hey guys Scott Reekers here with Eastman's
Hunting Journals and we are out on a beautiful spring day here in Wyoming and
we have gotten some new packs in that we're getting an opportunity to test so
let's just dive in right now let's talk about mr. irrational a little bit of
their history mystery ranch was built by a man named Dana Gleason Dana Gleason
has been in the industry for over 40 years building backpacks innovating
designing them and he started from the ground up with a frame his intention was
to build a pack that could haul as much weight as possible and do it as
comfortably as possible firefighters military personnel and
special forces they've all used these packs and they're tried and true and
tested these are meant to be paths that you can abuse that you can take anywhere
you can possibly take them the first hunting line pack from Mystery Ranch
that I want to talk about is the Mystery Ranch Metcalf now personally I have a
little bit of history with this pack and 2013 they first offered it and I
harvested a mule deer that we needed to get out out of the country quick it was
kind of weather like this and so my hunting partner and I would quick loaded
the deer up as quickly as we could we stuff the Metcalf full and hauled the
whole deer out in one trip with two of us and it was a great trip but the best
thing that I liked about this pack in particular was you have the overload
shelf. The overload shelf is a perfect way to put a quarter or to put a bag of
meat in between the frame and the bag itself and cinch it up tight that makes
these packs capable of carrying the heavy loads you can get as much out of
the backcountry as possible in one trip and that's the idea behind the overload
shelf the other thing that I really like about the Metcalf
there's a side zip side zip provides a very easy way to get into the pack and
pull out your big things like your spotting scope because a lot of times
with most top entry pegs which Metcalf does have top entry as well and a cinch
a cinch pull down type that you can just really make sure that is sealed off well
the problem with that is you feel kind of like Santa digging through your
Christmas bag when you're trying to find something at the bottom but the side zip
it opens it up you can see all the way inside your pack you can pull out what
you need the next piece about this that I really like is the simplicity.
The simplicity is what allowed this to be a six point two pound bag you know some of
these ultralight companies that they add packs their three and two pounds that's
not what this is made for this is made to be a pack that is tough that can haul
elk antler and a rear quarter out in one trip but at six point two pounds that's
a very light pack for the hunting the next pack in the mystery ranch hunting
line that I want to talk about is the cabinet now this pack looks somewhat
familiar those of you who have been using the crew cab it's very similar
except this is an updated model and this is lighter this has a guide light frame
it comes in a 5.8 pounds. The coolest thing thing that you can do with
this is you can open this up and this pack is designed to place an elk quarter, a
deer quarter multiple deer quarters right in the center and you can see on
the front here you've got your day pack and all the space that would need to be
able to hunt for a day comfortably the next piece that goes along with this is
with this guide light frame you get your shoulder lift and proper function and
fit and keep that weight off your shoulders a lot of times day packs they
don't have that and you can't use them effectively to
haul meat on that first trip this pack will excel and shine when you use it as
a daypack load hauler combination now mystery ranch has some other great pack
options this is called the mystery ranch scapegoat it is a panel loader that has
2150 cubic inches obviously these aren't going to be your load hauling packs
I am positive based on mystery ranch quality that you could stuff this full
of elk or deer meat and all meet with you needed to but this is going to be a
a go to pack that I would use in Scouting situations what I would really
recommend is go visit mysteryranch.com and take a look at some of their other
options they've got try zip backpack set up its front loaders as well as the
Cabinet and the Metcalf's and then you can also read in one of our
previous issues of Eastman's hunting journal you can read about the marshall
backpack which is the multi-day long-range mission pack make sure you
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you