What are the drawbacks of a chest pack for deer hunting?

[schroej]

I'm looking at getting a chest  pack, like the Marsupial Multi-pack. It seems like it would be a great choice for my fishing, photography, and turkey hunting pursuits.

My question is: for those of you who have chest packs like this, do you use them for deer hunting? How does it compare to a bino harness with rangefinder pouch? I guess my concern is noise and ease of access to binos with the zipper. I'm mostly doing still hunting in western timber, with the occasional long sit-and-spot.

 

[Bubblehide]

Not ever having used the Marsupial pack, take this for what it's worth. It's wider than a typical bino pack, but I don't see that being an issue (I use a bino pack and a Kenai chest holster); even with a chest holster.

You've got me interested. I'm looking forward to what those that have used one, have to say.

 

[ChrisAU]

I’ve tried it deer and elk hunting and I loved having easy access to tons of stuff but eventually got tired of the zipper. I now use a non magnetic AGC Ravus with a Kifaru Admin pouch on the front, an FHF Nav Pouch on one side, and a Marsupial bottom pouch. Still have all the stuff but don’t have a zipper in the way of quietly getting my binos.

 

[BLJ]

I’ve tried it deer and elk hunting and I loved having easy access to tons of stuff but eventually got tired of the zipper. I now use a non magnetic AGC Ravus with a Kifaru Admin pouch on the front, an FHF Nav Pouch on one side, and a Marsupial bottom pouch. Still have all the stuff but don’t have a zipper in the way of quietly getting my binos.

You had a multi pack and switched?
Do you have any pictures of the new setup? Thanks

 

[Q_Sertorius]

I haven’t used the Marsupial because I don’t like having a pouch in the middle of my torso. It can be too limiting in the prone. And I don’t know how things are organized inside of that thing. I feel like there are situations where I would be digging through that to get at something I would need.

I prefer to spread my stuff out into many smaller pouches along each front rib cage using a load-bearing vest. I have a variety of map pouches, grenade pouches, dump pouches, and other pouches for all the various binoculars, Inreach, compass, spare magazines, and tools I might need. I can get at everything I need while staying prone. And, it’s almost all above my hip belt and inside my shoulder straps if I have the assault pack or main pack on my back. Or can be comfortably squished under the hip belt (e.g., an empty dump pouch).

I place a high value on not having to hold a yard sale to find anything I need, having some ability to quickly scale down what I am carrying, and some redundancy in safety gear I might need.

 

[ChrisAU]

You had a multi pack and switched?
Do you have any pictures of the new setup? Thanks

The FHF chest rig is what I used. I still use it for night hunting to hold a thermal monocular, batteries, etc. I’ll get a pic of my bino harness setup tomorrow. It’s a lot of stuff but I like having it all right there.

 

[Jpsmith1]

I'm moving to a Hill People Gear chest rig this year for whitetail stand hunting.

Big enough to pack my "at hand" items and small enough to not be in the way.

 

[MallardSX2]

Hang your bowstring on it 1 time and you will see a minimum of 1 drawback for sure. lol

 

[HailStateHunter]

Hang your bowstring on it 1 time and you will see a minimum of 1 drawback for sure. lol

Absolutely