Pack style

[Cramer]

I made a post a while back about getting into my first real pack, then never acted on it. At the time I was living in Oklahoma so my hopes were a 4-5 day trip every year or two. My circumstances have since changed as I have moved to Northern Montana.

Multiple day trips are still a very real possibility each year, but 2-3 day trips camping at the truck will be a lot more frequent.

That being said I am still looking at packs but considering what I really need. Even if it's a day hunt, I will still need a frame to haul meat out with. So would it be better to buy a frame and strap my day pack to it, until I need a bag? Or should I just bite the proverbial bullet and buy a pack with a load shelf that I can compress down to day pack proportions?

Of course I have been looking at an SG Sky 5100, EXO 5500, and even a Kifaru frame and who knows what variation of bag to hang on it. Regardless I will try and find a deal on the classifieds as this is my first pack.


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[7mag.]

If I was in your shoes, I would buy a Kifaru frame and a smaller bag for day hunting. You can easily step up to a bigger bag if you decide to do some multi night trips. To be fair, I'm a huge fan of Kifaru, and don't see myself buying a pack made by anyone else.

 

[oldgoat]

Yeah, I'm totally with 7mag. Get a hunting frame and something like the Apollo and add a guide lid when funds allow. With the meat shelf it could do a day or a couple days by by adding a dry bag in the meat shelf. Take a look, there's a recent thread on the Apollo, my wife runs one and I could easily see myself running one if the pack I already have didn't do everything handily.

 

[LBFowler]

Frame/suspension is the important part, everything else is just a nice-to-have.

 

[trapperjay]

My first pack was an SG Solo-2014 purchase best I recall now. Time flies. I then picked up the Serac bag after it came out and now have an ideal day pack load hauler. Hauled out a nice buck w/ it last fall. Planning for some overnighters this season so will have 5100ci plus the load shelf.