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TAG Bags Lightweight Game Bags

December 12, 2011.

When my wife asks me what I want for Christmas, I always tell her I've got everything. I've been buying gear for twenty years or so, and I keep thinking that by now I own everything there is to own. But, people keep coming up with worthwhile products, and when I find a really good one I can't help but be really impressed with the ingenuity that goes in to it.

For a few years now, I've been trying to find ways to reduce the amount of weight I carry in the field. Ultra-light rifles are kind of an obsession for me at this point. And I spend more money than I care to mention to select products that are a few ounces lighter than their competitors — because ounces do add up and make a big difference in my enjoyment in the field.

This past elk season, I hunted a September season that promised warm weather. If I got an elk down, I knew I'd want to break it down quickly to avoid spoilage. So, I never left the truck without game bags in my pack. The problem is that a stack of canvas game bags large enough to handle an elk weighs about 10 pounds — and that's a lot of weight to be lugging up and down elk mountains.

I knew this already, having lugged that same stack of canvas bags around in my pack all over the Lower 48 and Alaska.

But this time, I got fed up and was determined to find a better way. The most common alternative to the canvas bags are the cheesecloth style. I tried these once, although I was nervous about the large pores in the cheesecloth. Within minutes, flies were crawling over the antelope that I had put in the cheesecloth bag, probing the openings in the cheesecloth. This turned me off on those forever, although they are certainly lighter than canvas.

After some internet research of the latest alternatives to heavy canvas and porous cheesecloth, I bought a set of TAG ("Technically Advanced Game") Bags from Larry Bartlett's Pristine Ventures out of Alaska.

A set of bags that is more than adequate for handling deer-sized game comes in at just 1.5 pounds and can be had for a very competitive price when compared to canvas bags. They're constructed of a tough, very lightweight, breathable nylon fabric.

They're everything you could ask for in a game bag, and (most compelling to me) if there's a cheaper way to reduce the weight of the gear you have to carry in your pack, I have not found it.

I hate to sound like some kind of weird game bag nerd, but anything that takes 8 pounds or so out of my pack increases my effectiveness, my performance, and my enjoyment of the time I spend in rough country.

I placed the compact, self-contained bundle of TAG Bags in my pack for my recent deer hunts on remote Indian reservations in South Dakota. With the first deer I shot, I made the tactical error of bringing the deer out whole through rough, steep country, even though the TAG Bags were in my pack.

When I filled my second tag, there was no way I was going to repeat that mistake. Out came the TAG Bags, and in short order the 4x4 mulie was quartered, bagged, and loaded into my pack.

They were strong enough for man-handling quarters, more than tough enough to be abrasion resistant, and had a nice tight weave to keep the meat clean and bug-free.

The mulie had a thick winter hide that held heat very well — all the meat had been warm going in to the bags, especially the meat from the heavily-furred neck. By the time I reached the truck, the breathability of the bags had allowed for plenty of cooling.

After I got back home, I reached out and contacted Pristine Ventures, Larry's company. I was a little sheepish about my enthusiasm, but told him I was crazy about his product and wanted him to advertise on Hunt The West. We worked something out, and you'll see some of his ads on the site soon.

Bottom line: If you carry game bags in your pack, you need to check out TAG Bags. The quality and weight-savings will make a game bag nerd out of you too.

And if your wife is still asking you what you want for Christmas, drop some hints about TAG Bags ASAP.

Superior Protection.
INCREDIBLE LIGHT WEIGHT.
A Must-Have for Western Hunters.

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