Tips & Tactics

Paper or Plastic?

Paper or Plastic?

By Ken Piper

We like roll-top sacks, thank you very much.

Last week we discussed the benefits of using a roll-top sack to carry your insulated clothing to the stand, but there are other ways to use these handy bags.

Whether you’re packing for an out-of-state trip, or if you like to keep an instant hunt setup in your vehicle, roll-top sacks will keep your clothing organized and scent-free.

Plastic tote bins are popular for whitetail hunters traveling out of state, and they work great. Instead of just throwing all your clothes into a big tub, however, you can better organize them and protect them by using sacks. Use one sack for base layers, another for socks and headware, and another for outer layers. It’s also a good idea to keep your safety harness and attachment rope/strap together in a sack.

There are so many varieties of sacks available you can color-code your system, or just put a piece of masking tape on each sack and write on it with a sharpie to identify what’s in it.

You don’t have to use the plastic tote with this system, but doing so offers an extra layer of protection, and makes it easier to keep everything together while in a vehicle. Plus, you can put hard goods like boots in the tote, and the dirt and odors won’t get on your clothing.

Finally, roll-top sacks are great for storing your clothes in the off-season.

Your garments, especially scent-elimination clothing, gather scent molecules constantly, often overwhelming the capability of the clothing to adsorb all the smells. Carbon-based clothing can be “cleaned” in a dryer, but each reactivation slightly degrades the ability of the carbon to adsorb odors because it doesn’t usually remove 100% of the scent molecules.

Roll sacks can keep your carbon-based clothing (and other porous scent-adsorbing systems) working at peak efficiency, preserving it from everyday scents throughout the months you’re not using it.

Finally, a note on shopping for roll-top sacks: There are many to choose from, and most will do the job. Like most things, though, you get what you pay for. Tear-resistant materials and bags with see-through windows or backpack straps cost more, but those features are great to have in some applications. It’s also a good idea to build your system over time. You can purchase one bag per month throughout non-hunting months to stretch out the expenditure and also to test how you like different brands and sizes of bags. We suggest starting with one 30L (size) bag to see how it suits your needs before you purchase additional bags.

Read Recent Tip of the Week:

It's In the Bag: There's a better way to stay sweat-free during the walk to your stand.

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd