thank you all for your input. Here is why I ask this question. I am soon to be 74. 6'2" and I've always weighed between 170-175, although I'm probably a small bit heavier at the moment. I eat VERY healthy: almost all plant based food, no beer,no pop, no fast food and no processed food. Work physically hard: still work part time in a potato packing business, cut and split all our firewood, etc.
My son is a guide in alaska and he and I have tags for spring brown bear on Kodiak. We've hunted Kodiak before: it is hours of spotting, but when a decision is made to go, you have to go. And it can be a VERY hard climb up and thru alder patches. It is very difficult to find any place around where I live that duplicates those conditions. I have rifle options, but obviously for brown bear small calibers are out. I want to take my .375 which is kind of "the" brown bear caliber for browns, but it weighs 9 1/2# plus. I have smaller calibers that range from 8 up to 9 lbs, but each of them have their down sides as well. However, its only a difference of 1-2 lbs and so if its the same amount of carry on my shoulder vs. as part of my body, it won't be that difficult to lose another 5 lbs. or so.
So not really a mountain-backpack hunt. More dayhiking out of a base camp. Really, a pretty different scenario. This is, after all, the "Backpack Hunting" forum. I wouldn't sweat rifle weight in the scenario you describe.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
