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Elk hunt scheduled in Oct, first rifle in CO. Will be going in on horseback and hunting from a spike camp. Question: thoughts in a backpack/day pack with a frame? Yes, talking to the outfitter, just looking for examples or thoughts from past experience. Have a Kifaru Nomad, bikini frame (26"), but not sure if that would work. Thanks!

do you plan on wearing a pack while horseback?

well, if'n you do plan on wearing a pack whilst mounted, make it a nice, small, frame-less, soft one. You'll thank me when the pony bucks your azz off. Sammiches and tater chips and should be the hardest things packed in it. And, as to your 26" Bikini, go for it. But first, grow a scruffy beard and let your hair grow out, buy a beanie, and the latest/greatest in camo and pretend you're Donnie Vincent. And hope to hell your trusty steed don't jump a creek, slip on a trail, buck, fart or do any of the hundred other things that horses can do, to make you snap your head back. Because if he does, and the base of your skull contacts that crosspiece, and separates your head from your spine and kills yer azz, then there is not much to worry about unless it's your flopping binoculars giving you black eyes and busted noses during the forthcoming rodeo event. Or all the pots, pans, cans, stoves and other hard things in it, breaking all your fugging ribs when you finally come down from orbit and hit the ground. Take a little advice, no packs horseback, unless it rides well above the cantle, and stays well below your shoulders. There is two kinds of hunting horses. One kind to carry you, and the other kind to carry your chit. As 'stick would say, 'you've been led to water'........

tell your outfitter you need one of each kind.....

1- thanks, I asked advice for a reason, no need to be a smart@. Why buy something else when I already have soemthing that 'might' work? We hike, we camp, it serves a purpose.

Do I plan to wear while on horseback? Don't know, hence the question.

I asked an honest and respectable question here, no pretense, so if you can't answer in a respectable manner, next time just refrain and let me 'snap my head off on a backpack frame and die'.

I rode with a pack for 12 yrs, fortunately never got dumped, not wearing a pack anyway. Don does make a valid point, a full frame pack will hang up on the cantle going downhill it can go behind the cantle and rub the horses' back. I had good luck using Eberlestock internal frame packs.

I'm not a real cowboy but I have learned how to cheat a horse and lessen my time on the ground. That said, if it does turn into a rodeo wearing a pack I'm looking for the first exit.

Now I use a packhorse, you can haul 3 full size packs and a quartered deer. Had extra horses, so why not?

The man gave you very good information for free...and the only one being an ungrateful prick is you.

Don's forgotten more about riding horses than most will ever know.

You have horses; you don't need a pack.

Great advice from Huntsman22. A small pack hung on the cantle is all you want. Additionally, you don't want any extra weight that far back on the horse.

I think the issue is your purpose of the backpack with a frame, and the term "daypack" in the same context.

If you are doing a drop-camp, and not going to see the outfitter AND the horses for a week, TAKING a backpack with a frame on the pack horse probably makes sense.

Wearing a framed pack on a horse doesn't work well, and Hunts (Don) is 100% right, especially when Horse #1 decides to divest of his load (you) in the blow-downs, stream bottom, steep cut-bank, narrow trail, etc.

The other question is how much time you have on a horse without a pack. If not much, adding the pack is going to cause you that much more of a challenge riding. The weight up high is going to screw with your balance, it will shift when you don't expect it, and cause you several more issues with keeping the saddle centered in the horse.

I literally watched a guy with a daypack roll off a horse in camp because he didn't know how to ride, and didn't know how to shift his weight in the saddle, to keep the saddle from rolling when the horse shifted. When his CG shifted, the pack followed and added the momentum to his movement, off he went.

Take the advise with the humor in which it was intended, real cowboys like their fun with the dude hunters. It's a rite of passage, next year, you can share your experience with others asking the same question.

That's only because his memory is shot, hell he forgets everything.

Didn't even send me a Christmas card this year.

Don't worry Smoke, he didn't send me one either......

LMFAO!

I hunt off of horses a lot.I take a very light camp, bag, tipi, and stove weigh 13lbs. I take my pack horse with me every morning,so rather than wear my pack, i put it on the pack horse. When I tie up, and begin to hunt, I put the back pack on. Going the 12 miles into where I camp, I just top pack my back pack, that way I don't have to mess with it. As stated, if you do wear a pack, while riding,use a soft one, not one with a frame. If you do get in a wreck,a frame can hang up on stuff. Make sure your binos don't flop around,either,that can be tiresome.

You too?? It's worse than I thought...

Thank you fellas. I can get a cheap small pack for lunch, water and such....even thought about my turkey vest.

JSTu: once again, plz refrain next time....just couldn't help yourself could you? you proved a good point for me. I said 'I appreciate his response', but as you can tell for yourself, it was dripping with sarcasm with bits and pieces of useful information mixed in......

Dude, Huntsman22 was being nice. You don't want to see him pi$$ed. There's a reason prairie dogs and longhorns cringe in fear when he floats by.

Like H22 said, you'd better have your ducks in a row and hope said pony is used to backpacks on riders looking like Lon Chaney on a bad day, scratching on branches, bumping its a$$, etc. etc. or you'll pay a dear price, and most likely in the middle of nowhere. Been there done that, once.

"Floats by??" Are you saying Huntsman is a little light in the loafers?

You ever wear those Wranglers?

If you're not real familiar with horses and someone tells you some horse is a 100% safe, they're lying.

Lot of chit that can go wrong on the worlds best horse. Always have an exit plan that you don't have to think about for more than 1/2 a second.