Lance Verhulst and Dr. Don Massa, co-founders of RackPacks Outfitters, Inc. :


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About RackPacks Outfitters, Inc.
We challenge you to go farther... stay longer!
RackPacks Outfitters, Inc. is passionate about providing innovative and quality products to enhance your outdoor experience. It all started in May of 2005 when trying to transport Double Bull Blinds and portable chairs into remote hunting destinations. The idea of a convertible pack-chair was born out of necessity. Lance and Don, along with numerous friends and hunting partners, have put countless hours in the field and the shop refining the design in order to manufacture the ultimate pack-chair combo. With some added encouragement from Brooks Johnson of Double Bull Archery, RackPacks Outfitters, Inc. was launched.
5 standards that define RackPacks®:
- Our pack-chair would be a lightweight comfortable system for packing and sitting.
- Our pack-chair would provide the versatility needed to carry almost any load.
- Our pack-chair would be totally silent in the field.
- Our pack-chair would use only the highest quality components; we won’t cut corners to save money, because we won’t cut corners in the field.
- Our pack-chair would allow a hunting blind to be disconnected in less than five seconds.
It is our belief that once you try a RackPack®, you will never need to own another frame pack or portable outdoor chair.
Additional features of the RackPack® include: A padded headrest for added comfort; a zippered pouch for stowing small accessories (i.e. water bottles, game bags, calls, etc); and a blaze-orange carrying bag, critical for use during firearms seasons.
Meet the Owners and Co-founders of RackPacks Outfitters, Inc.
At age four, Lance Verhulst asked a family friend to make him a "narrow". Once they figured out he meant an "arrow", a life of hunting and the outdoors was on its way. No one knew what a passion hunting would become for him.
Lance has harvested over 160 big game animals with bow and arrow, including 19 Pope and Young class trophies. In 2003 he shot the #1 bow-killed non-typical mule deer every registered in South Dakota, which scored 197-4/8 points and is listed in the Pope and Young Record Book. Lance has shot over 70 turkeys from ground blinds and has spent more than 10 years packing blinds and other gear up and down the rough terrain of western South Dakota. The desire to find an easier way to haul his heavy loads of gear and blinds into the field inspired Lance to invent the RackPack®.
Lance lives in prime game country in south-est South Dakota near Hot Springs with his wife, Daina, and daughter, Serene.
Dr. Don Massa has been hunting and fishing for over 30 years. Growing up in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Don's access to the outdoors was virtually in his back yard. Don has harvested a number of Pope and Young animals, including a pronghorn antelope that ranks in the top ten all time for South Dakota.
Don is an active conservationist and is a sponsor, life member and Imperial Habitat Partner of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He is a committee member, sponsor and Wild Turkey Woodlands member for the Wild Turkey Federation. He serves on the Black Hills Conservation Initiative Steering Committee and he is a past committee, district and state chairperson for the South Dakota, RMEF. He is also a life member of the South Dakota Bowhunters Association and a member of both the Pope and Young Club and the Boone and Crockett Club.
Don practices dentistry in Hot Springs, South Dakota. He, his wife Rebecca, and two sons, Thomas and Carl, make their home on the Massa Ranch near Edgemont, SD.


