Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting NICE pack fit.

Here are a few pic's of my NICE w/Crewcab loaded w/ 40# feed sak. I have really been giving it a workout lately and heres what I have come up with. When loaded w my duffle and equip.(apx.40#) it rides fine. When loaded w/ a dead weight like a feed sak it tends to wear on my shoulders. I have done many up and down adj. and when higher it does feel better but still not comfy. I do the usual shoulder strap adj. to shift the weight back and forth to the hips and also the chest adjuster and while this does help I just can't seem to find the right spot. It is not bad by any means!! My thought (and see if it makes any sense) is I have a longer torso (19 1/2") and this puts the loadlifter straps in a downward angle when I snug the weight up tight to my body where it need to be. So they are always pulling down. When I have the yoke adjusted a little higher than in the pic it is a little more comfortable but I can still feel it on my shoulders after a few miles. The belt is fine(it would help if I had a little something for it to rest on) and settles in and rides fine. Please give me your two cents. I have e-mailed these pics to MysteryRanch and await their reply. --Allen--no potbelly jokes either:)

Same challenge that I have with mine and my 20.5" torso ...

It is oh so close when I am just using the frame but it does not extend quite high enough for the load lifters to "lift" ... I wish the frame was about 5"-6" taller ...

If I have the 6500 pack on it then the issue goes away as the load lifters connect much higher on the attached pack's subframe and then they do "lift" ...

I have noticed that all my packs loaded with a dead lump don't feel that great in the shoulder area. When loading a pack with gear and meat always put the heavy stuff on top lighter stuff on bottom. Carrys much more better.

I pack elk and deer quarter with the legs pointed down and all the meat up. Nice when a pack has the ability to use compression straps to carry the heaviest part of the load up(on the top).

Dosen't matter how big the load. I always at spread out the weight evenly in the pack with the heavy stuff on top. My hunt(day) pack has built in compression straps to keep it that way. Anythime stuff goes into a lump on the bottom the comfort level goes out the window.

You should never have weight on your shoulders. Tighten up the waist belt, and loosen the shoulder belts. What I do is tighten up the waist belt well above my hips, and let it settle down.

Weight on your shoulders is a guaranteed recipe for back pain. The shoulder straps exist solely to keep the pack from flopping.

I shoot for about 70-75% weight on hips and 23-30 on shoulders.

if I'm hauling a long ways, I tweak it to give either the shoulders or the hips a break whichever needs it at the time.

though that's mostly with 100+ lb. loads

oh and tks TX Trapper, now I know what the other pack bag sorta thing I have now is......I think!

TX Trapper, I don't know. Heck, when I look at your pictures it just looks like the waste belt is riding too high. Maybe it's because of your longer torso as you described. I guess that's my take.

I'm also a believer in having the huge majority of weight, 90%+, riding on your hips. The exception is adjustments you should make depending on whether you are going up a steep incline (tighten the shoulders and slightly loosen the waste belt) or down a steep inclined (tighten waste belt and loosen shoulders) for safety, comfort and balance reasons. I'm only talking slight adjustments until you get appropriate balance and comfort level.

Thanks for the replys. I do have all the weight on the belt and use the shoulders just to pull the load to my back, and then just adj. back and forth on the yoke to rest the shoulders when needed. On the belt. I shoot for the top of my hip points to be in the middle of the belt and then it settles with the points just below the top edge of the belt. The belt feels fine and does carry the weight comfy but when the yoke is tight to hold the weight close is when the ach starts. It is just at the top of the shoulders where the pressure seems to be pulling down from the loadlifters!!!

hmt, have you done anything to help w/ the problem?

THANKS!!!--Allen--

As a WAG, I would put your shoulder harness 1/2" higher, your waistbelt 1/2" LOWER and put your load in as Shag suggests. My use of internal frame packs is exactly as Dakotan posts and I have found that nothing I have tried is as comfortable, FOR ME, as the MR packs.

I have comfortably carried 100 lbs. in mine for training and I could not do that with any other pack I have ever owned/used.

You DO need to experiment to get these "dialed-in" right for YOU, but, if it will not work to YOUR satisfaction, I would exchange the Crew Cab for a NICE 5000 bag to get the higher lifter points.

I am no pro, but do play around alot with this stuff. I have a McHale pack with unique suspension, allowing the most ability to shift weight from shoulders to hips on the fly, of any system I've tried. I've been finding it nice to shift from the shoulders to hips when each gets fatigued. I think alot of this is person specific, as I hauled caribou on the tundra in a NICE with crew cab, and was very comfortable with the weight. With that said, I haven't tried 100lb or higher.....I think I've passed that point in my life.
Don

doc, do you think w/ my torso being longer and the loadlifters being in a downward angle could cause this pressure on my shoulders? and if so what would you suggest?

If I remember correctly, Luke, at MR was very helpful. I think they have a longer frame and may be able to give you some help. I have the opposite problem with a pack that I bought in Large, an Arcteryx NAOS, where the straps don't really hit my shoulders unless it's loaded. I made the mistake of using it before realizing I'd gotten a large.
Don

trapper,

I was having the same problem with my 6500. The "wings" at the top where the yoke widens out were digging into the top of my shoulder blades even tho it was adjusted as per instructions. I have it loaded to total 55#. I lengthened the yoke another 1" and that has helped.

I also see you have run out of adjustment on your waisbelt. I would have MR send you the next size smaller one. I have found that there does seem to be some break-in as far as comfort goes. Keep cranking the waistbelt as you walk, and ease up on the shoulder straps. I keep the loadlifters tight.

It looks like I wear my yoke a little higher than you. Lengthen it out a bit, and see how it feels.

Al

I respect other opinions on this, but based only on my own personal preferences and experience with packs (including very heavy loads), I never put the majority of the weight in the top of my pack. If you are walking across the flats it's one thing, but in rough country with lots of weight it feels like there is a little person on your back trying to tackle you when the center of gravity is up high. I really like the looks of the crewcab by the way and I appreciate the aforementioned reviews of it by all. I have a long torso as well, and that has created similar problems for me with other packs.

You just want to get it above where an average sleeping bag stuff sack would fill to and THEN it is not too low or high.

Try to do as I and others suggest with this, it can take a bit of time to get it right.

Yep, hope my suggestion didn't come across as all the weight on the very top. It should be centered on and close to your body and the heaviest idems in the mid to upper part of the pack. This helped me.

http://www.kelty.com/kelty/articles.php?id=65&cat=3
http://www.kelty.com/kelty/articles.php?id=62&cat=3

http://staging.kelty.com/kelty/pdf/Packs/UltraTiogaINST99.pdf

http://kelty.com/old_kelty/pdf/2007/Packs/RedcloudCoyote_INST.pdf

yukonal, it is a small but I believe it is fine.

NOW for an update. After EXC. help as always and some super pm's I went to the shed and made a temp. panel for the loadlifters to work off of. I ran it through a tough 1/2 mile:) and it made a BIG diff. I will wait on MR's reply and see what they have to say. I really want this to work as it is setup perf. for what I want to use it for.Again THANKS for all the help!!!--Allen--

Sweet! Glad it's worked out for you! Great Idea! I also get a better ride with the lifter's higher. Big difference.

TX ... sorry havent gotten back to you yet ... your idea of extending the frame is the same I had last year ... MR didnt seem too interested in offering a taller frame but I didnt speak with mgt or maybe things have changed since???

I realize it would change the interoperability of the larger pack bags which I'm sure is a negative from a business perspective ...

I think the longer frame is the real solution though as my Granite Gear Flatbed has a frame sheet about as long as what you created and from the load lifter standpoint and straps, it is more comfortable than the MR. It just isn't going to carry quite as much weight, that is why I wish MR would offer a longer frame version.

Mystery Ranch,

If you frequent these boards; I would like an Overkill NICE frame that is ~6" taller than the current version. I would then like a bag as large as the Kodiak 7000 ci (A positive side effect ... The bag could be lighter because it wouldnt need nearly as much of its own sub-frame), a crew cab with that little extra space, and a load sling to go with it.

Help?