New From Mystery Ranch

You're listening to the Sportsman's Empire Podcast Network. Your home for real, relatable outdoor podcasts. Interstate batteries offers a wide variety of batteries for your everyday needs. Stop into one of their thousands of retail locations and talk with a battery specialist about batteries for your truck, trail cameras, and even those weird batteries for your range finder. Interstate batteries even offer cell phone repair in certain locations. For more information, visit interstatebattories.com. Interstate batteries outrageously dependable. Happy Friday everybody and welcome to another episode of the Hunting Gear Podcast. And today I am joined by Alex Rich and Alex is one of the lead designers over at Mystery Ranch. And so on this episode today we're going to talk about some of the new things, new products, and how these new products fared to the market about Mystery Ranch and some of their new packs. So it's a really interesting question or a conversation. I'll tell you this man. And I mentioned this in the podcast. I am a huge fan of, and this is in no way necessarily a plug, it's more of a review. And so I am a huge fan of products that you, like I'm really hard on my equipment. So when I can beat the shit out of some of my equipment and it still functions year after year and I don't need to buy a new pack or a new pair of boots or a new spotting scope or whatever the product is. I love durability. I love when I'm hard on my equipment and it continues to perform on a yearly basis. That's really what I'm looking for in any said product. And so I mentioned Alex in this episode that the past two years, three years now, I have literally beat the shit out of my packs from Mystery Ranch and have had very, very minor issues with any of them. Well, to come to think of it, probably no issues at all, to be honest with you. Outside of that, it's a really good episode. Before we do get into today's episode though, we're going to do some, what are we going to do? We're going to talk about tethered. And so this new, actually this new lineup of Mystery Ranch packs that we talk about today may be perfect for a saddle hunter and carrying your equipment back and forth. So if you're looking for a company that makes a really good saddle, saddle hunting accessories, saddle hunting platforms and climbing sticks, go check out Tethered's lineup. Really, really good lineup of products for saddle hunting. And at the same time, there's a huge education platform that they have created on their website and on their YouTube channels that helps you flatten the learning curve on how to become a better saddle hunter. Next we have Tacticam. Now Tacticam is one of those companies that really has filled a hole in the hunting lifestyle. And what I mean by that is people love to share stories, you know, like storytelling. It's a huge buzzword in the hunting space. And so when you can go out and record your hunt and record what you see, the deer that walk by your blind or your tree stand and you can get the shot on tape. Man, that's a really awesome part of this storytelling that Tacticam is able to kind of capture. So recently Tacticam has introduced their new 6.0 version, has the LCD screen, has image stabilization, 4K recording and it can go on a bow or a gun. So go check that out at huntstand.com. Next, or excuse me, at tacticam.com. Next is huntstand. And huntstand is one of these hunting apps that just allows you to journal and document everything that you see out in the woods while you're out shed hunting or you're looking for beds or you're scouting. Like this time of year at shed hunting season and while you're out there you might as well be doing some scouting. So when you're out there you need to be journaling and documenting what you see, you know, pinch points, crit crossings, beds, old sign, that kind of stuff. And it also helps you for your, like you're out of state hunts. You can find out where the public land is. You can find access. You can like, you can go through all these hypothetical situations like wind direction and so on. So go to huntstand.com, read up on all the functionality and while you're there check out the new Pro White Tail platform upgrade that they have available and just continue learning about the land that you hunt and it's just going to make you a better, a better hunter. So there's that. If you guys are so inclined, please go to iTunes and leave a five star review about the hunting gear podcast man. That would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, let's get into today's episode with Alex Rich of mystery ranch. Two. One. All right, on the hunting gear podcast today, Mr. Alex Rich Alex. What's up, man? Hey, Dan. How's it going? It's been a while, man. I'm trying to think of the last time you were on the podcast. I feel like it was maybe like three ATA shows ago. We sat down with you. You have just been just right pre pandemic. Yeah. You know, maybe January 20. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, something like that. And it sounds like a lot has kind of a lot of things have changed that mystery ranch. You know, a lot has a lot hasn't. I feel like we just have that kind of big skip in the timeline that pandemic was. But like, you know, we've been cranking and we've been, you know, working our tails off over here throughout that whole period. Yeah. Been growing like crazy in just about every market. And I mean, hunting was just really taken off for us in the last few years. Yeah. So just a friendly reminder here, why don't you tell everybody what your role that mystery ranch is? Oh, yeah. So I do product design for mystery ranch, primarily hunting and outdoor. But everybody kind of dabbles in all the markets a little bit here and there. So you know, I've worked on projects from military to bi-refighting, as well as, you know, everyday carry products, travel stuff. But then yeah, my emphasis is kind of on hunting nowadays. Gotcha. Okay. So when you guys sit down at mystery ranch and you either try to break into a new market, because you guys have, for the longest time, were always known as a Western hunting pack. And then you kind of broke in a little bit into the, the white tail market. How do you guys make a decision onto what niche or what market to create a pack for next? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, the Western hunting space is like, it makes sense for us, especially being based in postman where, you know, a lot of us here at the office are active hunters. So those, that product development just makes a lot of sense. And it's really, you know, kind of, we are so product driven that we need products that perform in the field. So we're have that ability to, you know, go out in the woods here in Montana and use those products. Yeah. But like I've said, we've been growing so fast in the hunting market. We're looking for other spaces to expand and other, you know, other areas that could use, you know, really well designed, um, comparable products. And the white tail space is kind of one that we identified as not having a ton of, there are really good products in the white tail space, but nothing that carries like a Mr. Range pack. Yeah. So we definitely saw that that was the opportunity, um, you know, to kind of enter in a market and then on the product side, you know, we have to kind of go through the process of figuring out exactly, you know, what we think we can offer the market, what the market would be missing. Um, the right product offering is to, you know, deliver to the customer, you know, as well as like, you know, kind of just defining why. Yeah. Um, yeah. So, you know, the process, you know, again, is a little bit more difficult than, you know, the kind of natural state that getting the Western hunting is, um, but, you know, we're pretty well connected throughout the industry. So, you know, we make phone calls. We talk to people. Um, we've got a few guys that, you know, without Michigan, um, I think Chris Nolan might have been on the podcast with us last time. Yeah. He's from Michigan. So a ton of experience in the white tailwoods. Um, so, you know, I'm able to ping off him like different thoughts and ideas on how to improve on products in this space. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. And so you guys kind of identified that you wanted to jump into the white tail space and you did. What did that, that initial offering look like as far as the reaction from the public? So we ended the space with just one pack. Um, but, you know, the feature set was kind of there. The textiles were, we're developing at the time. Um, so like the customers that we're using the pack really liked it, but there's obviously some feedback that we got from that. Um, then the other challenge that we were having kind of giving into the white tail market is, you know, we have a ton of brand recognition in the West. But when you go, you know, the white tailwoods, you know, not very many people know who Mr. Rant is. That's another hurdle that we've been trying to, trying to tackle over the last few years. Like, you know, how do we, how do we drive, um, kind of have brand penetration so that people get to know who we are and get comfortable with, you know, seeing our products around and kind of familiarizing themselves with, you know, what we had to offer. Do you guys feel like you've got a foothold in that space now? For sure. Um, you know, I think what that first generation of packs really gave was helped us to capitalize on those early adopters, the guys that are on the cutting edge looking for like the latest newest coolest stuff out there. Um, and I think since then, you know, especially this newest, our newest release for like, um, starting to address the majority of guys, um, transitioning from the, those like tip of the spear really gear hungry fells out there and starting to transition to, you know, the more general population of white tail. Gotcha. Okay. All right. And so, you know, I know you guys had some, some new technology and before we continue on into the, the white tail, um, the second gen white tail stuff, I found when I was at the ATA show this year and looked at a couple of your packs, you had this pop up frame. So what I want you to do is describe what this prop, this pop up frame is and the functionality behind it. Totally. Um, so it was actually kind of develops, um, a few years back. I was doing a little bit of a little punting, um, uh, the plains of Montana out of Santa Cauter, you know, is wearing one of our bigger pack frames, um, you know, that I would use elk hunting or deer hunting, that sort of thing. And found myself like in a prone position or like kneeling quite a bit. Um, and I needed the opportunity to be able to lift my head without being, you know, coming in contact with the frame, um, in the back. Yeah. So I thought, well, why don't we, you know, work on developing a collapsible frame system. Um, so that kind of spurred the idea of like developing a frame system. Um, initially it kind of folded like a set of tent poles. Um, we've moved into a frame system that collapses and extends, um, much like a tracking pole would. Um, so it's a more of a telescoping system. Right. Um, and again, that kind of initial design philosophy is like, how do we get into a prone position without the frame and impeding with our end? Um, but still have that full height of the frame, you know, that gives us the ability to pack out a full handle if we're successful. Got you. One of the things that's been really cool about that system though is because it is kind of quirky and it's new, not a lot of people like really looked at it. Um, there's been a lot of light tail hunters that have been checking that system out. Um, you know, a lot of saddle hunters or guys that are doing public land hunts where they're carrying their stand. Um, they're using the overload system to carry their, you know, their tree stand and their platform. Um, you know, over several miles, you know, in some circumstances on a public land to be able to hang their stand. Yeah. Um, and then that, that adjustable, the adjustable frame system kind of allows for, you know, guys to really customize the height of that frame. You know, if they're going through thick brush, they can have a little bit shorter. Um, or if they've got, you know, a pretty bulky stand, they can use the entire height of the frame to kind of support that system. Yeah. And so is this pop up system in all of your packs now or, or, uh, all of your Western packs are just a select few. Just a select few. Um, it's a, it's kind of more day pack oriented. We haven't put any of our like big expedition packs onto that frame system. Yeah. Um, so for this year, we came out with two new packs on that system, um, being 30 and 40 liters. So kind of like that mid range of day hunting all the way up to, um, kind of what we think of this late season hunting, but you know, that 40 liter size is good for a lot of bulky layers, you know, some extra food and whatnot. Um, for those late season hunts. Okay. And so does this pop up frame then allow for additional load caring opportunities as well? Like rid, like rigid, rigidness and things like that. Yeah. For sure. Um, so the pop up system kind of utilizes the same overload technology that we use in our bigger packs. Um, so same deal you could put, you know, out porters or in some cases, entire animals, um, in between the pack and the frame. Um, and then, you know, weight wise, there's not really a good system for like talking about, um, what some people would call load rating. Um, there's just not really a good way to quantify that, um, you know, from pack to pack. Uh, but I've, you know, thrown an entire antelope in the overload system and carried back, you know, a couple of miles back trucks. So, um, yeah, definitely able to carry, you know, north of a hundred pounds. Okay. And is there any additional functionality with that system? Yeah. Um, so we've been refining the process of, or, excuse me, refining the system over the past couple of years and I brought a sample here so I could show you one of the latest innovations that we've had. Um, so if you can see on the side here, this is just a little orange tab to help you, um, open up that trekking pole kind of telescoping technology so you can kind of see that frame can send you whatnot. Yep. Um, but one of the cool things that we incorporated for this, um, iteration is try to get on the camera there. You can see this screw right here on the top, on the top. That's a core 20 optics screw. Ah, yes. Yes. I remember you talking about this man. That's bad ass. Just that very simple little thing, man. Like, now it's almost like, and correct me if I'm wrong, like I still see, I still see a good tripod. It could be necessary, but on like a quick running gun type hunt, that is bad ass. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I knew it was kind of a funny, funny deal because like once I thought about putting that on the top of the frame, I was like, how that could like not thought of doing this early. Yeah. Um, because it, you know, it makes so much sense and you're, you're totally right. Like, you can't put the big, you know, 85 millimeter, um, spotting scope on top of that thing and expect it to be stable enough to see. Or, you know, long distance. Right. So the tripod's kind of indispensable, especially in some of those like longer range Western style hunts. Right. Um, but when it comes to like, you know, the running gun, you need to throw your binoculars up on top of there real quick. Um, you know, I've experimented with putting like a shoe, just a B-shaped shooting yoke on the top. Um, so for like turkey hunting, a rifle hunting, um, you could throw your gun right there on the rest. Um, and then we've even had some, some of our early testers experiment with, um, self filming. So you could screw GoPro right to the top. You can put a camera arm on there. Um, because it's anything that adapts to that quarter 20 screw, we can put it right on top of it. And, and that's standard in a lot of optics and video camera equipment, if I'm not mistaken. That's correct. Um, if, if it doesn't have a quarter 20 screw, there's a ton of, um, like photo companies that make an adapter screw. Right. Um, so, you know, I've, I've started putting like a tripod head on top of there. Um, so you can run it just like you want a tripod. Um, you know, with quick release plates. Um, and sometimes to leave that adapter screw to make it work. Um, but the system sits, you know, it comes equipped with that. Right. A lot of, a lot of opportunity or a lot of possibilities with just a little screw, man. That's pretty sweet, man. Yeah. That's pretty cool. And you know, I think that kind of speaks to how we approach problems as mystery ranch, you know, as a brand is, you know, we try to incorporate like these little features that, you know, are innovative that nobody else is doing. Um, you know, we kind of let the customer like use it for whatever purpose that, you know, they can dream up. Yeah. Yeah. Overload systems that way we've, you know, designed it, we originally designed that overload system for, you know, military applications carrying drones or ammo cases, that sort of thing, then that morphed into, you know, carrying out quarters and deer out. You know, but we've seen people carry flats of beer or, you know, paddle board or all sorts of random stuff, you know, bulky items that wouldn't fit the pack. Right. You know, so kind of same philosophy with this quarter 20 screw on the top there is like, let's put it on and like, let's just see what people grow on there. Yeah, for sure. So that's cool. Anything else, uh, before we step away from Western packs, anything, any new technology or new packs on the, on the Western side of things? Um, nothing other than the pop up system. Um, that was kind of our focus, um, for 23. It was getting that pop up system really refined. There's a few things, you know, outside of kind of that new, um, frame system of the quarter 20 screw that we wanted to work on. Yeah. Um, one of which was like, there were some issues with the bag integrated with to the frame on our past series or past systems of bags there. Um, so we made the frame a little bit taller. So those bags really sit nice and tight to the frame, um, to get rid of a little bit of slop. Okay. So, you know, that's just kind of some of the fine tuning adjustments that we've gotten some custom feedback and you know, we're able to improve a lot. Perfect. Uh, let's see here. I want to, I want to move to the white tail space now and the second generation of what's the name of the pack? Oh, we call it the tree house. The tree house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So talk to us a little bit about the customer feedback from the tree house that led you or the redesigns that led you to the second generation. Sure. Um, well, a number one glaring obvious was the noise factor. Um, you know, we're, we were using a lot of our Western based textiles, which you can get away with being a little noisy, but you know, in a tree stand, you know, noise is kind of one of the biggest things of the trail up there. Um, so we worked really hard on developing a new textile that really, you know, kind of stamped down a ton of the noise. Um, so the other, you know, kind of features that we planned in there were, you know, again, just like direct feedback, we put Molly's, um, like a Molly system that you'll see on like military gear where you can arrange different pockets and stuff on the top of the pack. Um, and what we found was those people wouldn't use that. They'd be like, man, it'd be cool if there was a pocket here instead of these pieces of webbing. Yeah. Um, so we went ahead and replaced that with, you know, another layer of stretchable pocketry. Uh, oh, well, those are long too. So, um, yeah, so there used to be a two layers of Molly up on top here, but now we went to stack stretchable in the pocket. So here's a nice big lower one and then a smaller one up top. Gotcha. Um, simple refinement, but you know, again, it's just customer feedback. It's like, Hey, you know, you guys got pretty close, but if you included a couple of these little features, um, that'd be super helpful. Okay. So we included some bungee and some hooks here at the top on both sides. Um, that enabled us to strap, you know, rattling out letters or, you know, some other like small items on top there. Um, still nice long compression straps. So if you were to strap a stand to the outside or climbing sticks or camera arms, you have a ton of room to do that with. Um, we made those straps even a little bit longer than on the previous version, um, just to accommodate for some of those both your items. Gotcha. Gotcha. And then try to get, again, get this close up for you. I don't know if you can see kind of the fibers on this textile. Not very good, but, uh, it's like, it's almost like a fleece, right? Or like, uh, uh, what do they call that? A crush something. Yeah. Um, so it's similar to a fleece. One of the main difference, um, differences that it has to fleece is all the fibers on this material straight instead of being mapped. Um, so if you did go through a patch of burrs or stickers or something, um, this fabric, it may pick some up, but it's very easily brushed off because those fibers are straight. Right. Whereas on a fleece because the fiber is napped, um, those purses want to hook in, um, and that it's just a pain to pull that stuff out. Right. And that was going, yeah, that was going to be my very first question because on, on the gen one, which I have and I, uh, used for the, since I got it like three years now, uh, it is a badass pack. I love it. And so when first off, when I heard people say it's too loud, I was like, first off, I said, you're ridiculous. It's not too loud. And I actually liked the material that's on it because it didn't pick up that many burrs because that's where I hunt man in that thick nasty stuff. And so when, when I saw that the ATA show this year with all that, all that fleece on it, my mind instantly went to, yeah, it's great. It's going to be quiet, but now it's going to pick up a whole bunch of junk. So it's reassuring to hear you say that it's, it won't pick up as much as you think. And if it does, it can be basically combed right off. Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, was a huge consideration on us developing this textile too. Um, yeah, I've got a couple of golden retrievers and picking burrs. I'm going to say this is the game. My existence, right, right. Um, making sure we had a textile that, you know, a burr could easily be removed was really important. Um, the material is also a laminate. So there's a, a backer material behind it. So it's totally waterproof. Um, probably even more waterproof than some of the other, um, textiles that you've seen our bags in previously. Yeah. Um, so cause that was one of the other concerns that some guys had when they saw this material was like, man, that looks like it'll just, it's super heavy. You know, in the ring or if it gets wet. Um, and the fact of the matter is since it's lined, um, in, in that land in that form, it doesn't really absorb a ton of water. Uh, yeah, you know, beat up on the surface, you will get a little bit of water that kind of collects inside of those fibers, but it won't, it won't penetrate the fabric. Right. So on the, on the G, on the first gen, the one that I have, there's, I don't know if it's a, uh, a frame system in there that keeps the pack open, uh, and wide. Is that same technology and the ability to unzip it and fold it all the way out in this second gen model as well? Um, so for this season, we've done two, no, um, sorry, two sizes. Okay. Um, so in the larger size, you still have the ability to unzip. Um, and it has those stays in it that prevents the bags from flopping all the open and it stays at a nice, nice, open angle for you. Yep. Um, without yard sale and all your stuff on the ground. Yep. Uh, but the smaller version, we, we got rid of the zippers. Um, and you know, and this is the smaller version that I have here. Um, and it's, it's a pretty small package. Yeah. So we, we felt like the need to have those zippers was a little bit, um, it was a little bit too much going on with that small system. Okay. Um, so we got rid of those zippers and the other primary difference between the larger size and the smaller sizes, the larger has, um, the adjustable yoke system in there. Um, whereas on the smaller size, we got rid of that to save a little bit of weight. Um, yeah. Cause with the smaller size pack, you have a tendency to carry a little bit less weight. So comfort, you know, that's built into that adjusted the yoke system isn't as necessary, so very comfortable pack to carry. Um, you know, and again on that larger system, you still get that adjustable. Got you. Okay. Uh, and so what are the sizes of these two packs? Uh, the larger is 38 liters and the smaller is 20. Got you. All right. And so, uh, so far have, have these already been introduced to the public or is that something that's come in this summer? Yeah, they came out, um, fall 22, fall 22. Okay. All right. So some dudes already picked them up, um, in random all season. Um, and then a little teaser and, um, fall 23, we've got a couple new packs coming out to on the white tail line on the white tail line. Gotcha. So what was, what was the customer reaction, uh, for the fall 22 release? Um, I mean, from what I've been hearing from a lot of guys is. They were really excited that we addressed some of the shortcomings of the previous version. Gotcha. Um, you know, a lot of the things that we got right, we maintain tweaked a little bit of the feature set, um, to make sure that we were kind of hitting the mark, um, from some of the feedback that we've been getting. Um, so I think product wise, you know, these packs are pretty darn close to, I wouldn't say perfect, but like really functional, really dialed in for the user. Um, you know, and like I was speaking to before, you know, now it's just getting a brand name out there and getting, getting packs on people and, um, you know, seeing where we can go with. Yeah. Absolutely. And so I'm going to throw a compliment your way. This really isn't a question, but one thing I really respect from any company, uh, and any product is the style of hunting that I do. And I, I beat the shit out of my equipment and whether it's a, uh, uh, binocular or it's a pack or it's boots or it's my bow. I, I really am hard on my gear in all the different terrains that I hunt. And so when I can say I have like a pair of boots that's lasted me four or five years or a pack that's lasted me three years or, you know, a trail camera or some, whatever, whatever the product may be, uh, that makes me very happy. And it's hard for me to step away from that product to go, uh, test out another product when in fact, uh, I'm so I'm happy with the performance and the functionality of said product. So I will say this, the two packs that I've ran, uh, for the last handful of years have been the Metcalf and the, the tree house, uh, right, the tree house, right? Correct. Right. And I have beat the shit out of those two packs and there's, there's really nothing wrong with them. And so I will say just kudos to you guys. Like that, that makes me personally very happy. Well, thanks, man. Yeah, we definitely take pride in like the quality of acts that we build. Um, you know, I mean, we, we have like a pretty comprehensive, you know, material testing situation here. Um, we have one guy that works for us. It's a mad scientist and loves to rip things apart. Yeah. Um, he, you know, he kind of holds her feet to the firearm and comes to the durability of new products. Um, so whenever we're rolling out something new, he tries to tear it apart. Um, just to make sure that we're holding that standard, you know, super durable and quality kids. Yeah. And so you mentioned there's some more packs coming out this fall. Uh, any teasers that you can share with us of, of what kind of demographic or what kind of hole they're going to fill? Um, yeah, they're going to be, uh, even a little bit smaller than the current, um, than the 20 that I just showed you. Yep. Um, you know, with a Cheryl sharing too much, uh, they're going to be a little bit more versatile and maybe addressing different species, um, other than just white tail. Gotcha. Um, so yeah, some kind of cool, innovative stuff. Um, definitely keeping the air to the ground. So, so I'm going to just, I'm going to, I'm going to judge this next. You don't have to answer, but I'm going to judge it off your reaction. So it might be worth you being straight faced and not like, and using your poker face here, but you mentioned other species in this white, you know, you, you talked about white tails, then you said other species, are we going to see a turkey hunting bag from mystery ranch? I don't remember saying turkeys. Okay. You don't remember seeing turkeys saying, oh, saying no, no, you didn't say turkeys, I'm guessing that there's potentially a pack from mystery ranch. That's going to be a turkey bag. I'll just say not specifically. Okay. For the, it's for the white tail. I got you. Okay. All right. So fair enough, fair enough. Well, I tell you what, any, anything else exciting new, uh, that you'd like to share with us or any, uh, uh, any direction on where the next, uh, line of packs is going to go for mystery ranch. I mean, other than the little teas that already gave you, I mean, um, what we're really doing here, you know, mystery ranch, we've been doing for the last 20 years. Yeah. Um, we're trying to come up with cool stuff every season. Um, you know, unfortunately it's not like we're in new suite of packs every year for hunting specific people. Like, you know, we're coming out with some really cool stuff in our storylines. We're coming out with new stuff for, you know, military and fire. Um, so we're always just trying to push the envelope on, you know, innovation, um, when it comes to packs here and here. Um, yeah, and there's, you know, there's stuff in the hopper for, you know, Western hunting for white tail hunting. Yeah. There's, there's some cool stuff coming down the line. Perfect. Well, Alex, man, I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to hop on and share this information with us. If people want to find out more about mystery ranch, where do we send them? Mr. ranch.com. .