Modern Day Pack Basket

I picked up a German Army surplus rucksack a while back at Cabela's thinking it looked like a decent sized pack with acceptable straps and, at $20, it was easy enough to get one and try it.

What I didn't realize at the time was that it could change the way I carry gear into the woods with a very simple addition.

It was an accidental discovery made while cleaning out the mud room and moving gear from one location to another after hunting season. I am a big user of 5-gallon buckets and consider it a unit of measure for most activities. I used it as the limiter for the class at Briar Patch, as the maximum amount of food and gear for the hunting trip, and the basis for the food load in the back of my car for emergencies.

Well, the 5-gallon bucket with lid is the perfect size to fit into the main compartment of the rucksack. It's waterproof with the lid snapped on, holds odd-sized/shaped items, and provides me a place to sit when I get into the woods. The pack has pockets on the sides that'll fit the 1L Nalgene/Guyot bottles and there are slots behind the side pockets for longer items like an axe handle.

I can't find them on the Cabela's website but I may just not be looking in the right place. They've had them locally each time I've gone into the store so I hope they're still available.

For $20 (rucksack) plus maybe $5 (bucket and lid) you can put together a modern day equivalent of a pack basket that carries fairly comfortably when loaded and offers a wide array of options for just what you can put in it for a trip to the woods or even for carting emergency gear around in the back of your car that you may need to grab and go.

Thanks for reading,


B