3-5 day pack?

Depends on what you want. I have a 3-day pack from LA Police Gear ----- landed at my door for $45 (when they're on sale). Pretty awesome for the price. Plenty of MOLLE to add extras on if you like.

It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I like mine and plan on getting a second for the grandson
 
Pricey, but I have never seen better are the arcteryx bora series. I could live indefinitely out of a bora 90. Assuming abundant game and some choice gear. No finer pack imho.
 
Pricey, but I have never seen better are the arcteryx bora series. I could live indefinitely out of a bora 90. Assuming abundant game and some choice gear. No finer pack imho.

This. Arc'teryx is outstanding gear. I have a Bora 30 that is 20 years old (maybe a bit more) and have put countless miles on it. It's outstanding and were I inclined to go bigger I wouldn't hesitate to use the Bora 90 (I used one a little bit and should have bought one for myself). Take a design by people that set out in the beginning to design quality gear. All the guys that talk of buying milsurp gear or some cheap POS either have no experience with actual backpacking or only "backpack" from the garage to the car and from the car to the hotel.
 
Well, I have a Mystery Ranch 3 Day Assault pack, so that's what I recommend. It'd be a bit small for a 5 day pack though, unless you get some exterior pouches to attach to the molle and do some clever/minimalistic packing.

It's a heavier bag, yes, but it is also very comfortable and it has lots of customizable options. Also expensive.

Some of the Tasmanian Tiger offerings look quite nice, I think TVPP has gotten some experience with them.
 
I'm very happy with the mystery ranch packs I have. Kifaru packs are nice as well. Expensive yes but like most things you get what you pay for.
 
Stone Glacier, Kifaru, and the pack I use now, Paradox, all offer likely candidates for a hunting backpack that can be compact enough for shorter trips, while being able to expand in volume and carry the weight as comfortably as possible in the event of meat hitting the ground... Another newer company that I personally have no experience with, but have been getting good reviews are EXO packs.

Personally, I've been extremely happy with the Paradox Evolution. It's unbelievably light and carries much better than any pack I've owned or used. Including multiple Arcteryx and MR packs. I still have a MR Bighorn, which I like a lot for short trips and day hikes, but if I'm honest the Paradox has kinda made it obsolete... for my uses anyways. The Paradox frame is a modernized external that is extremely stiff where it's needed, but flexes in the right spots too. The pack material is waterproof laminate, which is a nicer feature than I thought before owning it... Did I mention that the pack is LIGHT?! ;) I'd buy another...

I was a huge fan, but MR has been pretty disappointing to me lately. They build heavy, durable packs and the quality is second to none. Better build quality than most, way better. But again, they've killed off most of the hunting packs I liked and now only offer bigger packs based on the NICE frame... That frame has some major shortcomings and should be phased out. Instead they discontinue the good internals they used to offer and concentrate only on the NICE... Plus we Canucks can no longer buy direct from them... Too bad.

Good luck in your search Phil!
 
But again, they've killed off most of the hunting packs I liked and now only offer bigger packs based on the NICE frame... That frame has some major shortcomings and should be phased out. Instead they discontinue the good internals they used to offer and concentrate only on the NICE...

I was a little shocked to hear they'd dropped the Kodiak. To me it made an ideal multi-day hunting pack that was more than capable of carrying some pretty extreme loads. I find the Nice frame a bit stiff but they have made a couple modifications that are supposed to improve comfort. I haven't tried one other than at a show so can't really comment but it seems to make sense what they did. I like the design of the Metcalf pack itself a lot but would like to try the Nice Frame again before committing to it.
 
Personally, I've been extremely happy with the Paradox Evolution. It's unbelievably light and carries much better than any pack I've owned or used.

I just checked their packs out. They are very impressive. I would really like to give them a go. The concept of an articulating frame under a heavy load is intriguing.
 
i have a KUIU

Seems great so far - only 2 trips on it but light, fits well and the folks at KUIU are great to deal with. Heard a couple of issues with the carbon frames - but it was really unsubstantiated white noise.

I had a mystery ranch too - good pack but 10 lbs off the hop. Maybe I am just getting old lol
 
I just checked their packs out. They are very impressive. I would really like to give them a go. The concept of an articulating frame under a heavy load is intriguing.

It's such a simple concept and design, but it works very well in the real world. In day pack mode the pack flexes and moves well with your body, and yet under heavy loads is stiffer and more comfortable than any pack I've used. That includes many miles under a Bora90, a good pack in it's own right, but nowhere near as comfortable with heavy weights.

Another big plus for the Paradox- is the frame design can actually properly accommodate taller than average users, which is the category you fit into, if I remember correctly... They are one of the few to do so without custom builds.
 
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