Update: With this thread in the back of my mind, I hunted the day after Thanksgiving with my PopUp 38. I was fortunate to turn up a solid mountain buck and had everything loaded up by a little after 2pm. I had a brutal climb up to the trail and then 4 or so miles to get back to the truck. I made it to the trail by a little after 4pm and back to my truck a little after 6.
The pack handled it all better than I expected. With my rifle in my gun bearer, the entire boned out deer, head, and my gear, the load totaled 111 lbs. That's 31 pounds over what MR claims it's "designed" for.
As I imagined, the suspension and belt are the greatest shortcomings. I've hauled over 100lbs with Kifaru frames, Stone Glacier frames and my Exo K3 - at 100plus, they're all somewhere on the sliding scale of suck but none tore me up quite as bad as the PopUp. The lack of torso pads on the upper frame and the small lumbar pad were the areas I noticed the most discomfort. I honestly didn't think I was over 100lbs so I was somewhat relieved and pleased overall. At the stated load of 80ish lbs that PopUp wouldn't be too bad at all for me.
Yes, I will do it again with the PopUp! And yes, for the sake of a lower profile frame I will probably take this pack when I have an elk tag, too. In those cases there'll usually be more than 1 trip anyway, so a different frame for the second load would be feasible. The PopUp can't replace a full sized hauling frame in my line-up but there are surely going to be some times when I reach for it.
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