I'm sure as I get older and weaker a rifle's weight might be an issue. Then again, that'd why Gun bearers were invented . Seriously, I didn't have an issue going up and down some pretty steep hills in Africa with "heavy" rifles. I've only hunted out west twice (Wyoming where it was pretty flat but at altitude) and in Idaho where it was high and steep and didn't do too badly. Then again, some synthetic stocked rifles can be even heavier, but the point of lighter rifles is most definitively a valid one.
Did you pack out any of the game you killed in Wyoming and Idaho? Or were you on guided hunts where getting the game out was primarily the responsibility of the outfitter?
I started using lighter rifles around 40, not because I wasn't in shape (have worked out in various ways constantly long before then) but because a lighter rifle/pack/body not only allowed me to hunt longer and harder, but when I killed something on a hunt where I was responsible for getting it out, any reduction in the overall load helped. Just did it the other day, after killing a mule deer in steep breaks-type country. The pack wasn't all that far, but it was very much up-and-down.
Rhetorical question ? Still. I've "packed out" smallshit like deer in the PA mountains (yeah I know "hills" to you Monrana supermen) and hogs/deer out of the swamps and thickets here in the south and frankly, I don't think it would matter. Now if I was packing out for a long haul with everything on my back where every ounce counts, I can obviously see the advantages of lighter weight fire arms, but the Synstheric Weatherbys I've owned were no lighter than my wood stocked ones and my son's McMillan stocked 06 Vanguard I just don't see the issue with a few extra ounces.
Likely because you've never really had to pack stuff. I bet there are few times you weren't within shouting distance of something with wheels or someone to do it for you.
You must be either psychic, or a woman to guess what I've done or haven't. THat said, Can't argue with that. In PA the farthest I had to pack out a puny 150lb deer was about two miles. Here in Georgia maybe a thousand yards to a road, but the swamp can kick one's ass. Still, we are getting away from the topic at hand, aren't we?
In short, you haven't the first clue how to cut one up and put into a backpack. I doubt you've done half that, alone.
. Seriously, I didn't have an issue going up and down some pretty steep hills in Africa with "heavy" rifles. I've only hunted out west twice (Wyoming where it was pretty flat but at altitude) and in Idaho where it was high and steep and didn't do too badly. Then again, some synthetic stocked rifles can be even heavier, but the point of lighter rifles is most definitively a valid one.