Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Outerwear and Layers

This year I moved to Wyoming. I wasn't able to go elk hunting this year but did get an antelope and a deer. I fully expect to go elk hunting next year but need some advice about the clothes to take (if your wondering why I'm asking this now it's because, being close to Christmas, there is a lot of stuff on sale).

I am rather stumped on what type of outer coat to get. I've heard some people suggest parkas and others say they're too bulky. Well, I do know I want something with with a waterproof and breathable membrane but am not sure what I need beyond that. What do you sugest I get for upper outerwear? I have been looking at Cabela's Dry Plus coats/jackets. Any experience with this line or a specific one you would suggest? What do you think would be a better choice?

I also don't know exactly what to do about underlayers. What I have in mind right now is a synthetic long underwear upper, then a poly fleece jacket, then a a wool sweater/jacket under whatever outerwear I get. I come from where it is quite hot and flat and have no November high mountain hunting experience so don't know if that system would be advisable.

Any advice and personal experience is greatly appreciated. You can count on me to consider it all.

During October and November mountain hunts my clothing consists of:

One Nylon athletic short sleeve t-shirt:

long sleeve, hooded Cabelas Polartec hoodie

Marmot 1/4 zip thin fleece pullover on top of that

If I'm sitting or walking downhill, I also wear my First Lite Uncompahgre jacket on top of all that.

If it's cold and I'll be glassing a lot, I wear a Polartec long underwear bottom underneath either Cabelas Microtex or First Lite Corrugate Guide pant. If it's not terribly cold and I'll be hiking hard (most often) I ditch the long undies.

The name of the game (for me) is thin, synthetic layers and shedding them when I need to. That philosophy has worked great for me from Alaska to Colorado in anything from 10 degrees and snowing to 80 and sunny.



Most of my hunting clothes are kind of ratty and have holes and stuff like that but they continue to work really well.

Tanner

How does the camo wife-beater figure in?

Laughing.. That one is reserved for times when something absolutely, positively must die.

Tanner

I better get me one of those....

Outer layer for me is an older Cabela's DryPlus lined jacket with a hood. Inside that a thin long-sleeved down jacket (Kirkland). Cheap but but works. Zips up under the chin if needed.

Under that milsurp poly longjohns.

Add socks and headwear as needed. I'm never far from a good synthetic watch cap and/or balclava to wear under the jacket hood also.

I carry wind Goretex rain pants in my pack and use as wind pants if needed.

If I must sit for hours without moving in subzero temps, I take a sleeping bag and sit in it on a pad. Really. Works great in a blind or treestand.

I mean to write 'subfreezing' instead of 'subzero'.

Would need a bit more gear for that ...

Unless you'll be in rain, there s no need for a waterproof outer layer.

I wear a Kryptek Sherpa hoodie base and layer on with a Sitka 90% in warmer weather or a Sitka Jetsteam in colder weather. Jetstream is wind proof which you will probably need in WYO. Sitka Kelvin always rides along for sitting.

Like Tanner mentioned, it's all about layering. I prefer a good quality synthetic down jacket made by Columbia and a pair of lightweight synthetic long handle underwear. I also buy lightweight wool pants at the second hand store.

Cotton is by far the worst clothing you can buy for hard hunting.

There are many choices that work and no one answer for every situation. Much depends on style of hunt.

I will say I wear two different Polypro long johns depending on activity level or temp. One light weight, and one is polar weight. They are worth spending money on IMO.
I layer and have used a set of Cabelas wool outfitters pattern outers. The 1/2 zip pullover is often times too warm.
The biggest mistake I see being made is getting the layers to tight, restricting circulation. I guess wearing cotton could be listed as well but in a dry climate it's easier to get away with. If you expect you may get wet, leave the cotton home.

I leave cotton home because I sweat like a pig....

It's as much about managing sweat as it is keeping warm so layering is not only for the insulation, and you'll need a day pack big enough to hold the clothes you shed as the day warms up. Avoiding cotton is a given. Your base layer (long underwear) needs to be good at moving moisture away from your body as well as insulating so I avoid anything but lightweight (thin) for that. Heavy is great for sitting but if you move at all or especially climb, it'll trap heat and moisture against your body. And you can't take it off so you're stuck with it all day no matter how warm you get.

Like Tanner, I use a lightweight synthetic tee shirt under the long sleeve base layer, sometimes a light tee and light longsleeve shirt is more than enough. For a hunting shirt, I like one that buttons or zips all the way down the front because lots of times when you're climbing you'll heat up and you can open up the front of your shirt to ventilate without taking it off.

On top of that I'll use a fleece jacket. I like wool but don't use it in the mountains as an insulating layer(it's good as a base or a shirt though) because it's heavy. On top of that I like a lightweight synthetic-filled insulated jacket, and I don't normally put that on unless I'm sitting down.

You'll need a windproof shell and my thinking is, it may as well be waterproof too. Even if it never snows during late seasons, you can use it during early seasons if/when you go hunting then. Once again, ventilation is key, especially for the pants because they're a pain in the butt to change while you're on the move. Get pants with a full-length zipper down the sides so you can take them off over your boots, and also use the zips to ventilate when you need to. Pit zips up top are good too. Marmot Precip is a good set. Make sure your jacket fits on top of your insulating layers.

Pay attention to your head, neck, and hands because you loose a lot of heat there. Wind-resistant gloves are a must. A turtle-neck zip-top base layer is good to protect the neck, as is a lightweight neck gaiter.

Speaking of gaiters, get a good pair that covers your calves, for snow. REI or Outdoor Research make good ones.

First lite and Kuiu merino wool has served me well and as others have said layers is where you want to be!

I'm similar to Tanner and Smokepole - wear multiple thin layers and make sure they handle perspiration. I generally wear a thinish synthetic base layer - top and bottom - followed by light to mid weight fleece, topped by something wind/water resistant. This system works for my western hunts. I rotate the fleece between very light weight to expedition weight fleece. I've used several of the Rivers West jackets as an outer layer but be forewarned they don't breathe well. I normally put them on when I arrive and cool down a bit. The newer versions are much quieter than previous versions and have more pit/crotch zips than previous versions.

The biggest mistake I see eastern guys making is overdressing thinking they'll freeze to death when its 10 degrees. You won't. I've seen Cabelas parkas made for zero degree deer stand sitting, 2000 gr thinsulite boots, 2 layers expedition weight long johns, and a bunch of other tree stand sitting equipment. None of it is needed and will hinder your capabilities.

My normal MO when elk hunting is to put my outer jacket in/on my pack until/unless I get somewhere to sit. I tend to cover ground the first couple days till I figure out the elk. I've hunted alot of days without putting my outer jacket on - as cold as -22. If you are moving, climbing, actively still hunting looking for elk, you won't need to look like the Michelin Man. I wear 400 gr thinsulite Danner Elk Hunters 99% of the time - sometimes they are too warm.

Buy quality, buy lightweight, and wear multiple layers. And have fun.

Smokepole, weight has been a serious consideration, but the wool jacket I've been looking at at the local sporting goods seems to me thick enough without being very heavy. Do you think I would regret the weight of just one wool garment? But, regardless of weight, you've drawn my attention to another problem it may have, it only buttons half way down. Do you think I should aviod a garment if I can't get it open all the way for ventilation?

Now a lot of people have been suggesting a windproof, waterproof shell. I've been looking at Cabela's 10 Point 4-in-1 parka. It has Cabela's Dry Plus membrane and has removable insulation so it can be worn as just a shell. Good choice?

You won't know until YOU hunt in it. If there's one thing I've learned, everybody is different. Some people are Type-A relentless hikers, and managing their sweat is a primary concern. Others are sit-and-watch guys (often AFTER a big hike) and that's a different set of issues. I'm in between. I love slowly still-hunting and am not opposed to sitting and watching for a couple hours, but I typically hike in a number of miles... If I'm alone I hike fairly slowly to avoid having a crapload of sweat to deal with.

Rain and snow are a thing for me where I hunt elk so my outer layer is typically waterproof unless the weather is rock-solid dry. Then I'll go wool pants. But I always, always have a shell jacket in my pack. If for no other reason than it will save your life if you end up having to spend the night in the woods.

The constants here are, IMHO:

- a quality base layer. Patagonia Capilene is a gold standard but it's spendy. The REI copy is very good. I'd go mid weight if I could just have one.

- a fleece layer, or layers, on that. I like expedition-weight Capilene as a mid layer. It's denser and thinner than regular fleece and sized and cut appropriately for layering. There's a number of camo shirts made out of very similar material out there that would do the same thing.

- a heavier fleece layer. I have a camo Colombia zip-up fleece that makes a good outer layer in dry conditions.

- an outer shell layer. NOT the place to skimp! I love my River's West gear. I wouldn't advise it unless rain was a real possibility. It is as close as you'll get to waterPROOF* short of vinyl fisherman's gear but it's not breathable. It is however VENTED.... Still, a poor choice for the Type-A hiker or a guy hunting where it's dry. It does double-duty for me as blacktail gear in the drizzle.

*can't resist a bit of pontificating on this subject. It rains a lot here. I've tried a bunch of different stuff for my active outdoor hobbies. Be advised, there ain't no such thing as waterPROOF and breathable in the same garment. It's more of a scale. The more waterproof, the less breathable, and vice versa. That's not to say that a quality water resistant/breathable (see what I did there?) outer layer isn't highly useful; but be realistic, and don't give up one or the other thinking you'll get both, if that makes sense.

Oh- socks. Big fan of the UltiMax liners and socks. I got them at REI. Far better than anything else I've tried.

I've handled that garment and that is not one I would buy for an elk hunt.

Wyo, as long as you can open it up to get air circulation on your chest you'll be fine. It might not even be an issue for you, I just like to wear stuff that's adjustable on the fly.

Someone mentioned socks--Smartwool and Darn Tough are good.

Have you ever handled any of their MT050 shells, pointer?