In my thoughts, the perfect looking gear shouldn’t be ultra-specialized gear. I want equipment that may deal with a variety of situations—and if it additionally fills some area of interest roles completely, all the higher! And after looking this fall with the Sitka Software Bucket, that’s what I say this daypack has to supply: It’s well-suited to the wants of most deer hunters, however for those who’re a run-and-gunner, specializing in saddle looking, it’s excellent in your area of interest wants.
The Sitka Software Bucket design
The identify feels like Sitka perhaps took a 5-gallon pail and added a coat of camo and backpack straps, however this daypack is pretty customary in its format—not less than, it seems to be like that in the first place look. A bag, with straps and pockets. Nothing too completely different. There are 17 storage compartments in complete; inner capability is 1800 cubic inches, and the pack weighs just below 55 ounces.
Look nearer, and also you’ll see the pack’s lid is stored closed by a toggle by means of a gap by means of the highest of the pack. Simple and fast to open, onerous to interrupt… and when the pack is open, you’ll be able to grasp it from that gap. And when it’s hanging, you’re taking one other look, and hey—undo a few zippers, and your backpack has become a bucket, type of, with an entire bunch of organizer pockets conserving your gear good and tidy.
This could be a pleasant function for those who’re climbing mountains for elk or busting brush and searching for moose, nevertheless it’s not a game-changer. A lot of packs have pockets. However for those who’re a cell treestand or saddle looking specialist? That is very fascinating, as a result of the Sitka Software Bucket allows you to entry gear shortly, for those who grasp it subsequent to you in a tree, with out requiring that you just rummage by means of a stuffed pocket or pack with a purpose to seize a material to scrub your scope, or to search out your backup grunt tube, or a snack—no matter gear you want on that all-day sit. It’s like including a shelf to your cell looking setup.
My expertise with the Software Bucket
I spent a variety of time utilizing the Software Bucket this deer season, however I wasn’t looking out of treestands or cell setups for very lengthy—most of this 12 months’s whitetail setups had been primarily based on floor blinds. However once I was within the bushes, the Software Bucket was a really useful group instrument. Even within the darkness of a tent blind, I appreciated the Software Bucket’s submitting system, to talk—cartridges in a single pocket, skinning knife in one other, licenses filed away in a Ziploc baggie in a pocket within the high of the pack, and so forth.
The Software Bucket’s wide-mouth design makes it simple to stuff bigger objects like a heat jacket into the inside in your hike into the stand or blind, too. I’ll typically carry some additional garments or perhaps a woobie blanket for these chilly late-November sits, carrying much less clothes for the hike in so I don’t overheat. The Software Bucket’s design works nicely for this, as the inner organizers preserve all of your tools in-place so it doesn’t come spilling out if you take away your hotter clothes. That’s a Very Dangerous Factor if you’re in a tree saddle 20 ft within the air.
Together with time in a blind or up in a treestand, I additionally used the Software Bucket on strolling/stalking hunts this 12 months. I discovered the pack was largely very, superb on this function, though you need to notice its limitations.
It is a frameless pack with out the power to detach the pack from a body, like the unique Software Bucket had (they modified the design round 2020). You possibly can nonetheless connect a stand to the pack’s exterior to haul it, however you’ll be able to’t slide the stand between the pack and the body like the unique Software Bucket. With that in thoughts, saddle hunters with their streamlined tools could just like the Software Bucket greater than treestand customers. However pack rigorously; the pack’s design doesn’t shut the lid tightly, so for those who flip it the wrong way up if you’re up in a tree, you may need to return to the bottom to retrieve one thing that fell out, for those who didn’t stuff it tightly contained in the bag.
As nicely, for those who’re stillhunting, the Software Bucket could be very streamlined and tidy, and doesn’t simply catch on issues if you’re sneaking by means of the woods. It strikes together with your physique (which can be good if you’re using an ATV into your looking spot). But when a department or brush scratches the aspect of the Software Bucket, the artificial materials makes unnatural noises, which could scare off some recreation. I don’t actually maintain this in opposition to the pack; you’d have to purchase a wool pack to keep away from that downside. That’s fairly hard-to-find equipment, and I’ve by no means seen a wool looking pack with options remotely near the Software Bucket’s capabilities.
The underside line
The Sitka Software Bucket confirmed up mid-season, so I solely obtained to discover its capabilities for a number of weeks of deer looking, after which some post-season digital camera work combined in with rabbit looking.
I wouldn’t say that is revolutionary or game-changing, nevertheless it’s a bit of drugs that can make life rather a lot simpler once I’m cell looking, letting me carry precisely what I would like, and storing it for me whereas I’m up within the bushes.
Up to now, the Software Bucket has been a high-quality piece of equipment and I anticipate years of service from it, primarily based on the construct high quality. I’d extremely suggest any deer hunter have a look at it, however particularly for those who’re the run-and-gun kind, dealing demise from above. The $259 MSRP is consistent with different high quality packs, and lots of of these don’t supply the identical handy practicality of the Software Bucket. I’d say it’s nicely value trying out in consequence.
