Wilderness Wanderer-put to the test

[Krico]

Returned from a 10 day trip in the mountains last weekend, had taken along my bro's Wilderness Wanderer pack. Here's my take.
The good:
The fit is nice
Lots of storage on the sides for all those little items

The bad:
Some of the clips used are too small and weak
The bags are held on by a single pin on each side-with a little abuse they become bent and almost impossible to remove
The D shaped section on the bottom of the frame which extends forwards on the sides of your hips constantly hit and catch on rocks, trees etc. This is noisy when trying to put the sneak on game but worse it is dangerous when creeping along steep slopes.

The ugly:
The price!

While I'm sure this pack would be great in some settings, I found that the clips broke easily, it was a pain to use and even dangerous at times. For the price these things demand a much better pack should be delivered IN MY OPINION.

BTW-It was a great hunt, will try to post pics and a story over the coming week. Things are crazy at home and work since my return...

[Will]

Interesting.....Nice to hear some Honest reports.
I've heard nothing but Good about WW's ?

I have a BulPac myself....Strong, lightweight, fairly comfy, cheap......
....and did I mention Strong ?

[Ozone]

Good report and nice pic Will

[Will]

nice pic Will

Thanks, I stole it from BullPac's site

But I did carry the wife around the House with it when it showed up
Not a True reliability test but at a 105 LBS she's more then I'd like to pack off a Mountain anyways

[Ozone]

What model, how much and were can you buy them?

[huntcoop]

www.bullpacs.com

You buy directly from the manufacturer.

[kutenay]

I have a Bullpac Alaskan and it is the best hard frame pack I have ever used and I have owned a whack of them. I also recommend Kifaru Longhauler/hunter packs and Mystery Ranch NICE or G-packs for hunting.

These will cost you serious coin, but, once you use one, anything else is just a board on your sore back. At 60, I can still backpack for game and these packs are a large part of why I can do that.

Check out:

www.kifaru.net

www.mysteryranch.com

The MR NICE frame, Crewcab and 6500 bag plus two longpockets and two fliptop pockets and a Kifaru Gunbearer is THE BEST hunting pack I have ever had, just superb. My partner tried mine on, pitched his Wilderness Wanderer and borrowed it for our Goat trip, I am using my MR BDSB and we are packing today and tomorrow, again, this is THE pack, but, $$$$$$$.

[Marc]

Thanks, I stole it from BullPac's site

But I did carry the wife around the House with it when it showed up
Not a True reliability test but at a 105 LBS she's more then I'd like to pack off a Mountain anyways

If I'm not mistaken that's a picture of Thunderstix from this site. He shot a blacktail and humped it out whole and they posted his picture on their site.

Marc.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I've love my WW, BUT i bought it used and had to update a couple of things. The main thing was the plastic clips(fittings) that supported all the weight from the hip belt kept breaking. I sent it off and had them changed over to their newer "ladder-lock" style clips. No problems since. If I didn't train rigorously I may not have found out until I was on a hunt where it could have been disasterous. That's one of the reasons I test new gear BEFORE I'm on a hunt. You need to work out all the bugs and glitches.
Can't wait for you hunt report, Krico!

SSS

[Deaddog]

Well I purchased my WW this spring, took it on several backpack trips and was happy with it, took it on my caribou hunt and just about burnt it in the fire, straps let go, I couldn't get it set up to get the weight on my hips, the main complaint was that with serious weight the main belting buckle that holds the shoulder straps on would let go, after this hunt I messed around with the pack reset it to fit me , fixed the buckle up, on my sheep/elk hunt we had three WW packs, all worked extremely well and took some serious weight for lengthy periods of time, I believe this pack allows me to pack more weight for longer periods of time. I am not advocating that it is the only pack out there, just that after a lot of "working" on it ie. setting it up it works extremely well for me