Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Did any of you every hunt with a Kelty external frame?

I was just reminiscing on the old boy scout days (late 90's, early 2000's) of using a Kelty Super Tioga that I stupidly sold when I went off to college... it was a great pack and I've had to spend a lot of money to match its level of comfort in carrying heavy loads. And to this day nothing compares to its ability to carry awkward loads into the backcountry. Now that I have a family I really wish I'd held onto it.

I didn't hunt back then. But as I recall my pack was pretty robust. A far cry from most of what Kelty makes now. It was a serious load hauler. Kelty is definitely more of a budget brand now than it used to be.

But it got me thinking. Have any of you guys used Kelty packs in the past for hunting? I've thought about grabbing a quality older model off ebay for my son for when he gets a little older for hiking and camping - I'm thinking it might work pretty well for him hunting as well.

I still have a kelty I bought used in the 80s. when I have a heavy load it gets the nod over all my newer packs.

I had a kelty 50th anniversary external frame pack. It worked fine. Heaviest load was a half cow elk boned out. Almost more than I could pick up.

I've never used any of the top end stuff, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing. That pack would work for any hunt and didn't break the bank.

I used the Cabela's frame pack for taking in camp and hauling out meat. Very similar to my old Kelty used in Boy Scouts.

My very first real backtrip to the Smoky Mountains in college (early 90's) was with one of those Kelty frame packs. I bought two. Girlfriend that the time used the other one. Used that frame pack for numerous hiking trips and some hunting. I made a hook on one of the external vertical legs of the frame to carry my rifle via the sling. Worked surprisingly well, although the packs were loud overall. Lot of metal and clanking and pins rattling.

I put them on some online sales place about 8 years ago for maybe $20/each. The guy who bought them...wanted them for the sole purpose of using them to haul out elk quarters. Leave them in camp, then come get them to haul out the meat. Which ironically I used to think was a valid methodology. However every time I killed an elk, I put the meat in whatever pack I had with me and never made an empty trip. The frame packs sat in the truck bed year after year. I wonder if he ever used them as intended.

Yep. We duct-taped the little pins so they wouldn’t rattle.

Dont use a kelty, and never used one a lot.

I do still use a Barneys frame pack for the worst loads. I replaced most of the pins and rings with 1/4 x 20 bolts and nylocs. That took a lot of the squeak out of it.

For backpacking and heavy loads .. well, I try not to do that, but I have not discarded my old '80-vintage Tioga II. It simply trounces any internal frame pack I've ever seen. With today's gear there's not as much need for 50-60-70 pound loads backpacking. I mostly use a 65L internal frame pack. Still, it is comforting to know I have that old workhorse-on-steroids available if the need ever comes up. One change I plan to make is replacing the shoulder pads and waist belt with the much more padded versions from the current Kelty trekker as soon as those are back in stock.

For truly brutal loads .. in other words, meat, I think one of the dedicated meat haulers .. Eberlestock F1 Mainframe, Mystery Ranch, etc might be more comfortable and should be more durable. A guess.

I still have my '70s vintage Kelty Tioga frame from my Boy Scout days though the pack bag has long since rotted away. I've used the frame for packing out a few deer and elk over the years but it sits on the shelf these days.

My brother was the local Boy Scout Master in the 70's. We copied my Kelty frame by brazing electrical conduit. A saddle maker made the canvas packs. My T/M was donated as was everything else from local businesses. The pack frames are still in use today packing out Idaho game.

I used a Kelty Cache Hauler to pack out two elk. It worked fine but I had it plus a day pack so I decided to upgrade to a single Mystery Ranch pack.

I used one for years....great pack....ahead of its time.

Mine had the SS buckle on the waist belt that I wish other pack makers would copy as these plastic squeeze buckles are a PIA.
Should you fall in a creek with a load on your back, the Kelty buckle is quick to exit with cold, gloved hands.

I watch yard sales for old worn out Kelty packs and buy em for the buckle.

Yes, when I first got to AK I was on a tight budget, I got one in a second hand store and used it to haul several moose and caribou home. Thousands of pounds of meat came home on that pack for the years I used it. I recently gave it to a younger guy i work with who is trying to get his first moose.

I do still have a Barney’s frame around which has been a great upgrade and in my opinion it’s the best thing out there for hauling moose. Cam straps hold quarters on tight. It’s also great for hauling bear hides when you don’t want to grease up your nice internal frame hunting pack.

Used a Kelty for about 20 yrs. Bear finally chewed it up as I left it on a lakeshore while caribou hunting in Quebec. Had packed my first bull in the day before. Bought (orderd) a Kifaru Longhunter when I got home that I still have 22 yrs later. Much better for hunting and packing meat in rough country than the Kelty. Did upgrade to a newer Kifaru 6 years ago but used the old one for packing out bears in the spring and as a loaner for friends without a good pack.

Got my Kelty in '71 after going through several other external frame packs which did not hold up. Have replaced belt and shoulder straps twice as they get stiff with sweat and age. It is still going strong although I do not use it as much as I used to, having gone to internals. Last meat hauled was four caribou about 10 years back. Still works great.

Have a Kelty Super Tioga Special Edition built on the “Through Hiker” frame. 20+ years old. Amazing pack. Came out just in time to be superseded by internal frames. I truly believe that if a hunting company came out with the same pack now and added some tactical features (molle webbing) people would rave. More stable with a heavy load than Kifaru or Seek Outside in my opinion.

This

I have two external frame Freighters that I use only for packing meat. The bag left a long time ago so I bag the pieces in game bags, then use paracord to tie the pieces to the frame. I can get an elk out easy in four trips, I used to do three, but at my age I am happy that I can get one out by myself.

I have an old external frame Kelty with a dual compartment bag that I cut the divider out of and bent a meat shelf out of EMT conduit. New waist band and shoulder straps and it’s still going strong 25 years later

I have been amused over the years at how the sight of my old Kelty frame pack draws in the other old hikers and climbers from the 60's and 70's. Great starter for trail conversations that can cover pitons, goldline and other classic gear.

As far as frame packs go, I believe the old early '70's Kelty's are as good as any ever made.

I was the designer for Kelty from 1970-74. I designed the original Tioga, Serac, internal frame Tour Pack amongst lots of other products. It was an awesome job and I’m super proud of my work. I’ve also been hunting since I was 14, 1964 but only during archery Elk season here in Montana do I combine backpacking and hunting, and I’m way too old to be carrying loads of meat out on my back. I still use my Kelty’s for packing in a lightweight camp, but I’ll hire horses to pack the elk out. During general rifle season I typically use a sled to drag the animal out.

I used a Kelty pack a lot back in the 60s and 70s when I was doing a lot of climbing. They were great external frame packs for carrying loads on trails. I moved to internal frame packs because they were easier to use in rough terrain where an external frame can move around and affect your balance. Kelty's are still great packs for hauling loads though.

I guided with Ralph, the sewing partner to Barnie back in the '80s. I had a Barney's Moose packer bag from the first batch sewn overseas (the wedge in the partnership) and he basically took my bag apart and resewed it with every bell and whistle they had at the time. Ralph died in the very early '90s of pancreatic cancer and the bag lived on. Riley took the pack on many hunts in his early years. Then he went on a day hunt and left the mostly empty pack in the boat they were pulling. At Girdwood they stopped for fuel and snacks. At some point they noticed my pack was gone. They may have not seen it blow out or it was stolen while they were in the store.

That pack had hauled a lot of sheep, moose, and caribou by then. It was before my serious addiction to Sitka blacktails....

The Barney's Freighter had replaced an old Kelty. At my weight limits these days the Kelty is probably more than I need.

I found an older Kelly at what my wife calls the “Mall”. (Give and take at our local transfer station). Got it to use hunting. But never needed to haul out quarters. But last year we had a long three week job hand cutting on a power line deep in the Mountains. 1.5 miles mostly up hill. Hauled saw gas and oil, saws and water with that pack frame. Flawless. Great early design that was just as comfortable today as it was when I hiked in school back in the early 80’s with a club loaner.
Timeless design Glacier John

I still have an original Barney’s pack. I have no idea what it will hold, but I know it’ll haul a moose hind quarter that I recall was in the 125lb range.

Kelty Cache hauler here. Bought one new a few years ago. Used it twice so far in Alaska on diy drop off moose hunts. Has worked great for me.

I have the bag off an old Cabela's Alaskan pack that I sometimes use as a removable storage bag. Kind of a hybrid system. Love the solid meat shelf.

I have a Kelty 40th Anniversary frame pack from many decades ago. Last used by me 24 years ago to carry quarters of a NH bull moose about a mile to the truck. I've used internal frame packs for hiking and camping for more than30 years now but the frame pack was much better for hauling the big loads. Any moose I shoot now will be close to a road so I won't be using the Kelty. If anyone is interested in it, please let me know.

Got two (B-5s ?) from late 70's in the basement now. I think they were the immediate predecessor of the Tioga? or maybe they are Tiogas. Bought them from Barney's, anyway.

Wife's is in fair shape yet - mine (second one- done wore out the first one.), is - um - used, but still maybe usable for what little I'll be doing with it for the rest of my life. A few more moose hopefully - but done with the alpine stuff, sheep and goats. That welded up frame is doing nicely......

Last used it to pack a couple caribou out a mile and a half 4 years ago. Been using the ATV's since, in that spot, anyway.

They fit me better anyway.

I haven't used mine much recently, but about 10 years ago I backpacked in for a mule deer hunt here in Washington with my son. The old Kelty did just fine. I was in my mid-late 50's in this photo he snapped on our hike in. We set up for a few nights and hunted, but didn't get a buck.




That pack has been mine since new in the 1970's. I'm thinking that it was called the Serac? It can carry an awful lot of stuff! Used to backpack a fair bit, but not so much anymore.

Regards, Guy

COLO western: I remember my first back pack Hunt in which I used (made do with?) a Trapper Nelson pack frame.
I have used Kelty stuff over the years and my favorite for a while (for Mt. Goat hunting at least) was a big bagged pack frame that also unfolded into a cot to sleep on!
Kept me up off of the wet on several trips.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I still have a Kelty Super Tioga. Thing is super comfy with a heavy load compared to an internal frame pack.

My guide in AK has a couple in his outbuilding along with about 25 other packs - mostly donated by disgruntled hunters from the lower 48. We use an old Kelty to haul in moose meat 6 years ago - simple and efficient. The loft is sort of a graveyard for modern day packs that didn't work out.

I too had a Kelty Super Tioga and used it for a backpack Dall sheep hunt with Gana River back in 1995. It was an awesome pack.

I was in the Deschutes Canyon recently with a guy that had an old Kelty external frame.
I have an Alpenlite which is a "Kelty-Improved" (better weight transfer to hips).
Both good packs.

I use a Cache Hauler and love it. It's a great setup that I prefer to some much more expensive packs. I'm not saying the materials and construction are the best in the business, but the hipbelt is phenomenal. The older Super Tiogas and Trekkers are great, but it's getting harder to find one that isn't suffering the effects of age.

I haven't tried a Barney's pack, however. I'd love to.

Dad bought me a Kelty D4 for my first pack when I was 14. I used it on many backpack trips growing up and quite a few times to pack animals. Every pack I’ve had since then has been an upgrade. The present Seek Outside is the best I’ve had yet.

I started out with a couple used Kelty pack frames. Don't recall which models. The first I gave to a coworker. The second I swapped out bags to a cabelas bag. Still have it in the garage as a loner. About a decade or so ago upgraded to a Barney's pack.

You really need to ck a pack for fit like you do a pair of boots. I bought a Cache Hauler and it nearly crippled me as it didn't fit my long torso at all. It's long gone now but I still shudder when I think about it. Went Seek Outside with the load lifter extenders and it's been a very good fit.

I hunt with a Frontier Gear of Alaska Moose Pack on a Freighter Frame. Better known as a barney's pack. If I know I will be packing out an animal I always take it. The first trip might be in my MR Cabinet, but once to the truck I grab the external frame pack. They are much better under heavy loads.

We use the old Kelty packs for guiding and think highly of them. They are as light as the latest, greatest internal frame packs, tough as can be, and personally I find them as comfortable as can be had with big loads of moose meat or bear hides.

Barneys has surpassed them in popularity with guides but some of us prefer the lighter weight, simple, rugged Keltys.

Taj Shoemaker
www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com

I wore a Kelty backpack on two dall sheep hunts. One hunt was in the Brooks for 7 days in 1979, shot a full curl ram as well as a caribou. The other hunt was in the Crystalline Hills (sp) along the road from Chitna to McCarthy. That hunt was short but shot a nice ewe. Think it was 1995. The interesting thing about this hunt was we left the truck at 5 am, climbed all day to reach the top, shot and boned out the ewe, and on our way back down observed a nice billy goat about 200 yards away in a easy to get to spot. If I had stopped at F&G for a registration permit before hand could have shot it. Not too many hunters could claim a dall and a goat within a 1 days hike/hunt of their truck.
Live and learn, lol
The Kelty backpack performed fine. I do remember wishing the shoulder straps had more padding when the pack was loaded with meat.
However, after owning and using a Barney’s I would never go back to that Kelty.

I had an early 90’s Kelty internal frame that brings back good memories. It was my first real backpack. I bought it for about $90 when I was 16.

I wanted an Osprey or Gregory but couldn’t afford it. I did a of couple of wilderness deer hunts and a lot of backpacking with it. I used that pack and made more memories with it than any that I’ve owned since.

Great times.

They are great (without the pack, just the frame) for packing out meat, or for packing in a light camp, but no good to carry while hunting.

Still do. Bought this model in about 70, at Barney's, or maybe Gary King's in ANC , acquired another same model and size in about 75 with remote cabin purchase, bought my wife one her size same year. I wore out one of mine (broken frame), but we are still hunting/ camping with the other 2, with better straps and bands than the originals.





If I can find a legal one of these next year, it will get real work again. I took this pic from between pack and staff with iphone SE. Birch above high point of pack frames the moose on the right, in that pic.

Matter of opinion. And perhaps what, where, how one hunts, and definition of "hunting". I've probably carried mine upwards or over 1,000 miles while hunting, or packing in to hunt, or working USFS trail crew back in the day, going back 55 years. Noisy and catchy when woods slip hunting, true, but it's never a good idea to hunt without the pack along. Better ones for this, probably, but I'm not carrying around TWO packs!, or buying an expensive new "modern" one for what limited usage I have left, nor am I going back perhaps several or many miles to fetch it from truck or camp. The thing has proved itself sufficient for over 50 years now. I see no reason to get another. Heck, I'd buy another just like it if I needed one and could find it. You will notice mine is no longer in the best of shape.....

Bitsy deer near a road back East....meh! A day, fanny or internal frame pack, or just a drag rope works, yeah... Perhaps miles across tundra, alpine or woods without vehicular access, you had better be hunting with your meat-packing pack on - it's got your daily possibles in it for one thing. I shortened the stock of my .338WM rifle that I could, and did, shoot it offhand, over the packs strap, while slip hunting in woods for "any bull". Antler regs have since changed, as has my technique, but the rifle hasn't. A half dozen dead jumped-up moose while slip-hunting belie the "no good while hunting". Not saying it's "best", but far from "no good", at least then and how.

Our last previous hunting usage until this year (posted above) of our packs for hunting/meat hauling was a walk-in caribou hunt 5 years ago. Packs worked well packing, with bags still on, knees not so much, packing out 2 bulls on successive days about a mile and a half, down-hill. In fact, I shot my bull on a quickie sit- down and shoot scenario, pack still on, while hiking back to the truck for something on the first day. We took the Rancher the next year, and my wife bought herself an ATV right after that. We are old, but not completely stupid. Hell Yeah!!!

My pack still goes along on that hunt, on the ATV. Might have to get the meat out of someplace the ATV can't go, or I'm not willing to chance riding it, and it's, as said, the "possibles" bag, ready to hand, tho not worn. It can be, and has, with meat on the machine. I have just such a place in mind for next year.... maybe 700 yards if I drop one where I think I will. I will leave the ATV (and possibly a camp) up on top of a steep slope, about 4 miles in. I and the pack go down and over to the other side of a pass, where I will set up on a knoll, covering the pass behind, and the slope beyond, where I watched caribou come down this year. Max 350-400 yard shot either way. Any time one can cover darn near a half-mile of travel route from one central shooting location is good - even if there is a bit of a meat pack involved. Tell me I'm not "hunting".

If I have someone else there to recover my body, I think there is a somewhat indirect way down, and more importantly, back up that slope, with meat. Solo - the ATV stays up top. And probably even with a partner there. It's puckerish and maybe not worth the risk.... Or maybe two trips per bull... Depends on the level of "hold my canteen" that day.

I made/improved a 2-man tent/tarp camping spot up there behind a big rock face, if the wind direction is same (about 20mph!) as this year, or calm. Go in day before opener. Assuming it is still a registration hunt. It was something to do that last afternoon this year, only cows and calves coming through.

Wife and I took 3 full curl Dall's rams in 3 successive years, 18 miles back-packing back -in in the mid-70's with those newly acquired packs. The first year was solo for me, and my pack load coming out was greater than my own 150# weight. Two 14 hour days... Slow, with rests every 100 yards or so, including going over a 5300 foot peak between truck and the kill, both at about 3500. Had to roll over onto my knees and climb the rifle to get to my feet if I didn't have a rock or slope to rest the pack on.

I did have to replace the bands and straps after that trip tho. . 50 years ago this year, and at least one more set of straps and bands since the first replacement. Good packs!

That kind of crap is way behind me, now. Maybe.... With the possible exception of a couple 100# moose hinds ( I hope!) for short distances, otherwise nothing over 75 if I can help it. 50 is mo-betta.

And for the first time ever, I'll do some pre-moose-season conditioning. I'm not finding this stuff as much "fun" as it used to be.

My Dad bought some kind of Kelty, with the square frame, not huge, in the late 1960s. As I got big enough, I used it and man, it fit and carried big loads, the only issue being hooking the darn frame on something. But if it wasn't too brushy and jungly, what a helper.