I have used all the tricks on good leather cowboy boots and new Hawthornes. Slather on the snow seal......set em out in the sun at a 105 degrees. Melt it in with a blow dryer. etc,,,etc.
I have never had a pair of leather boots stay water proof for more than 24 hours in extreme wet or soggy snow conditions.
On the other hand, my Meindel gore-tex boots from Cabelas kept my feet dry for ten days last year wading through bogs and creeks. And this was the second year for this pair of boots which I wear all day, every day at work.
Oh, my feet did get wet the first day riding into camp on the horses. A thirty MPH wind driving rain and sleet sideways with a pair of jeans on. It is a bit much to expect any boot to keep your feet dry when the water is running down your leg and into the top of the boot.
But after drying the boots, they stayed dry for the rest of the hunt.
