a pack and load sling, it will work great for what your looking to do!

And definitely eliminates the need for two frames!