Lanche,
You are correct on your observations. My camp is about 4 miles in and I put my tent and stove in early in the season. I am required to move my tent every 14 days, but I am a bit out of the way and have never had a visitor, so I sometimes stretch it a day or two extra
(this is for fall/winter elk hunting). So when I wrote I was loaded for 4 days I should have noted tent and stove was already in and I was hunting out of one location and not on the move. If I was moving about the 6500 would accomodate room for that a lot better. I am actually saving some money up in the coffee can to either buy a 6500 or might even pick up the 7500.
For spring and early fall hunting I am pretty well maxed with my tent (4 lbs), sleeping bag and pad (4 lbs), gram weanie and fuel (1.5 lbs), scope and tripod (6.5 lbs) and food. This burns up all the interior room of the pack and I can still load to the frame to haul meat in this mode, but if I throw the stove on the load I have run out of room. At this point the Diascope loses it position of luxury inside the pack and get strapped to the outside with the tripod.
In the photos that you see of going in and out of camp I am kinda hauling "double". I have three kids and my two oldest (both daughters) hunt with me... a lot. My son is 7 and also tags along and likes to hike into camp on occasion too, but back to topic. My 12 year old isn't set up with a pack (a decent one...maybe Santa will swing by Mystery Ranch? shhhh...)so I have been trying to haul her sleeping bag and pad as well as extra water in every trip as my camp is dry and no water within about 2 miles. (1 mile down and 1 mile back).
If I go "lean" I can gear up and do 4 or 5 days including tent, but the 6500 would be a better choice for sure and for me an elk is minumum 3 trips solo, more like 4 if it steep... with any luck I can get some help!
Happy hunting, Casey
PS What color our those pockets you have for sale?
The hunting crew looking at bighorn sheep in the spring while on a spring black bear expedition.