Looking for recommendations for a good, load bearing, game bag. I hunt Matador WMA primarily and my brother and I tend to cover 8-9 miles in both the morning and afternoon. Of course, that requires an enormous amount of water to be carried for the dogs and I. I've been using my old BPS strap vest I've had for probably 15 yrs and although it's still in pretty dang good shape, my shoulders and back take a beating by the end of a long day. Being an ex-grunt, I know the most effective weigh to carry weight is on your hips, not your shoulders. There is no way to alter my current vest to work like that. Any recommendations? The best I've found are Wingworks and Q5. they both look to be designed specifically with load bearing in mind.

TIA!!!! Looking forward to another year of a lot of miles and even more misses

WingWorks looks to be the best...especially if you plan to get 15 years out of it!

I just got my 1st one during the off season (ebay because the website was out of stock for several months) ended up being more affordable that way too....but with that said I have not yet put it through the paces yet...construction appears to be very well made.

Wing Works all the way!

I now keep most of my stuff in the UTV. This is all I take.




It's the one on the right. I keep my collars, and first aid in there with a few more things.

Yes wingworks. I can carry 180 ounces of water. Mine is 10 years old and hardly worn. Hunting 40 days a year

Wing works! Got one a month ago and LOVE it!!!!!!!

Do you guys put a stapler in there?

Stapler, wound rinse, and antibiotics are my most used items in my first aid kit. Seems like my dogs know how to find the downed barbed wire fence etc. (or my hunting buddies dogs come to think of it)

I have a cabelas upland backpack that includes a backpack, bird bag, and has a hip weight bearing strap. It was discontinued several years ago. I love it, but the backpack straps are really thick and padded and I never can get the butt of the shotgun in the correct position for the shot. It is similar to the LL Bean Technical Upland Vest Pack.

A lot of guys recommend the Mother upland packs.

Looks like Wing Works is down for a while due to medical issues in the family. Should have bought one a few weeks ago when I was looking at them. Looks like I'll be humping it my old way for the first couple of weeks of the season, an the hottest unfortunately. They may not even be back up and running this season.

I came across a site one time where you could basically build your pack. You could chose between a y-back or h-back harness, etc.... Anyone ever seen it? I can't remember what it was

Badlands makes a decent one but lacks torso adjustment, and it needs it. Tensing doesn't have torso either but the hip belt rides the hips well enough it really doesn't need it, assuming you are a normal torso range.

I like my Filson canvas bags.

I have a Q5 and really like it.

I'm not sure if they carry stock but I noticed that the quail/pheasant forever online store had wing works vests for sale... $234...might be worth looking into...

I had a mother pack that I liked but they've gone out of business and I actually did not like where the shell pouches were located on my vest...and it is not near the construction that a wings works is...

Since its a drop ship item, it would be the same situation. Once they are back up and running, I'll probably order through them just for the QF logo