Cabelas minimalist frame pack opinion

TriggerTime426

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Joined
Mar 28, 2020
Messages
173
Location
Hull IA
Looking to buy a pack/meat hauler and came across cabelas minimalist frame pack. Does anyone have any experience with this pack good or bad I know it's not a MR or stone glacier etc. But it falls in my budget and looks like a pretty complete package for the money. Also looked at the cabelas multi day pack as a secondary option
 
I'm in the same boat, trying to find some reviews on both this and the alps commander as I'm planning 4-5 day back country hunt. Hopefully someone will chip in or point us both in a good direction. Best wishes!
 
I've also been looking at the alps commander x as well but from what I can tell the cabelas one offers just as much if not more but without laying eyes nd hands on it hard to know
 
Did you settle on a pack? I ended up with the cabelas multi day. I blew to much money last year to buy a nicer one. I loaded it with nonsense and walked a ridge for a mile. It was comfortable but I haven't added an elk quarter in it yet for a real weight test. I figure I'm probably always going to have the pack frame in my truck but can use the cabela one for the first load out. I'm kinda excited to try it out more as I'm used to suffering ww2 type torture device packs.

After loading the pack with spotting gear I got a smaller slik tripod and more compact spotter. The 80mm Leopold was just rude heavy.

Oh.. I added the universal kifaru gun bearer as well. I love that thing. But you can also strap the gun to the pack so that's nice if you need trek poles.
 
No i havent pulled the trigger yet. im trying to decide between the alps hybrid x, eberlestock m5 team elk, the 2 cabelas or the horn hunter full curl system. i did however notice the cabelas minimalist isnt available onlne right now. thanks for the review on the multi day pack glad its working out for you. Its hard to beat that price for all it offers. ill update when i make a choice.
 
My son has the Commander from Alps with the freighter frame. 3 other friends of mine have it as well. It is a good option on a budget but it is really for a taller guy. My son is 5'9 and we adjusted as far as we could and it was still just a little big which under a load of front and back elk quarters was really painful. I found a Mystery Ranch used for about the same price as the commander. I suggest looking around here in the classifieds or eBay and get a Kuiu, Kifaru, Mystery Ranch or Badlands pre-owned if you can find one. The mystery Ranch with the nice frame was excellent, put 80-90 lbs on my back for over 7 miles in two days and it was fantastic.
 
The Minimalist has a good suspension but the bag leaves much to be desired in my opinion. Just too complicated and heavy. I would rather take the frame and strap a dry bag and a day pack to it for any sort of long hunt. Back in my boy scout days, we had an adult leader who always used a freighter frame in a similar way and it worked like a charm for heavy hauling scout trips. If you are open to using your own organization (dry bags, etc), a Kelty Cache Hauler frame from Sportsmans Warehouse is also a quality frame pack. Both it and the frame on the Cabela's Minimalist are higher quality than what you'll get on an Alps Commander external. Unfortunately the current Cabela's Outfitter Frame is well below the Minimalist or the old Alaskan Outfitter frames in terms of quality.

Another great option out there is to find a large older Osprey pack like the Crescent or Argon. I used to own a huge Argon pack that I found used for about $120 on ebay. Similar deals are often available if you hunt for them.
 
Thanks for the reply guys, I ended up getting a horn hunter full curl system new for 270 bucks the minimalist wasn't available anymore...but first impression of the full curl is its made very well and thought through quite well, I like that I can use it just as a frame, a frame pack or with all three together the for a long packout very versatile for the money. I put my 25 lb 2.5 year old kid in it to test how it holds weight(and cause he got a kick out of it lol) and it seemed to handle and disburse weight well...I'll have to take it out for a field test eventually here.
 
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