I have booked a Dall sheep hunt for next fall in the Yukon. We will fly bush plane from Whitehorse to camp, then horseback out to fly camp for the duration of the hunt. Hunting will be on foot. My outfitter has left for camp until late next month, so I thought I'd seek the collective wisdom of AR on pack styles.

In my hunting to date I've never needed a pack to carry out meat, or to move camp around. Just enough to take care of me for a day's hunting (with small emergency gear, just in case). So my packs have always been day-hiker in design and size.

What is the best style of pack for the type of hunt described above? Is an external frame style necessary? Obviously function takes priority, but are they as uncomfortable as they look?

many thanks for your thoughts

STex,
while an internal frame pack may seem to make sense it does not, at least the ones I've tried. You are going to want an external frame pack and preferably one with a freight shelf.

I like the Cabela's Alaskan series of packs. The one I personally own is the extreme alaskan outfitter pack. I bought the entire system, pack and frame. I use the pack as a soft pack riding to camp as it molds a horse better. The frame just gets packed on a panier. and you're good to go.

as for comfort, the new ones are quite tolerable. the harness is well padded and those annoying aluminium tubes don't touch your body at all.