Thank you!! it really has been an amazing pack and I hope you enjoy it just as much! reach out anytime if you have questions or to let us know how you like the pack. It did take about 5-10 miles to break in the hip belt with a semi heavy load. at first it felt like the lumbar would slip a little but since then it's been amazing.

@@huntfixd9039 thanks for the feedback man. I will surely ask for your advice when I get there. thank you very much.

I have apologized to mike for my inability to shut up! I appreciate the feedback and will try to hold back on future videos!

Absolutely! They were nice and tender from my sweat and the pack out! ha

Thanks for the feedback! I've already apologized to my buddy and told him I'll tone it back! ha

Thank you so much for the kind words! We love to hear that the video was so helpful! I too am a first gen. hunter but didn't start till I was late 20s. I would start by getting on rockslide and searching topics. I love that sight and there is tons of great info. what is your weapon of choice for elk?

@@huntfixd9039 I'm good with all weapons. Proficient with a bow to 60yds and firearms to 200yds. There's nowhere over here to practice further

@@austinogrady8832 perfect! I'd get on the forums but just stick to hunting basics for elk. find the water away from people and/or get up high and glass them. feel free to reach out with any questions!

I'd compare them to the apex pant or ascent as far as texture goes but they do better with colder weather than those two pants. After putting them through the paces this year I feel like even the intercept is more baggy than I'd like but the knee pads are amazing and it is a very versatile pant. I took it on an elk hunt with temps in the 30s and it was perfect for me but I also used it on an archery antelope hunt with temps in the 90s and with the zippers I wasn't too hot.

@@huntfixd9039 thank uou

This is why I can sit down at the end of the day and say to myself, "I earned this donut" ha

I'll buy you a doughnut to come pack a bull 😂

if that donut has chocolate with chocolate chips on top you got a deal! haha@@taylorfritz3801

Your mom…..

We're just about to release a new video showing a load up and pack out with half an elk in one pack and the exo is worth every penny if it fits your back the right way! Thanks for watching!

Yes we have put both those pants to the test and will be doing an end of the year review. they both did very well regarding durablilty but we're just wrapping up the hunts so we'll get back to posting videos.

Haha man thats such a bummer! I have loved the crispi boots that i've tried. The down side to all the top tier boots is how much they cost. That's a brutal hike in rocky terrain and can't imagine the pain from hyper mobile boots!

Thank you for watching!

Yes I believe they are the aluminum ones. I don't know if I trust my tinkering abilities enough to make those adjustments! haha When I ordered the pack 6 years ago I gave them all my measurements so I would think they sent me the right size stays. Did you have a different experience?

The size is probably fine but the whole point of having alu stays is that you can take them out of the frame and bend them to the curvature of your spine. A pack can't load your lumbar area efficiently if the stays don't match your spine. If you have a pronounced lumbar curve and you don't adjust your stays to match it, slippage is inevitable. Many pack manufacturers either don't know or don't care about this, and will add an extra thick lumbar pad to offset the lack of adjustable stays. This, in turn, places the load further away from your body, exacerbating the slippage issue. The only place where you might want a lot of padding is your waist belt. It's unnecessary on a good harness and downright detrimental on a lumbar pad. Now that Kifaru has switched to composite stays, it's a complete gamble whether or not they're going to fit your spine right out of the box. If they don't, which is likely, you're out of luck as they don't offer aluminum ones anymore. They just offer two profiles and figure that'll cover every man and woman out there. I own a Duplex Lite and have had to mod the hell out of it to get it to where it should have been right away. I cut down the lumbar pad, swapped the composite stays for aluminum ones, and installed the fantastic HPG harness instead of Kifaru's lackluster, stiff, overly padded straps. Pretty absurd that I had to do all this to make my $1000 pack work properly. Besides all that, dealing with Kifaru's CS was a complete nightmare, but that's a different story altogether. If I could do it all over, I would have just bought a Qui-Ya and spent the remaining 500 bucks on literally anything else. @@huntfixd9039

I couldn't agree more about frames fitting a persons back and what leads to slippage. I had no idea that thats a reason for the aluminum stays but it's brilliant! I'll check mine out and see if I can make that adjustment. I like the different packs that kifaru makes and tried hard to get that frame to fit my back but I have a ghetto butt with huge low back sway so I never had a chance. haha Great insight and thank you!!@@khomatech6428

@@huntfixd9039 Having a big ass should only make things easier once the stays are adjusted. Flat asses are the real issue because there's no curve for the load transfer to get directed towards. Bend the stays over your knee and see how it goes. Follow the profile of your spine upwards until you hit your shoulder blades. At that point, you don't want to bend the stays too aggressively inward anymore, have them tilt away from your back slightly so the load lifters can cantilever that part back into your spine properly. HPG has a very helpful video on this on their channel in case you need a visual guide.

Thank you for the feedback!! I just got back and we're going to do another gear breakdown about how everything worked or didn't work. ha

thanks for the feedback. Any particular boot you would recommend for high country deer and elk?

I run the timberline for early to mid season and the insulated granite for late season.

I've always heard good things about those boots, I'll work on getting a pair, thank you!@@wyomtnhippie

Thank you!!

Thats a great question! The truly warm gloves are usually a full mitt or like a Kuiu Glomitt but I imagine you could get a gtx shell mitt to keep over a base layer glove or just put a hot hands in a glove you can use your thumb release with. I hope some of this helps!

That's a great idea that we should start doing with all our gear reviews, thank you for the feedback and we'll make sure to start doing that!

haha I haven't tried a mystery ranch but I felt that way with my kifaru!

Glad you liked the content, let us know how it goes!!

Thank you very much for the kind words!!

Thank you for watching and I glad you liked the information! we are ordering lapel mics today but just finished a gear dump video so hopefully the next weeks video will have better audio!

thanks for the feedback!! any specific gear you would like us review?

@@huntfixd9039 on your backpack review, I'd be interested to see how you adjust the straps on your backpacks. I've always struggled getting them just right.

consider it done! thank you for the feedback!@@bossdadadventureguide4277

​@@bossdadadventureguide4277 good call on that. I recently picked up a Tenzing backpack and like all packs it's got the tension adjustments on the arm straps but then I noticed it had additional adjustment straps right up at the top that you could pull tighter to actually lift the pack higher up on your shoulders or back. Made a big difference crying the load. I've never had a pack like that. Wish more had them. Helped my lower back.

thanks for reaching out! the exo is not water proof but I really like their water proof bag that attaches inside their pack. with snow and rain both packs will eventually get too saturated and I think the only perfect solution is a waterproof bag inside. I used the kifaru muskeg pack in alaska and even that got the inside of my pack wet. I always get the biggest bag possible because it's a small weight penalty and i'd rather have it just it case. all the packs these days can compress really small to where a 7900 can be just fine even for a day hunt. I do agree that the excess straps get annoying but the exo has the least amount of straps from any pack i've seen. I hope this helps you! Let me know if you have any other questions!

Cool, thanks for getting back. Ya, that liner is probably the best idea, great that they have that. I guess the only difference besides size, is you don't get the horeshoe zipper on the 7200 like the 5000 so have to decide how important that is. Thanks again!@@huntfixd9039

The mountain pant will be warmer for sure so I think it depends on the season you primarily hunt but if you're always in a tree stand i'd do with the mtn pant. what makes the intercept pant great is how versatile it is for people that hike a lot in my opinion. so for the money and your needs i'd go with the mtn pant. thanks for watching and I hope this helps!

Haha you're not kidding! I had an antelope archery hunt that I just tagged out on and with the temps and nature of an antelope hunt I really wanted to have my ideal pant and this checked all the boxes so I sold a few pants that I haven't used and was able to pick up a pair. They really worked perfect and when it comes to back country hunting i've learned that it's just better for me to buy once, cry once haha

People always comment about the price of quality stuff but don’t realize how good of quality these products are. Not only that, but they will last you sooo long and in the long run be cheaper than going through multiple pairs of pants over the years

Thank you for watching the video! If I were you I would put some weight in your co workers pack and go for a hike before you buy. Most companies have a great return policy so as long as you don't mess up a pack they'll give you 30 days to try it out first. Please reach out if you have any questions!

Even better would be if you tried one of our and came for a hike with us! haha

get aluminum stays and cut down the lumbar pad.