My new Stone Glacier Pack just arrived.......

One of our group has the Kennetrek's he bought them at Schnee's in Bozeman on a hunt I think.

I'm not comfortable ordering any footwear via the Internet, I want to try them on and walk around and see how they feel. I can't do that with Kennetrteks. I have odd, hard to fit feet. It took me 3 different pairs of Meindl's to get a comfortable pair.

I like my Meindl's, the worked great last winter in NM on a Mulie hunt. I was doing a lot of sidehilling in that NM hard rock thats on the side of the mesa's. My feet were in odd positions and they provided the ankle and foot support and I never felt unsure of my footing and my 'dogs' never got too hot, I actually didn't mind wearing them around camp either.

I may replace the footbeds with Kennetrek footbeds this fall. The Meindl footbeds are fine, I'm thinking maybe the Kennetrek's are better. My only gripe is they turned pismuckle brown (from green) after I boot waxed them....Oh well.

You can have the fanciest rifle and the best optics and all the electronic stuff and even a great pack, but if your boots don't fit right and your feet get blisters, you might as we pack it in and go to the Holiday Inn and vegitate in the bar.

Last year, hunting our property up north (in Michigan), I had on the standard Michigan deer hunting attire, Carhartt bibs and jacket, orange sock hat but I was wearing the Meindl's. Later on, at the local watering hole, somebody asked me where my rubber pac boots were (also standard Michigan hunting attire). I told the person they should get real hunting boots. Gives you a wholde different outlook on hunting.
 
I bought a pair of kennetrek hardscrabbles last year and they are awesome. Great fit and very comfortable and super easy to break in. So I give the kennetreks an A+ rating and I know something else-----I'd never own a pair of Danners again. One trip sheep hunting in Alaska destroyed them.

Randy

P.S.---and yes, it sucks to order footwear over the internet.



One of our group has the Kennetrek's he bought them at Schnee's in Bozeman on a hunt I think.

I'm not comfortable ordering any footwear via the Internet, I want to try them on and walk around and see how they feel. I can't do that with Kennetrteks. I have odd, hard to fit feet. It took me 3 different pairs of Meindl's to get a comfortable pair.

I like my Meindl's, the worked great last winter in NM on a Mulie hunt. I was doing a lot of sidehilling in that NM hard rock thats on the side of the mesa's. My feet were in odd positions and they provided the ankle and foot support and I never felt unsure of my footing and my 'dogs' never got too hot, I actually didn't mind wearing them around camp either.

I may replace the footbeds with Kennetrek footbeds this fall. The Meindl footbeds are fine, I'm thinking maybe the Kennetrek's are better. My only gripe is they turned pismuckle brown (from green) after I boot waxed them....Oh well.

You can have the fanciest rifle and the best optics and all the electronic stuff and even a great pack, but if your boots don't fit right and your feet get blisters, you might as we pack it in and go to the Holiday Inn and vegitate in the bar.

Last year, hunting our property up north (in Michigan), I had on the standard Michigan deer hunting attire, Carhartt bibs and jacket, orange sock hat but I was wearing the Meindl's. Later on, at the local watering hole, somebody asked me where my rubber pac boots were (also standard Michigan hunting attire). I told the person they should get real hunting boots. Gives you a wholde different outlook on hunting.
 
Couple things, first can you attach a rifle to that pack? How does it compare to a kifaru or MR pack as far as comfortability?

Also, for sidecar- I have feet that are tough to fit as well. Everything bgave me blisters including meindles. I bought kenetreks a couple years ago and I have had zero blisters since. If you have a Sportsmans warehouse near you they carry them now. Good luck
 
Couple things, first can you attach a rifle to that pack? How does it compare to a kifaru or MR pack as far as comfortability?

Also, for sidecar- I have feet that are tough to fit as well. Everything bgave me blisters including meindles. I bought kenetreks a couple years ago and I have had zero blisters since. If you have a Sportsmans warehouse near you they carry them now. Good luck

Boman, can't say anything about the comfort on the Kifaru as I have not tried theirs but it is more comfortable to me than the MR. Tough to compare to others as everyone is different but I really like Kurt's company and he is great to deal with. I'm just not on the kifaru bandwagon and the MR's are way too heavy for me. I almost forgot---yes, it does have a weapon sling and Kurt actually fabricated one for me so that I can use it on the left side as I am lefthanded and carry mine on that side.

Randy
 
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Randy,

good to hear about the good service. I've had some terrible service lately..

The pack sounds great. If you get a chance could you post a picture of the weapon sling?
 
Approach

Okay, here is a quick mini review of the approach pack. My initial use of the approach pack has been for early elk and deer archery season here in Idaho. The reason for this pack system for me was to have a really lightweight sturdy pack that I could use as a day pack but also use it for spike camping which is what I do for high country mule deer and elk. I can put all my day /regular things in the main pack and I would put my spike out gear (tent, bag and pad) in the load shelf area. You get to your place where you want to camp, dump your sleeping gear and you're ready to hunt. Or you can carry all your stuff with you and where ever you end up at night, viola!
Kurt's design is so that a user is able to pack out an animal with all your gear. I really did not have that in mind being that I have stock and I would basically go back and get them to haul meat out.
I've been using it for several days now being that our archery season has started. I have had about every pack system know to mankind and I have to tell you that this pack system is amazing. It is extremely lightweight and well made. (And made in the USA.) The approach pack has a main bag that has a water bladder sleeve incorporated in it and the outside has a tripod pocket and a spotting scope pouch. I also replaced the black zipper pulls with glow in the dark reflective cord.
I would not use this pack for an extended backcountry stay (Kurt has other packs that will fit on the krux frame that are larger) but for a couple of nights out, it is the cats meow.
The tripod pouch just happens to fit my quiver that is a homemade job that I can sling over my shoulder which is how I normally carry it but it fits very nicely in that sleeve. My only complaint so far is that I wish it had a couple of water bottle pockets or a small pocket for TP or a flashlight instead of having to put it in the main bag area. And I think that you can see "Miss September" (my evening date, other wise know as montana decoy) in the load shelf area. It fits great. Here are a couple of photos that I took tonight on my evening foray...........I've had this five point bull every evening come into the alfalfa field but just can't get the shot......One of these nights........


Randy
 

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any more updates?

Well, it got a workout this weekend, along with me. Managed to take a cow elk Saturday night right at dark. We hiked back in on Sunday morning and recovered her. I usually take my horses to pack out meat but we decided to go ahead and pack being it was only about a mile or so although there was some elevation gain.
However, we made the comment several times as in--"why did we do this?? And where are the horses?"
As I mentioned before, I have the approach pack and it worked absolutely great. I had all my day gear in it and the first load out was a hind quarter. Super easy to load and it carried it very well. You just adjust the straps, pull the pack out and dump your load onto the load shelf. Then everything is pulled tight and it did not shift one bit---I really like this system and it is super simple. The other thing that we did is pull the cow off the steep hillside by putting a rope around the bottom of the backs and around the animals neck. Then we both just leaned forward and pulled her down to the flats where we quartered her. It worked great. Here are a couple of photos from this weekend. Lots of bulls but we could just not get them to come in. I had the bulls in the photo at around 80 yards right at dark but we shoot traditional gear and I need to be about 20 yards.

Randy
 

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Man, my Kifaru Longhunter weighs 9lbs. empty. I will look into this one. I like the shelf on the inside close to the body. Very nice. Please update us on this rig. This may be my new sheep/goat pack.
 
I have a great buddy with a Stone Glacier pack and have used it a couple times. Incredible pack and quality. The rifle carrier had a bit of a snafu, but Curt is working on that. He refunded my buddy's $ on that just because he wasnt 100% satisfied. Im considering one for myself now, likely next season. As for boots, I tried Kennetrek, no way for me, or Schnees, Ive had them and wore out way too fast. Its Scarpa for all except super cold and for that - Hoffmans for Pacs, made right in North Idaho. will outlast Schnees by a huge amount of years.
 
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