Looking for meat hauling backpack suggestions!

jonyork

jonyork

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Ottawa
Hi Folks,

Looking for a backpack that could haul some meat between shoulders and bag, and be sufficient for a 1-3 day hunt/camp excursion.

Looking to see what you fine folks have, would recommend and what your experiences have been.

If I can get something sub $500 that would be great, sub 750 alright, and no more than 1000 (my wife would kill me)

Thanks!
 
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I have an Eberlestock Just One that works pretty good. Has a zip in dry bag attached that will hold as much meat as you can carry and the rest of your pack will carry the rest.
 
How much will you be using it? Buy once cry once is sometimes tough, but if you plan on a lot of use, I’d look at the top 3, Kifaru Stone glacier and mystery ranch. Iv been on the Kifaru kick for 7-8 years, used a few of their frames/bags and panels. A Kifaru frame and cargo panel is a tough setup to beat when it comes to meat hauling.
 
Decker9 said:
How much will you be using it? Buy once cry once is sometimes tough, but if you plan on a lot of use, I’d look at the top 3, Kifaru Stone glacier and mystery ranch. Iv been on the Kifaru kick for 7-8 years, used a few of their frames/bags and panels. A Kifaru frame and cargo panel is a tough setup to beat when it comes to meat hauling.
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I agree with Decker9 on Kifaru, I've been a big fan for years, their duplex frame is the best, I can carry huge loads and it puts all the weight nicely on my hips.
 
I was in your shoes a month ago ended up with a stone glacier sky 5900. I Wanted a bag that can haul meat out of the bush and be comfortable for my regular hunting duty’s. There are a lot of great reviewed bags from different company’s to choose from and through my research what’s best depends how well the bag fits you people will buy and resell bags/frames till they find the one that fits like a glove to their body.
It was a shot in the dark for me as I wasn’t able to buy all these bags nor did I have a store near me to try out different bags. I bought the sky 5900 based on the weight and the capacity (5lb 7oz with 5900cui of space), also the fact you can turn it into “bivy” mode meaning you can collapse the bag down to a smaller capacity (4300 cui) and use it as a day pack. It doesn’t have much pockets to keep stuff organized or come in camo colours but more pockets would add to the weight. The thing I don’t like about it is there is a handful of configurations and attachment point on the bag you have straps hanging everywhere there isn’t much written instructions on how to configure the bag certain ways other than YouTube videos they put out. When the time comes to configure it to load shelf mode It’ll take me awhile if I don’t do it a few more times. But everything is really thought out, I ordered the rifle sling along with it and it adds only oz’s holds the guns really well to the pack and deploys the rifle really fast with a pull of a strap.
Been out with it all week hunting it’s really comfortable to me and these early season hunts where it’s cool In the early mornings and really warms up fast I strip off layers and toss them on the bag the added capacity comes in handy.
But again that’s my only experience with these high end bags you have lots or choose from I’m happy with my purchase it was pricey
 
If you're on a budget I just picked up an alps outdoorz 38L off Amazon for $365. It feels way higher quality than the price point, pretty comfortable although the shoulder pads are a bit stiff and might make for pressure points if they don't break in. I'll try it for this season and see. Other forums gave it good reviews. Worth a look anyway, its amazon so free returns with prime I believe.

If it was between the Alps and a Badlands, I'd take the Alps hands down.
 
birdman86 said:
If you're on a budget I just picked up an alps outdoorz 38L off Amazon for $365. It feels way higher quality than the price point, pretty comfortable although the shoulder pads are a bit stiff and might make for pressure points if they don't break in. I'll try it for this season and see. Other forums gave it good reviews. Worth a look anyway, its amazon so free returns with prime I believe.

If it was between the Alps and a Badlands, I'd take the Alps hands down.
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I had the Alps commander for a season. It fit well with just camp in it, but as soon as I added some weight (Half a caribou x2 trips) it became unpleasant. I ended up with blisters on my waist because the straps didn't sit correctly regardless how I tried to adjust them. Also the stitching on one of the main pockets blew out. I now have a Mystery Ranch Marshall. It is a much better pack, pricier but I have learned that I am too broke to be buying things twice :) .
 
If I had the money, I'd be buying Stone Glacier, thats what the Meateater guys use these days, they are lighter than most other packs but still carry the weight good. The guy who started the company is big into sheep hunting, and started making his own packs after years of modifying other packs to fit his needs (which often meant cutting off unnecessary straps, webbing, small pockets, etc to cut weight, as he was hiking 10+ miles into the mountains, shooting a sheep, and then packing it out in one trip with his camp on his back the whole way).

Randy Newberg swears by Mystery Ranch, not the lightest packs empty, but they carry well with a lot of weight in them. He figures the weight of the bag is irrelevant when you're putting 80lbs of meat in it.

I've looked at a few eberlestock packs, can't say I've been blown away by them though.
 
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I have KUIU packs.

Not for hauling meat but because I got them cheap and they are laid out nice for a hunting pack, lots of well laid out pockets and storage.

I also have Exo MTN K3500 which is a superior pack for comfort.

Goto Rokslide forums and the top names are S.G, Kifaru, Mystery Ranch, Exo MTN.

Kuiu would be 4-5 place for load hauling.

Nothing wrong with an external aluminum frame pack as well....and they are generally cheaper.
 
I have a Mystery Ranch Mule. Can't give it a proper review as I've only got one season and 6-7 days hunting with it (with no pack out yet). Initial impression is positive for day hunts, but I am looking for a deal on a larger pack for the bigger hunts.

Quality, fit, durability, load out options, etc are all good, knowing the bag is basic on purpose.

I get to compare it this fall with my buddies Stone Glacier
 
I have a stone glacier sky talus 6900 for sheep hunting, it recently edged out my mystery ranch Marshall and I love it.

But for bare bones quarter hauling I love my tatonka lastenkraxe.
 
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