Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting So what backpack?

I use a Kifaru Tailgunner TG1 for deer and squirrel hunting, a Kifaru X-Ray for EDC, a Mystery Ranch Crew Cab for hauling deer out of woods. Can't go wrong with either of those 2 companies.

Mystery Ranch 3600ci Metcalf bag with the NICE frame. Lightest bag for the NICE yet, certainly big enough for 3 days, and more elk meat than you can carry.

I have used 3 different Mystery Ranch packs, both of the first generation Kuiu packs, and 3 Kifaru packs/bags. It seems as though the Kifaru seem to carry the best for me. I used the standard timberline for about 6 months last summer and into hunting season. I was pleased with that bag. I decided to give the Duplex timberline a go and have been using that for a few months now. The thing is built rock solid and carrier well for me. I have found that the new Bikini Frame Kifaru pack frame and bag very intriguing and plan to try that one out more ASAP. It seems like a excellent cross between the standard suspension and the Duplex Frame.

Bottom Line is you will find different packs suit people needs differently and will carry differently according to your body's characteristics.

I would look into buying a used Kifaru pack or the new bikini frame. JMO.

-Dan

The only pack currently made that I'd own is the Arcteryx Bora 80 or 95, and there's a lot I don't like about those.

My favorite packs are the older Osprey Vector line (from the 1990's) and Dana's from the same era. Their Loadmaster externals are as good as it gets for a hunting pack.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the pack market today, unlike all other things in the BP world, has gone backwards, not forwards.

I disagree, the boots we used to be able to buy, European-made were FAR superior to any I can find now. The best boots I can find will show leather fatigue and are "lasted" with these pathetic injection molds and are not even close to my old Galibiers, older Scarpa, Meindl or several other makes of the '60s and '70s.

Packs, we do agree here, the only improvement in the current MR "G" packs over the older Terraplanes and Astroplanes is in the tauter and firmer back panel. The older harness straps were FAR superior to those now made, but, the new ones still work.

I will soon have two Loadmaster frames and the Longbed Loadmaster, the total cost of all of these in new shape was about what I paid in Canuckbux, tax and shipping in, for my fully rigged MR NICE 6500.

This, is one reason why I try to advise beginners to buy used and try stuff out to find what works for you, not any other person.

That said, I am wearing as my everyday shoes, a pair of Norwegian-lasted Zamberlan "Nuvaluos" which are,so far, pretty impressive and may herald a return to REAL, LEATHER boots that last and give the support needed in steep country. Time will tell, but, after six months, one rugged trip in the Kootenays and lots of health hikes, I am quite happy with them.

Kute, I wouldn't take an MR for free. I regret feeling that way, but I despise the suspension. It's a big compromise designed to get away from making more than one size. The NICE is another compromise, built around military contracts and ALICE dimensions.

Marketing...

A lot of divergent views here as everyone has a different body and its reaction to various packs. This is one of those scenarios that a better move would be to go to a well stocked store and try on different models. Even then a cursory "test" may not be the same when trekking around in the bush with weight in the back.

I would like to defend the Eberlestock previously mentioned by Kakobuka68. I have a ten year old Just One that has been all over the western US including 6 trips to Alaska. I must report zero failures in all aspects including the rifle scabbard which I think is a great idea! I loathe the Kifaru Gun Bearer so you can see this is a personal topic.

The Kuiu was pretty nice but I couldn't get used to the folding technique to close the large compartment. I wanted a high quality zipper.

I will be testing a new to me Eberlestock X1 in the next week on the upcoming elk hunt. This is a scaled down version of the Just One - more suitable for a daypack.

Anyway, in the backpacking/camping arena, if you find something you like that works well - GO BUY ANOTHER ONE.
Too many times the manufacturer discontinues the model, cheapens it or goes out of business.

The vector series ospreys are nice. Mine is long in the tooth but still gets used. My wife almost picked up another for $40 at a thrift store but wasn't sure if it would fit me. I run the silhouette with the vector compression but no lid. It's about 6lb in that config and around 6000 cubic if I recall.

You can do a lot worse than a Kelty cache hauler for heavy loads as well. The compression buckle broke on one load out but that's really my only complaint for what it is. For big loads it is what I would go to first.

With all due respect BW I'm with Thomas on this one. A guy would be far better of and spend less on a Dana Design Longbed or an older used Dana Internal. You couldn't pay me to ever use an Eberle again. Glad it's worked out for you but they really aren't worth the money. Long story short I tried 3 different J105's all three had failures and as bad a heavy hauler the J104 was the J105 wasn't much better. JMO

"I wouldn't take an MR for free. I regret feeling that way, but I despise the suspension. It's a big compromise designed to get away from making more than one size. The NICE is another compromise, built around military contracts and ALICE dimensions."

+100 but each person is different and pack fit is so personal. They are very well built though! My choice for heavy loads is the Full Curl and under 75-lbs my favorite is the Siwash by Kifaru. The Cache Hauler wasmy previous work horse.

You could give me an MR for free, but I would sell it and buy a Stone Glacier.

Is there any gathering, or outdoor expo, or store, or something, where all these packs are lined up - Kifaru, Stone Glacier, Dana, Osprey, Arcteryx, Kuiu, MR etc etc, with 100 lbs in them and at least a 1/2 mile loop trail set up over varying terrain, and people can walk up and try them out?

If not, why not!?!?

Becuase these packs make up a tiny fraction of the packs sold overall and even finding those in one place is difficult.

Backpackers might buy a new pack every couple of years, or every year for heavy backpackers. Hunters normally keep a pack for a long time. The market is small.

95% or more of the hunting population doesn't need a good backpack. They either load them whole, or are so close to the vehicle, a half mile hump isn't going to matter. It might look cool to have a nice backpack. I saw a thread on the bowsite of a guy with crampons walking through a slushy snowbank on an August coastal mountain goat hunt. Funny stuff, but at least he had some sweet gear.

I just used a calculator and found that I humped over 800 pounds of dead animals this year in a Mystery Ranch backpack, distances of 2 miles to 14 miles. I've been tired and beat, but never sore back or shoulders. If I thought something would work better for me, I'd probably use it. Brad, I want to borrow your bora to see if I like it.

There are a number of sound reasons why such an outlet does not and is not likely to exist. The first is that all of the "name" packs are made by highly individualistic people who are competing with each other and are not about to make it "easy" for anyone to try competitor's packs before buying theirs.

Next, contrary to what most seem to think and even with the high markups in the "softgoods", i.e., some "kewl" tourist coming to BC wearing a highend G/T or eVent shell that was built for Everest[and 99% of the dudes do exactly that, makes us howl with laughter,] there is not actually a lot of money in the gear industry. This, is particularly true of the highend gear usually discussed here, MR, Kifaru, Valandre and so on.

Greenhorn, has nailed another important aspect of this and I can say that here in BC, one of big game trophy collecting's real "meccas", relatively FEW hunters actually backpack hunt and "dude hunters" from the US, and other foreign nations almost never do.

There are good reasons for this involving the size of many of our game species, the still very remote and wild country that can be and often is dangerous for any but genuinely skilled persons and the huge number of ATVs, 4x4s, river jet boats and other technical devices that most can now avail themselves of to bring home the "bacon".

I would like to stress here, again, that you DO NOT need to have all of the fancy and costly gear that is discussed here to successfully backpack hunt. The whole "art" has become so commercialized that the original purpose (s) have been smothered in WHO HAS the BEST, blah, blah, blah and also WHO KILLS THE MOST, yada, yada,yada.

Among the most successful hunters I know is my 52 year old cousin in Nelson, BC, a former N.H.L. hockey player and owner of a large construction firm that he has built from the beginning over the past 30+ years. He is VERY fit, large, strong, tough and loves to be out in the bush, all over BC.

I visited him last October and he jokingly said, " you know, Dewey, I see all these guys with all the fancy gear, buying new [bleep] all the time and they never shoot any game"....... This, is a bit of an exaggeration, but, not too far from the truth here in BC, from my observations since I started backpack camping and hunting in 1964 and working in bush for the BCFS the next spring.

Much of my hunting clothing is 20+ years old, some mended, faded and almost ALL of it is Cabela's grade stuff, it has worked for me just fine and the latest COOHOO or whatever matched camo sets, new pack model every year and all sorts of gadgets to supposedly do what real bush skills should do are just a commercial marketing ploy to take your money.

Get a Kelty Cache Hauler, some good USED gear and get out there, you will make mistakes, will sometimes be tired, dirty, smell bad and if solo, you WILL get lonely, but, it will all progress for you until you are a competent and happy backpack hunter.

Then, you get old, like me, and as your abilities decline with age, you will have memories that make life so very much more enjoyable.

Wow, Kutenay. All I can really say after that is "Hell Yeah!"

Great post Kute. And I certainly agree with you that when a guy gets old his abilities start to decline! I don't even know if I could carry anything in it if I were to have one of these fancy packs you guys are talking about here!

Hi everyone! Long time lurker but this is my first post!

I'm on board with the minimalist way of thinking. I picked up a used Cabela's Alaskan pack on Craigslist and I'm using the hell out of it! The frame is really solid and it carries pretty comfortable in my opinion (probably my condition is the limiting factor, not the pack).

I removed the meat shelf and the top hoop to save some weight (not sure about the meat shelf long-term) and the frame and suspension weighs 3 lbs, 14 oz. I'm thinking about ditching the Cabela's bag and putting my gear in a dry bag lashed to the frame this season. I got an Alice pack liner and some others I'm playing around with. I'm thinking about making a compression panel or maybe looking at a Hill People Gear daypack that can double as compression panel.

The setup is dirt cheap and really versatile. The frame is a direct knock-off of an external Camp Trails frame so I imagine you could use one of those - I see them cheap on Craigslist all the time. Better to rig up what you can afford than stay home saving up for the big brands!

I use a NICE frame. If no one here told me it sucked, I wouldn't know. Carrys weight while I abuse it and has yet to stop. Bloody, dirty and all.

Yup, I have a Gen. 1 NICE that I have packed a weighed 90+ lbs. on and in comfort. I know that this is nothing for some mighty dudes, but, I am doing this in my 60s and this pack is among the most comfortable I have ever used.

I have a later NICE frame as well, the one with five belt segments and it does not feel quite as good as the above, but, compared to most other large packs I have toted, it is just fine.

Fit, fit, and fit and then, using an item of gear as it was intended by the designer. For example, I almost killed myself long ago, trying to climb very steep rock in "The Valhallas" of the West Kootenays, wearing a large frame pack....but, we used what we could get and were fit enough to make it work.