Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Pack and Boots for Alaskan Dall Sheep Hunt

Geez that stillwater from Zeno is really looking good..

Elkrazy, is your waist bigger than 36"? If not, that could be your pack!

I'll admit I would love to see an old Dana myself..

Yes, and I'd like to know what makes it better than the old Keltys.

The more I think about this discussion, the more I have to believe the Stillwater and Alpine models would be more useful to hunters than the Terraplane. You can carry all kinds of sharp and/or heavy gear outside the pack with the Beavertail, and more importantly, you could carry out a rack and/or meat behind the Beavertail, not using up any of the internal pack volume. You start with 5000c, and with the addition of anything else, you still have 5000c for your gear (with the skirt extension, another 500-800c on top of that depending on pack size).

Zeno, have you had a chance to examine any Mystery Ranch packs? If so, how do you feel they compare to the old Dana's?

Also, could you explain this "Beavertail"

Here's a couple of beavertails doing kid carrying duty:

I have thus far lost 35 lbs in preparing for my hunt, but I have 20 lbs to go and that may give me 3 inches to make 36 inches. I was a little nervous to get a pack I would need to work into. I am guessing that a large would fit me if a somehow miraculously got below 36".

I have thought again tonight about getting that stillwater. Hmmm .....

I have not, but I have every confidence that Mystery Ranch is of the same quality as the early Dana Design packs prior to Dana Gleason selling the company to K2, which is when all the picking away at the designs started to occur. His packs appear to have that same overkill mentality behind them. I see where he's refined some of the Dana Design ideas, but the quality appears to be all there from the videos and detailed testimonies of knowledgeable and experienced folk. The only reason I wouldn't own one myself is the cost. He's never been a weight-shaver, so the packs aren't any lighter than the old ones, and I can buy 2-3 used ArcFlexs for the price of one Mystery Ranch.

It was designed to carry snowboards and be extended volume of the pack body. The good models are made of Hypalon, the same rugged material that make rubber sea-worthy boats. All the buckles are sewn in a way that the straps from each side can clip into each other. Sounds like a small detail, which it is, but its a smart little detail. Slats are cut into the Beavertail so you can use all kinds of webbing to create new tie points for securing odd shapes. I'm having a difficult time describing it. It's this giant flap of Cordura and Hypalon that can be folded down with the end curled up to cradle something long, or things can be tucked behind it. Straps can be extended, so the object can be quite large, and then everything tightened up to be quite secure. A flap of material with compression straps on its outer edge. Make sense? Help at all?

Evan, thanks for the pic. The MR bighorn has that similar "pocket".

Elkrazy, If you lose 55 lbs, the question is will you keep it off? I wonder if Mystery Ranch can upsize that belt? The answer is Just a phone call away.

Zeno, understood. Thanks.

Your stillwater has the large torso, lets talk in simple terms(I dont know my torso length ). The person would most likely be over 6' tall?

use THIS PAGE to measure your torso. I prefer it over measuring hips to 7th vertebrae. I feel this is more exact.

Dana ArcFlex = Mystery Ranch Guide frame.

The Guide frame is used in the G-Series packs as well as the Kodiak and Grizzly. If you went that way you could order a set of med and large waist belts. They change out easy.

The 1995 and earlier Bozeman made Dana's are sweet. The G Series packs are pretty much just a upgraded version of the original DD's. The K2's packs after 95 are iffy.

Looking at MR website then G5000 would be equivalent to an Alpine more or less - correct?

What makes them a recreational pack and not a hunting pack to the MR folks? When I first went out to their website I didn't even look at them because they weren't listed under the Bh section.

Volume wise, yes. Design wise, no so much because of the twin vertical pockets vs. the Beavertail. I know it may not seem like much of an issue, but I feel it changes quite a bit about how you pack, organize, and then can function as the hike or hunt progresses.

Nobody has ever seen or heard of a Kelty frame pack I guess. I've owned one for 34 years. Had a North Face frame pack before that. Lots of buds had Alpenlites. Never heard of a Dana Terraframe until last year, what is so unique about it?

I don't know, thats why I would like to see/use one.

I do know that the people who have used them, speak with great passion about them.

Dana Gleason has been a major player in packs for many years,he must have something good going on.

But I did say back on page 2, there is nothing magical about packs, none of them will carry you up the mountain

Takeaknee I started bp hunting with a Kelty, not the Tioga can't recall the name of my model

ditched the bag most of the time and just used a day pack on the frame and para cord to attach quarters

time consuming lashing stuff down with para cord and the shoulder straps on my Kelty weren't very plush, average season i was hauling 6 bou and a moose so i went looking for a better mousetrap

got a camp trails, made some mods to it and was nice to drop bou quarters inside the pack and not fiddle with para cord

hauled my first sheep out in that pack

one of the outfitters I worked for was local and when I was doing a training run with my ct with plate weight he kindly told me what a POS pack i had

had me use his barney's, i promptly got my azz to anchorage and parted with some coin to get my own

$$ well spent for me, i doubt both my pickups could hold the meat and bone i've hauled in that pack


gear reco is tough, i can't know what is best for others, only best for me

since then i've acquired a MR 6500 and a McHale, both very good packs of outstanding quality

but when it's time to hunt i still reach for my barney's, i've just used it for so long & often, it's 2nd nature, much like my Zeiss binocs, familiarity has bred comfort

can't remember last time i had the top bar on it

there's several reasons why but one of paramount importance to me is it's use as a shooting aid

i can go from standing with rifle slung in Kifaru gunbearer to sitting and crosshairs pasted on target of opportunity PDQ with the forearm of the rifle across the top of the pack, it's a better way for me to shoot than off the bench.

granted not a fully loaded pack but after spike camp has been set up and my pack stripped down to predator mode, rain gear, jacket, lunch, survival and butchering stuff like knives, saw & game bag and Arno straps (a true aid to the hunter)

someone reco'ed a cabelas pack earlier, a pard used one on a moose hunt few years ago, had some nice features on it

am thinking based on the criteria the op stated it might be his best option for $$ to intended use provided he decides on an external

TAK, I've never carried a Kelty myself, although they were certainly the standard for years. I went from Coleman Peak 1 to a Lowe internal, and then didn't go back to an external until the terraframe.

Here's why a terraframe is substantially better than any other external (and any internal that I know of): It has a pair of fiberglass wands that originate high in the pack frame and then the bottoms are where the hipbelt load control straps terminate. Cranking the load control straps pulls the bottom of the fiberglass wands forward along the hipbelt. This very effectively shifts a lot of the pack's weight towards the sides of the hipbelt instead of the very back. It also cams the entire pack up and forward. It changes center of gravity, and helps eliminate belt slippage. You really would have to feel it to understand how good it is. When I have a heavy load on and crank those forward, it instantly feels like I've removed at least 15 pounds from the pack.

Correct on the volume size and the frame. There is no beaver tail but the two vert pockets and main compartment zip on the front make it very easy to organize gear.

The difference in the hunting packs and the rec packs are the colors. They also beef up the frames and fabric on the hunting packs so they can haul more weight. They will both perform well for your needs. The only real advantage would be if you needed a repair MR is still around.

So all the models of the Dana externals have the same frame design and just have different bags? I have passed up the shortbed model before because i thought the frame was small or not as beefy. I have been hitting the craigslist hard this morning and all i can find so far is one shortbed.

Correct, most of the time. I say this because I have seen a couple Dana Externals where the bottom of the frame loops back underneath the pack body. I'm not sure when this change occurred, or if that change was more than for a season (or two). For the most part, they're all working from the same frame and just changing the pack body configurations.