Replacement for ILBE Assault Pack?

[Morlock]

Hi all, first post. I wanted to ask a fairly straightforward gear question, but I'm going to put some background info in here since it's my first post, too. If you want to skip the foreplay and get right to the gear question, scroll down to after the asterisks.

I started reading here maybe a week ago because I've been wanting for quite some time to do some prepping (capital "p") and since I finally had some extra cash, I started building a BoB/INCH bag. I wanted it to serve as a starter kit for backpacking, too. I went backpacking once when I was a teenager, and the experience stuck; 18 days in the woods with one resupply. Not an extensive backpacking background, but just enough so that I knew I'd love to do it again if I had the time and money. Well, it took about 25 years, but now I have the time and money. Anyway, I've never hunted in my life, but I read a few threads here and the idea of backpacking and hunting together really grabbed me. I guess it dovetails with my beliefs about prepping, and learning survival skills in case TSHTF. I'm not one of those guys who insists TS will HTF, or that it's even likely. I just think it's a man's duty to be ready - to the extent he can be - if it does. Heck, after reading this forum for a while I'm even kind of curious about learning more about bowhunting, now, which is kind of out of left field for me.

But, adding backpacking/hunting to the list has added even more complexity to my research and gear acquisition. I mean, the list is getting pretty long, though there's a lot of overlap:


Backpacking for survival kit (4 season)
Backpacking and hunting for survival kit (4 season)
Backpacking for recreation kit (3 season)
Backpacking and hunting for recreation kit (hunting season)



****

Since I'm starting from scratch, I've had to be very circumspect about my purchases. I finally settled on an ILBE for my first pack, and got one in really good condition. I bought the regular assault pack for it, but it doesn't have a waist belt and isn't suited for what I want. So I'm probably going to give it to my nephew and shop for something else to take its place. I want something that will serve as a pack for a few days or a week away from the ILBE. The ILBE will be the pack I stuff full of tons of long-term survival gear and drop at camp. For the day/week pack, I want something that is comfortable, light, but can carry heavy loads in a pinch (bringing back meat) and still be comfortable, and that I can attach securely to the ILBE the way the assault pack does. Without being too spendy.

I'm interested to hear what your suggestions might be, and what kind of price range you think I'll need to be in to find something that performs well. Used or surplus suggestions welcome. I don't mind modding my ILBE or the day pack I wind up buying, btw.

Edit: I'm also open to the idea that I'm not going to find something that will do everything I'm asking. In that case, a good compromise will have to do.

 

[Morlock]

LOL@Myself. The assault pack I have totally has a waist belt. It was just tucked away inside. Every pic I've seen of it, it was shown the same way. It's not much of a waist belt, but it's there. But I've heard horror stories about how uncomfortable it is to carry weight in it, so, I'll have to test it out and see if I like it. I'm currently running down the Wilderness Pack Specialties Handi-Pak JL mentioned by a member here, to see if maybe it'll serve to make a better pack out of my assault pack. The price and weight sure seem right.

 

[TheRambler]

If you can find a used Camelbak Linchpin you would be an amazingly happy camper. They can be a little expensive though new. The Linchpin makes an awesome "assault" style pack. They dont come with a waistbelt, but you can add one. I find I dont need one with it though, especially if i keep the pack on the lighter side.

I used the Linchpin as my assault pack in Afghanistan on several tours. Was and still am very happy with it.

 

[mad_angler]

The Eberlestock X2 might work. It is my moose and deer day pack. It works great for that. Waterproof, strong, los of pockets, plenty of storage for enough great to spend the night if needed.

It can also carry quite a load. I picked out 80-100 lb moose quarters quite nicely. It has also packed put a few deer.

 

[Morlock]

Thanks for the replies. The X2 looks great, I read great things about it, and I like that it has attachment points so I can add more space as needed. The only thing that really gives me pause is that I keep reading that it isn't adjustable for height, and doesn't fit tall guys. I'm 6'2" and I'm worried it won't fit. I doubt anyone where I live (extreme SE US) carries them for me to try on. And I'd probably be trying to buy used, to save a few bucks. The X2 is the front-runner for now, but I'm going to keep looking and reading.

 

[Manosteel]

First welcome to rokslide. If I read your post right you are taking on a big challenge of learning to hunt ( which is difficult if you don't have a mentor) and then throwing in backpack hunting as your starting point. Most would suggest you get a few hunting seasons under your belt before hunting the back country. Myself included. Then go on back packing trips in the summer or on scouting trips to get a feel and level of comfort for that. Nothing wrong with camp hunting from or near your truck until you get a handle on how it's done.

I am not sure if you are just a "PREPPER" like on the TV show or actually want to learn how to backpack hunt. I am going to assume you are new to hunting, want to learn to hunt and what to learn to backpack backcountry hunt. If you are just a PREPPER, a back countries hunting system would do everything you need if TSHTF, And I am blown away that more PREPPER's don't learn how to hunt.

1st what do you plan on hunting?

2nd do you know how to gut and quarter or debone an animal? Do you know how to care for the meat? ( this is the biggest reason I recommend learning how to hunt on day trips, you will be closer to motorized vehicles and meat care will be quicker, easier and more manageable for a first timer.)

3rd do you own a rifle and how accurate are you with it? How much experience do you have with a gun? I would reccomend against bow hunting until you have at least one harvest under your belt. That doesn't mean you can't buy a bow and start learning how to shoot now, that way when the time comes to bow hunt you should be ready.

4th look at gear list threads on here to see what more experienced guys are carry. But for you I would look at a recent thread on getting set up for under $1500 for a good starting point if you are starting with nothing.

5th. Get away from thinking 3 and four season kits. Figure out when you are going to hunt and prepare for that. You will be able to use that setup for recreation, backpacking and scouting trips.

6th get away from thinking in terms of survival kits, we are hunting not trying to survive. You need very little to survive in the wild but you need a lot hunt in the wild.

7th what is you price range for a pack? Weapon? Sleeping bag? Shelter? Optics? Etc...

Cheers

 

[Shrek]

Morlock , I don't know where you are but you really need to find a hunting mentor. Doing it cold will be very frustrating. If you watch tv and read the Internet you will think that it will all fall in place and work out. Not hardly. Every decision has to be made by you and with any experience what would obvious to me or anyone who has hunted will totally baffle you. It's obviously not rocket science but someone there to help you see things would save you years of learning the hard way. I'm with manosteel in that I would separate the hunting education from the backcountry camping education. As for gear the saying buy once cry once applies. As you have much to learn I would start hunting with a rifle then progress to archery. Learn to walk before you run. I'm about to cook a venison burger for lunch and I'm making a pot of venison chilli for dinner. I haven't bought any meat other than bacon from the meat counter in years and I find that very satisfying.

 

[Brandon Pattison]

ILBE USMC packs by Arc'teryx are awesome but very HEAVY at like 12 pounds. Get a Kifaru BT1 or DT1 and don't look back.

Join an archery club and shoot winter leagues this winter to learn & form your opinions and tastes. Embrace the bug!

It sounds like you do your homework. All that's left is to log some time...

 

[desertcj]

I just ordered an ILBE and assult pack to replace my alps commander. The assault pack is for my wife. If the SHTF, then I wouldn't be leaving my main pack anywhere! I think you should forget about the "assault pack" concept and just keep it all in your' main pack. I will second the thought about forgetting the difference between recreation and hunting and 3 and 4 season. Just get your' gear system worked out that you take ALL THE TIME. Surviving in the wilderness out west all winter would not be an easy task! Depending on where you are, it is going to require significant planning and stockpiling.

 

[Morlock]

First welcome to rokslide. If I read your post right you are taking on a big challenge of learning to hunt ( which is difficult if you don't have a mentor) and then throwing in backpack hunting as your starting point. Most would suggest you get a few hunting seasons under your belt before hunting the back country. Myself included. Then go on back packing trips in the summer or on scouting trips to get a feel and level of comfort for that. Nothing wrong with camp hunting from or near your truck until you get a handle on how it's done.

Nah, I'm going to do everything in stages, and piecemeal. I was thinking I'd get used to shooting and cleaning animals by squirrel hunting near my home first. I don't have any solid plans for when - I'm still thinking everything through. I don't even have a gun to hunt with yet. As for backpacking, I was thinking of doing some walkabouts, just gearing up and setting out for a few day trips, then some overnights. Once all my gear comes in, anyway, I just finished ordering most of it.

Oh, and I do have a mentor, my BIL has been hunting since he was a kid. He bowhunts and has a couple bows, too, in addition to his rifle and shotgun. He's been out of state for a couple months working but he'll be back this week, so I'll finally have a chance to bounce all this stuff off of him.

I am not sure if you are just a "PREPPER" like on the TV show or actually want to learn how to backpack hunt. I am going to assume you are new to hunting, want to learn to hunt and what to learn to backpack backcountry hunt. If you are just a PREPPER, a back countries hunting system would do everything you need if TSHTF, And I am blown away that more PREPPER's don't learn how to hunt.

I don't know about the TV show, I don't actually have TV at home so I don't watch much. I mean, I have a TV, but I download shows I want and watch them, and don't get any channels, so I don't channel surf at all.

As for what I want to do, let's put it this way: I definitely want to do some backpacking. And I definitely want to learn to hunt. So I figure, I'll probably want to combine the two at some point. And yeah I agree, I don't understand why more preppers don't get into hunting.

1st what do you plan on hunting?

Well, like I said I think I'll start with squirrel and whatever other small varmints I can get around here, and get used to gutting, skinning, etc.

3rd do you own a rifle and how accurate are you with it? How much experience do you have with a gun? I would reccomend against bow hunting until you have at least one harvest under your belt. That doesn't mean you can't buy a bow and start learning how to shoot now, that way when the time comes to bow hunt you should be ready.

Yeah, I'm not looking to bow hunt any time soon. I just read a few threads here, and realized the idea intrigued me, which I found sort of surprising since I've never been interested. No, no gun yet. I know I want to get a .22lr first, but haven't settled on anything in particular yet. I don't have much experience with guns, at least not lately. I shot shotguns and rifles here and there as a kid, shot in JROTC, etc. But my first task in regards to shooting is to go out with my buddy's AR and shoot it. I'm still in the process of putting it together for him. I have a couple springs on order to replace the one bent by the guy who put it together for him the first time. Soon as that stuff comes in, I'm going to re-assemble it and we're going to go shooting with it. I need to save up and get a .22 though, much cheaper to practice with.

4th look at gear list threads on here to see what more experienced guys are carry. But for you I would look at a recent thread on getting set up for under $1500 for a good starting point if you are starting with nothing.

5th. Get away from thinking 3 and four season kits. Figure out when you are going to hunt and prepare for that. You will be able to use that setup for recreation, backpacking and scouting trips.

6th get away from thinking in terms of survival kits, we are hunting not trying to survive. You need very little to survive in the wild but you need a lot hunt in the wild.

7th what is you price range for a pack? Weapon? Sleeping bag? Shelter? Optics? Etc...

Cheers

I've pretty much picked up everything I want for now, except:

Shelter (big ticket item, so I'm going to tarp it and think about what I want for colder regions)
Sleeping Pad(s)
Puffy jacket
Bags (compression sacks, waterproof sacks, etc; I want all my gear in first, before I start figuring out exactly how I want to organize it)
Snares
Rifle carry (thinking about Kifaru Gunbearer, Gunslinger Corral, or DIY. I'll probably do all three and see which I like best since the prices aren't bad)
A couple odds and ends like gloves/mittens, gaiters, thinking about trying a hammock, etc.
Stove (I'm going to build my own hobo wood/alcohol stove, I think)
Hunting-specific stuff (haven't really even formed a game plan as far as hunting stuff goes; I did just order a large paclite, though)
Oh, and boots. I have a pair of Red Wing Irish Setters, a pair of cheapo hiking boots, and a pair of North Face Hedgehog 3s, but no real hiking/hunting type boot to speak of yet.

Once the last of the stuff actually ships (some of the vendors are taking their sweet-a$$ time) and arrives, first thing I'm going to do is fill my pack and hike it around a bit.

 

[Morlock]

ILBE USMC packs by Arc'teryx are awesome but very HEAVY at like 12 pounds. Get a Kifaru BT1 or DT1 and don't look back.

Join an archery club and shoot winter leagues this winter to learn & form your opinions and tastes. Embrace the bug!

It sounds like you do your homework. All that's left is to log some time...

Yeah I'm kinda borderline OCD when it comes to researching before I buy. Part of it's being a cheapskate, part is budget limitations, and part is just being circumspect by nature. Add it all up and it starts sounding OCD...

The ILBE is growing on me. Let's put it this way: as you say, it's a quality pack (really it's just the body armor issue that generates almost all the hate for it that I've seen), and I just got mine for $100, shipped (they can be had in good to excellent condition for a bit less, but I didn't go OCD on the bargain-hunting). Remember, this is a multi-purpose gear buy for me, and the prepping part is the only thing that actually made me pull the trigger on any of this gear now. If I waited until I needed the stuff for recreation-only, I wouldn't have bought anything yet. But the whole point of prepping is to get ready ASAP, so I needed something that will serve my needs and come in under budget immediately.

Oh, as for the weight of the ILBE, I think you're a few pounds over, there. I haven't thrown it on a scale yet, but I was reading a thread at zombiehunters a couple days ago where a guy bought one and weighed it, and he said it was 8lbs and change as delivered, IIRC. I assume that's without the lid or the assault pack. Then he proceeded to cutting off straps and buckles he didn't need, and got it down to 6 and change, again IIRC. That's not bad IMO. For the moment I don't want to cut anything off of mine, but as I get used to it and sort it out, I'll keep his mods in mind.

(Edit: here's that thread about trimming down the ILBE, for anyone who's interested)

Eventually, I'll probably upgrade a lot of this kit. But since most of the stuff I'll be replacing can go to my buddy or my nephew, I won't feel bad about buying twice; that's the great thing about prepper gear, more means more to hand out!

I just ordered an ILBE and assult pack to replace my alps commander. The assault pack is for my wife. If the SHTF, then I wouldn't be leaving my main pack anywhere! I think you should forget about the "assault pack" concept and just keep it all in your' main pack.

I've been kinda thinking the same thing, swinging back the other way, since I posted this thread. The problem is, to do a pack right, you need suspension. And a second suspension system is probably just adding weight I can't afford. I've been wondering about modular packs instead, with stuff I can drop if I need to.

I will second the thought about forgetting the difference between recreation and hunting and 3 and 4 season. Just get your' gear system worked out that you take ALL THE TIME. Surviving in the wilderness out west all winter would not be an easy task! Depending on where you are, it is going to require significant planning and stockpiling.

Funny you should mention that, because really, that's how I'm kitting out. I live in Charleston, SC, and I just bought an ECWCS system, for cripes sake! In the dead of winter it rarely goes below freezing here.

I'm about to cook a venison burger for lunch and I'm making a pot of venison chilli for dinner. I haven't bought any meat other than bacon from the meat counter in years and I find that very satisfying.

Yeah, I like the idea of not buying meat any more a lot. Justifies the gear (and time) expenditures, for one thing.

 

[desertcj]

So, I got my ILBE the other day. I gotta say, I like it a lot! I can't imagine spending $600 on a pack, but hey maybe if I tried one of them I would. It is smaller then my last pack and I am going to use the assault pack piggy backed on it most of the time I think. Camp in the main bag and all my hunting related gear in the assault pack.

 

[unm1136]

Morlock...

I am starting back into hunting after a 20 year hiatus from when I used to bowhunt with my dad. I have killed a metric ton of rabbits in the woods, but nothing larger. I am also jumping into backpack hunting, as my dad taught me to truck hunt, hence not killing anything larger. I am running a Kifaru EMR that I got off an auction site for about half off. One thing I am rapidly learning is "buy once, cry once". I am really working hard on saving $10-20 a paycheck. That gives me a lot of time to do my homework. Buying quality and light, despite cost will keep you from buying several iterations of your gear. It has taken me six months to save enough for a Megatarp. Look at the Supertarp or Megatarp for shelter. Add an annex and stove later for four season use. Add a bivy and a sleeping bag for.the most flexable, lightweight shelter.

As I said I am mentorless, so I rely on the guys here and over at Kifaru.com, including Patrick Smith's essays. I have been drawn for mule deer the last three years , and only seen one legal deer to shoot; a forkie. I am 0-4 on elk. But I am learning. Last fall I saw dozens of turkeys and didn't have a legal gun to shoot them with, so this spring I made a trip and saw no shootable birds...Each year I learn more, and spend more days in the field. And love just getting out.

pat

 

[Brandon Pattison]

Well said, Pat.

 

[Morlock]

Desertcj, if you just want the assault pack for the extra cubic inches, you might want to sell it on ebay and seek out lighter options. Some kind of no-frills 500/1000D bag with MOLLE attachments that you can strap on. Like a couple of sustainment pouches. MUCH lighter.

Edit: I suggest the USGI Sleep System Carrier as a replacement for the ILBE assault pack. It's gore-tex and way lighter, but it has a capacity of 1500 CI (IIUC), same as the assault pack.

One thing I am rapidly learning is "buy once, cry once". I am really working hard on saving $10-20 a paycheck. That gives me a lot of time to do my homework. Buying quality and light, despite cost will keep you from buying several iterations of your gear. It has taken me six months to save enough for a Megatarp. Look at the Supertarp or Megatarp for shelter. Add an annex and stove later for four season use. Add a bivy and a sleeping bag for.the most flexable, lightweight shelter.

The buy once cry once philosophy has its place, but not so much with prepping, which was my foremost reason for all my recent gear buys. The idea of prepping is to be prepared now, not later. It's better to have a good bag now than a great bag in 2 months. And since none of the people I care about spend anything on prepping (or saving, or investing, or...), my ILBE will find a good home if I upgrade. I say "if," because I might just decide to buy four more ILBEs for friends and family, and still have about $400 bucks to spend on things I need more than an upgrade to a great pack.

Different strokes, as they say.

 

[desertcj]

Desertcj, if you just want the assault pack for the extra cubic inches, you might want to sell it on ebay and seek out lighter options. Some kind of no-frills 500/1000D bag with MOLLE attachments that you can strap on. Like a couple of sustainment pouches. MUCH lighter.

Edit: I suggest the USGI Sleep System Carrier as a replacement for the ILBE assault pack. It's gore-tex and way lighter, but it has a capacity of 1500 CI (IIUC), same as the assault pack.



The buy once cry once philosophy has its place, but not so much with prepping, which was my foremost reason for all my recent gear buys. The idea of prepping is to be prepared now, not later. It's better to have a good bag now than a great bag in 2 months. And since none of the people I care about spend anything on prepping (or saving, or investing, or...), my ILBE will find a good home if I upgrade. I say "if," because I might just decide to buy four more ILBEs for friends and family, and still have about $400 bucks to spend on things I need more than an upgrade to a great pack.

Different strokes, as they say.

True, there may be lighter options but since nothing is coming out of the fan yet...I plan to do as you were. Using the assault pack as a day pack and leaving the ruck at camp. I'm happy with it so far. I'll be testing it out in two weeks. I am shedding weight in other ways like swapping my tent (5lbs) for a tarp (1lb)!