What kind of pack would you use on a 3 day elk hunt in the mountains?
What does "a 3 day elk hunt in the mountains" mean to you? Are you camping by the rig/road and day-hiking in? If you are backpacking in to a camp, how far? And how far beyond camp are you going to hunt? How many people do you have available to help pack if you get an elk? How much experience do you have hauling elk quarters?
There's a lot of strategy to settle on before picking a specific pack IMHO. Once you figure out how to handle the specific challenges, then think about what equipment works best.
Personally, unless I had enough people in the group that each person could grab a quarter plus their percentage of camp and pack out in a single trip, I'd have 2 packs. First would be a backpacking pack with enough extra capacity that on the first load out, I could carry my camp plus some meat, then go back with a dedicate load hauler, something comfortable for packing elk quarters.
For day hikes from the rig, and ability to haul a quarter out, I like the Badlands 2200. I haven't used it for an elk quarter but I lugged a buck out in one load .. it'll work. My heavy hauler is a Cabela's alaska guide "freighter" frame. It's squeaky but I don't care, I only carry it after I'm tagged out. If I were backpacking in, I'd look at the Badlands 4500. I have a Sacrifice which I use for summer backpacking but it really doesn't haul enough crap for a comfortable cold weather camp, never mind hauling out camp plus meat.
Your question is a good one .. lot of little sub-questions hidden in it you can't really ignore.
Tom
