First time flatlander pack help!

[duchntr]

Get the biggest bag they offer and use it for everything, Kifaru especially makes the best designed bags IMO and they compress down to nothing excellently. Last bag i had from kifaru was 7000c and I never wished I had a smaller bag.

 

[Danny Hoey]

So I know this has been asked ad naseum, but still need a little advice so bare with me.

Heading to CO on first drop camp Elk hunt for 7 days. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time and I've found some others to commit with me to going. At 36, the plan is to get the big game bug, which I already have, and make this an annual thing moving into caribou, moose, etc.

This first hunt is a drop camp, but we are using this a learning experience so the next several could be trips we pack in so I'm looking for a pack that can potentially do both and not one that will be used 7 days this year then posted in the classifieds. I'm a little hung up on the fact the packs I'm looking at still seem really big for day pack modes and I'm curious to thoughts and opinions on how hard it is to shoot a bow with certain packs.

I can't decide whether to stay in the 3000 +/- size range and then use the meat shelf for more gear on future longer hunts or to get something in the 5500 +/- range so any recommendations there are helpful. How many of you have a smaller pack for 3/4 days plus another larger pack for 7+ days. Do you end up using one more than the other or is it best to just get the bigger pack from the start.

I was dead set on an Exo Gear 3500 or 5500, but now I've been eyeing the Kifaru Reckoning and new Hoodlum. I'm really having a case of paralysis by analysis, and my head hurts from reading so much.

I am 100% satisfied hunting with my Kuiu pack. They have bags ranging from 1800CI to 7200 which will all go on the same frame. You could have your 1800 bag in your 7200 bag along with camp, unstrap the 7200 and day hunt with the 1800. Switching bags on and off the frame is simple.

I can get my bow off my back in a split second while hunting.

It does all I need and I have no need for another pack. Opinions may vary, as you will find out.

Good luck with your search.