you backcountry/long hike hunters..how big is your pack?

[pointysticks]

i've only done a few backpack hunts. everytime i go, i have used a regular pack. a non hunting pack. my gear has (over time) gotten lighter and packs down smaller. granted, i have yet to have to pack out my own dead animal. but i tie a lightweight duffle to the outside of my pack. not the best option, but i manage. my current pack is 65L. which is less than 4000ci. tiny by most standards i think. i just did 9 days regular backpacking with it. food, gear..no hunting gear.

i just ordered a pack. a whopping 5200 ci. 85L.

some of you timberline1 guys. you fill that thing with gear? in my group, we had one badlands 4500, and we dropped a bear canister full of food inside that cavernous pack. is this 5200ci that i have coming gonna be gigantic?

i have been thinking of buying a golite 50L for a fast, long distant hike my buddies and i are planning...tiny little thing.

[Lefty]

I think I qualify as a longhike
My "daypack" carries emergency/overnight gear. 3000 I can ezpand for about all the meat I want to carry out the first time
I may carry more than most in my day pack but I need to watch out for my self

[sreekers]

The extra space is always nice for meat.

[WindedBowhunter]

3-5 Day Trips 3200 cubic inches

5-10 Trips 5000 cubic inches (at the trailhead in truck if on a 3-5 day trip, this allows me to be a little quicker and more agile on the hunt. I can haul a small load out, then use the larger pack to haul the remainder out)

[Aron Snyder]

We split the elk in half for the trip out, so the space is needed.

For mule deer, I'll pack out the entire deer (due boned, cape and head), plus my gear. You can look on the Rokslide forums (look under Live Hunts) and check out the thread "Marc gut man and Aron Snyder's live hunt". There's a video showing my pack with deer and gear on the way out.

[Aron Snyder]

http://www.rokslide.com/forums/showthre ... -Live-Hunt

https://vimeo.com/48399254

[slim9300]

I take half of the boned out elk, my gear and the head so it takes up a ton of space as you can imagine. This was my last full pack (that I got a picture of) and it was full right up to the start of the snow collar (if I had one). This is a T1 by the way. It pretty much gets filled to this point on every pack out. I do not like to strap items/bags to the outside of my pack, so that's why I like a large capacity bag in the 7k cu. in. range.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1372722930.382146.jpg (72.1 KiB) Viewed 19212 times

[Migolito]

It's not necessarily a bigger pack you need, it's a different approach to backpacking. You really need to read some ultralite backpacking forums. Some of these guys are true gram counters(they cut their tooth brush in half). I'm not that obsessive, but, I've cut my gear weight in half. You'll find that moving towards an ultra-lite backpacking mentality/gear is a heck of a lot easier and ultimately more comfortable than getting a bigger pack (and carrying more weight). It starts with your sleeping bag, Shelter and sleeping pad, cooking system, etc. If you move towards lightening up your "kit" you'll find you easily loose half of the total weight. Then start looking for a hunting type 2500-3500 bivy type pack that can haul 50-75 lbs of animal. This type pack works as an actual hunting day pack as well as the pack-in and haul out pack. Frankly, the guy who years ago steered me towards this type of pack was ELKNUT, and he was dead right!

BTW, the Golite JAM 50 is excellent for lite-weight backpacking (even as a multi-day thru hike pack) but, is NOT a good pack for hauling out animals. For hauling animals you'll need a pack build for that. My Badlands 2200 weighs in at 5 pounds plus! Look on these forums for other makes and rx (eberlestock, Badlands, mysteryranch, tenzing, Kifaru, etc)

[Aron Snyder]

It's not necessarily a bigger pack you need, it's a different approach to backpacking. You really need to read some ultralite backpacking forums. Some of these guys are true gram counters(they cut their tooth brush in half). I'm not that obsessive, but, I've cut my gear weight in half. You'll find that moving towards an ultra-lite backpacking mentality/gear is a heck of a lot easier and ultimately more comfortable than getting a bigger back (and carrying more weight). It starts with your sleeping bag, Shelter and sleeping pad, cooking system, etc. If you move towards lightening up your "kit" you'll find you easily loose half of the total weight. Then start looking for a hunting type 2500-3500 bivy type pack that can haul 50-75 lbs of animal. This type pack works as an actual hunting day pack as well as the pack-in and haul out pack. Frankly, the guy who years ago steered me towards this type of pack was ELKNUT, and he was dead right!

BTW, the Golite JAM 50 is excellent for lite-weight backpacking (even as a multi-day thru hike pack) but, is NOT a good pack for hauling out animals. For hauling animals you'll need a pack build for that. My Badlands 2200 weighs in at 5 pounds plus! Look on these forums for other makes and rx (eberlestock, Badlands, mysteryranch, tenzing, Kifaru, etc)

That may be, but elk nut doesn't backpack hunt like I do (5-10 day trips).

And it doesn't matter how UL your gear is, you'll need a big pack (over 5k ) to get gear and animal out.

My pack weighs 5.5 lbs and is just under 8,000ci. I only go in with 4,000-5,000 ci in gear/food, but it's coming out full.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I am trying to stress that a larger pack can make things easier. You will need to have your gear dialed in and not keep stuffing the pack with gear you don't need, but again, the bigger bag can be a huge asset!

My gear is basically the same for 1 night or 8 nights. The only thing that changes is the amount of food. Having sad that, my pack size is the same for just about every hunt.

[Aron Snyder]

I've never been on a pack out and thought "wow, I wish my pack was a lot smaller".

I have, however, said " f---, I wish I brought a bigger pack".

Something to think about!

[sreekers]

I will echo that I have never wished my pack were smaller. I really like the concept of a load shelf more and more, as long as the weight of the pack doesn't get thrown too far behind me.

Honestly, if you have a meat shelf like a MR Metcalf, SG Solo, Highcamp etc. it's very possible to use a smaller bag, and still have space for meat. I haven't done this with anything but dry bags loaded with weight, but will haul meat this season.

I'm one of those weirdos who count ounces and work hard to get rid of every possible ounce on the gear where it's feasible. However, hunting isn't UL backpacking and WE WILL have things come along that weigh more. UL backpackers don't usually have to worry about a spotter and tripod, I do. Kill kits have things in them that the UL world will never have to worry about. I could go on, but the principles of cutting overall weight make a difference in the long run.

[RockChucker30]

Ultralight or general backpacking is different than backpack hunting. In backpack hunting you use a lot of the same ultralight gear, but you also may take a spotter and tripod, binos, calls, and definitely a weapon of some variety. So your loadout will automatically be heavier than what you could get by with for ultralight backpacking.

Furthermore, the purpose of your trip is different. In backpacking you enjoy the trip, eat your food, and your pack gets lighter as the trip goes on. You finish the trip with a light pack and go home. In backpack hunting, your pack still gets lighter as the trip goes on, but you are working toward the goal of a 200-275 lb pile of meat and antlers to pack out at the end of it (for elk). This is a much bigger technical challenge than what ultralight backpacking would present, and there are several ways to deal with it.

1. Ultralight pack with an external frame at the truck - This may work well for someone already into ultralight packing because of a lower investment. Here you would hunt with a smaller lighter pack, and if you get an animal down you would pack out to the truck, get your frame, go back in, and start packing meat. The disadvantage is that you have an entire out and back wasted with no meat carried. If you're hunting from a truck camp or not far from the truck this makes more sense than if you're a good distance in. Hunting with an external frame I wouldn't do because they're so clunky and awkward in brush and trees.

2. Small, expandable pack - You can get a pack that is capable of both being comfortable enough to hunt in, and to pack meat with. If you get a small pack bag it will need to expand either up or out in order to haul meat and gear. A load shelf can do this, but it puts your gear weight farther away from your body which can affect COG. Expanding up can be done with a top drawstring closure and top lid easily, but it's not as clean with a small pack bag, and the bag has to have a circumference large enough to accept the meat (or a quarter if it's bone in).

3. Big pack bag - usually a big pack bag will have a main bag with a drawstring closure, plus a snow collar with another drawstring closure. This allows the bag to be used like it's a smaller bag, but to expand the volume when needed. A big bag is a more weight efficient way to add volume than adding stuff sacks or things hanging off your pack because it is stronger and lighter to increase the packbag size than to add the same size extraneously.

So, there are a lot of ways to do the same thing, and they all work. Guys get to dial in what they prefer, and that's part of the fun of it. Personally, I prefer a mid size packbag that is still big enough to haul meat. If I were going on a muley hunt with sreekers then I'd probably take our big expedition sized bag and just compress it down so we could come out in one trip.

Interchangeable pack bags that are prevalent these days provide a lot of value because you can buy one frame and two sizes of packbag and the total investment is cheaper than buying two complete backpacks.

[slim9300]

It's not necessarily a bigger pack you need, it's a different approach to backpacking. You really need to read some ultralite backpacking forums. Some of these guys are true gram counters(they cut their tooth brush in half). I'm not that obsessive, but, I've cut my gear weight in half. You'll find that moving towards an ultra-lite backpacking mentality/gear is a heck of a lot easier and ultimately more comfortable than getting a bigger back (and carrying more weight). It starts with your sleeping bag, Shelter and sleeping pad, cooking system, etc. If you move towards lightening up your "kit" you'll find you easily loose half of the total weight. Then start looking for a hunting type 2500-3500 bivy type pack that can haul 50-75 lbs of animal. This type pack works as an actual hunting day pack as well as the pack-in and haul out pack. Frankly, the guy who years ago steered me towards this type of pack was ELKNUT, and he was dead right!

BTW, the Golite JAM 50 is excellent for lite-weight backpacking (even as a multi-day thru hike pack) but, is NOT a good pack for hauling out animals. For hauling animals you'll need a pack build for that. My Badlands 2200 weighs in at 5 pounds plus! Look on these forums for other makes and rx (eberlestock, Badlands, mysteryranch, tenzing, Kifaru, etc)

That may be, but elk nut doesn't backpack hunt like I do (5-10 day trips).

And it doesn't matter how UL your gear is, you'll need a big pack (over 5k ) to get gear and animal out.

My pack weighs 5.5 lbs and is just under 8,000ci. I only go in with 4,000-5,000 ci in gear/food, but it's coming out full.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I am trying to stress that a larger pack can make things easier. You will need to have your gear dialed in and not keep stuffing the pack with gear you don't need, but again, the bigger bag can be a huge asset!

My gear is basically the same for 1 night or 8 nights. The only thing that changes is the amount of food. Having sad that, my pack size is the same for just about every hunt.

Exactly.

If I was a UL 'backpacker' I could easily get below 35 lbs. with water for 10 days in the backcountry.

[slim9300]

It's not necessarily a bigger pack you need, it's a different approach to backpacking. You really need to read some ultralite backpacking forums. Some of these guys are true gram counters(they cut their tooth brush in half). I'm not that obsessive, but, I've cut my gear weight in half. You'll find that moving towards an ultra-lite backpacking mentality/gear is a heck of a lot easier and ultimately more comfortable than getting a bigger pack (and carrying more weight). It starts with your sleeping bag, Shelter and sleeping pad, cooking system, etc. If you move towards lightening up your "kit" you'll find you easily loose half of the total weight. Then start looking for a hunting type 2500-3500 bivy type pack that can haul 50-75 lbs of animal. This type pack works as an actual hunting day pack as well as the pack-in and haul out pack. Frankly, the guy who years ago steered me towards this type of pack was ELKNUT, and he was dead right!

BTW, the Golite JAM 50 is excellent for lite-weight backpacking (even as a multi-day thru hike pack) but, is NOT a good pack for hauling out animals. For hauling animals you'll need a pack build for that. My Badlands 2200 weighs in at 5 pounds plus! Look on these forums for other makes and rx (eberlestock, Badlands, mysteryranch, tenzing, Kifaru, etc)

All my gear (with a BUNCH of luxuries and extra edibles) for a 10 day hunt comes in around 45 lbs. without water but including optics. It takes up roughly 4.5-5k cu in. If I really wanted I could get this down to a tad below 40 lbs still with optics and stay right at 4k cu inches. I have a very large amount of money invested in my gear and I don't see it being very possible for a hunter to go much below the 40 lb. mark for a 10 day hunt.

How much space do you think 80-100 lbs. of boned out meat will take up?

[Aron Snyder]

[img][IMG]http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/AronSnyder/DSC02168-1.jpg[/img][/img]

This is just over half of a 5.5 year old bull. I don't know exactly what it weighed, but it took up an entire Sitka Bivy 45. The Bivy 45 is closer to 3,800, so I would say that half an elk will take up 3,500+ CI.

[slim9300]

[img][IMG]http://i1065.photobucket.com/albums/u387/AronSnyder/DSC02168-1.jpg[/img][/img]

This is just over half of a 5.5 year old bull. I don't know exactly what it weighed, but it took up an entire Sitka Bivy 45. The Bivy 45 is closer to 3,800, so I would say that half an elk will take up 3,500+ CI.

Yep. That was going to be my point of the question I posed above.

[cmeier117]

It is very easy with the proper pack to compress it down for day hunts... I have yet to find a small (under 3,000 cu inch pack) and expand to carry 80+ of meat comfortably... I can fit 7 days worth of gear and food into 3,000 cu inches or so but I want room for meat on way out. If I can't do it in one trip I want to be able to do it in 2 max. BTW my pack of choice is 7000+ cu inches and weighs 4.5 lbs. Go Kifaru!

[Slim jim]

It is very easy with the proper pack to compress it down for day hunts... I have yet to find a small (under 3,000 cu inch pack) and expand to carry 80+ of meat comfortably... I can fit 7 days worth of gear and food into 3,000 cu inches or so but I want room for meat on way out. If I can't do it in one trip I want to be able to do it in 2 max. BTW my pack of choice is 7000+ cu inches and weighs 4.5 lbs. Go Kifaru!

^^^Amen