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I bought a Run max 80lb vest 10 slots that hold 8lb cylinders made of slippery nylon works great, I had my wife sew on a strap with a buckle in front for doing push ups.

I like using sand bags. I Duck taped the bags to keep them kind of stuff so they hold their shape other wise it all settles down to the bottom of my pack and gets uncomfortable.

I use a fifty pound sack of flour. Generally do an eight mile hike through Ozark hill country on trail with it. For time, which averages about two and a half hours.

Sand bags. I used to use a concrete block but I am getting older.

I prefer jugs of water. That gives me the flexibility to drain them if a knee starts hurting or whatever. I used this method when training for a sheep hunt where my primary goal was to build climbing muscles, but I didn't want to strain my knees on the long downhill coming back.

sand bags here as well- bought three 60 # bags- have one at 30 #, one at 45 # and one fully intact @ 60 #; I just rolled the bags over a few times and then wrapped with Gorilla tape.

the bags (even the intact 60 # one) leaks some sand, not a problem with my pack as it has a meat shelf outside of the bag itself

also my weighted workouts are limited to the 6-8 weeks prior to hunting season (twice a week); I'm generally carrying a pack of some sort the rest of the year day hiking and backpacking and 6-8 weeks of a heavier pack has proven optimal for me; also found that 60 # of sand (and another ~ 15 # in pack/water/jacket/etc) is more than enough for training; too much weight (especially close to hunting season) is too much of a risk of jeopardizing hunting season with an injury

have never had any issues packing out 100-ish # loads; not overly pleasant, but very doable

50 pound bag of salt works, may have been said already.

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when i was young and much tuffer i used to carry my 5 year old son in the back pack with a metal frame he loved it hang`n on and sometimes yelling like Tarzan

For training purposes only (cardio/strength) I use this;

https://www.roguefitness.com/alice-frame-and-load-trainer

Every time I walk the dog it's on my back.

I just put the Alice frame back in the closet. It hurt so bad with a heavy load. Killing my hips. Was not wide enough for my body.

Just got in a pack frame and bag from Barneys. Starting with 80 pounds in it and it carries very nicely for me not having picked up a pack since September.

caveat I've not read the whole post yet. Since in Texas we feed corn to the deer, my training weight has best been bags of feed. Its buiky enough to work good. One bag of corn that I bag is about 65 pounds. Then get a bag of about 20 sealed and a bag of about 30 or so. Just ad as needed. It adds height to the weight. The only thing thats not realistic to me is it doesn't replicate the bag of moose trimmings depending on what meat bags we have any given kill.

For packing a bear hide or etc... that gets wadded up and the weight is all up and down or for carrying quarters so far the bags of feed work pretty easy.

A lot of people didn’t read the OP. ‘Tis the way of the ‘fire.

Ironbender, I read the OP and I've gotta say, don't blame your heavy bottom on water jugs, you just need to get out more.

Other than that, the .30-06 is way better for elk than the .270, and Leupold scopes suck.

Thanks me later.

Sonuva….

Have you been doxxing me? How'd you know my middle name?

Ridiculous. With like bullet weights, the 270 has higher sectional density!

Speaking of like bullet weights, which bullet weights do you like?

When you get the bottom weights squared away,,,do you have any preferences for jugs????

But I read your post. Thats why I said feed. Bulky weight rather than compact weight. Did the compact weight. Didn't care for all the weight at the bottom of the bag. Did small, didn't care for them moving around.

I can pick up feed in different types and manage to move around. Part bag of this or that. foam pad in-between if I wanted etc...

as you should know per your iron bending, some feed bags are bulkier than others, yet all are to be 50 pounds of weight.

As always YMMV but did think you were asking for all ideas.

The joy of asking. 99 percent of answers may not fit but one might be the magic answer for you.