Calling Arkansas,
I know you said you wanted a pack with a rifle scabbard, but unless you have a real need to have both hands free, you might want to consider a pack without the scabbard. The way I see it, unless you plan on hiking for miles without the possibility of needing your rifle in a hurry, there is no need for the scabbard. If I'm just walking relatively short distances, the most important thing to me is a functional pack with lots of compartments where I can store stuff and always know right where each item in my pack is. Packs with only a few compartments are not very useful as far as being able to organize your gear. I have two packs that I really like because of the thought that was put into organization-----the llbean Maine warden pack (get the m/l one as the small size might be too small) and the Tenzing TX 14. The Tenzing gets mixed reviews on line but for the life of me I don't know why.
Of course if you really want to pack your rifle, then everything above goes out the window. For me, I like having my rifle in my hands as it helps me to have a "hunting all the time" mentality.
I know you said you wanted a pack with a rifle scabbard, but unless you have a real need to have both hands free, you might want to consider a pack without the scabbard. The way I see it, unless you plan on hiking for miles without the possibility of needing your rifle in a hurry, there is no need for the scabbard. If I'm just walking relatively short distances, the most important thing to me is a functional pack with lots of compartments where I can store stuff and always know right where each item in my pack is. Packs with only a few compartments are not very useful as far as being able to organize your gear. I have two packs that I really like because of the thought that was put into organization-----the llbean Maine warden pack (get the m/l one as the small size might be too small) and the Tenzing TX 14. The Tenzing gets mixed reviews on line but for the life of me I don't know why.
Of course if you really want to pack your rifle, then everything above goes out the window. For me, I like having my rifle in my hands as it helps me to have a "hunting all the time" mentality.
