Ya, they can do more harm than good with day hunt gear loaded up. Even for the pack in I like to have them snugged up, really helps stabilize the load.
So I had a few local buddies and father in-law buy a kifaru pack this summer and they are starting to get them dialed in for the season, they have had some issues on getting the pack adjusted properly and fitting right when loaded up. I figured I would post up what they were doing wrong and...
I saw Kifaru but between the two... If you gave me a few weeks I could answer that. I have a badlands summit pack coming which I hear should be better than there old 4500 which was pretty good.
I will say I got a large in all of my tops except the Merino and it all fits great! The merino will shrink a little and I could have gotten away with a large. FYI I am 5' 11" 190lbs 33 inch waist or so.
He said once it got above 50-60 lbs the pack constantly slid down and he said he had to keep re-adjusting the pack to prevent various hot spots on his lumbar and hips. Once over 80lbs he said it was not comfortable at all.
A good friend of mine has used one for awhile and has quite a few miles with it. When he was done testing it he got rid of it and picked up his Kifaru. Doesn't even compare he said.
I basically take what you guys are taking but one of my bars is a Metrx protein bar that is about 450 calories and small bags of trail mix, which gets me to about 2700 calories a day. Doesn't look like much food, but its all you need.