Tactical Tailor Malice Pack for Hunting

[ct78]

Hello there, new to the forum and eager to learn. I’m a big outdoorsman but that’s been largely limited to shooting, camping, and backpacking. I’m moving to Boise area early next year and I’m interested in learning about hunting ahead of time.

My main pack is a Tactical Tailor Malice Pack (V3 with the sleeping compartment). I know it’s built with heavy construction, but I’ve loaded it up with 40-50lbs and not had problems hiking with it. I’ll be doing a 19 mile overnight hiking summit with it at the end of the month for further testing.

My question is, will this pack be useful/compatible with hunting in the long run? I like the external frame and wide profile compared to most American packs are designed long.

I’m trying to understand why hunting packs are specifically useful. I see a lot of times you can pack your game meat in between the frame and pack, but beyond that is it mostly preference?

 

[yycyak]

1. Yes it will work.

2. No, it won't generally be comfortable.

3. They are generally a "heavy" pack frame compared to other stuff.

Malice/ALICE was designed for war-fighting. It's good for that. You can go prone, but still pop your head up. You can also duck under stuff, and the top of the pack won't smash on things.

But the pack's center of gravity is inefficient. In other words, it doesn't carry heavy stuff optimally. Heavy stuff should generally ride at your shoulder blades (Or as much is as practical - Hunting scenarios won't always allow for this.) Look at this photo:

Heavy stuff riding at shoulder blades.

Malice/ALICE doesn't carry weight this way, meaning heavy stuff generally sucks to carry with these packs.

I have a FILBE frame/ALICE combo. It's my favourite "cool" pack. But I don't run it for backpack hunts where I know I'll potentially be packing meat, because carrying anything over 40lbs in it really sucks.

This isn't to say you need a $800 Stone Glacier either (Don't do this). But you asked for the difference between a hunting pack and your Malice, and now you know. "Right tool for the job" as they say.

Caveat: You could easily run your malice as a daypack setup, but it'll be stupid heavy baseweight for that job. I think it's almost 7lbs, whereas my daypack is just over 1lbs.

 

[ct78]

Awesome analysis. This is more than the answer I was actually even expecting, so kudos to you sir!

Your explanation about the pack optimizing where the heavy items sit makes a lot of sense. Some part of me thought it might have been entirely preference based, with Brits/Aussies preferring wide packs and Americans just going long, but I can see what you mean now.

In all likelihood, I’ll use the Malice to start just because I’d rather roll with what I have and the figure out what I prefer/need. Who knows, maybe after this summit trip I’ll have my answer much sooner.

Question, is the expectation for hunts also that you’re carrying more weight than most other use cases? I see comments about needing to carry 100lbs of game meat. There’s probably never a usecase for that much weight backpacking, and even rarely in a military / ruck scenario.

 

[justinspicher]

I used a TT MALICE pack for my first few years hunting because it was what I had. Mine was on a MR NICE frame and that made a huge difference. It wasn’t bad, it was good enough until I got a better pack that was actually designed for hunting.

 

[yycyak]

Nothing wrong with running what you have. Better to put the money towards fuel and tags - at least then you're out in the field, which is all that matters.

The biggest reason for "hunting" packs existing is that anything can comfortably haul 40lbs of camping gear in/out. It's not as easy to comfortably carry your full camp, plus 80+ lbs of cape/meat safely off a mountain.

Niche outfits are thankfully now catering to that use-case. (Although Barney's has been doing it for forever)

For what it's worth, there's a bunch of dudes on this site that know waaaaay more than I do about packs. I just have a soft spot for ALICE rigs, so you got me talking.

Awesome analysis. This is more than the answer I was actually even expecting, so kudos to you sir!

Your explanation about the pack optimizing where the heavy items sit makes a lot of sense. Some part of me thought it might have been entirely preference based, with Brits/Aussies preferring wide packs and Americans just going long, but I can see what you mean now.

In all likelihood, I’ll use the Malice to start just because I’d rather roll with what I have and the figure out what I prefer/need. Who knows, maybe after this summit trip I’ll have my answer much sooner.

Question, is the expectation for hunts also that you’re carrying more weight than most other use cases? I see comments about needing to carry 100lbs of game meat. There’s probably never a usecase for that much weight backpacking, and even rarely in a military / ruck scenario.

 

[oldskool67]

I used my old Alice, and it worked fine until I could afford something better.

 

[antaresproper]

if you want a hunting pack, buy it used. or at least the bag part if you don't want a used frame. good deals on the classifieds.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Welcome.

Use what you got. Add things as you go.

Meat shelves on packs are great but not essential. You don’t end up having to put meat in your pack bag with your gear to haul it.

The commercial hunting options are great and offer some wonderful features specific for hunters, but they cost $$$ and they don’t magically make a #50 load float through the forest. The only really enhancements they offer over your MALICE besides design gpfeatures, is a little bit more comfort and lower base weight. When you are ready to upgrade, get a good frame and then a couple of bags from a company you like and you can hunt them for decades.