There was a good thread about the MR Crew Cab last October and sounds like a few guys got coaxed into ordering. I just pulled the trigger on one direct from MR in multicam.

The guys that had one, still like them? The new guys who ordered one, what do you guys think? Any pics of them in action?

Lookin' forward to gettin' mine in a few days, Ordered direct fom MR 6 wks ago, Crew Cab in coyote plus accessories, Good people to deal with.

Cant see it not workin' for my huntin' style, But always good to hear of others first hand accounts....

I bought a used one from a guy on Kodiak. I have used it a couple of times on short backpack trips to the Smoky Mtns National Park. I like the hell out of it. I have put around 65lbs in it to see how it carried the weight and it did fine.

I plan to use it on a couple of wilderness deer hunts this fall. I don't think it will let me down.

Bought a crewcab and 6500 at the same time....And a longbow a couple weeks ago......

Kinda like Ingram knives I think, in that one isn't enough. The quality is there, and you likely won't be disappointed.

I can tell you this about a 6500...it will carry alot more than you will want to tote around.

True enough.

I've had some big weight in mine, and it'll hold a hell of a lot more than what I've put in it.

Whether my knees will, is another story.

From the tracking number it looks like my Crew Cab is now in Canada. Hopefully the custom guys don't hang on to it too long and Canada Post pick up the slack from the recent stike!

Mine arrived yesterday, aint had a chance to test drive it loaded yet, prolly do that this weekend, i'm definatly groovin' on it's build quality and versatility it's pretty damn cool....

Last time I placed a MR order, it was 2 weeks to the day from when I called to when it hit my hands.

Strike has really fucked things up though.....

Two weeks is what the guy at MR guestimated as well.

Did you try to snag any loot when you ordered? Who did you deal with?

Can't remember his name. "Just" a NICE frame with the pouch belt and a multicam Crew Cab for now. I'll run that for this year and if I think I need a bit more room I may get a lid next year.

Shucks, those guys are great to wheel and deal stuff from, especially up here to get the word out....I snagged a bunch of goodies, but I like to haggle too....

Side note, the lid is a bit of a pain in the ass to run with the cc, but pretty worthwhile all things considered.

Had a slip from Canada Post on the table when I got home from work tonight. It's either my Crew Cab or my McMillan swirly. I guess things could be worst. I'll find out tomorrow.

Turns out it was the swirly. Will have to wait till next week for the Crew Cab.

Holy Crap that SUCKS...Grin...

Care to share details on the Swirly...

No kidding, no pics?

I guess it's fine if I highjack my own thread.

McMillan Winchester Compact 60% OD, 40% Black. .300 WSM, Talley LW and Leupold 3.5-10x40.

Nice colors....I can like that.

Damn! Missed the mail lady again. Got another Canada Post slip in the door. Got to be the Crew Cab with the amount of taxes owed listed on the slip. Ouch!

Yeah, a guy gets royally fucked when it hits the border. Last couple batches of glass I bought I ended up getting tagged taxes on what it WOULD of cost up here, as opposed to what it ACTUALLY cost.

However, you have a new toy waiting for you now......grin

At least our funny coloured money is worth more these days....grin

True 'nuff.....

I'm just waiting for it to get a little better so I can buy a sherpa to carry the pack for me.....

Having a hell of a time deciding between the Crew Cab or the Longbow, and both isn't in the cards right now.

Suggestions on which way to lean for just one?

Watcha want to do with it?

How do you hunt? Realistically I mean.

What are you going to expect it to do for you?

Both have their upsides.

Neither are the same pack, by any stretch ofthe imagination.

The realistic goal for this year is going to be a glorified day pack for hiking from the logging roads past were the rest of the people usually stop, typical bullshit.

Hoping to start doing more back country hunting next year.

Been thinking about getting a non-NICE pack for this year as well, but that would mean the investment into a NICE frame later on.

Naw, go longbow then. Mind you, you could crewcab too.

Longbow is a more convenient mousetrap if you are carrying a coat and lunch and shit with you. Guys have loosened it off of the frame and stuffed a quarter or two in there for the trip out. HOWEVER, the crew will be a bunch better for moving meat. Its just not a convenient critter for hauling "stuff", like your lunch, etc, unless you score some load cells.

With the longbow think pickup with canopy, secure so you won't lose your shit, but its limited on space, and when its full all you can do is hang some bone out he back.

With the crewcab, think pickup with stock rack. If you are careful your stuff won't blow away, but you'll hafta strap it down. But you'll have lots of options to hang stuff off and poke it through the bars and your bigger bulkier shit will be here when you get where you are going.

To be honest, I bought the longbow because I got a deal I couldn't refuse, but before I got my hands on it I thought it would be bigger. Its a better daypack than it is load hauler, while the crew is a better load hauler than daypack. They'll both do the same things, but one will do better than the other in some applications.

Deer hunting where I'll be on foot from a bike or truck, and only need to pack a spotter and assorted goodies I'll longbow. Moose/elk where meat will have to coming out via two-leg drive, it'll be the crewcab.

Lemme know if you want some pics or have specific questions.

Longbow - expandable daypack
Crew cab - load sling with pockets.

Thats pretty much the style of hunting we have planned for everything this year, since its mostly cow/doe tags.

Will go longbow then, thank you.

No worries. Regardless of what you go, its not like you'll lose much if you decide to trip it later.

The MR NICE Crew Cab makes a pretty good kid hauler too....

I think you should send MR that pic......

Thought had crossed my mind more than once, that it would make an acceptable kid hauler.

Took the Crew Cab for a short test drive. I'm impressed can like it much.


Loaded quartered Fallow doe plus all the other shit we tend to take along..

Only got to play with mine for a couple hours when I got it last week and had to put it back in the box. We're in between houses right now and everything had to go in storage for a week. We'll be in our new house on Wednesday and I'll be able to set it up and give it a try.

Looks like you're breaking it in nicely....

Nothin' like Blood spill on a piece of kit's maiden trip, to assist Break in.....

Let me guess....

You needed more meat to go with the iced keg of XXXX Bitter for one of those renown Aussie BBQ's.

Throw another Bambie on the Barbie q, do got a nice ring to it..

Only thing i like xxxx is Brazilian...'grin'.

As a fact drink mostly Bud, Miller, Corona for amber juice....

Wound up going a different route:



MR Hot 3

Where's your fire shelter? Or did you take it off?

Didn't buy it with a fire shelter case since its going to be used for a hunting pack.

Would like to hear a report, looks like a nice pack. I've run FSS,Eagle Gear,STAT packs and currently Wolf Pack. The MR looks tempting.

Alright, I need another pack, all my others aren't doing what I need them to do. Here is what I am looking for.

I need a pack that will pull double duty as meat/day pack and it must be able to carry enough gear for a 10 day hunt. I'm looking at either MR, McHale, or Kifaru and looking to keep it under $750, which I think is quite doable.

MR6500 would fit that bill...

Will crunch down to daypack size pretty easy. Put a couple of long pockets on the outside of it, and you are in the berries for a 10 day trip. Pocketed waist belt to keep shit handy like your P&S Camera and LRF....




Wasn't ten days, but was more than enough gear for that long....

I like the MR packs a lot but the only thing i'm concerned about is the weight, they seem to be a bit heavier than packs from Kifaru or McHale. I've got a buddy that's going to be selling a 6500 and is also going to let me check out his Kifaru Timberline, he raves about that pack.

Well, they are definately heavier than the others. However, if you are concerned about that extra weight then go with the other ones.

However it will do what you are looking for.

Oh I haven't ruled it out yet, when my bud brings them over i'll be able to get a hands on feel for them. The McHales are incredibly nice but they are expensive as hell too.

I just started looking for a new pack so I've got plenty of time to find the right one.

How do you like that waistbelt on the MR? Is it comfortable and do the cinch straps keep it tight?

I like the waistbelt a bunch, I have to admit. Its fair comfortable (as comfortable as anything can be when you are packing big weight I guess), but I have yet to see a waist belt that won't slip while you are walking. Judging from my sheep hunting pard who runs a Barney, his must slip a bit as well.

I do groove on that pocketed belt though, it is the cat's ass. Although, I'm thinking that depending on your waist size they pockets must vary in capacity. Mine will fit a slim P&S camera, and the other will hold the leica 1200, but not much else on top of that.

You could do this easily with an older Dana internal or external. Internals have a better waisbelt, externals ride better when tonnage exceeds 90#. Internal waistbelt can be adapted to external if you shave an inch off the "wands" (hint, to borrow some terminology). Pristine examples of both could be had for far less dough than $750.

For conversation, my dana terraframe carries better than a friend's big Barney's, per my recent experience with both in same trip. Will report on that little experience on AOD one of these days - that's blasphemy over there.

Do some googling - there's a pdf of a 2003 or 2004 dana catalog floating around the web that has all pertinent dana sizing info for internals. Externals fall roughly in line.

For internals, go no farther than a terraplane. The Astralplane is a monster and is a touch too big IMO to break down reasonably for daypacking. The Alpine or Stillwater models work fine too. I have terraplane and alpine.

For externals, you want the T1, shortbed, or terraframe. The longbed bag does not detach from the frame for humping bone-in moose hindquarters. They will fit inside the longbed bag, but COG goes to hell.

All are available in reasonable hunting colors, and there's always krylon. I hunt most with the factory spruce green terraframe.

I have less money in my longbed ($300 new in 1999), terraframe ($99 new closeout 2001), terraplane ($150 craigslist), and alpine ($50 craigslist) than the number you state. Good to have options. I use the longbed the least.

If my house burned down today, I'd buy these two and not look back:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dana-Design-K2-Short-Bed-External-Frame-Backpack-/200661458027?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3754396001212206814

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dana-Design-ArcFlex-Alpine-5000-Cubic-Inch-Orange-size-L-Backpacking-Camping-Gea-/260879080249?_trksid=p3286.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D3754406570857724502

Steep price for the shortbed, but it's as good as about anything out there.

Posting info over on the AOD that does not fall in line with what the top posters are using is sacrilige plus he is one of the site sponsors. Personally, his frames don't seem any more stout than a Camptrails Freighter and I wouldn't even consider buying one, i'll get a Camptrails first.

Hard to believe with all this new technology that someone doesn't make a belt that won't slip under load.

Interesting info on those Dana's, what are the weights on those packs?

I've packed moose with the Crewcab and the Barney's Pinnacle, and have packed a reasonably loaded Dana internal. Wouldn't consider the crewcab again personally, though Brother Bill's seems to work just fine.

I'd agree the Barney's frame is nothing terribly special - but I do like the cushy suspension. Took me a while to get it set up ideally for me, but I don't shop for packs anymore...

BTW, if you want to test drive a CMBR crewcab, I've got one gathering dust...

Owning a CrewCab, I don't think I'd want to try and pack moose quarters with it....

6500, sure, crew cab, not so much.

Well I'm not planning on packing any moose quarters but you never know, it could happen. Most of my moose hunts are atv based and caribou is usually done via float so I may need to pack bou also.

This pack I need would be geared more towards sheep, goat and maybe blacktails.

The 6500 is a great bag for sheep and goats. Never hunted blacktails, so you have me there.

However, I'd hunt backcountry muleys with it. That said though, were I hunt muleys is fairly open country, and its all steep, so killing one and dragging him down to an atv accessible spot isn't the end of the world.

Danas aren't ultralight, and neither are the MR packs. I'd bet they're comparable at 7-8 lbs. A pound here or there on a pack ain't going to break you.

Apparently you haven't been around the "ultra-light" crowd!
I know a lb here or there isn't going to break me but I still want it light as I can get it. A lot of the MR packs are more like 8-9lbs, that's getting up there IMO.

How are the shoulder straps on the Dana's and MR's? Do they slip like the waist belts? Slipping is unacceptable IMO, especially when your paying upwards of 500 bones or more for something that i'll maybe use 3-4 weeks out of the year.

Slipping with the MR's on the shoulder straps is pretty much none-existant, but they are a bit of a different pack....They are super-adjustable, so once they are set up correctly, you get very little weight on your shoulders.

But they don't slip.

Don't get me wrong, the waist belt doesn't slip much, but you can get it to loosen off a bit under heavy weight. Not enough to be a problem, just not as tight as you had it cranked down. Which is likely a good thing, as you can squish the breath out of yourself.....

Slipping is relative...

Shoulder straps on any of the listed danas are fantastic. They are well contoured and suit me just great.

Danas have a pretty grippy area at the small of your back and that stays put pretty good.

For loads wander north of 100#, I'm inclined to believe that you're not transferrring all of it to your hips, no matter whose waistbelt you're reefing on. I do know that I can tighten my danas to the point that they affect digestion and gas passage...TMI. I'm not as skinny as I used to be.

Once you're north of 100#, brace yourself. Any more than a couple hours under that load and you're going to feel it later. I've not tried a kifaru. I believe they design a thin waisbelt that wraps more than it pads. Until recently, I couldn't reconcile with their price and the fact that they offered any color as long as it was black. Now, it's just the price I object to.

True enough. And I have to admit, I was surprised after looking at a buddies dana which had the grippy pad at the lumbar area, that the MR's don't have it.

And you are definately correct, once you get north of 100lbs, you do get weight on your shoulders.

I orded one of these for my first goats hunt next fall and a Black tail trip next November. I hope its everything I have read and more they look like a great pacck for going light then loading up with your trophy to head back to camp!

Received my Crew cab it looks great ill take the time to fit it this week and load it up for a trial hike!