I’ve used my sawtooth 45 for a 5 night archery elk hunt (I live and hunt in Colorado). If you have good quality small camp gear and it’s not super cold yet to need too much extra gear, it will get the job done. I didn’t use the overload shelf to pack in, but did have my tent strapped on the outside. I also am not a true minimalist, but prefer to go light. I did haul out about 135 lbs of elk in one load. I was impressed with the packs stability while traversing rough terrain. Great pack, but everyone has a different opinion. I did just purchase a daypack lid to add some extra storage space for a planned week long trip next season.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the info. The more I’ve used it, the more I’ve begun to love the pack. I purchased the load sling last year for training, and have looked at buying the daypack lid also. Been really impressed with the comfort so far also. Good luck on your trip next season!
I’m thinking of this exact set up! Trying to decided between that and the metcalf. Just wish the metcalf had the same 270 zip, and the beartooth is overkill for what I want.
I come from GL Pintler and enjoyed that pack due to its Trizip feature. The GL not so much due to less padding and my sexy hips. Now, I like my GL MT frame on my Sawtooth 45 more bcoz of the beefier padding/ 5-pc construction and adding an OV INNOVATION MEAN Pad . The Sawtooth 45 bag's 270-degree zipper I'm not a big fan. The corners are pain to go around when pack is full. That's something you don't experience with Trizip because it's a straight line. I've yet to go hunting on mine, but, take it out regularly with 30lbs in it. Wish it's made in the USA.
I agree that sometimes the corners are tough to get around. I did find that if you have a full pack, moving the two zippers together around corners did make it easier... obviously unless you were actually trying to get into it and only wanted to move one zipper. I like the zipper for packing and unpacking. It was pretty difficult to use for hang and Hunt. I need to do a post season thoughts video to follow this one up. I was actually looking at the pintler before I decided on the sawtooth. Thanks for following along!
Cool pack! I just got a mystery ranch pintler, it helps to get someone to adjust it for you while its on your back, I really like the new frame, it looks way easier to get to the load shelf than on the older guide light, was looking at the sawtooth, but even on sale was too far out of my budget, in canada the pintler is $615 I got it on sale for $430
I was looking at the Pintler also! That’s still going to be a great pack, especially when it was on sale for that! I would have taken advantage of that sale also. Thanks for the adjustment advice!
cleaning your hydration bladder is not that hard. If you have just water in it fill the bladder with water and add teaspoon of bleach. leave it sit for about an hour.There are kits to clean the tube. much like an Otis rifle cleaning kit. You can get them from backpacking sites like Enwild, Backcountry REI etc. same thing, bleach water and let sit for contact time and then run the brush through the tube. Hope this helps.
