DIY Hunter’s Pack Seat

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DIY Hunter’s Pack Seat

Update: see a later version here DIY Hunter’s Pack Seat (Take Two)

                                        See all DIY Hunting seat versions —->

As with most hunter’s, I am constantly trying to improve my gear. One of my primary objectives though, is to make that gear myself whenever it makes sense. This seat is no exception. It took a bit of research and trial and error to get it right, so I thought it might help others who like to hunt on the ground and are looking for a good, comfortable, portable hunting seat.

The previous seats I’ve made and used worked pretty well, but each had some minor issues I didn’t like. This model seems to eliminate those issues.

There are a few pack seats on the market, but they’re very pricey, and although I didn’t buy any of them, I had concerns about each one. I tried to avoid those concerns in my design, however, my design required it meet my ability to built it both in skill set and equipment needed.

It took a couple of iterations to get to the final design. That may be clear in some of the esthetics.

I guess the biggest possible draw back is this is custom made around my particular pack. But I did have one iteration with it’s own straps, but I didn’t see any advantage to that and actually liked how using the backpack straps pulled the pack into the frame better.

The other very pleasant surprise was the diy pack frame actually made my backpack more comfortable. I don’t know enough about proper pack design to explain that, and maybe I just got lucky, but it’s much more comfortable to carry behind the seat frame.

The pictures should tell most of the story, but a few things may be better if explained.

You’ll note the odd way the holes are in the seat in relation to the passthrough for the straps. I didn’t put the passthroughs in for the straps at first. I planned to use the straps but didn’t realize how close they should be. I then tried some straps for the seat frame separate, but really liked using the backpack straps. At one point I thought about removing them from the backpack and adding them to the seat frame, but couldn’t ever get that committed to possibly ruining the pack. I decided the extra straps, which added a little extra weight didn’t give me any advantage so I redesigned around the straps on the backpack itself.

The holes throughout are just to reduce weight. So when the passthroughs for the backpack straps went in I thought about making a new seat, but so far it’s worked just fine, although it does have a bit of a funky look.

The next modification came with a strip behind the piano hinge. That allows the seat to bend past the 90 degrees which helps in uneven ground. 

I also started with the back about a foot longer. That foot added a lot of weight and really didn’t seem to add much for comfort. When I cut it I thought I might be making a mistake, but it worked out well. It’s usually leaning against a tree or in front of a blow down anyhow.

Attaching the backpack to the seat is pretty easy. I just slip the handle loop of the backpack over the top and hook it to the bolt that’s added to hold it. Then make sure the straps slides into the passthrough slots. I run a Bungee around the bottom which really just holds it when using the center handle of the pack. It’s quite and light. It takes less than a minute to hook up or set up.

I’ve found the bungee comes in super handy to keep the pack off the ground. It can be wrapped around a tree or blow down and used as a hook to hang the backpack.

The seat is made from 100% of material I had in the shop. Scrap plywood, some canvas left over from the target project, a few used hinges and scraps of wood.

And don’t forget the rope to limit the distance the front leg can kick out.

The canvas is dyed with Fiebing’s leather dye and the wood is stained with some left over stain that’s been in the shop for 30 years or so. All just to help concealment.

Top coat will be a couple coats of spar varnish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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