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Used Back Pack for 2019 season

After last season's hunt I have realized I need a new frame pack for a min of 5-7 day hunt. Looking at all the best brands to never have to buy another one is finding them to be a little out of my budget.... Looking to you fine folks to possibly get a good used one to cut the cost a bit? If you don't have one, perhaps you can point me in the right direction to find one?

Exo 5500, find a used one, it's the best Day-Pack combo meat hauler I've owned! It is simply an awesome pack! Rokslide generally has one in the Classifieds here & there!

ElkNut/Paul

I have been using an army LARGE ALICE (with frame) since the mid 80s. It has 65 Combat equipment jumps with me, been on numerous deployments, I have lived out of it for over a year at a time on several occasions, and I have hauled loads of elk meat up to #200 at a time. You can get them off the auction site for under $100. I find them easier to use and more comfortable than the new high dollar packs. They are far better humping through thick cover as you do not get hung up like all the new/high high tech types on overhead branches. Yes they may weigh a few ounces more, but cannot be beat. Get some surplus wet weather bags to keep gear dry , (so good we used to also use them for floatation devices) so good when on patrol in swamps up to your neck for days your gear is still dry.

X2 here is one with a custom sling attached. $50 for the pack. Sure u can buy one with a mattress wrapped around your hip and shoulders. But they weigh 7-10 pounds. I have an outdoorsmans, Stone Glacier Xcurve, Eberlestock, Badlands, Tenzing, they all have their purpose and a great packs. BUT your post mentioned budget. I don’t think u can get better for the money than a brand new Army pack frame from the largest auction site.

Look at Molle2 gen 4

Thanks Paul. My good buddy has this pack and used last season. Great pack, that is the one I would be looking for. Regarding the "Cheap army pack".... that is what I have now, Alaskin Frame Pack by Cabelas that I bought used on this site. Worked great for packing meat and camp, but when used as a day pack it is just too loud with all the squeaks and stuff to feel confident on a stalk.

Exo, stone glacier, kifaru, seek, mystery ranch, kuiu all make good packs. If I were looking to buy one pack for the next 20+ years it would be one of the first three I mentioned. Look on Rokskide and eBay. There are some deals to be had but the top end hold their value pretty good. You can find a kifaru duplex frame on rokskide( better after the fall) for $250-$300. A bag will range $150-$200. Add lids and pouches as you can afford. For $500 you can have a top of the line bag and frame that are worn very little. Kuiu you can get a bag and frame used for around $300 but I don’t think it’s a twenty year fix. Eberlestock is another middle of the road offering that could be good but it appears the skimp on the hip belts and padding, probably the most important part.

Start looking hard on rokslide classifieds starting in December. A ton of gear gets sold right after the season. Even used a high end pack will still be pretty pricey. As the saying goes buy once cry once. If I would have just listened to that advice myself.

Edit: Oops, just seen this was in regards to next season! Disregard the first sentence!

Good luck finding a used one in time, there's not even enough lead time now to buy a new one from the top two for this season, Kifaru has about a four week turnaround time right now and I would guess Stone Glacier is similar. Kifaru has a forum with classifieds, rokslidedotcom does also as well as on here there is a classifieds section. The higher end packs aren't a one size fits most packs like the cheaper lines. For the most part it's just different size belt though and then different length frames, mentioning this so if you buy a used one you at least get the right size belt, frame length unless you're extremely tall or extremely short isn't quite as big of deal. I used to scoff at the people spending huge money on packs till I got to know and actually see the better packs and learn about them, now I own two and my wife has one also, they are amazing especially if you aren't a spring chicken anymore! Me and my wife are in our fifties, we don't pack in very far and she's fairly arthritic already, but we can go in and cut an hour plus if hiking every morning and evening and carry enough stuff in to have a comfortable camp and be in the elk a couple hours longer everyday and it wouldn't be possible without top shelf stuff!

Another option depending on your budget is a used USMC ILBE pack that can be easily found on eBay for $150 or so. Get the full pack with hip belt (but not the Assault pack) and it will do everything you want it to. You could plan to sell it right after your hunt and you would lose very little money. But, since you've got over a year to plan maybe this is a good time to set money aside for a quality pack. The pack is second in importance only to your boots.

Swamp buck as you stated A quiet day pack is an entirely different animal. Nothing made of 500 is quiet. Look at the new Sitka Apex day pack. 36 0unces and $199. Very quiet. You could actually stalk a bedded Muley with it on your back. It would have to be very windy or a deaf deer to pull that off with a Cordura bag on your back. But of course their all quiet if you drop it and don’t wear them when ever an animal is in sight. Dropping the pack works great for bedded animals. Not so much for stalking. Backtracking to get the pack u dropped can get old. And if it’s afternoon and the stalk takes you a mile away and into darkness it’s always fun to find a dropped pack in the dark that was dropped an hour or two ago.

Cordura isn’t loud to wear. It may make noise when it brushes something.

Go to the Rokslide classifieds and post a thread stating what you want to buy. I posted a WTB thread a few years ago for an Exo 5500 and had a guy contact me through that, ended up buying it and love the pack.

Eric, you bet! If there's a chance to pick one up go for it, I know you'd love it bud!

ElkNut/Paul

Altitude sickness x 2. Army Ruck is going to be hard too beat for the money

I have a good used Kelty Cache freighter....wasn't looking to sell it......but drop me a PM if interested. $130 new at retail sites. Alps makes one very similar for $80 new.

It ain't perfect but it works and a great frame pack for the cheap, even new. It has served me well and I keep it as a back up for my son to come help me.....someday....if I ever kill and elk. LOL

You can get dry bags for gear and strap them to it....and the silnylon ones are light. Drop the dry bags at camp and use the frame to haul meat. Not anything I would wear during a hunt though.

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