Wanted to share some thoughts on the teratorn after using it on multiple hunts this fall. I’m not sure I’ll add much to what’s already been said/shared, but if nothing else it will add to the positive reviews and highlight what I like most about it.
My first hunt with it was a day hunt for antelope in October, not far from my house. I didn’t bring much, as I hoped to just hike out and glass for the morning, then return home for lunch. I tucked the wings behind the bag and used the sleeping bag compartment for my puffy clothing and rain jacket. I also had rifle (in the SG carrier), a tripod, trekking poles and some snacks and spare ammo in the lid. Thanks to the multiple straps, it is easy to cinch down tight even with minimal gear in the bag. It carried very well in this setup.
I ended up jumping some antelope hiking into my hunting area, so I just laid down when I saw their shadows move and waited for the sun to come up. It got cold but thankfully I could get by puffy jacket out of the sleeping bag compartment without undoing a single strap. I watched the antelope herd for an hour after first light and eventually a nice buck came into range that I killed. I shot off the pack using a mollinator attached with shock cord and it worked perfect. See photos for how I threaded it but know I would regret this later when packing out elk (see below).
A few weeks later I was fortunate to go chase elk in Montana via a backpack hunt in relatively cold, snowy conditions. I think this is the type of hunt where this bag really excels (and is what it was designed for).
I do NOT pack efficiently or have ultralight gear but I had no trouble packing this bag with everything needed to backpack hunt elk in winter conditions including 3 days worth of food and a large 8-man tent, poles and stakes. Once we hiked in and made camp, I was able to compress the bag down significantly and keep most of my day-hunting gear in the lid and wings.
I got some tips during the hunt from
@Formidilosus that made the bag even more effective. A few of these include:
- Keep the puffy suit in the wing that wraps around the rifle, this protects the rifle/scope with extra padding if you fall.
- 15x binos and extra clothing fit perfect in the opposite wing. The extra clothing can protect the 15x binos as well.
- The lid with shock cord is MUCH BETTER than a wide open pocket. Best way to do this is create a “loop” of shock cord on each side that can be adjusted for size/tightness. Jetboil on one side, meal/snacks on the other side, and misc items in between. With the shock cord tight, nothing shifts or bangs around in the lid.
- The smaller pocket on the lid is a perfect place for a spare mag or extra ammo. Don’t put anything else here that would interfere with grabbing spare ammo.
- If you secure the rifle with the wing but NOT the compression strap to the pack, it makes it very easy to slide it up inside the wing, then dislodge it from the rifle carrier. Much nicer than having to undo a compression strap or use a quick release buckle.
- The rear “water bladder pocket” is a great place to store the things you rarely use. After some coaching from the bags designer, it’s where I put my kill kit and game bags.
A few final thoughts on the K4 and the teratorn from my use so far.
- I preciously loved the K4 but had never carried more than about 75 pounds. On this elk hunt we killed 2 bulls and I carried multiple loads of 100+ pounds for the first time. With weight over 100 pounds, the pack slipped a lot and I think it’s because the lumbar pad is too thick/soft. My K4 is well broken in so I don’t think that’s the issue. I may try to remove some of the softer foam to see it this helps. I think
@Formidilosus recently did this and found it helped a lot with slipping.
- I worry about how much force/tension is placed on the horseshoe zipper when the bag is compressed tightly with compression straps. Sometimes it can be hard to zip/unzip under tension. I’ve moved to keeping most things in the sleeping bag compartment and loading the main bag from the top as a result.
- I LOVE the extra straps on the frame of the K4 for securing meat. When we hauled 2 quarters (front + rear) or hauled the head + meat, those extra straps came in clutch. I actually stole the lower bag compression straps to secure the meat as well and just ran the lid and upper compression straps to the bag, which worked fine.
- Unlike other packs with a solid piece of fabric that links the bag to the frame on the bottom, the 2 pieces of webbing that attach the exo bag to the frame make a perfect “opening” to run the leg of a quarter down into so that the heavy meat of a front or rear quarter can sit up high without being above the top of the frame.
- I swapped from 25” to 26.5” stays prior to my elk hunt and compared to using the shorter option last year, I felt the pack carried MUCH BETTER with heavy loads using the longer stays. If you’re on the fence about which size, I’d go longer to maintain a good angle on the load lifters with heavy loads.
Edit: Forgot to mention why I regretted rigging up the mollinator like the photos. It was great for hiking and hunting but once we had animals down, it was integrated well enough I didn’t want to take the time to disconnect it and likely carried that extra pound of weight about 30 miles cumulatively in the process of packing out meat. Not a big deal, but I wish it had been easier to remove to limit weight on the heavy loads. I’ll be trying to find a way to connect it with carabiners in the future…
