Thread: Show Us Your Bumbag

Originally Posted by gonetropo

buy mine then !

Unfortunately I've already bought one...

Go to for shorter day hunts. Missing is ammo and head torch, usually tie a soft outer waterproof layer around my waist, can stuff a thermal top, a couple of muesli bars etc in if need be and will drop the binos for bush hunting.

Looking at adding a pikau at some stage but happy for now

I've been a bum bag user for many years, apart from a few years using a day pack. It seems to me that at least a couple of you have bum bags sired by the Tardis - I'm buggered if I know how so much can get jammed in.

I'm also a tad surprised at the focus on hydration, particularly in NZ. Nowadays I see the wisdom in carrying some sort of purification, and maybe .5 litre of water - just in case, but 1.5L ? Either I'm part camel or myself and a couple of others in this thread are a bit unusual.

I notice no mention of the TwinNeedle hunters' belt and pouch. Would seem to me to more attractive than the Capsule for a hunter ?

My other surprise is the apparent popularity of the rather pricy Hydrapack Flux, instead of a used PET bottle. What justifies the price ? Is it the ability to squeeze the air out and stop sloshing noise, or is there some other benefit that I am missing ?.

I run a twinneedle hunters belt system and have done so for several years - I'll get a photo up tonight. I use it for day hunts as I find it too big to pack in if I'm doing multiday hunting. It is a great piece of kit and it allows me to carry everthing I need.

Twin needle system -I've modified the harness for my likes. On the belt from top to battom in the photo

Epirb pouch
Bottle holder
main pouch with loops installed to hold my jacket - mainly holds food/first aid and pillowcase for meat
Smaller pouch for sunscreen/chap stick/lighter etc
GPS pouch.

I love this setup for bushstalking with the dog as I can carry the back wheels of the deer without it fouling on the webbingof the belt and I don't get hooked up or make as much noise as a pack does.

Originally Posted by secondtry

I've been a bum bag user for many years, apart from a few years using a day pack. It seems to me that at least a couple of you have bum bags sired by the Tardis - I'm buggered if I know how so much can get jammed in.

I'm also a tad surprised at the focus on hydration, particularly in NZ. Nowadays I see the wisdom in carrying some sort of purification, and maybe .5 litre of water - just in case, but 1.5L ? Either I'm part camel or myself and a couple of others in this thread are a bit unusual.

I notice no mention of the TwinNeedle hunters' belt and pouch. Would seem to me to more attractive than the Capsule for a hunter ?

My other surprise is the apparent popularity of the rather pricy Hydrapack Flux, instead of a used PET bottle. What justifies the price ? Is it the ability to squeeze the air out and stop sloshing noise, or is there some other benefit that I am missing ?.

Great questions @secondtry. I do like the Twin Needle and more traditional belt bag systems. But I use the Capsule as I want a really sleek, compact set up without having separate items like a knife or water bottle sticking out. Where I hunt (Kaimai) it is not unusual to crawl through supplejack on the knees to get in position. The Hydrapak is durable and compact. With the Hydrapak filter, I can filter as I go - means I can pack down the flux to nothing. TBH these days I barely ever filter and have taken to using the cap on the Flux. The Hydrapak gear is durable and apart from the odd filter replacement, this will be good for a decade or so I'd imagine. So price is relative. I don't want to carry water when it's plentiful.

Can definitely empathise with the desire for streamlining @Snoppernator. Fortunately I no longer need/want to push through jungle nowadays so am using either Kifaru tail gunner or a Marsupial Gear belt and waist pack. Both with pouches either side, which a re convenient, but a nuisance. The lighter is the Marsupial gear setup and the Kifaru seriously strong, and heavier. I use the kif mainly for thermal hunting and just weighed the thing at 3.8kg without everything in it ! I started out using shoulder straps on the Kif, but trey are pain when one wants to get the bag on and off to access stuff. I found with proper adjustment of the various cinch straps, I can carry over 4kg without the shoulder straps.
Either way, branches and rubbish very easily find their way between the bags and the belt, dragging and crunching, and oft times requiring reverse to avoid damage.
I think @Barry the hunter made some good points, although his minimalist approach is a tad too far for me.
I carry pretty much the same as everyone else, but with a few additions:
Caping stuff, scalpel,blades, screwdriver (always an optimist)
A silnylon day pack which can hold backstraps, the weight of which sits mainly on the bum bag, which reduces the discomfort of the stupid skinny shoulder straps. Meat bag. Garbag (or two)
A silnylon cape. A foil survival blanket. Fluoro surveyors tape - wonderful help when shot sambar run away in bush. Two headlamps, and maybe a spare batttery for one of them. PLB. Compass/map. Phone, Cord (strong enough to stop a dead sambar rolling away down hill while butchering) including a couple of bits with fluoro woven through them to hang up as markers. Sometimes a few spare rounds in a fleece or felt wallet. Probably 400/500 mil of water. Munchies. Two torx keys which will fit all the scope mount screws and the guard screws.
The search for perfection is ongoing, but perfection can never be achieved.

My cheapo bumbag which I've used for sometime now. I'll add a decent fixed blade knife to the right of the secateurs if I ever get one. I can squeeze in another bottle of water if I need it. Belt is AliExpress, pouches are army surplus. This is what I use in Northland.

If I go south, I wear a bino/rangefinder pouch on my chest and a small pikau for waterproof and down jackets. If going possum or rabbit shooting, I can swap out the secateurs for a torch which is neat.

Swazi Buffalo Bag (the fleece one that expands into a Backpack). On their website, 10/10 would recommend.

Key is not to overload a bum bag, otherwise you are better off expanding it out into daypack mode.

As a bumbag I carry:
- I try and leave enough space for rolled up lightweight raincoat (if the day gets hot and I'm not wearing it)
- knife (Tyto Air, lightweight)
- PLB
- little headtorch (Nitecore NU25)
- first aid kit (minimal)
- muesli bar (OSM x 2)
- a few meters of emergency bog roll in a tiny plastic bag.
- sometimes I add a carry belt, about 6-8 foot of 50mm webbing with a clip. (side note, an old seatbelt and a backpack hip belt clip sewn on is the business. Strong, lite, cheap and wont wreck your washing machine)

In summer I carry a collapsible 1 litre water bottle if I'm away from a water source. A squeezy one (Hydrapak) that doesn't slosh.I have learnt to not sit on the bag... it's like a bidet LOL.

You can use the backpack as a meatbag, it's got canvas against your back and it fits a decent amount of meat. It generally fits Sika legs and back steaks, for a bigger animal you need to bone it out.
Or, If I carry the animal out whole with the carry belt the bum bag sits nicely under the animal and transfers some of the load too your hips which is an unexpected bonus.

Buffalo bag for me too. I run it as a bag generally. Good to sit on the bag too if glassing or waiting for sika to come in. Great to load up with meat and pack straps don't interfere with rifle butt.

OK I'm feeling let out ,
Obviously I'm a twinneedle fan boy
Riggers belt with suspenders,
Helikon poncho cause I live in a rainforest,
First aid kit cause im accident prone,
Beef Jerry cause it was free, vintage osm bar circa 2008.
PLB, and arsewipe to clean my lenses,
Inhaler cause in really ##^%ked,
Fixed blade & folder ,
Headlamp cause I'm old and slow and always last one back.
Map and compass cause I never know where I am,
Back up mini torch,
Magnesium liter spare ammo and diamond steel.
And a whistle don't really know why ,but someone once told me if you whistle at a deer they sometimes pause to check if your good lookin.

So this is me, HE fanboy...because it aligns with my budget as much as anything!

Hunters Element bumbag, without the harness, which is crap
Hunters Element Legacy Jacket, I'm usually in thermals/shorts/swazi bush shirt the legacy gives me a windproof layer which works well, if it REALLY rains I've an emergency poncho which so far I've not needed
PLB, pull through and sharpening stone out of my Lansky kit
Lighter with builders tape
Nitecore headlamp and spare battery, shotty case stops it shorting out on anything
Compass
Green First aid kit in the bag, working on reducing that
HE Pikau for meat
Bit of food, the amount will vary but as I burn fuel like Apollo during takeoff, there's no such thing as too much fuel!
Plastic bottle for hydration, in the summer I'll usually slap the hydro bladder and pack on as it can be a long time between water sources where I typically hunt.
4" Muela knife or can be my Marttiini 6"
$ spare rounds either in the bag or on my comb riser
Bino in harness and range finder on the side which also carries my scope cleaner pen.

This works reasonably well for me, stops me carrying crap I don't ACTUALLY need and is a lot easier on the legs for the inevitable steep climbs.
I'm still refining my carry system, shedding as much as I can without compromising what I think I need to cover basics. Benefit of the HE bag is that as it's so light, can chuck it in my big Fjallraven pack to use on day missions from base

The HE bag is not bad but I'll change it at some point, the sidebags I find almost impossible to open without taking it off, the zips are maybe too good at staying closed.

Good idea using the shotgun case to hold the battery!!

What puts me off bumbags with fixed pockets is that they don't work well with a slung rifle. It's not clear from my photos, but I leave a space on the right side of the belt for shoulder slinging. Maybe you guys don't use a sling?

On Mountain and Bush hunts will strap the rifle to the pack (have an Exo K4 quick release rifle scabbard) when commuting up hill. The rest of the time and when using the bum bag, the rifle is always in hand - ready for action.