Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting So what backpack?

I recently read on a local forum that MR is going to be coming out with a larger crewcab style pack. For me and my uses this would be fantastic but only if it came with functional load lifters. I like my current crew cab with just my gear in it and for normal backpacking but as soon as i start going north of 70lbs i start gettting squirmy and wanting to look for something else.

fuzzyone

Coulda/shoulda/woulda done some things different, but I like it. Buried T-bolts in the top to mount the thrower, trimmer, bench primer, and shotgun press on. Does pretty good...

Sweet God, God Bless Dan.

I blame EdT for teaching me the difference. MR is just another backpack company that makes a great product until you put more than 60 Lbs in it. Hey, it's the 80%er business model that America seems to embody

Kifaru makes a much better pack, but the accesory masturbation is endless and expensive, and truthfully you're a few hundred bucks away from a McHale.

McHale makes a great pack, but Dan is a typical hippy, and turnaround time is PAINFULLY slow.

Did I miss anything???


Oh wait... Yeah, there's a red-head of my recent acquaintence who has taught me to "love" things bastardly

As funny as reading about bullet failures.

There are LOTS of pack companies and many famed designers, then there are Dana Gleason and Dan McHale, the pinnacle of pack makers.

Kifaru makes a much better pack? Well, I did not find that in the two I bought and I just got another Dana Shortbed yesterday, used, fine shape and have owned/used about 15 Dana packs....one is now 35 years old, former "haul up" pack on 100+ ft. steel fire towers, packed deer, elk, trout, bush work gear and is STILL rock solid. Better? Nobody!

Oh, I didn't say that a MR pack COULDN'T do it... But if you put 100 pounds in a NICE frame AND a Kifaru UL5200, or Timberline, it sucks a WHOLE LOT LESS.

Seriously... I'll let you borrow it sometime. I'll be shocked if you don't agree.

I've had 100+ in all three. I'd say 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

I've had 100 + in the Crew cab. It was OK at best. I prefer having 100 lbs + in a true external. There is not much of a comparison to me. IMO for big loads, an external that functions like an external is as good as it gets.

I've never used a Mystery Ranch pack. Isn't the NICE frame a replacement for, and the same length as (TOO effin' short!)
, an ALICE frame? Comparing that to a Kifaru with 24 or 26 stays isn't a fair comparison.

I will say that I've used quite a few different commercial packs and none carry for me like a Kifaru.

Here we go again...

I love pack debates now. I just sit back and watch with a smile on my face. Now that I have a McHale I just feel theres nothing left for me to debate. I know that sounds snobby but I do not feel the need to convince anyone about anything anymore.

The CrewCab isn't representative of all the NICE bags. Try the 6500 or the 3600 Metcalf (new). Based on the requirements the guy gave I'd pick the Metcalf.

I was just carrying my NICE Gen.I, purchased in 2005 or 2006, can't recall, probably the latter as I got my BCSB and Deluxe MRs in 2005 and my two Kifarus the same year and I had 75 lbs, in it in perfect comfort. I have packed 90-100 lbs, in it, with the 6500 bag, this was with my Wolf Alpha, as I also have the NICE OK with my 6500 on it.

Now, these are not huge weights, but, I am 66+ years old and I can push the NICE to 100+, but, my orthopaedic guy goes freakin' zoned as my right leg is close to done. So, that, to me, says a LOT about these packs and I have an actual reverence for Dana's packs and the simply superb customer service his folks provide.

I may get a full-on McHale as I have some treks in mind now that my lady is mobile again and I can leave home without worrying that she will be immobile. To me, McHale is THE "sine qua non"of packs, but, many cannot afford the cost and there are LOTS of workable alternatives for far less $$$$$.

I would, again, stress the availability of the Dana externals and now Hill People is making some goodies to spruce these up. I would have KILLED for one of these in my younger days, for packing huge loads to my isolated BCFS Lookouts.

For a beginner, it can really pay off in advancing your learning curve to buy some used packs, try them and see what works best for YOU, as we are all different in our fitting and also our actual uses. JMHO.

Well, SOME people!!!!

I agree , a different bag with some lift may give different results, but the CC is what I had.

I wasn't going to go there... But since you did first

I never got MR's logic on the 6500 (and yes I have one) lets make the stays longer... Great idea... But lets make them as flexible as a hookers morality???

Oh, and compounded with the takeoff points on the NICE frame for the load lifters being too far back on the shoulder, it still wouldn't matter.

Seriously... If MR used a more rigid stay (like what's in the KU5200) and moved the takeoff point on the lift straps. It's be hands DOWN my favorite backpack. I still use it, but not as much as my Kifaru.

McHale is out of t he question until after I get my next recurve paid off (Dave doesn't give away those exotic Silvertips)

Speaking of which... That's why I'll always have a CrewCab. It's the best backpack ever for hanging treestands.

I've had 9 kifaru packs over the years as well as Eberlestock, Badlands, Canadian made ArcTeryx Bora, a MR longbow and now a dragon slayer, and two Dana Externals plus a Dana arcflex Stillwater.

Having said that, if I were going on a backpack elk hunt tomorrow I would take the Kelty Cache Hauler I just got for $95 shipped.

This is based on actual testing with 100 lb loads. I got a lot of belt deformation and slip with kifaru packs with more than 70 lbs, and the same with the three piece Dana belts. The Kelty belt stays where I put it and is much more comfortable with big loads.

My next step with it is to cut off everything unnecessary and see how much lighter and more nimble I can make it. I bet I can get it in the 4-5 lb range with a dry bag hauling type setup.

Maybe I'm moving forward by moving backward? Trading $600 packs for a $100 pack that works better? Some lessons are more expensive than others I guess.

You are not moving backwards if it works for you and there are no flies on Cache Hauler. My favorite pack is the Horn Hunter Full Curl and like you (I bought your G2 LH) I spent alot of money and too many sore shoulders.

It is funny how defensive both MR and Kifaru users get when you don't like either. Packs are like shoes, hard to recomend to someone what will work best for them, so I try to only speak to quality and design.

It's easy to get defensive when you spend a lot of money on what you consider to be a quality piece of equipment. Most of us have been guilty of being fans, and we show off what we consider our best equipment.

There's a lot of truth in that...

Kifaru and MR packs for me were light years better for me (and the game we play) than anything Eberlestock, Badlands, Osprey, or Arctryx that I'd used before. But yeah... In the end, it's what works for you, and brand loyalties get you nowhere.