Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting What pack are you all using on 4-10 day hunts?

I'd like to see or hear about what pack you are using on your 4-10 day hunts!!! What is the thing you like about it most? And what pack did your new one replace and why?

Thanks CD

I replaced my J105 with the kelty Cache Hauler packing my Blacks Creek Alaskan. (4000cbi). Didn't like my J105 as a day pack (to heavy) and felt it was maxed out at around 60 pds for extended distances.

I like my set up now because the Kelty will haul a ton of weight and my Alaskan is a wonderful day pack capible of getting an elk quarter or boned out deer back to camp!!

I will admit that Im looking at several packs right now and may get one but for now this it it!!









I will be adding the Kifaru Gun Bearer to this set up!!

Hello CD,
I have a J104 and had the same exp. you had as far as heavy weight and feeling the pack was maxed out. I am looking for my next setup and REI has a 20% off coupon thru EOM. So I am going over to look at this kelty. What about this setup has you looking at another pack?
MIke

Hello CD,
I have a J104 and had the same exp. you had as far as heavy weight and feeling the pack was maxed out. I am looking for my next setup and REI has a 20% off coupon thru EOM. So I am going over to look at this kelty. What about this setup has you looking at another pack?
MIke

I'm only concerned with an External frame because I've heard that your load can shift. I have done some training with this set-up and as of yet see it as a problem. Some off the terrain we hunt I'm sure would qualify as mountaineering type terrain. And a load shifting on my back would not be a good thing.

This set up only cost me $300.00

It weights just about 9lbs. I think.

Just for an example If I got a Kifaru longhunter Rendevous that's an 8500cbi pack it would only weight around 8 pds and be capible of hauling more. But it also costs close to $600.00!

That set-up in the pic is good for 8-9 days!! It weights right at 60 lbs. And that Kelty Cache Frame hauls it very comfortable!! Much more comfortable than my J105 did.

Chuck,

I used that Kelty to haul out a bull elk last fall, it was all up hill for a mile and half. That first load had to be 90 lbs +,
I experinced no shifting whatsoever, it worked. I have complete confidence in it.

Hey CD,
Just ordered the cache hauler from REI. I was able to do the 20% plus my dividend so what the heck. If nothing else this may end up my dedicated meat hauler/backup pack till I get this whole MR/Kifaru thing Fig out.
MIke

I hope it works for ya!!! Make sure you let us know how it performs!!

CD

CD
You got it. Should be here in about 2 weeks. First thing I am going to do is put last years camp on it-crank it down and see how it feels. Depending on the snowpack I have about 6-8 weeks left in my ski season then it will be time to hit Barr Trail on Pikes Peak for some training hikes.
MIke

CreepingD, for all-out heavy hauling I don't think a good external can be beat. I carried an external on the Appalachin Trail one summer as a kid for 600 miles and yours is better than what was available in 1977! External's are quite a bit less fussy about how you pack gear/weight in them than an internal. That has hunting written all over it IMO...

Kelty also makes a pack bag for this frame, and if I am not mistaken , one of them has shoulder straps to use as a day pack without the frame. I don't have the bag but have used the frame for a couple of years. It handles loads well.

Interesting, I trained with 70 and then 120 in my J105 all last year. Never was an issue at all to me. Now have a Longhunter. Not any more impressed with it to date.

Had some kind of external frame Barneys thing in 2003. The weight shifted and sucked, plus no place to put extra gear unless you had another small bag or pack. Where as with the cheap internal I had that year, I had half a bou in it, and strapped down so well it didn't move.

I"m sure at some point it all boils down to personal preference, but with that external we had to tie, tie some more and then more to keep all the meat bags in place for the 3.5 mile hike out.

The Kelty external does look well made though... from what I can see.

Jeff

Jeff, one of these years I going to pick up a Dana Design Terraframe or Flatbed pack for hunting... the frame on that was the finest blend of internal/external I've ever used. For me it was simply astonishing. Too bad there's nothing like it currently made (far as I know).

Brad

Still think that a lot of this has to do with personal preference and also body size/style and fitness.

When I was walking a few miles with 120 in the J105, it never was pleasant, but never bad. I"d hate to have to do lots of vertical with it. But it feels the same in 3 different packs so far. Still a heavy pack to me. No way around that.

Never seen a Dana, of course living in flat TX you tend to see jeeps/4 wheelers and know a lot of folks that drive everywhere, when I prefered to walk to hunt from the cabin....

Jeff

I'm using an Osprey Aether 70 as my pack in backpack along with the Cabelas EAO frame which I will use to hopefully pack a ram or 2 back to base camp. The Osprey is THE most comfrotable pack I have ever used and my first internal. I like the moldable hip belt and suspension system. Haven't had a chance to use the Cabelas frame but it appears to be much better than the previous design.

My Osprey Crescent is the best riding pack, I've ever owned as well. I like having a MR g-pack for overloading and abuse; though the Crescent could likely handle it, too.

Well, I just spoke with Andrew at MR (big surprise to my buds here! ) and ordered a Crew Cab in the Foliage Green colour that I have come to really like. Further info. on the developing NICE "Overkill" frame has convinced me to buy one, when they are available and use my Crew Cab on it and my 6500 bag on the NICE frame I currently have. This will work, for me, better than anything else I have had or tried.

I also suggested that Andrew ask Dana about designing a removable extension frame as an option; this would be a real boon in certain situations and I hope that "Big D" will do this as he further develops the NICE concept.

They are also making mods. to the BDSB pack to incorporate a wider yoke and while I am not going to buy the newest edition, I do think that this will benefit heavier, stouter and just plain BIG guys. I remain deeply impressed by MR, great people, fabulous packs.

ok, kutenay ...

dont leave us out there ... what is in store for the overkill frame????

Any mention of which shore that's going to get made on?

The Eberlestock "just one" is what I have been using for two years. I use it to haul in camp, then as a daypack. Has worked fine for hauling meat too. There are probably better packs out there, but the eberlestock works for me.

CD,

How much does the Black Creek Alaskan weigh empty? I looked at one in a Sportsmans Warehouse on Saturday and was favaorably impressed with it. The J104 and 105 had their weights on the tags. The Alaskan didn't and all on the fish scales were in the package still so I couldn't weigh it in the store, and the Black Creek web site doesn't have a weight listed.

Thanks