I’ve packed 3 moose out with mine and plan to do it again this fall. It works well enough that I haven’t felt the need to upgrade to anything else. I don’t have experience with Barney’s or many other big name pack brands to compare it to so take that for what it’s worth.
I prefer to carry heavy loads a little higher on my back than most so that I can stand more upright. The load shelf on the frame sits a little too low for this so I end up just using the cinch straps and really cranking the load down onto the frame where I want it. It works well for this but I noticed last year that some of the plastic buckles were taking a lot of strain from doing this and deforming a bit. I replaced them with some heavier duty ones and I expect it won’t be a problem from now on.
Let me know if you’ve got other questions about it. I love my outdoorsman’s pack, but it seems like there’s not as much info about them as some of the other big name brands.
