Sorry, but if you can't carry a 6-1/2 lb gun with one hand you need to spend your time in the gym, not in a bird cover.
After years of slogging through beaver swamps carrying a 7 to 9 1/2 lb. duck gun in one hand, a bag of dekes over my back, and sinking in the mud to my ankles every step and trying to keep from falling head fo'most in the water with the other hand, a 6 1/2 lb. gun in bird cover seems pretty light to me.
SRH
Unless one has grouse hunted in the Northwoods, one has little idea of what it is actually like. From reading Stan's assessment here, I'm pretty sure he has never hunted Ruffed Grouse in the Northwoods, because there is a huge difference in carrying a 7-9 lb gun through a swamp to a duck blind than carrying a 6 lb gun through an Alder swamp or an Aspen thicket ALL day long. I'm trying to be tactful here, but as a dedicated grouse hunter, and unless you are Paul Bunyan, the weight of a shotgun matters a lot for Grouse hunting. A 6 1/2 lb gun is manageable for most people in the Grouse woods. I prefer a gun closer to 6 lbs, even lighter would be better for me. But, I'm a doctor, and not a construction worker or a logger; if I used an axe all day long, I could probably wield an 8 lb 12 ga Model 21 in the Grouse woods, but the way things are for me, I'd rather use the 12 ga Model 21 in a duck blind, rather than an Alder swamp for Grouse and Woodcock.
