Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting I'm leaving the MR home this year

Can anyone who has used both compare this to the Kifaru Multi-Mission Ruck?

Interesting indeed. Wonder how it compares the the Bora 95 I had.

Fascinating. E

Just picked one up to try out off ebay. For the price, I figured I would give it a whirl. Should get it in a week or so.

I bought one off ebay last week & it landed this past Friday. I'm impressed with the build quality & features. I'm a big guy (6 feet; 250lbs) and it easily adjusted to fit my generous girth. It will be joining me on some hikes in North Carolina this coming weekend. Hope to compare it with an Eberlestock and Blacks Creek that I have as well.

Question: does anybody know whether the material is waterproof? I imagine that it is more "water resistant" than waterproof. I saw where plastic liners could also be bought off ebay. Anybody have any experience with the liners?

The ILBE has a waterproof coating applied to the inside of the pack.

"Prolonged exposure to water (especially salt water) will accelerate deterioration of the waterproof coating inside the ILBE pack system."

I'm going to continue using a waterproof pack cover on mine.

MtnHtr

Thanks for the help. That is probably good advice which I will certainly heed.

I'm trying out the NICE with the Alpha wolf bag, may be just about perfect.
Don

are you ILBE guys planning on using the pack as a day pack also after you set up a base camp?

I was trying to decide if its too big for that application.

Really dont want to carry the extra weight of another smaller pack.

Hopefully others will chime in but it is pretty big for just a day pack. Yes, you can compress it down but I don't know how well compressing it displaces the load weight. I should be able to test out its functionality as a day pack this coming weekend. Will post results on this thread...

I had a arc teryx bora which is similiar and its too big for a day pack if you are climbing up a tree stand. But, it's a great day pack for alpine hunting if you are after elk and need room for extra clothes to layer up or down, food, water, game bags, saw, spotting scope and poncho liner.

As you know there are gives and takes on this stuff.
I used my MR 6500 w/o lid last year as a day pack after setting up base camp.

I found the MR to heavy, to stiff, and to cumbersome to head up the alpine. For hunting and climbing with both hands it was a heavy pain in the butt. But I need enough pack to take the meat off the mountain.

The ILBE is a much better more comfortable pack to hunt and climb with and able to haul meat off just as well as the MR 6500. It may not be a classic day pack but it's a better day pack than my 6500 and THAT is the main reason I am leaving the MR home.

One thing though, if i do take a day pack with the ILBE both packs will weigh as much as the MR 6500 by itself.
And that has me thinking.

docdb,

The NICE with Alpha Wolf bag should be very good.

Comparing the two bag set ups

At 8 lb 10 oz the Alpha Wolf still out weighs the ILBE at 7 lb 6 oz.

The ILBE is rated to pack 120 lbs.

Quality is equal, both bags will last forever.

For hundred(s) $$$ less I can do everything the AW will do.

For climbing the mountain after base camp that NICE is just to stiff for my likes.

The reason I like the NICE frame is that you can drop your 6500 at camp. Then you just attach the double pocket top pouch to the frame to use as your day pack. Couple extra straps thrown in to tie down your first meat load load out.

I found the lid to be to small for me. It didn't have the capacity I needed for water and gear to head up the mountain.

It's to heavy and to small.

I tried it out last night and I think that I will let my ILBE double as my elk day pack.

If you compress it down and take take the lid straps all the way down to the lowest straps on the pack it gets down fairly small.

This will lighten my full pack in load by about 2.5 pounds by not carring a seperate day pack.

Of course the ILBE is a good bit heavier that my day pack but it is actully more comfortable and it will allow me to make the first meat pack out trip right after the kill if I get lucky.

That's exactly what I think.

i do like that pack .thanks for the postand the info.

Maybe it's the way I'm built, but I can't get the MR double pocket lid to carry well. It needs a horizontal stiffener to keep it from drooping. If I tighten up the pack to do that it screws up my bow draw and generally feels constrictive.

Attach it to your frame! The frame is whats so nice because of the comfort factor.