Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Kifaru Spike Camp 3 years of use update

Hi guys, The thread about cleaning packs got me to thinking about how many times I have had to do this with the Spike Camp over the last few seasons of packing stuff out.

I should start by covering a little of the situation typical to my conditions. In the USA hunt 99% of my hunting is with my wife. She has been in a rather bad vehicle wreck in her past. She is not the physically capable woman she once was with a problem that effects her shoulders capacity to do any heavy work. There is no real load sharing potential here.

So when we hunt together, it's typically archery hunting spot and stalk or stand hunting. I carry all the gear we need for the day and she uses a Lumbar, or Fanny pack with the additional things and someplace to strap a jacket to. The Kifaru Spike Camp is about the best size for this kind of hunting for my needs.

In the last week we took a nice big black bear ( story and photo's in the bowhunting forum) It was 8:10PM when it was shot, we took Photo's and caught our breath enjoying the moment for about 15 minutes. I eventually said, Honey we are chasing daylight here. I began the process of skinning, she dug through the bags and got the meat sacks and the headlamps. She held the paws to help maneuver the body for skinning. About 9:00 I was done with the hide removal from the body and skull but did not turn the paws, just separated at the joints leaving the paws in the hide.

I had to stop to get the headlamp on and then finished taking off the backstraps and hind quarters at the big round ball at the socket. She held the bags open for me and I dropped the nice perfect clean meat into the canvas sacks. We ended up with these three sacks of meat. Shoulders, and back straps in one sack, both hinds in one sack and the paws and skull in the third. I did cut a bit of meat from the skull.

We dumped the contents of the spike camp and filled her fanny pack with everything we could stuff in there. I put the hinds in the Spike camp main bag. Then the skull and paws on the sides kinda stuffed in with the top unzipped.

I have an optional Kifaru piece that is used to lash gear to the outside of the bag. I cannot recall the product name but it is a triangular bit of heavy cordura that straps to the pack. I stuffed the remaining sack of meat under that and lashed it tight. As you might imagine this was quite a load on this little bag.

Once I was able to wiggle the twist it up on to my back and get the straps adjusted it was actually comfortable with the weight all on my hips, and the load tight up against my upper back. Wanna guess the weight? I did not weigh it but I'm sure it was in the 60-75lb area.

Now straight up hill for a few hundred yards, no trail just brush busting more or less. I do hunt this area annually so there are a few places that I have put reflective tacks on the down hill side of the trees to show where I am in the dark and how to get out of here. In the distance I saw a single tack in the beam of the head lamp. This was the same place Callie fell last year and dislocated her shoulder and separated her collar bone, along with the stitch worth gash across her knee. She was quick to point this out as we were approaching the spot! When I arrived there I could see the string of tacks leading the way to the cat track. Thank goodness for those tacks, and the time I took to put them in! My nerve wracked lady was also quite pleased to have " gotten back on the horse" and survived that climb!

Callie was behind me the whole way out and we were both pretty tired at the road. It's a steep hill! Then from there about a mile or less to the ATV where there was a Ice chest with water and snacks!

This was quite typical of the use of this pack since I bought it. It's been a light weight "gear" bag for the hunts and then a meat pack for the way out. Over the years I have hauled quite a bit of meat on this thing! It's absolutely not the best tool for the job. My Zippy is far better for packing the gear for a day trip bow hunt or spot and stalk day trips. But worthless to pack out meat. So this compromise must be understood.

The spike camp with that exterior triangular patch that clamps the meat bag to the back is a brilliant way to turn this bag into a much bigger feeling bag. I don't see myself ever packing 100 pounds on this, Actually, I don't see myself ever packing 100lbs again in my life. Two trips is the rule when it's that much, or maybe more time spent boning and being more selective with what I want to take out?

Anyway, This may not be the best option for everyone, just an update for those who are looking for the solution to this. The Spike camp has an interesting design with the narrow shoulders and the wider bottom. For a bow hunter, it's nice to have the ability to draw your bow without the pack or straps bugging you when you're at full draw. Now I'm off the clean the blood out of it...... AGAIN!

Grab-it is the word you're looking for. I have one in blaze orange that I'm quite fond of.

I've had one for, what, 10 yrs. now. When I bought it, I was not happy with the price. But now, after all these years, and after using lessor packs until they came apart, I can see why it's worth the money.
I haven't loaded my Spike Camp to 65-70 lbs. and tried it on rough trails, but I have done that with my Late Season. Worked alot better than I ever thought it would. Trying to haul heavy loads on bad trails, or no trails at all really showed me it was money well spent. E

Spike camp is exactly what my wife uses. I travel with it too. It's bulletproof IMO. I'm not sure I'd want to pack over 50lbs with it though.

I too have been using the Kifaru Spike Camp. I think it is a great pack for what it is designed for. The shoulder and waist padding is excellent.

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I have a "Spike Camp" it works great for me.

I have found that using a little candle wax on the zippers is a huge improvement or on another one I sprayed Silicone. Either way that improved those heavy duty zippers a lot.

I bought a Nomad/UL Duplex last year, and have handled one of the Timberlines. Seem about as tough as a pack could be.

Been tossing around the idea of ordering a Spike Camp for those times where there's no chance I'll be hauling anything major.

Hopefully they'll have another Black Friday sale this year....still wishing I had of picked up one of those Mountain Warriors last year, they were marked way down.

The thing about the spike camp is that it's sized for all sorts of use every time out.

But it still has the construction and shoulder/belt harness to overload it if needed for a reasonable walk out. I know for sure I can haul out all the edible parts of a deer and the cape and rack. I would not prefer to use it for this on a 6 mile hike. but a couple miles it's fine.

I have also packed much of a bears edible portions of meat with the skull and paws too many times to count. Adding the hide would have been too much, However the full hide alone with the skull and paws could be pushing or exceeding 80 lbs without the meat!

I've got several Kifaru packs, a Molle Express (same size as a spike camp but with PALS webbing to attach stuff to it) a ZXR, a Scout, and a Duplex with a Cargo Panel. I just bought a Grab It on eBay. I think the ZXR is quickly becoming my favorite, 3,700 cubic inches without extending the collar, 24" stays. It's got a little more robust suspension and is REALLY comfortable with 70lbs.

A hack for you Spike Camp owners: for carrying bone in quarters that won't fit in the main bag, unzip the bottom zipper, and set the ball joint end in the bottom, then have a few straps/buckles to lash it to the pack. This picture shows my MollEx in head to the pool mode with a 6 pack, just to give you an idea...

It's an interesting conundrum to have a daily hiking gear pack or day pack and need a meat hauling pack too

I personally find using a large enough meat hauling pack to hunt with is worse then using a small pack to haul meat.

Neither is a good option. However I personally use a pack far more to hunt with day in and day out then I do for packing out meat.

This is where I find the spike camp works well. It's nice for day pack use and exploring, and can get you out with meat. It's a long stretch to perfect for this function. However it's so well made that it does work.

Not for a 70-80 plus pounds of meat. but boned out clean packed meat that is in the sub 60lb range it's darn good.

I used to think that way but now I'm just the opposite. A good full-sized backpack with cinch straps is IMO a much better way to go than a day pack, and yes I own a Spike Camp.

We used our full-sized packs this year and were able to haul out a good load of elk meat right after the kill. Never would have attempted that load with a Spike Camp. And it has more to do with the suspension than with the size of the pack--it doesn't take a lot of space to pack a full load of boned-out meat.

I have a spike camp and like it a lot but a serious meat hauler it is not. Interior space, if you are also packing a modest load of gear, is not great. Stepping up to the Late Season makes a lot more sense if a load of any consequence is in the offing. I have both and the Spike stays home most of the time.

I can't image getting a whole mule deer loaded aboard a Late Season much less my Spike Camp.

Agreed not for whole elk or even half. Most of the packing I've done with it is blacktail deer, goats, and bears. With bears there is a client that usually packs part of the load too.

It is reasonable to use it when with another hunter. I've also made two trips as often as not. I think a big part of the puzzle is determining how far from a base camp you will hunt.