Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Best setup for packing out meat

Hey guys. Interested in some advice. What are you guys using for back packing you quarters out of the woods? Looking for comfortable and well built. Will mainly be used for whitetails. Tore my mcl this year and could not find time for surgery. We head far back into the wilderness and im not quite sure i can make the drag yet. Figured this gets me back there with a plan to get my meat out. Thanks

Stone glacier packs and a pedal bike with panniers (depending on location). Easy to push a bike around and saves your back/knees.

Kifaru for me.


In the US - no bikes allowed in the wilderness. Outside of the wilderness if you have a decent horse trail you can use a bike to push with panniers it works awesome.

We use mountain bikes with tailers (Blue Sky) where the trailers will fit on the trails..

They are allowed in the Travel Management Area we usually hunt.

A bike easily carries a whole deer or one quarter. A trailer will carry two deer or half an elk plus.

I have a mystery ranch metcalf setup I’m about to sell

Pm me if interested

Does anyone in your area rent llamas? They're very easy to use and are great packers. Rentals, though, can get expensive. The closest one to me costs $80/llama/day for a 3 to 6 day trip. You'll likely need several of them.

When I hunted deer back east, we used wheelbarrows. They're made to push heavy loads and a big inflatable tire works well on any decent kind of trail. We'd go 3-4 miles in.

Some years ago, my partner and I used a wheelbarrow to pack an elk 4 miles. It was a 4x4 and we got it all in 1 trip. Granted, it was on an old logging road and 95% downhill. We used a rope so both of us could pull on the occasional uphill stretch.

Hint: don't try this with a cheap Walmart wheelbarrow. They'll fall apart with that much weight on rough trails. Only use a quality heavy duty one.

I use a Kifaru cargo sling for most day trips, I like to go in as light as possible...

Seek Outside Revolution is very comfortable with heavy loads.

You mean like this one?

Been with Kifaru for a long time. My favorite pack is my old HighCamp on a Bikini frame. Can easily haul a full boned out whitetail or single hind 1/4 of an Elk. My newer 14’r or even my old LateSeason can do a fully boned whitetail but there won’t be much room left over.

Looking at a Mystery Ranch PopUp 28 right now - might be something to look into for you as well.

Good luck!

Kifaru Stryker

There's lots of good options, no doubt. As long as the frame and belt fits you, I think the method of strapping it to the frame is of less importance, barring extremes.

Personally I keep an old Cabela's external frame pack around with 10 feet of rope for certain situations, but also have a quarter panel attached to my Kifaru frame, under the main bag for other situations, specifically the first load of meat.

I see you're from central Pa., and probably hunting the same type of terrain as me in the NY Catskills and Adirondacks. For a great day pack that's small and slender enough not to hang up in the brush and heavy timber, and has an excellent load shelf for meat hauling capability, I can highly recommend a Mystery Ranch Pop Up 28.

Hey, tinman.... Does your pack loadout change depending on roughness of country or if there is meat to pack?....

If I know, or really think there will be meat to pack then yes: and I take my external frame pack. I am ALWAYS packing meat though. ALWAYS.

As far as ruggedness, generally no, not really. Distance and the need or lack of need for more gear to be along has more to do with whether I take my Kifaru quarter panel, or my entire Reckoning pack.



That is a really unique piece of gear you have there on the lower right. Does that cock and ballz help you kill elk or survive a cold, lonely night in the backcountry? Safety first, ya know?

not MY loadout, I saw that and thought of you.....

I still can’t understand the separate pack frame and daypack deal so many guys like.

My kifaru bikini with timberline bag weighs less than my badlands 2200, has 2-3 times the capacity, hauls heavy loads better, and cinches down flat when empty. I have a cargo panel but never use it, the bag works for everything.

Really nice to always have with you, the means to haul out a full deboned deer or elk quarters and not have to go back to the truck or trailhead to swap out an equal or heavier day pack for a capable hauler.