Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Sheep hunt rain gear

AK guys-

I'll be hunting sheep in the Brooks this year: is Impertech still my best bet for rain gear? I've got Sitka stuff but have never had it soaked for more than a couple of days, have heard anecdotal reports of Gore-Tex failing under sustained wet conditions.

Thanks

It does. But, if it's pouring, the inside of impertech gets wet too as rain has a way of working it's way in and the wet creeps.

Boss bought me a set of Kuiu Chugach rain gear for Christmas. I'll be giving that a go next year.

You might be able to spend a bunch on newer super duper materials and they might work better and not wet out like old stuff, but eventually, if it rains enough, you get wet.

I have an event jacket that hasn't been in bad weather yet so I don't know what to expect there. Older Mountain Hardwear conduit material worked fine for me in very wet conditions.

A lot has to do with your layering under the shell. I've found that if I need a puffy to be warm when it's raining, then I need fleece over that so that the puffy doesn't wet out against your shell. So I'm typically using a puffy vest or jacket, and a light fleece pullover large enough to go over the puffy if it's wet. The fleece over top can fit a bit snug...normally it goes under, but if it's wet and cold, it goes over. The idea is to get your internal dew point out of your puffy (where condensation can cause problems) and out against the shell where it belongs. Fleece does well maintaining its loft if a bit wet, not so for some of the typically thin and flimsy UL puffy insulation materials.

As far as I'm concerned, all of the cheaper laminated raingear is the same, be it from marmot, Patagonia or MH.

Appreciate it, fellas.

The fancy systems offered by the boutique camo mountain hunting outfits don't seem to give attention to the fact that fleece worn over puffy layers and out against the shell layer keeps moisture out there where it belongs, away from the loft of the puffy layer.

That's a good point Vek. I will need to give that a try one of these days.

I use a Westcombe Spectre jacket that has an eVent membrane, and that has done very well for me the last three years. Kuiu Chugach rain pants have been decent too.

Mostly though, when it rains hard, this is the position I assume...grin. Quick pitch shelters are crucial in sheep country, IMO.

Tanner, is that one of those fancy tarps I read about so much on other forums. I've never brought along any quick pitch anythings on any of my sheep hunts, other than my hilleberg tents, but might have to try it this year if it's not too much of a weight sacrifice.

GrizzlyKid, that's just a Hilleberg Tarp UL-10, it's pretty low drama and goes up easily with 2 or more trekking poles! In a pinch I can get it set up with rocks and poles in about 5 minutes. It's indispensable to me, while backpack hunting in rainy places. Well worth the pound-pound and a half extra in my opinion. I use it as a primary shelter pretty often, too.

Tanner

Agree 100% a lightweight shelter to get out of the elements when you can is a must! And I also dig the westcomb gear

Cool, thanks for the info Tanner and Luke. I use an ice axe instead of a trekking pole, so thats something I'd have to think about when getting into the tarp business. But, I think it would be great to have something I can pop up real quick to get my hunters out of the rain when sitting there glassing.

It sure is nice when it's pouring to pop out the shelter and fire up the stove for some hot tea while waiting out the weather.

A simple tarp works for sure but I prefer a fully enclosed shelter while floorless but anything that that gets you out of the rain is a plus

Guess I should have elaborated a bit more on my shelter setup a bit more; I carry a Hilleberg tent in addition to that tarp. I just set the tarp up really quickly if it starts to rain hard enough in order to stay reasonably dry and not get in a sticky situation. Tent gets setup when a good camp spot is found at an appropriate time!

OP- sorry for the hijack!

Tanner

Hahaha no worries I knew what you were doing. The tarp is far more versatile no doubt I just enjoy zipping up the door of my bivy shelter to get out of the wind and rain. No wrong way about it as the name of the game getting out of the weather when the hunt allow.

When I lived in Alaska I used Impertech and Marmot Precip raingear for sheep hunting and never felt like I was at a disadvantage. I can't for the life of me see how guys are spending $500-$600 for raingear from Sitka or Kuiu, I guess if one has the money to blow it's no big deal but man that's an insane amount of money for a rain jacket and pants. And on the camo raingear thing, I killed a pope and young ram with my bow and a nice ram with a rifle and using sneaky Indian techniques minus camo neither ever saw me.

I figure that when it rains I will eventually get soaked no matter what the gear, and I too believe in the portable shelter. But I take it a step further and carry a woodstove too. On an elk hunt our teepee and woodstove weigh around 8 pounds total and sleeps all 5 of us. At the end of the day the dry heat of the woodstove allows us to dry out all our gear. It has been a life saver when we got really soaked. In the old days for safety reasons you had to stay in the tent when it rained - not so when you have a woodstove. Patrick

I'll add that on a Brooks Range sheep hunt we brought a smaller teepee and woodstove that fit just 2 of us and together weighed around 4 pounds. We found excellent fire wood up to 4500 feet in the Atigun Pass area. Much better wood than we generally have here on Kodiak. It may not look like there are trees in the Brooks Range, but those little bushes make excellent stove fuel! Patrick

Absolutely!

Pretty damn wet here in Impertech

Thanks again. The Hillerboerg tarp was already on my "to buy" list so good to see it endorsed once again.

I've used Impertech once, then some Patagonia stuff for several years.

Last year I got one of those "boutique camo mountain hunting" jackets (Kuiu Yukon) for Christmas. I love the thing. I might have to get a pair of the pants, because there is nothing worse than not matching.

How gauche.

You always were a slave to fashion.

Bad fashion.

Still love the impertech. Although i even more love my bivy tarp which goes up in seconds with my walking pole. Bearpaw tarps.

My sheep hunting days are behind me most likely

But I've done a lil

The only way to do it is what works for you

Here's what worked best for me

Frogg Togg rain jacket, Red Ledge rain pants

Impertech just too heavy to sheep hunt imo, and this from a guy that practically lived in impertech during September

One thing always in my pack was a silnylon poncho, love dual duty gear, the poncho had tie downs on every corner , so could cover meat in sunny weather, stake out as a tent for a siwash

But what it got used mostly for was keeping me and my pack dry while glassing during inclement weather

With my above rain gear on and pack behind me as a chair, poncho slips over all and did a great job of keeping all but my arms dry ( ( if I was still glassing )

Plus if I'm hiking or hauling meat in the rain I'd rather wear the poncho than rain gear

My current impertech is much lighter weight (thinner material) than my first set. Probably not as durable, but lighter and still waterproof.

Anyone get actual scale weights of imp vs others?

The weights are pretty comparable:

Impertech DLX is 30 oz

Sitka Stormfront is 24 oz

Kuiu Chugach is 19 oz

Kuiu Yukon is 29.2 ox

Thanks Woodits.

Waterproofness vs. weight vs. cost.


As my friend Randy sez, make your own self happy.

Don't have access to my digital sheep gear list and too lazy to look for the hard copy

IIRC 15 oz for FT jacket and about same for RL pants

A few ounces here or there doesn't really matter on the approach , really no biggie whether you're toting in 50 or 60 lbs

It's when you score a ram and are hauling him out with your gear that you start looking hard at every ounce and gram you're packing

At least that's how it went for me

Word that.

+1 as well!

Here's hoping I find out what that's like.

Thanks again for all of the help guys.

Whoa, just noticed you're from Alabama. So I take it you'll be using a guide.

if so, you can spare some ounces and grams, he'll be doing the heavy lifting for you.

Typically I'd have my hunter pack out cape and horns while I packed the meat, with all of our personal gear of course.

had to laugh as one particular client did a lot better job keeping up on the way back than on the way in.

when we finally got back to base camp, I had him heft my pack compared to his and he realized perhaps he hadn't quite walked himself into sheep shape as much as he thought during that week.

on a guided hunt, you can hedge a fair amount


or if you don't want to pay a guide, I've got a single sister. (grin)

Yep, I'll be the client so I will be able to share the load with the guide. May also have a photographer with me and he's a fit little bastard so I'll be shoving as much of my gear in his pack as I can when he's not looking.

In all seriousness, I never like to approach hunts as "the client", I always want to pull my weight. I'll be 40 this Summer and I train pretty hard for this stuff.

Hell, you are a spring chicken compared to some guys that I have gotten Rams with. Your guide will appreciate you being in good shape more than you could imagine!

Tanner

I've been to Alaska three times now and have found that Marmot Precip gear works great.



The thing I learned more though than "good rain gear" is the concept of staying warm while wet. Sweating through an 80# pack in the rain means I pretty much got every bit as damp. But at least I didn't have do deal with wet rain wicking my heat away.

Sheep hunting days seem like a lifetime ago, but my strategy was pretty similar to this wise fella.

Actually I wore a GI Gore-Tex Jacket all the time and the pants if it was wet. Although at times I did carry a GI poncho with me to throw on over everything, most times I was carrying one of those two-sided survival tarps (semi-lightweight w/grommets on the corners, about a 4' x 6' or so). They folded nicely and slid between a freighter frame and a moose bag and you always had that bit 'o safety with you.

I once mentioned the lightweight umbrella my partner brought, but I just about got run off the site so I'll leave that one be.


GI Gore Tex - buddy's ram from the Delta Control Unit

Thats teh same goretex thats soaked through on us a few time in military rifle matches in hours long downpours... FWIW.

We still have and wear, just not at critical times.

Never said it was great Jeff! And FWIW, I agree with your assessment, ithat old-age stuff seemed to lose its waterproofness fairly quickly. Always tried to have a new set for hunts.

The technology is soooo much better these days.

That's a great attitude

Hope you score a really nice one

Thanks for coming to our state to hunt

It's beautiful here hope you savor every moment

Wasn't a derogatory comment to you, just a comment.

Thats stuff I'd hate to get caught out with on a wet week out in the bush these dyas with better stuff out there.

Certainly never took it that way Jeff. When there was newer and better I used it. Real point was I used a Gore-Tex jacket as a dual purpose and Gore-Tex pants pretty much just when it was raining.

Second point was that I always carried a small tarp shoved in my freighter frame as a safety and convenience back-up.

It was really just a comparison of then vs. what guys like Tanner use now. I think the concepts have remained pretty much the same, but there is better (and ultimately safer) gear to use based on advanced technology.

Cheers!

What's the oldest age group you've gotten rams with?

This is something I've always wanted to do, but I'm 46, still in good shape, but I realize my time to get a ram is fleeting fast.

I hunted with Tanner's cohort Andrew in '15. I was 58 then, and not the oldest of the three hunters they had on the mountain for opening day.

I used a Westcomb (event) jacket, Marmot Precip pants, and OR Crocs.

The dang pants didn't work worth squat, all I did was slide down a gravel chute on my butt at 1:00 AM with a loaded pack and they sprung a leak I had to patch.

There's hope for me yet.

A good guide makes all the difference. Good ones can even make you feel like you're not slowing them down.

Much appreciated, I can't wait to see it for myself.

That's funny $hit right there!

Yep, trying to keep up with a sheep guide in the mountains is Friggin" hilarious.