Dacia Duster with an IXTAbox rear cargo box mounted on the tow bar, parked on a forest track

Best Hunting Gear Storage: Pack for the Way Home

Most hunters pack the car once and unpack it five times.

Everything goes in dry and tidy on the morning of the opener. Twelve hours later you're loading a soaked jacket, muddy boots, a wet dog, and on a good day an animal that needs to get home clean. Nobody packs for that second load.

Pack for the way back, not the way out

Think about the drive home and the conflicts show up straight away. Wet gear ruins dry gear. The dog needs room to lie down, which we got into last week. Game should travel cool and away from both. Your rifle stays with you in the cabin, under whatever rules apply where you're hunting and driving.

That's four things and one boot.

IXTAbox rear cargo box loaded with outdoor gear

Move the luggage out of the cabin

So get the bulky kit out of the car, into a rear cargo box on the tow bar.

A roof box can't do this job. You're not lifting a carcass or a soaked pack over your head at the end of a long day, in the dark, with cold hands. A rear cargo box sits at waist height and swings clear of the tailgate, so you load it where you're already standing. You can also open it out in the field, not just at each end of the trip.

Two things make it work harder. A partitioning wall keeps clean and dirty apart, so gear never touches game. A rubber mat means the box gets hosed out instead of scrubbed.

The IXTAbox Pro DeerHunter 2026 is built for this. It locks, it's sealed against the weather, and it's made in Sweden.

Two men with a chainsaw and trimmer next to a vehicle with an IXTAbox rear cargo box in the forest

Before the opener

Do a dry run in the driveway. Load it, open the tailgate with the box mounted, decide which side is the dirty side, and check where the dog sits once the luggage is gone. Fifteen minutes now saves you the first morning.

Vehicle in the forest with an IXTAbox rear cargo box attached to the tow hitch