Buddy of mine messaged me asking about packs. He has $300 to spend. I'm not sure what to tell him honestly. I had badlands and horn hunters before getting a kifaru and I have a hard time recommending those after my upgrade.
He's tall and skinny and probably has no interest in packing huge weight, but would still like to carry 70 lbs relatively comfortably. I'm thinking a pack that can handle 3/4 day trips and pack meat in the bag or on a shelf. I told him to just pony up, but he wants to stick with $300 limit.
Suggestions?
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I've never used any of the modern hunting packs, just old aluminum external frames.
I took my Osprey Aether 85 (2016 model) on a 34 mile/3 day backpack through the Jarbidge Wilderness over the 4th of July with 64 lbs in it. I was intentionally being lazy with weight (carrying a lot of extra water) to get an idea of how my body and the pack would handle things. I had zero issues with how the pack handled that load. I wouldn't be concerned at all with the pack's ability to handle 70 lbs based on my experience. I bought this pack in the spring from REI for about $175 as a clearance/last year's model. Looking at the newer ones in the store, I think they have made the pack less capable of handling heavier weights. Osprey advertises the pack for up to 60 lbs, and I'd suspect the 2017 model is probably rated less conservatively than mine.
I don't feel that my knees can handle much more than this pack if I'm on any sort of rough terrain. I'm in decent shape, but I just don't see it as wise to risk injuring myself while alone in a remote area and with a downed animal. I'd rather make an extra trip than risk an injury. If I'm fortunate enough to be packing meat out of flatter terrain than I typically deal with here in Northern Nevada, I'll probably be able to bring the truck closer, hike faster, etc. I'm not going to attempt scaling cliffs with over 2/3 of my body weight on my back though. I don't doubt that I'll end up buying a dedicated hunting pack at some point in the future, but I'll probably wait until I know that I'll be packing out something bigger than a deer for a long distance. I think my money is better spent on other gear, scouting, etc right now.
Osprey makes another model above the Aether that's supposed to handle more weight, but I haven't found one locally to look at myself. I also looked at some Gregory packs and liked them, but the sale price on the Aether caught me. The larger REI packs I looked at had the stiffest stays of anything, but I didn't think the waist belt would transfer weight as well. I haven't had any issues with the stays collapsing on my Aether under the loads I've had, but I don't think I'd want them any more flexible than they are. The REI XT85 has a lot of good reviews on hunting forums from what I've seen, but they've been discontinued for a few years now. The Kelty Red Cloud I looked at in stores looks like a pretty decent pack for the money too.
The ILBE and MOLLE surplus packs look interesting to me for the price since I've started reading threads about them here and on a couple other forums.
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