Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting best external frame packs

Does anyone have any experience with the Kifaru Longhunter or Freighter packs? It would be nice to do business with someone that caters specifically to hunters.

My vote goes for the Dana Terraframe as #1. <A HREF="http://www.northernmountainsupply.com" TARGET=_blank>www.northernmountainsupply.com</A> has some great deals, but you need to check each week because their inventory changes. Great guys there!<P>Cheers!<BR>BH

Hey there, Rick Bin. <P>I just bought two new Loadmasters for $99 each - did I do good? <P>I'm being coy: Of course I did. <P>I bought mine at a local shop, but for anyone interested, you can get one for $99 at: <A HREF="http://www.northernmountain.com" TARGET=_blank>www.northernmountain.com</A> <P>If they're out, you can get one for $129 at: <A HREF="http://www.mgear.com" TARGET=_blank>www.mgear.com</A> <P>It appears Dana has decided to close out this line, and there's some dandy deals to be had on them right now.

Greg:<P>You did real good! I'll tell you what, if you're an external pack kinda guy, you can't do better than the LoadMaster IMO.<P>Soem guys I really respect like internals, and guess what, they go for Danas too.<P>Congrats!.<P>Rick

I just got a Dana T1 from Northern Mountain -- good pack, good service, excellent price.
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<br>I would've liked a bigger bag but the T1 is the only one that works without the packbag -- the other models have the hip belt built into the bag. I want to be able to take the bag off for heavy meat loads.
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<br>Last night I did all the adjustments and looked around for some heavy items to carry -- threw in a 28-lb. bag of sand and a 25-lb. dumbbell for starters, then went out to walk the dog. Well, it was different from the usual walk but a lot more comfortable than most of the day packs I've tried!
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<br>Thanks to all here for the suggestion of the pack and the retailer.
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<br>John

JF, don't over do it packing that dead weight. I was doing the same thing packing a pack full of sand up our little ski hill. I compressed a nerve between my shoulder blades causing my hands to go numb and I'm still recovering two years later. The dead weight packs don't bounce just pound.pak

John,
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<br>Glad to have helped. I hope you have good luck with your purchase:)

Don't worry, I'm not going to carry that much all the time, and I'm not going to be doing it every day. Just wanted a quick & dirty way to find out if the pack fit would feel right with a real load. It did.
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<br>I will do some packing with moderate weights, just don't want to have never carried more than 10 pounds on my back until the day I'm standing at the bottom of a canyon with a dead elk at my feet!
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<br>John