Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting MR Crew Cab or ILBE Marine Pack??

Ok after posting a question on Elk Hunting form asking what folks use to haul meat out. Seems like a couple guys are using the Mystery Ranch Crew Cab, but some use military surplus stuff. Which seems to be a little more reasonable in pricing ebay seems to have so real good deals on used ILBE Marine Packs.

Here's the deal: My Hunting Partner is my Wife. So I need to pack things for her to be comfortable and enjoy the hunt. But I need some thing that I can pack meat out with instead of going back to the truck to get a pack frame and head back out to the kill site to retrieve meat. Which is what I do now and it $ucks. So I need to find something that I can use as a pack for all day hunts plus be used as a meat hauler "if" we are successful.

I thought the Eberlestock Blue Widow would be a good all around pack. But the Crew Cab might be a better solution? Then like I said early they are both spendy where the ILBE surplus stuff is real reasonable. But of course it's not priced right if it's gonna hurt me!

So whom has experience with both systems that can give me a little guidance? Thanks!

I like my ILBE. I have no complaints. It fits well and can carry more than I can.

I like the LL bean hunters carry all pack. I put my camp in sylnylon bag and pack it to my site, dump it off and have a nice pack frame to hunt with. I took an old day pack and sewed loops on it and lash it to the pack for hunting. Nice combo pack for the price. It is about 4 lbs empty which is a little heavy.

Kifaru Bikini frame and bag. Might look on Rokslide.com for some info and reviews.

Might check out the new mystery ranch metcalf

Dawg,

How do you have your ILBE set up? Could you post a pic or two? Thanks!

Wild Bill

I sent you a pm.

Thanks Dave! I went to Rockslide and kicked around over there a little. The Bikini frame is cool but $376 for just a frame, WOW! That's one reason I'm looking at Military Surplus stuff.

Nothing at all wrong with the ILBE. It's a little heavy as a day pack, but not to bad. If I were in your shoes I'd buy the cheapest ILBE I could find and run it for a year. If you don't like it you could then upgrade down the line.

Do you have one? How do they do the sizing? & do they have load lifters?

Thanks!

There is a guy here in Helena selling ILBE packs with the 3 day assault packs for only 125 bucks. Wish I had gotten mine for that price a few years ago. He is selling them on craigslist. I use my ILBE main and assault packs all the time and I love them. They are a bit heavier than the new lightweight options but they are bombproof.

Nothing wrong with the ILBE packs, especially for the price RatFink mentioned. They are an Arcteryx design, based heavily on the well respected BORA series.

I've used the BORAs for years and never been disappointed. Last year I bought a ILBE and used it while sheep and elk hunting. It is a good pack for the money. Heavier than some, but can be lightened with careful use of a razor blade...

Personally, if spending the money for a MR pack, I wouldn't pick the NICE framed packs. They just seem to be a love them or hate them type of pack, especially as far as fit goes. Fit trumps all, IMO. I own a couple of MRs now, and really like the Grizzly. It fits me very well, feels a lot like a BORA, just a bit more comfortable and well built. Mystery Ranch makes awesome quality packs! As long as you can get proper fit with one, you'd never regret spending the money. Perhaps a NICE would fit you just fine...

Wrongside can you help me with the issue of fit? Everybody says fit is the most important. How do I determine what would fit me. I read the article @ rokslide Backpacks A-Z. And he mentioned how to measure you back from the 7th vert down to the top of the hip bone but then didn't give any suggestions for fit???

Thanks!

I've got one and bought 2 others for my brother. They are pretty generic in sizing, meant to fit the majority of marines. Between 30-probably 40 on belt and relatively normal size height you should be good. It does have load lifters.

I paid $35 for my first. Has no lid and looks like hell, but still completely functional. So much so I carried 2 deer out last season in quarters. Pack lives in the back of my truck. It doesn't carry quite as well as my Kifaru but it's real close and I'm not afraid to leave it in the truck!

I would get a Crew Cab.

It will carry anything you put in it and will last forever.

You can get one here on the classifieds for significantly less than a new one if you're patient.

MR sizing info will get your fit right.



There's a whole mule deer plus gear in this one....

SlowDog: Now that's what I'm talken about! Go in light come out heavy!

But there does seem to be a love hate thing going on with the crew cab???

Wild Bill,
I am no expert on fit. I think there are different sized belts and I have a medium, I think. I did have a Marine friend help me with set up but there are instructions on the net. I try to get the pack snugged up to me and to the point where I feel the weight on the small off my back and not my shoulders. I am posting a few pics of the pack in use from a couple of hunts and training trips.

















As I said, I can't give expert advice, just relate my experience. I have not tried the more expensive dedicated hunting packs and I am sure they are great, but I have no complaints with the ILBE. It'll get the job done and then some.

HD

'Dawg thanks for throwing up the pics. After looking around seems like I can buy a complete NIB ILBE Gen 2 for a about half the money of a new MR Nice Crew Cab w/lid. And after reading over at rokslide where most say if you are taller, than 5' 9" guy, the load lifters won't work for ya. I'm 6' tall plus an old former Marine, when we used the Alice Packs, like I said old! LOL The attraction of the MR stuff was because I'm not a camo guy but I am pretty sure I can talk my wife into sewing up a light weight pack cover for it.

Cheers!
WB

There are two ILBE packs in my house. One for my son and a loner pack. I have a Kifaru ZXR and love it. Having said that I'm not sure if I would have got it if the ILBE's came first. The ILBE's are very well constructed, but a little heavy. Having looked at 30+ ILBE packs the only sizing I have seen is in the belt size, S,M,L and the same sizing for women. Be careful if you are not able to get the lid with the pack as the Gen1 and Gen2 do not interchange, black buckles to black buckles, an to tan.

For the money I don't think you will find a better deal than the ILBE, at this time. As for packing game we used an ILBE, my ZXR and a Kelty Super Tioga to pack out an Elk back in 2012. Each pack ran 80lbs+. I think it was a toss up between the ILBE and ZXR for stability and comfort.

Parko

I'd be mean and rotten to tell a guy he's goin' in light with a NICE frame. Bombproof, yeah. Light, no.