sheep pack weight ?????

[BCrams]

Do any of you Barney's users live in the Lower Mainland as I am stuck here for about another two years and would love to check one out,,,can provide BEER in payment!

I might have to come to Vancouver before spring and if you havn't seen one before then, I'll bring both packs down.

If anyone is in the Prince George area or you're passing through Prince George on a hunt and wish to see these packs. We can arrange for you to see both the Barney Hunter and Pinnacle here.

[tankster]

i have the elberstock dragon fly. i went on a 7 day sheep hunt this year. my pack was 60 pounds without water. when i killed my sheep. i pulled out my spike duffel the whole sheep debones fit perfectly in it. horns and cape on main pack. i would suggest this system for everyone

[bigwhiteys]

i have the elberstock dragon fly. i went on a 7 day sheep hunt this year. my pack was 60 pounds without water. when i killed my sheep. i pulled out my spike duffel the whole sheep debones fit perfectly in it. horns and cape on main pack. i would suggest this system for everyone

You must be lying!!! BCR say it isn't so!!!

That's the "personal preference" part chiming in...

My old man, who's probably packed more sheep off the mountains than anyone on this site used to pack an entire boned out ram, with cape and horns into a daypack. He usually had horses waiting at the bottom too mind you. Something I constantly remind him about when he's ribbing us.

Carl

[BCrams]

You must be lying!!! BCR say it isn't so!!!

That's the "personal preference" part chiming in...

Carl

He's a liar Carl

This is on day 1 of my last hunt. The pack is loaded up, but I still have all the room that the main compartment extends, which is quite a bit more., the bag is also not expanded all the way, front/back. It's got plenty of room.

Packed for 7-8 days max or for 14 days? My prior photo was day 2 with ram loaded of a 14 day hunt.



The MR has a large lower compartment... It's just fully covered, and not a meat shelf like the barneys. My valandre sleeping bag compresses to about the size of a large nalgene, and can fit in an outer pocket, or the main compt. if needed.

Don't use the meat shelf unless you're just base camping and packing the ram back to camp or just packing enough for day forays with potential spike. Thats the advantage it has holding everything higher up on your back. Clothes etc as you pointed out ride in the bottom below the inside flap and your tent, food, stove, meat, cape and horns on top and whatever else you need fits in the main compartment.

End of 14 day trip (food depleted). Entire ram and gear except a quarter I carried (Dad was too stubborn and wanted to do it himself and wouldn't off load more sheep weight). Nothing outside pack and as you can see, lots more room to expand pack and top load more.

[bigwhiteys]

Packed for 7-8 days max or for 14 days? My prior photo was day 2 with ram loaded of a 14 day hunt.

That is packed with 8 days of food, the only additional supplys for an extended trip would be food for each additional day, and there is plenty of room for that in the bottom comp, or top.

You are splitting hairs with your 300ci in pack space difference. It's not that much. The MR hip pockets nearly carry that put together.

They carry differently, I'll give you that but at this point, there isn't a clear winner for me yet.

Carl

[tankster]

did i mention i like to pack firewood with me too. a couple 14 inch blocks of dry dry larch will last me 4 days

[BCrams]

That is packed with 8 days of food, the only additional supplys for an extended trip would be food for each additional day, and there is plenty of room for that in the bottom comp, or top.

They carry differently, I'll give you that but at this point, there isn't a clear winner for me yet.

Carl

Personal preference only - I don't like having things dangling or bulking off the hip belt. I'd have shot the water bottle you have off the side swinging like a pendulum within a day. (tried it just once with a smaller nalgene).

They do and will carry different. I've heard a lot of good things about the MR ranch and how comfortable it is to carry gear.

To be honest, I'd have to see what packing a ram is like in a MR over considerable distance to make a judgement call for myself. Initial reports from a couple seriously hardcore guys (more than you and I even) where a MR and Barney were on the same trip weighed in favour of the Barney after a ram was down and knowing these guys personally and having hunted with them, I'm taking their word on it.

A very good external and very good internals are all going to feel good packing 50-65 lbs no matter what with the advantage going to internals which I totally know because I do a lot of recreational backpacking in the mountains (along with my wife who's done alpine trips most sheep hunters couldn't handle) and I don't pack the Barney Stone Chaser uses those internal packs and it obviously works really well for him sheep hunting and it suits his purpose!

At the end of the day, with all the recreational mountain hiking, backpacking, sheep hunts .... the Barney emerged early as the winner for me personally for those 2 week trips.

I have to say though, given the merrits of MR. I honestly think I'd like those packs for those shorter trips to start out with (i.e., doing off highway hunts where I'm only packing for 2-4 days worth of gear off the highway and back and going off on another couple 2-3 day stints into ram holes).

[Kody94]

The 'bag' capacity is a little more but as Carl says, not much more than a milk jug. At the same time, you can also picture your food bag as being a bit bigger than a milk jug for 8 days. Thats considerable space. With the Hunter .... myself and others have further improvised utilizing that 'space' outside the bag on the bottom by folding the bench in and securing the sleeping bag on bottom which combined leaves a lot of space inside the bag for boned sheep meat, cape etc.

Greg, my point was that you are comparing a 6800ci bag to a 6500ci bag....when one could easily counter that the MR 7500 should have much considerably more interior space than your Barney Hunter.

Or to be more direct, it is not logical to use bag capacity as justification to select a Barney brand pack over a Mystery Ranch brand pack.

Also, I have long pockets on each side of my MR pack, in addition to a flip top box and pouches on the waistbelt. If you add all that up, I am sure my MR 6500 has every bit as much capacity as your Barney Hunter, and is probably still a pound lighter.

Carl may have missed your point a bit about the meat shelf/sleeping bag thing (ie. that its pack volume that doesn't count in the advertised cubic inches because its outside of the pack bag). But he is correct about the utility of that space on an MR pack (the lower compartment), especially considering the size of sleeping bags these days. I used to put my sleeping bag in the location you suggest when I was using my old Camptrails frame/Outfitter bag. But now I don't have a bag big enough to justify it....my bag compresses to nothing, and I can fit it, my down mat, some clothes and some food in the same amount of space that once was occupied by a sleeping bag...so having a compartment actually makes more sense than trying to strap those small items under the packbag somehow.

I hope to get a good look at a Barney's pack one of these days...I am hearing what you are saying, but I am not sure yet that its worth changing packs over.

My other point above is that folks need to realize that we are talking about the two best packs out there. Implying that the second best pack is only good for two to four day elk or deer hunts is a mis-characterization. Hopefully all realize that you are just saying that the MR pack would actually be your choice of the two for that type of the hunt (ie you might prefer an MR pack for the shorter hunt) and not that the MR is unsuitable for 14 to 16 day expedition hunts (ie. its just not your choice of the two for that hunt).

[luckynuts]

Awesome read Guys!

Greg, Carl keep the comparison's coming along with pics One question I have for all you die hard mountain hunters is how many of you do later hunts end of Sept early Oct. Where you can't get away with a -5 sleeping bag and your light weight clothing. I would love to see some of your gear lists for those later hunts and see what your pack weights end up being.

BCBillies careful side hilling with those BD poles my partner bent one when he had a slip. So far mine have been great though.

Keep up the conversation guys
Thanks

W.

[BCrams]

Greg, my point was that you are comparing a 6800ci bag to a 6500ci bag....when one could easily counter that the MR 7500 should have much considerably more interior space than your Barney Hunter.

Very true. Especially when you consider the cu of the Barney Pinnacle as well.

Or to be more direct, it is not logical to use bag capacity as justification to select a Barney brand pack over a Mystery Ranch brand pack.

I think you're missing that I do not use capacity whatsoever as a reason for using a bag. Overall utilization of the pack is what comes to mind on a sheep hunt and the layout design. Capacity is just a small part of the piece. If we were to suggest a pack for multi use / purposes with large capacity, even the Barney doesn't get my vote. We're mostly talking just one thing, and thats packing gear and utilization for sheep hunting which includes after the ram is down. The user of a MR pack told me the pack is awsome and packs great going in. I've never doubted that at all. Carrying a heavy ram load, he concluded his partners Barney worked better under heavy loads and he was wishing he had one after using the Barney for a few miles.

To me personally, that is what is important. Those comments really resonate considering they're hardcore sheep hunters as well. Just about every modern high end backpack on the market with comparable space these days will pack comfortable up to 45-65 lbs.

Until I get a new sleeping bag as you pointed out (the one I have is ancient and has seen alot of time in the mountains) that compacts smaller and yes there's plenty of room room inside the backpack for it. Until then, my lightweight sleeping bag which is bulky / heavy by today's standards will have to be lashed under. SSS however, was able to stuff his inside.