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Good to know

I've got a Reckoning Bag that is getting all sorts of war wounds. It'll last me this year then I'll have to get another. I love my Kifaru setup.....

Good suggestions for a pack. Bear in mind, new, used, old...buckles or straps may break. The first time it happened to me I was fortunate that my buddy had a few feet of plastic baling twine in his pack. I carry a few feet now.

Luv my Reckoning, though I do have an old Cabela's external frame like that with a single rope only on it to tie stuff down with, that I use at times for elk too.

Reckoning also works for trapping as well as whatever else a guy wants to hunt. Using the load shelf or just shoving meat inside the bag, it has worked well for me.

I also have a Kifaru 14r and a ShapeCharge, for horseback hunts or whatever else doesn't require the space of my Reckoning.

I’m on year 3 with my sawtooth & am very happy with its comfort & carrying ability- 80 lbs is a piece of cake you will really love it after your first pack out.

Take the time to get it adjusted properly try going just a little shorter than you think is right to get it to stay on your hips. I’m using the Kifaru gun eater and the same holds true. Now that it is adjusted properly the hands free & fast deployment of your rifle are great.

The guide light frame makes a perfect field rest too. I love shooting off my pack from a sitting position now. Sight in at longer ranges using just the pack every year out to way past where I’d shoot I’m good of that upright frame.

Oh no, I hope that garand guy doesn't see this.

Remember when no one cared how a pack fit. It was the load the cart, don’t worry about the mule deal

It’s great to have so many awesome options today.

The first load with a quality, well fitting pack was an eye opener for me, I guess we don’t know what we don’t know. It can still be a suck fest, but a better suck fest.

Tiny, I agree, it seems a pack, like boots gets better with miles and making small tweaks till it’s right.

Tiny, did you ever figure out how to keep the blow up doll from springing a leak in the pack?

For sure. The first elk I packed out was on my ALICE pack frame with a modified bag. Back then I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now, after having used a few MR packs and a couple others they’ve only gotten nicer.

Keeping you away from my girl seems to work best.

Other than that, no. I have started carrying first aid patch kits for her.

Thank god for technology. I remember packin bears and bulls out on the old military fiberglass shiit packboards. Still got a couple in the shop.

Mystery ranch and eberlestock fit me best👊🏻

Not my fault she couldn’t handle the extra pressure.

Chest seal works great.

Stone Glacier for me. Used Kifaru for years and had an Eberlestock as well. Mystery Ranch I haven't used yet.

My Eberlestock problem might have been my old fault, I might picked the wrong model, but it was heavy and seemed to carry the load way outboard. It's one of the few pieces of gear I used for 7 days and sold right away. But again, who knows.

The Kifarus were light (I had a few) but they carried the load a little outboard, farther from the spine. One day I noticed that 40 lbs in my Kifaru felt way heavier than 40 lbs in my other packs. I replaced my Kifaru stuff with SG in maybe 2017, so maybe Kifaru has changed since then.

The SG seems to get the weight noticeably closer to my back: weight in the SG does not feel appreciably different from the same weight in one of my ultralight packs.

Obviously at some point it just doesn't matter because it all sucks. If you gave me one of my old Kifarus or my newer SG pack, both loaded with 125 lbs, I doubt I'd know the difference.

If you want to be particular about it I'd order an SG and a Mystery Ranch, tinker with them a while and get them set up right (that part def matters), put 100 lbs in them and walk a few miles, put 50 lbs in and walk a few miles, then return the one you don't like, or sell it for a small loss. There's always a good secondary market for this stuff.

Great advice! Never used the Stone Glacier packs, but I know many do and like them alot. One of the ones I plan to try eventually.

One of these days I'll give the Mystery Ranch stuff a shot. But my SG pack is well into the set it and forget it part of my gear. It works, I don't really think about it anymore. Probably because I spend too much time on this website.

Though I'd still love to find a pack that had 20" stays so it wouldn't interfere with throwing a rifle over my shoulder, weighed 3 lbs, compressed down to nothing, and could pack 100lbs comfortably.

Man, when you do send up a flare!

I've used Kifaru for the last 15 years or so. Extremely durable and carry weight well but they are heavy. My Duplex lite with the Dall bag, two pockets, small belt pouch, and water bottle belt holster weighs in at 7lbs 15 ounces empty. I picked up a Stone Glacier 5900 and it weighs in at 5.5 lbs.

I've been using both for training for a couple months with 45lbs in each. I like the Xcurve frame of the SG really well, but the Kifaru hip belt feels way better to me. My assessment is once the weight hits 60 plus packing out an animal, the comfort of the Kifaru will be more important than the extra 2 lbs of empty carry weight.

I also have the Kifaru 14r and a smaller Stone Glacier day pack with a frame sheet. I like both of those for day hunts where I won't be packing excessive weight.

I like the Kifaru with the Nomad II. Works well for me.

I have a MR Pop-up 28. I know it's not as big as you're looking for but it's good quality. It will hold and entire SD whitetail.

I have one of those as well. Haven't worked it yet, but I got it for deer hunting when I am running light. Looks like a sweet unit so far though.