I posted this over on the Bowhunting board last year but since there is now a backpacking hunting board I thought I'd re-post it here as well
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Hunting Day Pack Modifications

Many years ago I bought a simple day pack from Cabelas but I hated the shoulder straps and belt that came on it.
I had a frame and webgear from my old Alice pack in the attic so I cannibalized the shoulder straps and hip belt and modified them and mounted them onto my hunting day pack.



My recurve bow quiver holds 4 arrows. Which is more than enough for deer hunting, and just the right weight, but if you’re out hog hunting or hunting for critters you might need more than 4 different arrows. I like to carry a couple of arrows with field points in front of Bateman adders, at least a couple of Judo/Shocker points, at least one FluFlu for shooting up in the air or at a squirrel in a tree, as well as a couple of regular broadheads. Too many arrows for a simple 4 arrow bow quiver. SO…



I had an old two-piece, 8 arrow bow quiver from an old recurve. I took the brackets off of the back and figured out a simple way to use a piece of leather slid behind one of the pack’s side pockets. I use a piece of that Velcro that has hooks on one side and loops on the other and run it through the leather and an attachment on the pack to hold the quiver in position on the pack.



For the last few years I have been involved in marathon canoe & kayak racing. We use 2-quart & 4-quart Igloo insulated water jugs with long tube straws in them to get our water while we’re paddling. And when I was in the infantry we used a 5-quart soft, collapsible, bladder type canteen to carry the larger volume of water we carried when we were on patrol. It fit in the inside pocket of an Army Alice pack. The water jugs with a tube straw gave me the idea to modify a bladder canteen with a hose straw to use for hiking and it got me to thinking about using it in my backpacks. It works great.

Thanks for the ideas!! I've been looking at the catquivers, which are a lot like your idea. I haven't been able to part with 150 bucks to buy one though....and truthfully the catquiver doesn't answer alll of my concerns. I assume you don't walk through a lot of heavy bush with your arrows sticking up like that. I made a quiver that hangs the arrows down and they don't get hung up as much. Where do you buy the water bladders?

the chef

When I saw the CatQuiver is when I got the idea. I had all the stuff laying around and didn't feel like giving them $150 either.

If I have to walk through brush I just drop the pack off of my left shoulder and let it swing down so the arrows are horizontal.
Not in the picture is a keeper strap that keeps the arrows from getting popped off and a camo drawstring bag that I made to go over the fletchings

I got the water bladder when I was in the Army- you might try the surplus websites or stores- the shoulder strap is one of my old camera straps

I have also made some modifications to my hunting pack, primarily in the hip belt area. On the right side I added an Uncle Mike's pouch designed for carrying a snubnosed revolver. It supports the grip Of my Encore Hand gun. The pouch has a pocket on the outside of it that carries my Fiscars knife sharpener and a roll of marking tape. The revolver pouch has an internal divider that forms a handy place to carry a pack of travel sanitary wipes in. In front of the revolver pouch is another webb pouch, where my car keys go. It keeps them handy and quiet; and you don't have to take the pack off and dig into it to get to your car keys when you get back to your vehicle.

The left side of the hip belt has 3 pouches and an Uncle Mike's cartridge carrier located on it. The pouches came from a war surplus and peace officer supply store. The two long skinny pouches carry my Victorinox One-Hand Trekker knife and my Princeton Blast Lamp. The next pouch is a surgical glove pouch that carries my Petzl Tikka XP head lamp and 3 extra AAA batteries. The cartridge carrier goes in front of there and it can carry 10 rounds, but I usually only put 5 in it and one in the chamber of my single shot pistol.

This pouch system keeps most of what I might need handy and organized. I can get to everything easily whether my pack is on or off, on the trail or in camp. No sorting of gear or hunting for it is necessary with the pouches on the hip belt, and the pack ballences better using this pouch system...Rusty.