Looking for input from Scapegoat 35 owners. Thoughts?

Mystery Ranch makes a good pack. How are you going to use this bag? As a day pack it would be great...Light weight and with 2100 ci of space, it fits the bill. If you're thinking about a pack for backpack hunting and possibly an out west adventure, I'd go bigger and add a meat loading capabilities.

I backpack hunt here in Montana and just ordered the Exo Mountain Gear 3500. I can get 5 days worth of stuff into a pack that size ( a pretty spartan camp), plus it has the meat shelf. It's small enough to compress and use as a day pack as well.

It will be here today and gets its maiden voyage on a mountain goat scouting trip this weekend...I cannot wait!

I went with Exo Mountain over Mystery Ranch just due to a wider waist belt, the meat carrying shelf is a better design and it carried a little more than the MR Selway…

Hope this helps.

Happy hunting, Jason

Excellent response!

Yes, that was an excellent response. Good one Rigs.

Plan to use it as a day pack, just wanted something big enough to get a partial load back to camp when one gets down, then bring a frame pack back. It may not make sense, but I don’t want to spend a ton of money on a bigger pack, since I don’t get out there often enough to justify it. I’ll hunt from a basecamp and didn’t really want to carry a big pack all day. I’m a whitetail hunter, so figured it would serve dual purpose. Thanks for the info!

I can't comment on the Scapegoat, but I do have a Crew Cab that I really like - it expands quite nicely to carry a heavy load, I've had over 100 lb on it (sandbags, not deer or elk) and it handles the heavy load quite well. Although I've used it for backpack hunting, and it worked fairly well, it would not be my first pick for that duty. Mystery Ranch replaced the Crew Cab with the Cabinet, which is basically the same thing but with a lighter frame, I've been mulling over selling my Crew Cab and getting the updated version, just to save a couple of pounds...

semostickbow,

Sounds like you have put good thought into what you want in a pack. The only thing I would suggest is the meat shelf to keep your gear and meat separate, then sell the frame pack. You could bone out a deer and the whole load would fit on these packs. Look at the Pintlar or the Selway if you decide to go that route in MR. If you look into Exo Mountain Gear, they make a 2000ci pack that would fit the bill...all are great packs. Two of my buds use the Pintlar and found good deals on camofire.com. I haven't seen much in MR packs there in a while but you never know...they may show up again.

Happy hunting, Jason

If I can help in any way, please get a hold of me!

I have used my Mystery Ranch hard. I'm not familiar with the model you asked about. I think the crew-cab is about as good a day pack design as you could get.I'm surprised we don't see it mentioned on here more often. I use it for eastern public land whitetail hunting with a tree stand loaded in it. It can expand to haul a whole deer out. After about 8 years there is no sign of wear. All the zippers actually work mostly one handed. Now there is a lighter weight version of the crew-cab made for hunting no military spec. I think it's called a Cabinet? Foreign made I think, . Costs less. That would probably be a better choice.

I have a Medcalf (?) one of the higher end. Great design, in fact I think the best I've seen. On the other hand if the model your thinking of buying is made of the same material as mine, don't buy it. Very noisy, I'm unhappy with mine. Had to cover the whole thing in fleece.

Bowmania

Scapegoat is a good/great daypack. Just not much for meat hauling capabilities. You would have to put meat inside the pack which is not the best method (for me) or try to attach it outside with compression straps which would be awkward.

If I plan on hauling meat (elk hunting) I hunt with a pack that can haul meat. (Exo 2000 or 3500).

If the objective is hunting whitetails or other medium sized game (and not so much about hauling camp or loads of meat) I think the Scapegoat would be an extremely nice pack. The only reason I don't own one is because I own a Mystery Ranch Pintler.

The Pintler is something near 2400 cubic inches and has the Guide Lite frame, which makes it a far better prospect for carrying heavy loads. It offers an Overload shelf for big meat hauls. The pack itself is quite slim and travels through brush very nicely.

Of all the packs and pack brands I've owned, Mystery Ranch has beaten them every time. That's only for me and not to indicate anyone else will be as satisfied.

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