Kifaru Stryker XL vs Hellbender

[Movadius]

Looking at these two packs as my hunting daypack + 1-2 night camping pack (with shelter and insulation layers outside the pack).

They're not that different internal capacity-wise. 1900 vs 2250 cubic inches. If I go with the Stryker XL I would likely add a sherman to the front which would bring it up to 2400ci.

A few questions for those who have used or handles these packs.

1. Can you stuff anything between the sherman and the pack you attach it to? (Using it like a grab-it, to stuff my rain jacket in for example)

2. If the answer to question number 1 is "No", could I add both a grab-it and a sherman to the Stryker XL or would they interfere with each other's function?

3. I see a spot to mount a pocket on the top front face of the Hellbender. Would it be possible to mount a sherman there that would extend down into the stretch pocket? (Would bring the volume of the Hellbender up to 2750ci).

4. Does anyone have any clear images of a guide light being used with either of these packs? Is it comically oversized or is it a functional option?

Use case is typically gonna be either single day hunts, trail clearing day trips with awkward tools, or 1-3 day camping/backpacking trips off-trail. I'm in eastern canada so I'll never need to worry about having a lot of glass or tripods or anything like that.

Thanks as always for sharing your experience.

 

[prm]

What would be the purpose of adding a Sherman to a Stryker? I can’t speak to the Hellbender, or to adding a Sherman. The Stryker bag is big enough for day hunt, and the shelf area can accommodate larger bags for carrying many days of stuff. Just interested in the different use cases.

 

[bsnedeker]

What would be the purpose of adding a Sherman to a Stryker? I can’t speak to the Hellbender, or to adding a Sherman. The Stryker bag is big enough for day hunt, and the shelf area can accommodate larger bags for carrying many days of stuff. Just interested in the different use cases.

Think of the cool pictures he'd be able to put up on the Kifaru Insiders facebook page if he added a Sherman!!!! BADASS!!!!

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[Movadius]

What would be the purpose of adding a Sherman to a Stryker? I can’t speak to the Hellbender, or to adding a Sherman. The Stryker bag is big enough for day hunt, and the shelf area can accommodate larger bags for carrying many days of stuff. Just interested in the different use cases.

My thought process was the sherman would function like the stuff pocket on the front of the hellbender, but with the ability to take it off completely if I don't want it hanging off the bag. The hellbender looks like it's got a bit of floppyness to it that the stryker wouldnt have. I suppose creative use of straps could solve that issue though.

I'll update the original post to add use cases

 

[prm]

What would you have in the main bag that necessitates the need for an additional bag? Why not just keep everything in the main bag? Not trying to be argumentative, I just don’t understand adding more cubic inches and then having a main bag and load shelf be nearly empty.

When using a Stryker, I placed all day hunting gear in the main bag (Kill kit, purifier, ammo, gloves, hat, rain jacket, first aid kit, etc.). Then I would place all camp (tent, pad, sleeping bag), food, stove, etc. in an Outdoor Research dry bag (60l?) and that would get dropped onto the load shelf. Once at camp site, the dry bag is removed, cinch the Stryker down and I’m ready to hunt. Once I had an animal down I placed bags of deboned meat on the load shelf.

 

[Movadius]

What would you have in the main bag that necessitates the need for an additional bag? Why not just keep everything in the main bag? Not trying to be argumentative, I just don’t understand adding more cubic inches and then having a main bag and load shelf be nearly empty.

When using a Stryker, I placed all day hunting gear in the main bag (Kill kit, purifier, ammo, gloves, hat, rain jacket, first aid kit, etc.). Then I would place all camp (tent, pad, sleeping bag), food, stove, etc. in an Outdoor Research dry bag (60l?) and that would get dropped onto the load shelf. Once at camp site, the dry bag is removed, cinch the Stryker down and I’m ready to hunt. Once I had an animal down I placed bags of deboned meat on the load shelf.

Any day hunting trips I'd go on the bag would be plenty big enough without the sherman, no argument there and the load shelf would be more than sufficient if I planned to just use a dry bag for camp and drop camp. That way I could take advantage of how slim and compact the bag is without camp gear in it. (The woods where I live are super dense, there's a lot to get hung up on)

The issue is I'm looking to use the bag for multi-day backpacking trips off-trail as well, without hunting. Picking up camp each morning and going deeper into the woods. So I'd be spending a lot more time and covering a lot more distance with full gear on my back. In those cases I was hoping to get all my non-compressible gear into the main bag (inflatable sleeping pad, cooking pot, food, other smaller camp related tools, etc) and then put all clothes and possibly the sleeping bag if it wont fit in main compartment, into a drybag and compress it down tight between the pack and the frame. Just to avoid having too much weight hanging far from my back over long distance hikes.

Does that make sense? I know the best option would probably be to just buy a bigger backpacking style bag for the backpacking trips and a hunting pack for the hunting trips, but wondering if anyone else out there is managing to do both activities with one of these bags I guess.

 

[prm]

Gotcha. I guess you could always try it and sell Sherman if you don’t need it. Resale is a good thing about Kifaru. You can try a variety of bags for the load shelf too. The Eberlestock spike duffel fits really nice (3375ci). Or, any number of ultralight bags out there, of every imaginable size, that only weigh a few ounces. There is a thread here somewhere where a few different bags were tried with a Stryker.

 

[Movadius]

If I was to cave and buy two bags, I've been looking at either the reckoning and hoodlum as possible options, they'd be overkill for most of what I'm doing but there will be times when I'm going on multi-day winter camping trips and sometimes trips where I may want to carry gear for others so it couldn't hurt to have a larger pack as well...

The Gnargali is also on sale and very tempting, but I'm not a huge fan of the idea of only having top access to the bag contents.

It may be the case that one bag is just not that realistic for my needs given the huge variability in weather and type of activity I'll be doing

 

[HuntHarder]

Have you factored in the weight of the XL plus all the add ons you are talking about. Kifaru has done a fantastic job of making their system modular but the weight goes up really fast. Might be better to just get a bigger pack if you are worried about capacity. FWIW, I used the OG Stryker this year on a Moose hunt. It was the only pack I took and it was my most comfortable hunt yet. If I needed to carry more for the day, I loaded up a 6L dry bag and sandwhiched it in. The stryker was great at hauling Moose quarters out as well, with plenty of cynch points.

I bought the XL when I got home from that moose hunt because I want to put my small tripod in the new side pouches. I think it will be the Bee's knees.

Stryker XL plus sherman is Heavier than the Reckoning and less than half the capacity.

 

[Trackerbacker]

ive been seeing that youve posted a few times, incrementally different ideas regarding packs.

my advice, grab a pack you can afford. that fits pretty well with weight, that has the pockets/arrangmenet you might like, and figure out how you like to pack your stuff, then you can start modding to your needs.

not saying its right or wrong. I dont run ultralight, or ultra $, but i follow a simply "30 for 30", around 30lbs, around 3000 cuin. that can be done easily, with having a stove, food, camp etc. that will easily get you 5 days to the low teens.

currently, im making a change as i have wasted/unused space and going a more custom route for how i pack. but the caveat is, im very happy with how i pack, where i pack, and it all is a balanced weight too, so now that i know those details, a design was hashed out to accommodate my packing and hunting style.

i dont know what the weight gain/loss will be on the final setup or when ill get there, but the interim setup will add an unnoticeable amount of weight until that point.

edit: so to answer you question, see paragraph 2, find a bag between say.....40-50liters +/- pending manufacturer, and beta test your MO

 

[Bender]

Movadius- it's easier to keep a larger load against your back with a traditional bag. Once you start adding pockets and lids to a Stryker or Hellbender and then a camp bag in the sling, you can start "ninja turtling" and the bag starts to cantilever behind you. It is possible to properly pack everything so the weight is against your back to mitigate some of the sway. Food for thought.

 

[Movadius]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Once I get the kifaru frame on my back and confirm it fits me better than the stuff I've tried before, from there I'll probably grab one of their bigger packs like the reckoning. Their bigger packs seem to compress decently well and I guess it's better to have too much pack than not enough pack if I'm gonna be stuck with one option.

I've tried out dozens of packs from other companies already but the issue was never the features, always the fit. So I guess it makes sense to wait until I find the right fit for my back shape and go from there.

 

[prm]

I actually think the Stryker is incredibly flexible, and a fantastic design. My only concern for you was adding pockets and having happen exactly what Bender described. I sold a Reckoning for the OG Stryker (actually I think I went to Nomad, then Stryker and Stryker XL) because I hated having thousands of square inches of empty bag while hunting.
After hunting with the Reckoning and Nomad, and some other brands packs, I knew exactly what I wanted, and the Stryker was it. Perfect for day hunting and expands to haul in 3-4 days of hunting gear pretty easily, 5+ is possible but you need to be pretty dialed with your gear. I’m basing that on mid-October CO Rockies at high elevations. Potentially quite chilly. Others may may move that along a scale one way or the other.

 

[Movadius]

I actually think the Stryker is incredibly flexible, and a fantastic design. My only concern for you was adding pockets and having happen exactly what Bender described. I sold a Reckoning for the OG Stryker (actually I think I went to Nomad, then Stryker and Stryker XL) because I hated having thousands of square inches of empty bag while hunting.
After hunting with the Reckoning and Nomad, and some other brands packs, I knew exactly what I wanted, and the Stryker was it. Perfect for day hunting and expands to haul in 3-4 days of hunting gear pretty easily, 5+ is possible but you need to be pretty dialed with your gear. I’m basing that on mid-October CO Rockies at high elevations. Potentially quite chilly. Others may may move that along a scale one way or the other.

Aside from winter trips when it will get down below -20, maybe the Stryker would be enough then. If you can make it work in CO i could probably figure it out here in Nova scotia

 

[Marble]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Once I get the kifaru frame on my back and confirm it fits me better than the stuff I've tried before, from there I'll probably grab one of their bigger packs like the reckoning. Their bigger packs seem to compress decently well and I guess it's better to have too much pack than not enough pack if I'm gonna be stuck with one option.

I've tried out dozens of packs from other companies already but the issue was never the features, always the fit. So I guess it makes sense to wait until I find the right fit for my back shape and go from there.

From listening to what you've described you want, it seems something like the 44 mag would be something you should consider.

It is bigger than what you've described but you wouldn't have to add a bunch of stuff to it, has good organizational pockets in it and compresses down to something very manageable. We have one and like it very much.

I can't ever remember a time when I was packing in overnight and wished my pack carried less volume. In fact just the opposite.

Lastly, make sure you have a realistic expectation of what pack fitment should feel like. Then also consider you need to experience the frame on your body with 50ish pounds on it. Vs empty, or even 20.

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[adamm88]

I run my stryker xl with sheman somtimes, i hunt Whitetails on public land in Pa. How i had my stryker set up is the sherman has my hunting gear, the stryker main pack has layers i dont wear in. Also the sherman adds cinch starps to strap down a bogbod shooting rest when my son is with me.


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[Movadius]

I run my stryker xl with sheman somtimes, i hunt Whitetails on public land in Pa. How i had my stryker set up is the sherman has my hunting gear, the stryker main pack has layers i dont wear in. Also the sherman adds cinch starps to strap down a bogbod shooting rest when my son is with me.


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Do you think you could fit a cold weather sleeping bag inside the stryker's main compartment or would you have to put it on the shelf?

 

[adamm88]

Do you think you could fit a cold weather sleeping bag inside the stryker's main compartment or would you have to put it on the shelf?

You could fit in the main bag probally, depends on how small it compacts


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[whitedoutdoors]

I run my stryker xl with sheman somtimes, i hunt Whitetails on public land in Pa. How i had my stryker set up is the sherman has my hunting gear, the stryker main pack has layers i dont wear in. Also the sherman adds cinch starps to strap down a bogbod shooting rest when my son is with me.


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Do you use your Stryker xl to carry your stand and sticks? If so how does it work out for you? Im torn between a few packs/frames that would be good for treestand hunting.


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[whitedoutdoors]

I just got off the phone with Kifaru and it was great to hear how they recommend using the Stryker XL for carrying everything I like the fact that just one bag can basically be the foundation of one endless setup. They informed me of something I haven't seen yet online. As a treestand hunter, I can pack my sticks on the side of the bag and then use the meat shelf for the stand carrier.

I can elk hunt, predator hunt, coon hunt, and whitetail hunt (tree stand hunt or not) all with one bag! I am so pumped to try this out.