Any advice on buying a new pack for hunting solo in deep country

[thru-hunter]

That is a fact with the McHale regarding resale. With McHale you get a demo pack to try for a week or two of actual hiking and you talk with Dan regarding what you like and don't like. Like I said I actually had the upper strap mounts moved further apart to give more neck space. I increased to thicker stays and selected the bayonet system which is super slick! I added 2" to the girth of the pack. I added a water bladder sleeve and specified which side the port was on. Selected what type of lid and how it was configured. I also added a zipper to the pack for access to the lower 1/2. It arcs across so it opens huge and I can actually load meat or other bulky items through it as well as have access to items inside the main pack bag. I love loading jackets and other items near that opening since I can access them without having to open the top of the bag. Some people don't get the "bypass" system but I have put some miles under it heavy now and don't think I could go back to a traditional load lifter for heavy weight.

The resale is likely the biggest drawback to the McHale and Kifaru definitely has that over them. I did enjoy chatting with Dan and tossing out ideas which he would either shoot holes in or make reality. Kind of made you feel like you were part of the design process of your own hunting pack. Had the new DT1 packs been out I would have likely given them a shot first. There is minimal risk trying out a Kifaru since the resale is so high. If you don't fall in love with it then it may be worth chatting with Dan and checking out a demo pack. I do agree that most people will be happy with a Kifaru. I know a lot of folks who are!

I will be the first to admit that my pack as I designed it for me may not be ideal for others and I will never get even 50% of my investment back if I were to sell it. I doubt it is needed for most people and I bought mine after fighting with a Barney's pack to get it comfortable and ultimately breaking it on a sheep hunt. I hated the pillow waist belt on the barneys!! I wanted an internal and didn't like the Mystery Ranch line and was not super impressed with the Kifaru model at the time (longbow I believe). The new line of Kifaru packs seems to be a major advancement in production packs. I have t worn one so can't compare fit. I would wager that the lifespan of the McHale will surpass the Kifaru but we have some time before that can be hashed out.

 

[HellsCanyon]

Kifaru's are great packs and I do enjoy my T1. However there are some other great packs out there! If you have a longer torso (>19") look into the Horn Hunter full curl pack system. Have heard nothing but good things about them and they are a great price! Mystery Ranch are great as well if you don't mind hauling around a 9.5 lb empty pack weight from the beginning and I do like their pocket design a little better than the Kifaru Timberlines.

While I do really like my T1, it is still just a pack and anything over 60 lbs it hauls well, but that is still 60 lbs of extra weight. I guess that I'm just trying to say that they function and they work GREAT and are really comfortable will all weights, the "wow" factor was and is still a bit lacking in MY opinion... Though I've yet to haul anything more than 60 lbs in mine. Hoping to change that next month!

Mike

 

[Ryan Avery]

Mike, I totally disagree! Stick 60+ pounds in a Badlands or a Eberlestock and go hiking in the mountains 3+ miles. To me there is a world of difference between them and a Kifaru. I do agree there is no miracle pack for elk quarters. But there is different levels of comfort. Just my opinion

 

[slim9300]

Mike, I totally disagree! Stick 60+ pounds in a Badlands or a Eberlestock and go hiking in the mountains 3+ miles. To me there is a world of difference between them and a Kifaru. I do agree there is no miracle pack for elk quarters. But there is different levels of comfort. Just my opinion

No joke.

 

[cmeier117]

Mike,

Not trying to bombard you with NO's but I agree with Ryan and Conlan on this one. The limit use I have had with badlands and Horn hunter and the full year I had with the eberlestock tells me that after 60 lbs it is night and day between those and the Timberline. Put 100lbs in your pack go 2 miles and then try that with any others you listed. Night and day is an understatement. Also the Horn hunter is so cave man like with its waist belt padding approach it isn't even funny and they have no adjustment for load lifter height, or torso adjustment on the shoulder straps.

 

[HellsCanyon]

Hey I didn't throw that post up without expecting disagreements...

I have used a Gregory palisades 65, a Badlands 2200, and a Blacks Creek Barbarian 2.5 to haul out 20+ critters from the woods. Its not much compared to some but its enough to know what works for me and to know what a quality pack feels like. I think the Kifaru T1 is WAY above any of those packs in quality and pack design, and I find the more I use it the more I like it. I don't really see myself upgrading or changing packs for quite a few years. All I'm saying is that it has yet to really blow me away with its function and fit (maybe that will happen when I get it bloody for the first time!). For the $$$ I spent and all the reviews I was expecting a very high quality pack that would work for my style of hunting. Thats exactly what I got and I'm happy with the pack, but for that much $ I better be...

Mike

 

[cmeier117]

Thats exactly what I got and I'm happy with the pack, but for that much $ I better be...

Mike

Yes you should be!!!

 

[Yellowknife]

....I doubt it is needed for most people and I bought mine after fighting with a Barney's pack to get it comfortable and ultimately breaking it on a sheep hunt. I hated the pillow waist belt on the barneys!!

Not to get this conversation too sidetracked here, but I've seen you complain about the "pillow" waist belt on the Barneys a few times now. It's odd, because the waist belt on my (2010) Barneys is anything but too soft. The foam is about an inch thick, and so stiff that its almost impossible to fold. With the center stitch line, it contours to my hips perfectly and it supports a load great, but unless your pillows are made of riveted titanium, I'd hardly call it "pillow like"!

I have noticed that some other late model Barneys packs I've looked at seem to be slightly softer (Lukes old one for instance), but not THAT soft. I haven't used any of the pre-2010 models that I recall, so maybe it was different. Perhaps they used different foams over the years?

Yk

 

[hunting1]

I prefer my Full Curl over the Duplex, but that is me. The internal Kifaru's on the other hand are second to none on the internal category. I have packed elk with a 2200 and it worked, but it wasn't a Kifaru! Again, to say what is best for somebody due to that is what you have is a stretch. Everybody is different and what works from person to person, well you know.

The worst pack I ever used was the MR Crew Cab, but man I have been attacked on the web for saying so. I will packing elk and deer next week with my HH Curl frame again I hope! Good luck to all!

 

[thru-hunter]

Not to get this conversation too sidetracked here, but I've seen you complain about the "pillow" waist belt on the Barneys a few times now. It's odd, because the waist belt on my (2010) Barneys is anything but too soft. The foam is about an inch thick, and so stiff that its almost impossible to fold. With the center stitch line, it contours to my hips perfectly and it supports a load great, but unless your pillows are made of riveted titanium, I'd hardly call it "pillow like"!

I have noticed that some other late model Barneys packs I've looked at seem to be slightly softer (Lukes old one for instance), but not THAT soft. I haven't used any of the pre-2010 models that I recall, so maybe it was different. Perhaps they used different foams over the years?

Yk

They may well have changed, It has been a few years since I had one (2008). I didn't like the waist belt and felt it didn't cup the iliac crest like some other packs I have used. It would slide down off of them when loaded over 70lbs. Only my take on it, perhaps I am just funny shaped. I also generally don't like frame packs because I just don't get that "connected" feel to it. I don't like heights to begin with so a pack that moves with me was key for mountain hunting and for that an internal is tops IMHO. My buddy has killed a pile of rams and hauls them all in barneys packs so they sure work for him. We have hauled 100 lb loads off a mountain together and at the end we were both darn happy to get our perspective packs off, I don't know that there are any packs out there that will make hauling a triple digit load "fun". I know I have seen quite a few people haul heavy loads with all sorts of packs and I have yet to see one person stroll back into camp or an airstrip with an animal on their back and then just hang out with the pack on! If you have 100lbs on your back, odds are you are looking forward to getting putting it down. That said, I do think that there are some that will do it with more comfort than others and certainly a few that will do it without breaking which is every bit as important.