Old guy back in the game

[Snowwolfe]

Started assembling gear for a hunt next month a little to late. Thought my Badlands ATX25 would work but now am having second thoughts.
A little about me. 72, 5'10, 200, back is curved, OK shape but not in condition to chase down sheep yet. The portion of the hunt I will be doing is for blacktail deer on Afognak Island so the pack will be carrying my day to day stuff which isn't to much. Maybe 5 - 8 pounds. The main duty for the pack will be if/when I kill a blacktail because then it will be carrying the boned out meat back to camp. This could be 35-45 pounds for one deer.
Was shopping for boots at Barneys and a Stone Glacier Solo 3600 caught my eye. One thing I didn't like about the pack was the lack of external pockets.
Thoughts? Any others I should consider?

Any models from KUIU to consider? Pro 3600?
They could save me $200-$300 over the SG

 

[Snowwolfe]

No help here.
I ordered the Pro 3600.

 

[EdP]

The good old days of external pockets that actually add volume are long gone along with the internal shelf that let you keep the heavy stuff on top without shifting. Don't know why and don't like it, but that's how it is. Sucks in my opinion. External pockets let you keep things handy that should be handy and also let you keep wet stuff away from your dry stuff. The duffle bag designs don't work nearly as well. It should be easy enough to have an internal shelf sewn on one side with grommets on hooks on the other so it can be used or dropped.