Organizing Your Pack

Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
678
Location
Idaho
Kifaru pull outs are my friend. Well worth the very minimal weight penalty. Everything is organized and easy to stack in my bag. Not to mention easy to organize once I reach camp.
 

Rokwiia

WKR
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
Messages
886
Location
In the mountains
I no longer organize my backpack in bags. Certain important items are put in the pockets of the backpack and the chest pack I wear. Everything else goes into the backpack sans stuff sacks.

I used to use stuff sacks which certainly organized things but never fully utilized the space in my backpack. Lumps here and lumps there because the stuff sacks never perfectly conform to the shape of the pack. Now, everything spreads out and maximizes the space I have.

There's no right or wrong answer. Just what works for you.
 

NwLegends

FNG
Joined
Jun 18, 2017
Messages
21
I don't understand why people put all of their items inside of separate bags then put all the bags inside their pack. They have their clothing in a bag, separate Ziplock for each days food, first aid kit in a bag, sleeping bag in a bag, ect. everything seems to need its own bag.
My food all goes loose in the bottom of my pack. My Valandre down sleeping bag goes in a sea to summit dry compression bag and my tent is in a bag. All my clothes are loose along with any other gear. Most packs have pockets or compartments to help store stuff.
it's easy to cut weight out of your pack by leaving all these extra bags at home. Are people OCD and need to know it's organized? I have a Stone Glacier pack that zips all the way down the center and I can access any thing without pulling anything else out of my pack.
My wife and I did a 9 day sheep hunt last year and we went in with 34 and 37 pound packs(rifle not included).

I just don’t like when the doe in heat bottle is sitting next to my sandwich......


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Seth1913

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
148
When counting ounces i think a full organized pack is a little unnecessary but it does help when you dont feel like tearing your pack apart for one thing. Me personally, I have my quilt in a stuff sack (stuff sack becomes a pillow), food bag for hanging, kill kit in a mesh stuff sack, and my first aid kit in a waterproof zippered sack. I've been contemplating letting my quilt fill in the bottom of my bag naturally but Id worried about it tearing and id lose my pillow.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2017
Messages
812
Location
Idaho Falls,ID
I'm like Seth 1913, I have about half of my stuff in pull outs and the rest is loose. Sleeping bag stays in its stuff sack so that I can use the stuff sack with extra clothes for a pillow. Kill kit, food, and first aid kits in pull outs. Everything else is loose, including tent. Tent and fly go in the bottom of pack, poles in side pocket with trekking poles, and stakes in belt pouch. Clothes are rolled or folded tightly.
 

frankrb3

WKR
Joined
May 10, 2016
Messages
529
Location
SW Montana
I don't understand why people put all of their items inside of separate bags then put all the bags inside their pack. They have their clothing in a bag, separate Ziplock for each days food, first aid kit in a bag, sleeping bag in a bag, ect. everything seems to need its own bag.

Same reason why guys who have a lot of tools use tool chests with drawers to organize their tools. I don't know many guys who like to buy one big crate and just throw every tool they own into into it. Also, when I pull out my first aid kit bag I like to know that I have all my first aid stuff in that one bag. Sometimes I forget what I have in some of these kits because I don't use them often. It would suck to be digging around for a tourniquet or more gauze when you can't remember if it's even in there. I guess the best answer to your post is I like using bags to organize my pack because it's what works for me and I don't believe it's an OCD thing. Just like how not using bags works for you. FYI if you were to use one of each sized kifaru ultra light pullouts to organize for pack for your sheep hunt, your pack would have weighed 34 lbs 4.8 ounces while your wifes pack would have weighed 37 lbs 4.8 ounces.
 

tttoadman

WKR
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Messages
1,735
Location
OR Hunter back in Oregon
I always have 2 or 3 10L dry bags for my food and water. If I have wet tent or wet rain gear, I can dump the food and put the wet gear in a dry bag to not make a mess of everything else.

I have a compression bag to put my sleeping bag in. I will compress as required so it fills the bottom of the bag completely when crammed in sideways.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
7,390
Location
Chugiak, Alaska
A photo of my commonly used cuben fiber dry bags and stuff sacks. I can easily separate out/organize everything in my pack and I’m only carrying around an extra 4 oz. worth of cuben fiber.
2e34b77ba539d9a28b2a3f8041e88256.jpg



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mtnhmr

FNG
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Messages
73
@ AK Troutbum
A photo of my commonly used cuben fiber dry bags and stuff sacks. I can easily separate out/organize everything in my pack and I’m only carrying around an extra 4 oz. worth of cuben fiber.

How do you find the build quality and use of the CF manufactures? I have the Hyperlite bags (dry bags and zip pods) but their quality is about average.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
7,390
Location
Chugiak, Alaska
So far no issues with any of the bags. I try not to abuse them like I tend to abuse some of my other, tougher, PVC bags, and so far I haven’t had any durability issues. The only actual roll top dry bags I have are the HMG and the MLD bags, then there are a few stuff sacks and some zippered bags made by both MLD and Zpacks, in the mix as well. I do like the way that HMG makes their bag with the round bottom though, as MLD doesn’t make theirs that way. When you say “quality is average”, does that mean that you’ve had some problems with them?


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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
7,390
Location
Chugiak, Alaska
Actually, I just realized, the two white stuff sacks are made by Jimmy Tarps. I do have some Zpacks bags but they're not in that picture.
 

mtnhmr

FNG
Joined
Jul 16, 2016
Messages
73
I have two roll-top medium stuff stacks from HPG, which work well, however I am weary of the round bottom blowing out due to stressing the material. I understand the material is waterproof, however their methods of sealing allows air in/out (understandable).

In using their backpack “pods” with zippers turned into a nice pack organization, yet the zippers do not prevent water from entering the pod. I unfortunately had a water reservoir unload inside of the pack, needless to say my dry gear safety failed.

A bit disappointing considering the $50-$60 price tag associated with each one. I expected to have water resistant zippers rather than run of the mill ykz. I went further to seam seal the outer thread/stitching and seam seal the interior zipper cloth material.
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
3,721
Location
Utah
I have a kill kit in a mesh bag and an emergency kit in a plastic water proof bag.
My titanium stove is in its OEM case(obvious reasons here), my sleeping bag may or may not be in a compr sack, my cook stove is in its oem sack (has all parts incl fuel canister in it), all my food is in a dry sack so I can hang it each day, I have a camp kit (items for use around camp incl hygiene), my sleep pad is in its oem sack to help protect it. My electronics are all in their own sack (chargers, cords, 18650 bttys, batty packs). None of my clothes go in a sack, they usually stay in the pack as I don't bring extra stuff unless its over 5 days. My pillow is placed in pack loose at the bottom to create a floor and elevate everything else. My sven saw is loose as are most everything else.

I keep stuff separated so I can bounce them from pack to pack for hunt to hunt, in state to state, for species to species.

It helps me with inventory control. After each hunt I replenish the used items.
I just grab which sack I will need throw it in the pack for the particular hunt, and I am ready to go.

I will usually hunt 3 or 4 states and 7 different hunts.

I try to use all see thru mesh types so I can easily and quickly, even in darker conditions see which sack has what in it.
Sometimes my turn around time from hunt to hunt is less than a couple days.
 

jmez

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Messages
7,404
Location
Piedmont, SD
I have a couple small stuff sacks that my day hunt stuff goes in. Everything else is staying in camp so no reason for me to try to "organize" it all. I just stuff it all in. When I get to camp I dump the entire thing out throw two stuff sacks back in the pack then everything other than food just goes in my tent.
 
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