Thread: Pack organising

The army teaches that you should be able to live out of your pack for a week and fight and survive out of your webbing for a day if you have to ditch your pack in a hurry. So translated into hunting terms I keep binoculars in a bino pouch on the front then knife, snacks, small amount of water, pillow bag, plb etc in a belt bag. Then if you want to drop your pack in a hurry to glass an area or move in to hunt an animal you've got everything you need then can come back to your pack when you're ready.

A friend of mine has a canvas pack with four good sized pockets on the back. Each one has the contents clearly written on the outside.
Copying another friend, I have started using rubber-bands cut from various sized tire tubes to hold packages tight - things like my tent fly folded up tight with a tire-tube rubberband around it.

For multi day trips I bought two of these gear pods, https://www.hyperlitemountaingear.co.../products/pods

Spare clothes goes in one, food in the other, keeps everything tidy and dry. Also a small dry bag has my day hunting shit in it, another has my puffy jacket. As others have said get in the habit of putting in the same place.

Labels are useful if someone else is rummaging in your pack getting something for you

As others have said, once you’ve figured out a configuration you like, stick with it. Much easier to find things when you at least know where they are to begin with.

I also use different coloured/sized dry bags for different things- a small 1L one for electronics- power pack, charging cords for phone & gps, headtorch & spare batteries. A couple of 2L ones- one for most of my food & one for rubbish. Bigger dry bags for clothes etc. Side pockets of the pack for cooking supplies & extra water (also use a 2L water bladder). Top pocket on lid is for stuff I want easy access to- knife, first aid kit, gloves, paracord etc. Hip pockets on waist strap of pack I use for another knife & muesli bars. Keep PLB on my belt & gps clipped to pack strap on my chest. There’s another pocket on the inside of the pack lid which I use for smaller items which I don’t need as often.

I’m also about to trial out an idea I pinched from a recent thread on here about vacuum packing. Gonna try vac packing down my emergency dry underwear/merino thermals. Ensures they’ll stay dry & hopefully will compress them down smaller than I can usually get them.