I am not sure exaclty what your needs are but I've been pretty impressed with Black's Creek and Eberlestock. Both of them seem to hold up well with some pretty rough use and have a tactical/military background so they're built for abuse.

I am trying to convince the misses that I 'need' another one, but so far no luck.

Don't know what your budget is but I'm recommend you look at the Kifaru Longhunter Standard. At 5200 it has good capacity and carries weight very comfortably. It also compresses well and can used as a larger day pack. I ordered mine earlier this year with Kifaru's Gunbearer to carry my rifle along with some other useable accessories. Other than doing a lot of hiking and training with it, I have yet to use it for elk hunting, but will in October in CO. I think it is going to work well based on my training hikes.