new hunting backpack

[LoonWulf]

Darn you guys. DARN YOU GUYS!!!! Here we are...18 days until hunting season. And now...because of THIS thread...Im going back through every item in my pack and scouring gear reviews looking for anyway to cut ounces out of my pack! As if I didn't have a ton of other stuff to do.

But it's fun and very enlightening. For example, I can buy a titanium canteen cup for $55 and knock 4 oz off my pack, or I can swap out my eVent stuff sack for an ultra-sil sack for $30 and save one ounce. When you start looking at items in terms of ounces save per dollar spent, it gets really expensive really quickly.

good, cheap, fast/loud/light etc....you get to pick 2

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I like my stainless canteen cup and nylon poncho.






GR

So do I. But I'm replacing the cup. After 25 years of faithful service.

 

[troy fairweather]

what is the better canteen these days, i had a nice one with the metal cup but a bull crushed it when i left it hanging in a barn. i have one of those plastic ones with the wool like cover, but not the same like the older ones.

 

[Garandimal]

what is the better canteen these days, i had a nice one with the metal cup but a bull crushed it when i left it hanging in a barn. i have one of those plastic ones with the wool like cover, but not the same like the older ones.

I just use the USGI surplus quart canteens/covers (w/o the hydration cap) from MidwayUSA.

Here are some new ones w/ covers for $13, and Used for $5.

The collapsible 2-quarts are probably more efficient, but I usually keep one on my belt if I'm humpin', and another one clipped onto my pack. Still hunting will usually have one on the belt, or in the pack it I'm using one.

If I need more than that, it is usually 1 or 2.5 gal. Arrowhead plastic jugs/suitcases in the pack.




GR

 

[D.B. Cooper]

what is the better canteen these days, i had a nice one with the metal cup but a bull crushed it when i left it hanging in a barn. i have one of those plastic ones with the wool like cover, but not the same like the older ones.

You just opened a can of worms. It depends on who you ask and what is important to you. My SJW students like the metal (non-aluminum) bottles because they're somehow better for the environment. The bushcrafter crowd gravitates toward stainless steel bottles because you can boil water and/or cook in them. The long distance, thru-hiker, ultra-light crowd (i.e. Appalachian Trail, PCT, etc) like to reuse the 700ml Smart Water brand bottles because they're the lightest things out there (less than half an ounce) and the sport bottle cap can be used to back flush your Sawyer Mini water purifier. Personally, I'm between the Nalgene Oasis canteen because it fits my USGI canteen cup and cover and the Smart Water bottle. What I have found is that even the heavy, round, 1L Nalgenes are still lighter than even most titanium containers of the same size. Then you get into the pros and cons of the Camelback water bladders (although I much prefer the Platypus brand). They're light enough, and you can keep on trekking while you drink, but some guys dislike that you have no way to monitor your water lever without removing it from the pack. I dislike that you can't just rip the cap off and chug (which is probably not smart when your strenuously working out anyway).

 

[troy fairweather]

You just opened a can of worms. It depends on who you ask and what is important to you. My SJW students like the metal (non-aluminum) bottles because they're somehow better for the environment. The bushcrafter crowd gravitates toward stainless steel bottles because you can boil water and/or cook in them. The long distance, thru-hiker, ultra-light crowd (i.e. Appalachian Trail, PCT, etc) like to reuse the 700ml Smart Water brand bottles because they're the lightest things out there (less than half an ounce) and the sport bottle cap can be used to back flush your Sawyer Mini water purifier. Personally, I'm between the Nalgene Oasis canteen because it fits my USGI canteen cup and cover and the Smart Water bottle. What I have found is that even the heavy, round, 1L Nalgenes are still lighter than even most titanium containers of the same size. Then you get into the pros and cons of the Camelback water bladders (although I much prefer the Platypus brand). They're light enough, and you can keep on trekking while you drink, but some guys dislike that you have no way to monitor your water lever without removing it from the pack. I dislike that you can't just rip the cap off and chug (which is probably not smart when your strenuously working out anyway).

for hunting i like the the soft plastic ones, you can squeeze the air out and not get any water slop. i used a camel pack once, water got hot being on my back and when i was thirsty i wish i have a better flow of water. i am chugger.

 

[Garandimal]

for hunting i like the the soft plastic ones, you can squeeze the air out and not get any water slop. i used a camel pack once, water got hot being on my back and when i was thirsty i wish i have a better flow of water. i am chugger.

Same here, but use the quart canteen, which usually leave me w/ a half full canteen a third of the time.

Not ideal for still hunting.

Carry a few small party balloons (the long ones they use to make the animals with). Stick the end into the canteen, squeeze the part that's out, blow up the inside part, tie it off, and shove the leftover into the neck. Slides right out with a tug. Cantampon.




GR

 

[LoonWulf]

I feel like a barbarian, I just use 1.5L plastic water bottles, or milk jugs........

 

[Garandimal]

I feel like a barbarian, I just use 1.5L plastic water bottles, or milk jugs........

BT-DT, and still do. But the canteens have two advantages:

1. Gets the volume out of the pack.
or
2. Gets the weight out of the pack and onto your waist.

So... jugs, or even the 2.5 gal. suitcases, are 3.




GR

 

[D.B. Cooper]

for example, many popular “ultralight” hunting packs are nothing more than a bag on a frame, no organization, separated pockets.

a Mary Poppins bag full of crap, which I would then have to completely dump out everything anytime I wanted to find anything.

Yep. In the week since you and I traded these comments, I tried to convert from my lumbar hunting pack to my old backpacking pack and no-go. I wanted to add a few items so I tried to put it all in my Gregory Baltoro, and all I ended up with was all of my stuff at the bottom of a bottomless pit. Now I have to dump out the mary poppins bag and repack the hunt pack. Two hours of my life I'll never back.

 

[buck460XVR]

Over the years I have carried everything from a cheapo Wal-mart backpack to excellent L.L. Bean and Cabelas. All worked well for the purpose they were intended for. Now, for me, back-packs for deer are much different than backpacks for turkeys. While any backpack can easily carry a thermos, a few extra shells and a coupla sandwiches a few hundred yard to a blind in the morning, and will work just fine for the average Joe who hunts opening weekend, if one is going to sneak/still hunt deer all day in rough terrain or run and gun for turkeys with a decoy, then it makes sense to spend the extra bucks for something that is easier on your shoulders, rain proof and more purpose orientated. One needs to think of it as an investment. $25 for a cheapo that will last a year or two and might not work the best compared to a $150 or more for one that will last a lifetime and always do what you want.

 

[BigSteve57]

I have a couple of backpacks that are the "bucket type no compartments" and a couple that have a main sack plus compartments on the back & side. I like them both. I use containers like heavy duty zip-locs for the bucket type to arrange my stuff and don't have to do a dump to find things. Also zip-locs keeps the water out.

 

[Keyfer 55]

Academy Sports Gamewiner camo $36 .I
bought one 2 years ago it was $40 it has 6
compartments and water resistant .Well
made. Wal-Mart has back school backpack
I seen a black one for $8.

 

[Varminterror]

I’m one of the few folks who really appreciates a front loading pack. Both of my hiking/camp packs are front load (Kelty Coyote 80 top + front and Redwing 50), my big volume match bag is front load (Eberlestock Halftrack). I’m a little dismayed at using a top loader for my upcoming hunt in Sept, but it does have a front load portion for my camp kit (Mystery Ranch 6500).

I’m a pretty big fan of lumbar packs and minimal load. I use a Kifaru Tailgunner and those 5.11 Push Packs (purses) to keep myself from overloading, as much as possible. I rarely carry anything but a book and snacks when stand hunting for whitetails. Never have understood when guys haul a 2,000ci pack just for whitetail hunting.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

I’m a pretty big fan of lumbar packs and minimal load. I use a Kifaru Tailgunner and those 5.11 Push Packs (purses) to keep myself from overloading, as much as possible. I rarely carry anything but a book and snacks when stand hunting for whitetails. Never have understood when guys haul a 2,000ci pack just for whitetail hunting.

This entire paragraph speaks to me. When I started out section hiking the Appalachian Trail, I had top-load only pack (Kelty Tornado). I hated it. I had to dump everything to find anything. I went to a lumbar pack for most of my hunting as I primarily work from a base camp and use a side-by-side/atv. I thought the smaller lumbar would, as you says, keep me from overloading, but I find myself constantly trying to find new ways to put new stuff in the pack; I now carry a compression sack strapped to the top of the lumbar pack-nearly doubled my volume that way. Now it all seems self-defeating. When I showed up to a Florida tree stand hunt for hogs with all that stuff, my friend said it looked like I could be gone for 2 weeks with that bag. Even hunting in Alaska, I grab this pack and all this gear, while my f.i.l. grabs a rifle, and just enough ammo to load the rifle once (no reload) a bottle of water, and some pilot bread.