The Best Mobile Hunting Packs for Whitetails | 5-Year Review & Comparison

Over the last five years, Beau Martonik has tested and hunted with a variety of packs in the Appalachian Mountains and big woods while chasing whitetails. In this video, Beau breaks down five of the most popular packs he’s used for mobile hunting — covering the pros, cons, and real-world performance of each one.

He’ll review:
Mystery Ranch Popup 40 – versatile frame pack with adjustable height
Sitka Apex Pack – lightweight, quiet option for early-season or scouting –
Sitka Cargo Box – purpose-built for whitetail hunting –
Mystery Ranch Beartooth 80 – a western-style pack repurposed for whitetails
Exo Mountain Gear K4 2200 – streamlined and comfortable with great load-hauling ability

Whether you’re saddle hunting, tree stand hunting, or scouting, these packs all have strengths and weaknesses depending on your style of hunting. He’ll share what works best for all-day sits, long hikes, hauling meat, and keeping quiet in the woods.

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Case Knives – American heritage in your pocket and hunting packs. Case has been around for over a hundred years making knives built to be handed down for generations in Bradford, PA. –

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Hoyt Archery – Building archery equipment for nearly nine decades, Hoyt makes some of the most innovative and technically advanced equipment for the most serious archers and bowhunters across the globe. Check out the new lineup of bows, accessories, and apparel. –

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Tactacam – Reveal cell cams are reliable, quick to setup, and have an extended battery life to level up your scouting. The Reveal app helps you analyze your camera data to create a game plan to have your best season ever! –

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5 Comments

  1. Every reason you mentioned is why I went with the Kifaru Stryker XL. Platform, sticks, and saddle fit tight against the frame with easy access. Have plenty of adjustment for meat or late season layers in there too. If you pack light you can get 2-3 day spike camp essentials to fit easy. Only cons are it’s loud thru brush but I’ll gladly give that up for the comfort and the cost. Worth every penny and last pack I see myself ever using.

  2. I bought a kuiu venture 1800 and it’s been great. A bit big for saddle hunting but I have to pack my meat out most of the time.

  3. I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s tried 100 packs for saddle hunting. So many good ones, I wish I could combine all the best features from the ones I like and put them into one because every pack has some good features and some things i don’t like. I’ve also settled on the Exo K4 but I did the 5000 so I have the option to do western backpack hunts with it. They make an incredible frame system. The extra volume is also nice for bulky clothes in the later seasons.

    Quick note on the 18:45 comment – My K4 came with auto locking buckles included separately in the box, and Exo sells them on their website.

  4. I live in the west now, but I spend a lot of time in PA hunting, and I’ve been running the Stryker XL from Kifaru. Excellent option. This pack has a cult following in certain circles, but you just don’t see eastern guys using it for some reason, and maybe that’s because the cost. That said, the dedicated frame packs like Kifaru are overkill for 99% of what you do in the whitetails woods, so something like the Stryker XL with a much lighter frame would be amazing.

  5. @johantaljaard2132 February 6, 2026 at 4:33 am

    I’m looking for a used Pop Up 28 or38 pack, the ealier version of the Pop Up 40 you showed. They had less webbing and less buckle and stuff. With all that cluttler removed, it seems like a very good pack.

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