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What pack do you use for whitetail meat hauling?

For the last few seasons I have been using a Kuiu venture 1800 and it worked great. Biggest deer I hauled out in one trip was 135ish pounds. The 2300 pack would handle a little bigger deer. If you are not going to be packing one over 2 miles, those 2 packs work fine but you will feel the load after a mile. Not bad uncomfortable, just not full frame easy. Using a kifaru duplex lite frame and stryker xl bag this year. Training sessions with 100# on the pack have shown this to be very good switch for me. This pack fits my body perfectly and that is a big key for hauling weight.
 
Plebe said:
I've got a 24" Kifaru Duplex Lite with the Stryker XL. It carries weight so much better than anything else I've tried it's actually less noticeable than smaller packs.

By the time I've got my outerwear on and I'm up the tree, it's compressed nearly flat...that's still a big square of multicam. But it cost so much, I've never thought about leaving it on the ground, lol.

I'm curious where you draw the line on pack profile in the tree. Admittedly, I risk being skylined sometimes when I think it's my best shot.

I had thought about running the Kuiu with a load hauler and accessory pouch instead of a pack, and carrying my outerwear in a drysack. That would be very light and about as small as I could manage with what I have.

The smallest meat hauling rig I know of is the Black Creek Lumbar: https://blackscreekguidegear.com/product/cure-lumbar-pack-1200-ci/ . That would be a small profile in the tree I'd think.

But I don't see it working for me as I always pack in my outerwear.
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That's what I carry. Not a big "bag", but lots of room to strap stuff down. The Predator platform fits perfectly between the semi rigid frame and the bag. It does carry weight very well.
 
I've had several packs, my most recent ex-pack was the Badlands 2200 and was just about perfect... My current whitetail setup is based off the Mystery Ranch Sawtooth 45, and seems to handle weight way better than the 2200. I do prefer to keep my pack in the tree with me and I haven't had any issues to date. As for the pack out, the least amount of trips the better; I'm not walking in, walking back out, just to walk back in AND then back out (especially when the reason that I carry this is to make this easier, for example, my one spot is about a 3 mile circuitous hike in one way)!

My minimalist setup is based off of a FHF Gear chest rig.
 
BTaylor said:
For the last few seasons I have been using a Kuiu venture 1800 and it worked great. Biggest deer I hauled out in one trip was 135ish pounds. The 2300 pack would handle a little bigger deer. If you are not going to be packing one over 2 miles, those 2 packs work fine but you will feel the load after a mile. Not bad uncomfortable, just not full frame easy. Using a kifaru duplex lite frame and stryker xl bag this year. Training sessions with 100# on the pack have shown this to be very good switch for me. This pack fits my body perfectly and that is a big key for hauling weight.
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Are you hauling out the entire deer (135lbs)? Is that regulations related?


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Usable, or not miserable? With some cordage and ingenuity you could carry a quartered up deer out of the woods no pack at all. Might be a little more or less fun than a long drag.

For something purpose built for our modern sofffass office bodies to carry meat I'd look to the western style packs because they have decades of evolution built upon this idea thats newfangled to many whitetail folk.

A quality belt and harness attached to a frame of some sort definitely helps keep it all from being a meat blob. From there the general price/quality/weight/adjustability tradeoffs present in most gear apply.

Shorter answer I think MR Popup series hits the right notes for a pack that can both hunt and carry especially the ability to fold the frame down. If its just a carrier living in your truck I'd go with something a little more robust in frame but you don't need to worry about weight much.
 
I used the x2 when I saddle hunted. It's a great designed pack and hauled my beast sticks and platform perfectly. Would also be great in your use for meat hauling. But I couldn't get it to fit me. Only 6ft and when the straps were adjusted properly the waist belt was an 1in below my belly button. It needs an XL size option. Might work great for an oompa loompa
 
For me it's a KUIU Pro Harness/Frame with 3600 bag. The 3600 bag can bivy down to nothing for early season but can fit outerlayers and midlayers for late season December hunts here in Northern MI. I can haul out a whole deer, my saddle gear, 4-full length beast sticks, and layers packed in the bag itself at one time. Easy peazy.

What you're looking for is a bag that can bivy down small for early season but expand out and has enough room when you need it. Mystery Ranch pop-ups, Kifaru Strykers, Etc all accomplish that. I still ended up preferring the KUIU Frame and Pro harness. Very comfortable for me...their earlier harness systems before the pro sucked...but they sure dialed in the Pro Harness and I think people are a little hesitant to give it a try because it was a well known fact that the previous ones sucked. The kicker for me was load stability. With my Xcurve, Pop Up, and Kifaru rigs, I always felt like the load always wanted to roll back and forth off my back, no matter how tightly I secured the load to the frame. With the KUIU setup, it's like the load is part of my body...very secure and not having to compensate for a shifting load, my legs seem to be able to go further.
 
weekender21 said:
Are you hauling out the entire deer (135lbs)? Is that regulations related?


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No not the whole deer. I field quarter where they fall. Not gutting or dragging unless they are really close to a vehicle and even then I am not gutting. Our regs do not require bringing the whole deer out. The kuiu 1800 pack I was using had enough space to to hold a quartered/boned out deer up to about 135-140# live weight.
 
BTaylor said:
No not the whole deer. I field quarter where they fall. Not gutting or dragging unless they are really close to a vehicle and even then I am not gutting. Our regs do not require bringing the whole deer out. The kuiu 1800 pack I was using had enough space to to hold a quartered/boned out deer up to about 135-140# live weight.
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Gotcha, so we’re talking 40-50 pounds of boned out meat. That’s very realistic for an average whitetail. Thanks.


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Just purchased this morning a Mystery Ranch Metcalf. Plan on using this for Public Land Whitetail in North East and Colorado Elk.
 
weekender21 said:
Gotcha, so we’re talking 40-50 pounds of boned out meat. That’s very realistic for an average whitetail. Thanks.


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Yeah, I have hauled a quite a few out where total pack weight was 80-90#. That was the deer and gear.
 

met this guy at the mobile exbo in Ohio. He’s super nice and I really like this idea. Thought I’d share. Anyone see any problems with this? I’m really leaning towards this
 
BTaylor said:
Yeah, I have hauled a quite a few out where total pack weight was 80-90#. That was the deer and gear.
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I’ve packed out three smaller bucks with gear and my pack has been in the 80’s to right at 90lbs each time.


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aclawrence said:
I’ve packed out three smaller bucks with gear and my pack has been in the 80’s to right at 90lbs each time.


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Quartered or boned out meat? My hauls probably average 40 pounds for boned out meat. Probably as high as 70 pounds on a big buck but that’s rare, I’m trigger happy and usually fill every doe tag I legally can.


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Plebe said:
The smallest meat hauling rig I know of is the Black Creek Lumbar: https://blackscreekguidegear.com/product/cure-lumbar-pack-1200-ci/ . That would be a small profile in the tree I'd think.
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What's the weight on that? My Alps Pathfinder is 4.2lbs, converts from lumbar to full pack, and has packed out plenty of deer. It might be a tad smaller than the Cure pack. That said, I am ditching it this year for the JX3 Hybrid just because I wanted to change saddles and was tired of knee pads.
 
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I have used a Seek Outside Unaweep and The Seek Outside Peregrine. The peregrine is better if you are wanting pockets for gear and the ability to pack meat between the frame and the bag. Both are around 3lbs empty and will haul up to 90lbs. Both have packed out several elk and many whitetails. I dont drag deer anymore. I also use an SJK meat hauler frame pack a lot when i am saddle hunting. No bag but its light and has a meat shelf. I carry a fanny pack and whatever heavy jacket or clothing i may need. I strap the both to any of these packs when i am riding my bike in.
 
I have an exo mountain gear pack. Works for pretty much anything. 1800 bag or 4800 bag depending on what I plan to put in it. The hip belt clipped around the tree makes for a decent knee pad. It's a taller narrow flat set up that stays tight to the tree and doesn't look like a beach ball up in the air.
 
I'm going to try this.

www.themeateater.com

Video: How to Carry a Deer On Your Back

We all know that once a deer hits the ground the real work begins. Typically, our options for a getting our venison back to the truck are pretty simple—drag it out or quarter it up and haul it out piece by piece. However, there is a third option. You can carry the deer on your back. I learned...
www.themeateater.com www.themeateater.com
 
Yimmyb60 said:
I'm going to try this.

www.themeateater.com

Video: How to Carry a Deer On Your Back

We all know that once a deer hits the ground the real work begins. Typically, our options for a getting our venison back to the truck are pretty simple—drag it out or quarter it up and haul it out piece by piece. However, there is a third option. You can carry the deer on your back. I learned...
www.themeateater.com www.themeateater.com
Click to expand...
Ive done this a couple of times, just be EXTRA SURE you leave those dew claws on the hide or else the knots will slip through over and over
 
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