Why Load Shelf?

[chindits]

Yeah, I can't believe you didn't know it was the side of the pack enveloping around the meat bag.

Looks to me like the pack is full of junk and he just strapped a few lbs of meat in a bag onto the back of his pack. But if it doesn't bother him then it doesn't bother me.

Your perception is inaccurate. All that’s in the main bag is a puffy jacket and puffy pants, rain jacket and rain pants and what’s left of my kill kit. Why you would question something that you aren’t using is beyond me.

This is what’s in the bottom of the pack

That’s a trash compactor bag with down gear and rain gear


This is what two layers of pack cloth looks like


This is what the space looks like with my rain gear and puffies in the bottom of the pack creating a platform without a meat shelf, please note the empty tan tube pockets on the side and the loose fabric that would go around the side of meat bags in that space


Here is a photo of the same pack with a boned out rear quarter, two back straps, two loins and one heart from a spindly 5. You might keenly note how close the top of the white bag is to the frame and when you visit me I’ll show you how it continues down to where my rain and puffy gear is but can not be seen because at some point the view is obstructed by empty tube pockets and pack material. In the meantime I hope you can find someone else’s integrity to question. Sir.

 

[Macintosh]

I dont backpack hunt a lot. The packs that I carry meat in are generally daypack-sized. For the way I typically use them I think a large pack all buckled down to daypack size is inferior to a smaller pack, so I use a couple of MR popups. The 28l pack is my BIG meat carrying pack for when I bring extra layers in very cold weather, the 18 is my go-to 99% of the time. Ive never packed an animal out in a backpacking sized pack. Im sure a large pack like that would make it doeable, but would require a pack thats 3 or 4x the size and volume I want for 99% of the time Im using it. But the smaller pack bags simply arent big enough to put much meat inside. So for a smaller daypack-sized meat hauling pack I think a shelf of some sort isnt a preference, its something of a necessity. It has also allowed me to easily carry some “non-traditional” loads which seems to happen at least once or twice a year, ie have carried an entire ladder-stand in one trip well over a mile with it, not to mention numerous impromptu loads like someone elses trash, a bag of duck decoys, a chainsaw, saddle platform and sticks (used A LOT), etc. I might not use it as much in a bigger pack, but at least for these everyday-sized hunting packs I 150% would not and will not buy another pack without a load shelf. If part of the draw to some of these packs is the ability to share both a big bag and a daypack sized bag on the same frame, then the above rationale might also apply.

 

[S.Clancy]

I have, like, and use both.

For day hunts and shorter backpacking trips, I prefer the load shelf. For longer backpacking trips, I prefer no load shelf.

I like the load shelf on the the short trips because I don't want to clean blood off my gear every weekend hunt.

I like the no load shelf (SG Terminus) on longer trips because it's lighter and, for me, inside the pack carries better over longer distances and heavier loads.