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2024 Gear thread

Plebe said:
Kifaru has used xpac for awhile. The new materials are Challenge sailcloths. Similar to Seek.

The main advantage is waterproof-ness. Supposed increased ruggedness too.

It’s definitely noisier than Cordura.

It’s not meant for the average Eastern whitetail hunter.

That said, I’m holding onto my Seek for those hunts where it’s a soak. You can basically submerge those packs and have dry gear.
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Dude! How many packs do you have? I mean that in the most respectful way too btw!
 
Buckhorn70 said:
From the pic posted the potential “whitetail pack” looks nice but if it’s not made to be quiet on cold mornings……Im not trying one. I am sticking with my new model Eberlestock X2 until someone makes a better pack. They need to address noise when catering to eastern whitetail hunters.
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I can't wrap my head around this obsession with quiet packs. Are you rummaging around inside as a buck is right in front of you? Ivs used quiet and so called loud packs. I have never noticed a single appreciable iota of difference.
 
bigmike23 said:
I can't wrap my head around this obsession with quiet packs. Are you rummaging around inside as a buck is right in front of you? Ivs used quiet and so called loud packs. I have never noticed a single appreciable iota of difference.
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I hear what you’re saying but in the early and late seasons here it can be so still a branch or bark scraping a cordura or similarly tough pack material sounds like you’re dragging a wire brush along the lip of a plastic solo cup in the woods!
 
bigmike23 said:
I can't wrap my head around this obsession with quiet packs. Are you rummaging around inside as a buck is right in front of you? Ivs used quiet and so called loud packs. I have never noticed a single appreciable iota of difference.
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While the quietness of a pack is way down the list of priorities for me, there’s still some merit to a quiet pack. You’ve never been still hunting or trying to quietly approach a stand and had to push through some limbs or briars only to hear them scrape across a cordura pack and realize that was by far the most noise you’ve made in the last 200 yards?
 
GCTerpfan said:
While the quietness of a pack is way down the list of priorities for me, there’s still some merit to a quiet pack. You’ve never been still hunting or trying to quietly approach a stand and had to push through some limbs or briars only to hear them scrape across a cordura pack and realize that was by far the most noise you’ve made in the last 200 yards?
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Never. Those same limbs hitting a climbing stick or stand is going to be 10x as loud. I hunted with a quiet fleece badlands pack for years, then the "loud" cordura Tethrd pack. I can't tell any difference. Maybe Im close minded, but there's no way I can be convinced a stick brushing across my pack is gunna be the difference maker on a still hunt over the sound of crunching leaves, sticks breaking, me growling over getting stung again by a rogue sapling etc.
 
I have been made by the biggest deer I have ever had an opportunity on by my safety harness tether rubbing on tree bark. So I am extra cautious of noise now. Especially pack noise or anything else I may need to use/open/etc… I am worried more about noise while hunting over noise setting up and I try to be as quiet and methodical as I could when setting up.
 
enkriss said:
I have been made by the biggest deer I have ever had an opportunity on by my safety harness tether rubbing on tree bark. So I am extra cautious of noise now. Especially pack noise or anything else I may need to use/open/etc… I am worried more about noise while hunting over noise setting up and I try to be as quiet and methodical as I could when setting up.
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My fil lost an opportunity on a big 10 once cause his collar rubbed his 2 days of beard growth when he was drawing back. Deer was at like 8 yards though.
 
DroptineKrazy said:
My fil lost an opportunity on a big 10 once cause his collar rubbed his 2 days of beard growth when he was drawing back. Deer was at like 8 yards though.
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That’s bow hunting. In my 32 years of hunting I have only killed a handful outside of 20 and my furthest was 32 yards. Half the time I can’t even get further than a 15yd shot. I have also shot many directly under stand.

Rifle/gun hunting… I don’t care about noise. I can pick them off at 100yds away.
 
I am not bothered by the potential noise of the material on my kifaru or the kuiu venture I had. In the tree or moving through the woods both are plenty quiet enough if you arent trying to dig in the pack with deer in bow range but I have done that more than once with the venture as well. It does require more attention to how you handle it with deer close but certainly not a deal breaker. X-pac on the other hand is bad loud if moved or brushed against something. It is the biggest knock I have with the Platow pack I got at Christmas. It's not x-pac but is loud like it. There are a couple of materials that I think would work well for a whitetail pack that I havent seen used. Long term durability might come into play if compared to cordura but no way to know until one gets built.
 
BTaylor said:
I am not bothered by the potential noise of the material on my kifaru or the kuiu venture I had. In the tree or moving through the woods both are plenty quiet enough if you arent trying to dig in the pack with deer in bow range but I have done that more than once with the venture as well. It does require more attention to how you handle it with deer close but certainly not a deal breaker. X-pac on the other hand is bad loud if moved or brushed against something. It is the biggest knock I have with the Platow pack I got at Christmas. It's not x-pac but is loud like it. There are a couple of materials that I think would work well for a whitetail pack that I havent seen used. Long term durability might come into play if compared to cordura but no way to know until one gets built.
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The Horn Hunter packs use a quieter material and zippers. My Wolf Pack is made by HH.
 
bigmike23 said:
Never. Those same limbs hitting a climbing stick or stand is going to be 10x as loud. I hunted with a quiet fleece badlands pack for years, then the "loud" cordura Tethrd pack. I can't tell any difference. Maybe Im close minded, but there's no way I can be convinced a stick brushing across my pack is gunna be the difference maker on a still hunt over the sound of crunching leaves, sticks breaking, me growling over getting stung again by a rogue sapling etc.
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When's the last time ya got your ears checked? lol
 
bigmike23 said:
Never. Those same limbs hitting a climbing stick or stand is going to be 10x as loud. I hunted with a quiet fleece badlands pack for years, then the "loud" cordura Tethrd pack. I can't tell any difference. Maybe Im close minded, but there's no way I can be convinced a stick brushing across my pack is gunna be the difference maker on a still hunt over the sound of crunching leaves, sticks breaking, me growling over getting stung again by a rogue sapling etc.
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I don’t use climbing sticks or a stand. I typically don’t growl over getting stung unless it’s by a bee and I try not to break any sticks.

Like I said it’s low on my priority list and all of my packs are cordura but, if I can get the exact same functionality out of two packs and ones quieter than the other. I’m choosing the quieter pack.

A couple years ago I was walking into a stand one afternoon when I saw two does feediing along the edge of an old logging road. They were about 50 yards out. I stalked to within 25 yds when I had to squeeze between two overhanging limbs. My fleece clothing went through with no noise but those does absolutely heard the limbs rubbing my pack even though I tried to be extremely slow. If I shot a compound they would have been dead but, with my stick bow I wanted to get sub 20 yds.

Is it typically a difference maker for me? No, but pack noise saved one of those does lives. Assuming I wouldn’t have missed. :)
 
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