I bought a new kuiu icon 7000 and love it. light, tons of pockets, has a load sling to carry out deboned meat and camp in one trip, comfy, adjustable. the pocket design is great for my big spotter and tripod and a well thought out rifle holder. wouldn't trade it for another pack.
I upgraded to the kuiu from a badlands 4500. It was ok but too heavy, not near as comfy, too small. couldn't adjust to fit it right.
other packs I was highly interested in were the stone glaciers. they are a little lighter than the kuiu but don't have as many bells and whistles as far as storing gear. u basically get a main pocket for everything to go into. they do have the same style meat sling as the kuiu.
another good company is kifaru. they have quite a few packs and a couple frames to choose from. havn't put one on but they come highly recommended. tough as nails and they take your measurements to build to fit you. lots of bag configurations to fiit your needs. also have add on pouches to add to your bag if you need to make it a little bigger. the turn off for me was it was going to be over 800 bucks for the pack and a bit of a wait to get it.
if you don't want to spend the 600 plus dollars to get into a really good pack I would steer towards either a mec style backpack that isn't geared towards hunting but will get the job done. or go with the cabelas external frame pack. nothing fancy but gets the job done. have 2 buddies that are happy with them. I have lots of friends including myself that have more than a few bags that sit on the shelf collecting dust. eberlestock and badlands style packs that look pretty good in the store but don't seem to fit very nice and are just too heavy to begin with. unless you are a full time guide that needs a bomb proof bag or your built like a brick u know what it is silly to start out with a 9 or 10 pound bag. ounces turn into pounds and pounds turn into pain in a hurry when packing too much weight for days on end. why not drop the 3 pounds right off the start with a nice light bag that can still handle 150 pound load when coming out heavy and happy.
also when picking a pack size go bigger than you think. for packs like the kuiu that offer the 5000 and 7000 size the weight difference Is only a couple oz. comes In handy when you want to go for longer trips and also saves you from hanging crap from you bag . they also pack down very small to use as your day pack for hunting once in the bush and camp set up.
Last edited by bardfromedson; 07-25-2013 at 09:59 PM.
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