Wanted to wrap up this thread with my field test. The modular feature of this pack was so beneficial to how I hunted. I started the hunt with the pack loaded to 64 lbs using the pockets on the frame, the big bag, and the little bag. Once at base camp, I dropped the little bag which had backup supplies, etc. I proceeded up to spike camp with the big bag and frame with all the pockets loaded, bringing the load down to about 50 lbs including my gun. Once at spike camp, I dropped the big bag and day hunted just with the frame and all the pockets. Frame and pockets empty was about 5.5 lbs I think.
The true test came on the last day. We broke spike camp and carried all our gear to our glassing spot. I was able to quickly and easily detach the big bag to day hunt with the frame from our glassing spot. One of my buddies had an MR pack, the Pintler. He didn't want to unpack his pack to lighten his load so he carried around his loaded pack that day while we day hunted. I eventually shot a goat and was able to put it all on the frame....giving my gun to one of buddies to carry back to the glassing spot (about a mile). Once at the glassing spot where I dropped the big bag, I gave the meat I was carrying to my buddy with the MR pack and I took out the hide along with my big bag. Both packs are easy to load with meat/hide.
Once at base camp, I added my little bag (seen in pic below). I was probably in that 90lbs - 95 lbs area with the hide at that point. The pack handled the weight fine, obviously you can tell that little pack ends up fairly far off the vertical plane of my body. While the weight was a lot, I wasn't feeling any pain/pressure points and was able to descend from base camp for about 3/4 of a mile before another buddy met us coming up from the trailhead. I was easily able to detach the small pack and have him walk that out.
I'm super happy with this pack. I agree with
kwyeewyk that using both bags at the same time would not be a norm for me. I was definitely pleasantly surprised with the carrying capacity of just the frame with pockets. I wasn't expecting to have enough room to day hunt with just that. I didn't experience any issues with the shoulder harness system when fully loaded and I think that was in large part because of that larger belt they made for me. I think like most I prefer my shoulder harness to be only semi-tight, but not tight allowing 80% of the weight to end up on my hips. I did notice that my waist belt had about an inch of padding all around it while the MR pack had about 1/2" but I think that was simply an MR decision to reduce weight for their Pintler pack. Guessing their waist belt is thicker on beefier models. I do think this pack would have failed had I not had 8" inches added to the length of the belt. I've shared this with the owner for future consideration.
a couple of sneaky features that I liked....the load shelf on the frame has a pocket so I was able to stash my game bags in there. The pocket for my water bladder was also part of the frame so I was never without water in any configuration.
