For any of you guys considering this pack, here is a couple of pictures with an option for hauling meat between the frame and pack.

Chuck,
I envy you that rifle! I've always admired it. Do you ever think of how hard a stainless LH Model 70 is to find?
Don

Really neat setup. How much does it weigh?

quote:

Originally posted by Don B:
Chuck,
I envy you that rifle! I've always admired it. Do you ever think of how hard a stainless LH Model 70 is to find?
Don

Don, I know exactly how hard they are to find. Even more so in Canada. I understand they only shipped 100 to our side of the border. I've owned two and FOOLISHLY sold one of them. Keep an eye out and good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by DesertRam:
Really neat setup. How much does it weigh?

6lbs 9ozs

that does not look anything like my HOward Hill Longbow...

Rich
in my hands sticks and stones will break your bones; and puncture thru and thru.

Oh?

That pack looks pretty weak for any meat hauling I've ever done. Might work for pronghorn or other lower 48 animals, but is not suitable for Alaska work.

I would have to agree......like you wouldn't take a Detective Special to a known firefight, but it's better than nothing. I've seen a moose on the ground/helped haul it, and I've seen this pack. Now if you are an Alaskan hunting solo for moose, there are many better packs, but if you are an out of state hunter with a guide and packer, that's another story.
For me, on a whitetail hunt around here, back in the steep and brushy, it's a good choice for a one or two nighter and light gear, I think. If you do get a deer, you'll have to bone it all out, but then you're good to go.
Don
PS I'm just brown-nosing Chuck, so that someday he'll sell me that rifle!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Chisana:
That pack looks pretty weak for any meat hauling I've ever done. Might work for pronghorn or other lower 48 animals, but is not suitable for Alaska work.

I'll stick with Pronghorns then. Here is the same pack doing just that.

Yes, that is a good illustration of what I was talking about. I'm glad that pic was handy.

The pack definitely looks "weak".

It would be entirely inadequate for any backpack hunting that we do in Alaska. Carrying an animal back to the truck in the lower 48 is one thing and an overgrown daypack will handle that fine as you have illustrated. Having all the gear for a 10-12 day hunt and dealing with an animal on a fly our hunt is another matter entirely.

quote:

Originally posted by Chisana:
It would be entirely inadequate for any backpack hunting that we do in Alaska. Carrying an animal back to the truck in the lower 48 is one thing and an overgrown daypack will handle that fine as you have illustrated. Having all the gear for a 10-12 day hunt and dealing with an animal on a fly our hunt is another matter entirely.

The only time I used a REAL framed pack while hunting was the time I was working at a camp on Kodiak Is. After all the charters left, we stayed around and hunted for deer for a couple of weeks. I learned a thing or two about packs, mostly the things I didn't like.

I'm curious, Chisana, which pack would you recommend for the scenario you describe above?

(Sorry if I am hijacking this thread, but I just want to hear the rest of this story)

quote:

Originally posted by Kenati:

I'm curious, Chisana, which pack would you recommend for the scenario you describe above?

Barney's in Anchorage sells three packs that are suitable for backpack hunting and Dana designs used to make some decent external frame packs that can still be found for sale from time to time. These are the only packs I would suggest for backpack hunting as it is conducted in Alaska. I differentiate backpack hunting from hunting while wearing a backpack.

I just returned from northwestern BC where I used my NICE 6500 pack, which has the same frame as this Longbow. I have backpacked heavy loads in northern BC, living alone in the remote wilderness on the BC-AK border for three months and I find the MR packs superior to any others I have used and that includes most of the highend packs available since 1964.

For backpack hunting, I like the MR NICE system better than any frame pack as it is more compact and thus easier to hump through dense slide alder, Devil's Club and re-gen pine in old burns.

At 63, I can comfortably carry more with this rig than anything else. I have Dana-Bozeman-madxe packs as well, a Longbed-Loadmaster and it IS, as Chisana states, a FINE packframe, BUT, it sticks up too high and the Barney's does the same thing.

For MOOSE, I would prefer a Barney's and may buy one after Christmas, as you can certainly haul a large, awkward load with one more easily than with a NICE, and one does not want to bone a Moose in Grizzly country if one can hump it to the boat or truck or plane. So, the feeling I have is that for most backpack hunting, I would actually prefer the NICE, but, a good external handy is a damm good idea.