It is effortless to choose the backpack. You require a backpack that carries more stuff and gives you immense comfort. But, when it comes to choosing the bag for hunting, your pick can make or break your hunting experience.
Suppose you are hunting in a country having high rainfall, you will require a backpack with huge water-resistant bays for holding gear.
There is a wide variety of hunting backpacks in the market. And every bag has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is all up to you which bow hunting backpacks you want to buy. In this article, we will be embellishing what kind of hunting backpack you should choose for having a comfortable and exciting hunting experience.
See also our recommendations on the best compound bow, best crossbow for hunting, crossbow safety tips, and different types of crossbows.
Is it worth spending money on hunting backpacks?
If you are still in a dilemma regarding you should spend money on hunting backpacks or not, we are here to help you. Our simple and short answer is ‘YES.’ A hunting backpack gives you extraordinary comfort so that your hands can be free, and you can hunt with your full potential.
Your argument could be right that many hunters are surviving without expensive backpacks for thousands of years. But, let’s refrain from what you require and what you don’t for having a better hunting experience. If you are thinking of investing your hard-earned money on a low-quality hunting backpack, you should step out as these backpacks won’t give you the desired hunting experience.
Why are hunting backpacks for the bows so much expensive?
If you have done any research on hunting backpack, you might have found that you have to spend at least $500 on a hunting bag. YES, it is a tremendous amount of money. We have already discussed that quality backpacks are worth investment but, why are they so expensive? There are a few reasons behind it; these reasons include:
Made in the USA
It is the most significant factor as far as we know. The USA is a leading country to manufacture backcountry hunting bags. Also, all the brands and firms are operated by and served by red-blooded Americans. And they are not going to shift their manufacturing unit overseas if they don’t think it beneficial for them.
What could be another big deal than having the label of ‘Made in the USA’? As it plays a significant role for brands in sales and reputation. Also, hunters are patriotic persons, and they want to spend their dollars on American brands, so brands manufacture their bags in the country to create a higher quality product.
Material
The materials required in making hunting backpacks are studier as it needs to survive to rigors of a hunt and a pack out. The pack frame is a crucial material here, and it is made of carbon, fiber, titanium, and some other load stable material and durable material. All these materials are tough to produce and results in high costs. All these expenses add to the final price tag. High-quality products need high-quality design and materials.
The high demand for bow hunting backpacks led to higher cost
It is just a standard business game. As long as demand is high, brands sell their product with a high price tag. They make a considerable margin out of hunting backpack, but the research and production costs are also high. Yes, these backpacks could be sold at a cheaper rate. But as we said above, it is just a game of demand and supply.
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How to decide whether you need a hunting backpack or not?
Hunting backpacks are created for the hunters who can bring the meat back to the vehicle by their own two feet. If you think that you fall under that particular category, then a hunting backpack is for you. You will get significant benefits of hunting backpack for sure.
If you can bring a truck, a quad, or a pack animal, you don’t fall under that category, and you don’t require to spend hundreds of bucks in buying a hunting backpack. You can buy a regular backpack that can carry your essential items for hunting. If you don’t have a lot of money in your bank, there is no requirement to buy a costly load-hauling backpack if you don’t want to bring it. If you are not going to depend on gear to carry out a quartered animal, a regular pack makes more sense as they are cheaper and lighter to handle.
Features to look for while buying a hunting backpack
There are several features of a hunting backpack, which you should consider while buying a hunting backpack for bows. These features include:
Durability and Comfort
When you bring more than 80 lbs of animal on your back traversing 40-degree slopes of deadfall at 10,000 feet, you should consider these two things.
- The backpack doesn’t hurt you.
- The pack doesn’t catastrophically break.
Backpack Comfort
Backpack comfort is one of the in-depth topics that we need to consider while buying a backpack. It is effortless to build a bag that can carry 30 lbs weight; however, it is tough to make a backpack that can carry 60 lbs weight. And it is even more challenging to build a pack that has more than 100 lbs weight.
Your backpack requires these qualities to be comfortable with the heavy pack out loads.
- A hip belt – it should not slip, rub, or bruise you.
- A strong and stiff vertical frame
- A tall frame to raise the shoulder harness off your shoulders.
The question is, how you can identify the perfect backpack for you that can give comfort to you. So, if it is not fit or makes you feel uncomfortable, then it will let you know when you push past the 80 lbs benchmark.
When pack support fails, it is through hipbelt error. The jostling of a large pack will create the belt to inch down and leads to painful results.
You can also tighten the belt more to prevent slip, restraining your waist, and damaging your hips.
You should overtighten the shoulder gear and take more mass on the joints and back. The combination injuries the hip points kill the waist and tire the shoulders and back.
You can experience through it in short intervals, but more distant trips will be poor experiences.
A backpack can succeed or break the ease test based on how you have set it to fit your body.
If your backpack isn’t serving for you, always look up to its consumer service to fix your problems.
Comfort Takeaways
- It is very challenging to do packing 100 lbs at altitude. It is supposed to be challenging, but you will feel back pain if your hunting backpack is not comfortable.
- If anything is working for someone, that does not mean it will work on you too. Don’t follow the crowd.
- If you have comfort problems with a backpack, ask the company for help. Try their advice.
- If you still feel pain because of the bag after acquiring the help, you need to change the pack.
Durability
Durability is an essential feature of a backpack. You need to be aware that a heavy bag isn’t always a long-lasting pack, and a light suitcase isn’t fundamentally fragile.
The backpack needs to be reliable and durable at the same time. A 5 lbs backpack can be stronger and more durable than a 10 lbs backpack. It completely dependents on the manufacturer.
It is essential to temper the strength with an eye on overall weight for a backpack hunting pack. Catastrophic breakdowns need to be stopped over a period.
Weight
Weight should be a priority while choosing a hunting backpack. Suppose two backpacks offer comparable convenience and durability, alike volume, and good with the brand that each offer, then you should go for a lighter backpack.
New backpack hunters pay for weights with pain. We can’t stress enough importance of weight, particularly in your backpack.
Backpack weight is very significant – for many reasons.
- The pack is one of the more significant parts of overall gear. It’s more accessible to cut significant weight from more complex items than tiny pieces.
- The pack is nearly worn during a hunt. Trimming the burden on always worn things takes more tension off your body than forming camp gear.
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Other things to consider while choosing a hunting backpack
Apart from the above features, there are several other parameters that you should consider while choosing the best hunting backpack. These things include:
Materials and Fabrics
You can judge the Backpack fabrics by different criteria.
- Rain repellency
- Tear force / puncture protection
- Abrasion protection
- Noise
General materials used to make hunting backpacks are nylon packcloth, Cordura nylon, fleece, or microfleece. Also, there is a lesser extent to higher-tech materials such as X-Pac laminate or Spectra X-Grid.
Every fabric has its strengths and weaknesses. If we talk about fleece faced fabrics, then they are reticent. Also, they have lower puncture protection, collect burrs, and have terrible water protection. These frameworks act like a sponge in the rain. So, the rain cover is essential.
Frame Height should be adjustable.
Frame height has advantages and disadvantages like any other thing. High frames are generally used to carry heavy loads in a better way, but they also restrict head action and snag overhanging parts.
Compact frames are smooth and soft going through touch. However, it forces you to carry too much pressure on the shoulders rather than your hipbones. Therefore you should consider frame height as per your requirements.
Compression System
A compression system of a hunting backpack requires to do below three things well.
- It should secure all your gear.
- It should shrink an empty pack while day hunting with a small load.
- It should secure loads of meat, so it doesn’t fail or squeeze out of the compression system.
There are tons of ways to achieve this. Three significant considerations of it are weight, ease of use, and versatility.
Load Shelf
The “load shelf” is a general term for the strength to depart the backpack from the suspension. It carries meat between the two. Breakaway carry is a term concerned with it.
To breakaway or not to break away? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each?
Advantages:
- Versatility- you can remove the backpack and use the frame.
- Cleanliness- no meat in the bag means your things don’t get bloody.
- Center of gravity- Breakaway carry fixes this heavy load close to your back, and the ladder load shelf enables you to set the height.
- Overloading – Breakaway provides a little daypack to carry a full bone-in quarter still, or it gives a big pack to move camp plus a whole boned animal in one journey.
Disadvantages:
- Weight
- Cost
Rifle or Bow carry
Rifle or bow carry is as personal as asking your favorite color or what your favorite actor is. Everyone has an answer, and none of them are incorrect.
The most popular way to carry a bow is either to carry in hand or strap it to the backpack’s side or face.
Regular bows usually are too long to strap to a pack unless they are a takedown model. So they are more traditionally carried.
Bow Carry Options:
- Carried in hand
- Strapped to backpack
Rifles have a long list of carrying methods that have been used over the years.
Rifle Carry Options
- Rifle in hand
- Slung over the shoulder with the keeper on the pack shoulder strap
- Slung over pack frame
- Slung over shoulder
- Butt bucket rig with the barrel in front
- Butt in a side pocket and compressed
- Rifle strapped to the face of the pack
- Butt bucket rig with barrel behind
Conclusion:
The hunting backpack that you want to buy should be able to hold your weapons as well. It makes sure that you do not fumble across the forest with a loaded gun as well as you will not be accidentally hitting on tree branches.
While picking the best hunting backpack, you need to consider a few criteria in your mind. You should choose a hunting backpack that is weatherproof as we all know, hunting in pleasant weather is not always an option. The size of the bag matters too. Suppose you are going for a hunt for a few days or a week, then a giant backpack is a must.
Durability is another major factor that you require to keep in mind. You don’t need a backpack to break in the middle of a hunting journey. Also, a durable and flexible pack will last for many seasons.
We hope this guide on buying the best hunting backpack was helpful to you and will assist you in choosing hunting backpacks for the bow.