used backpack for youth hunter

[ftothfadd]

Dear Members,

I’m looking to buy a gently used backpack that would fit my 12 year old 5’2” tall son for a couple years before it is passed along to another young Hunter. Any suggestions?
Should you have anything that you are willing to sell at a reasonable price please let me know.
Thank you for your help, and happy holidays, Ferenc

 

[adamm88]

Keep and eye on facebook if your on that, I would think you could pick up something off the classifieds on here as well. There is a thread on youth packs from the past week, a lot of suggestions doing a Womans frame since they are smaller

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

For what its worth at that size unless he's rip roaring to pack something or do a backpack hunt just get him a basic daypack to carry his day gear of snacks/layers/fluids. You're not likely going to load him down with much weight unless he's wanting to do it. When my oldest was that size and my middle is currently around that size I didn't really expect them to pack yet other than maybe carry the rifle on a packout to save me ~10lb.

My 14yr old this year was 5'-10" and I just put him into a clearance MR pack for now that wasn't too spendy and had a small waist size, cause while he's tall and getting stronger he's still something like a 28" waist. The frame length and waist size issue is going to be your main hurdle if trying to get a budget pack that hauls weight that fits someone 5'-2" (and is unlikely to remain there very long?).

He packed out half a deer this year.

 

[TaperPin]

You’ll find a lot of used women’s packs for dirt cheap. Find a model that works for small men or women, and search for them specifically. Dana Design (pre Mystery Ranch) packs are long in the tooth and some have sticky urethane liners and some don’t, but small size Terraplane, Astralplane, alpine, glaciers, bombpacks, etc are often less than $75. The last pack purchased for myself, had a small size Terraplane thrown in for free. A bomb pack or Bridger are 30ish to 35ish liters and adjustable over a fairly wide range. In today’s dollars, these were like $600 when new.

 

[ftothfadd]

Thank you, very helpful. Sadly (?) I have no social media…
He would also use the pack for backpacking so a more rigid internal frame and 3000 ish CI capacity would be great

 

[ftothfadd]

Any other suggestions

 

[AndyB]

Any other suggestions

Look out for a used Eberlestock X2, rigid frame and bombproof...one of those could pass to your sons kids I'm sure.

 

[White Falcon]

Walmart, Day packs.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

I have one that may work for him
I bought it for my daughter and she is about 2' taller now and hates backpacking
Will dig it out and let you know

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

I gave 2 smaller youth packs away to fellow Roksliders with kids last winter.

Here is an option if you feel he will be a hunter and outdoorsman…

At 12, my oldest was right around the same size. We bought him a Kuiu Icon 3200 in S/M and adjusted the suspension to fit him. He’s now 6’1”, 190 and carries the majority of any animal we put on the ground. Of course he broke his original frame and the suspension stiching blew out, but Kuiu warrantied everything and now he has a L/XL 3200 pack that fits him (he also bought the bigger 6000 bag). So we bought 1 pack almost 10yrs ago and this kid has used it 1000s of days since then.

 

[nodakian]

If you strike out on something used, check out Western Edge Gear packs. They are built to survive several generations of young hunters, customizable for size by swapping components, and a little less costly than some others.

Good luck with your search.