Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Hunting Boots: your preferences

I've been watching the Rose Avil channel on YouTube, and have learned a lot about boot constuction. To me, it's very interesting. It's made me rethink some of my notions about boots.

https://www.youtube.com/@RoseAnvil/videos

So, I'm curious. What's your ideal hunting boot? Brand and style. And especially, why.

I've got a lot of boots. Original Army spike protected jungle-boots, rubber-bottom LL Bean styles, calf-high Lacrosse style, low end Wolverine hiking/work boots, middle-priced Danners, high-end Danners, and some Thorogoods that could do work-boot/hunting double duty.

I tend to gravitate towards insulated, gore-tex lined boots for hunting. But sometimes I think that a really well constructed pair of non-insulated leather boots, that can be repaired, that I can waterproof myself, that is just large enough to accomodate an separate insulated liner, and which can dry properly if they do get wet inside, may be the best way to go. Other times, when I look at some cracks in the second soles I have on a pair of Danners, maybe it's best to buy a relatively inexpensive pair of boots, like my Wolverines, and just replace them when they start to fail, which is sometimes fairly soon. (The liner at the heel inside my Wolverines wore through in well under 50 wears and I've fixed it with adhesive leather heel-counter liner - so far, so good. And now they have a squeak.)

So, just wondering what your boot preference/philosophy is. Please tell me what has workd well for you, and what hasn't.

For me..


I hunt flat muddy ground. Fuggin gumbo mud.

So its rubber boots.

I wear dryshod brand ( muck style ).

I have watched some of Rose Anvil's stuff and like it, but I don't find his analysis all that applicable to hunting boots. For me those are pretty much disposable and Rose Anvil's concerns are more about long term durability and wear in a boot that gets regular care. Going through several wet/dry cycles and staying covered in mud for many days at a time with no care at all would be a regular thing for a hunting boot of mine but I don't think that is something he considers.

If Nick's gets his ND3s to me in a timely fashion maybe I will hunt in them to see how "indestructible" they really are.

I wore Naglevs on my most recent hunt and they did ok, but more drop in the heel than is really comfortable for me. They do seem like they will last longer than most but time will tell. I think Rose Anvil has cut those apart and said they were pretty well constructed.

To me it’s a lot about comfort and quality.

For a lot of travel I would go with Krispi boots. And get the one that fits your needs. This is the favorite, hands down.

Honorable mentions:

Schnees

For extremely cold weather or ice fishing, I pull out the military Mickey Mouse boots.


Two things to never go cheap on. Tires and boots.

No harsh, rocky terrain here in south Jersey. Just mud and sand. Muck boots work great for me. They are the most comfortable boots I've ever worn, even with my 14EEE feet!
I wear my pants legs outside of them to save the neoprene uppers in the brush and briars where I deer hunt.

For the pheasant fields, it's Red Wing Wingshooters.

I will wear Kenetrek or Zamberlan for hunts in the mountains or Schnees pacs when there’s snow on the ground.

Noit a lot of rocky terrain around here, either. So the unaggressive tread on LL Bean Maine Hunting shoes have been adequate. But there's been times I wihed I have a rubber bottomes boot with bettwe tread.

I like the Schnees. It looks like the boot liner is removable. Is that correct?

I wear Lacrosse Alphaburly’s more than anything else for hunting. My other hunting/hiking boots are Keen’s. My current ice fishing boots are Sorels but most any pac will do for that since I’m not walking far in them.

hunting swamps and creek beds here in North FL. I favor Rocky snake proof, water proof high boots

I have migrated to Danner's as my cheapy promo brand boots from places like Dick's have fallen apart. I'm not too rough on boots so even the cheap ones I've had would last me 4//5 years. I now have 3 pairs of Danners and I like them all. Certain models do run narrow though, but I have narrow feet so that has never been a big deal for me.

Nothing with over 400 grams of Thinsulate. My feet don't typically get cold where I hunt.

Schnees hunter pack boots.

Warm temps - Red Wing Flexforce waterproof work boot {my everyday warm weather boot}

Cool temps - Carolina 600 gr. insulated waterproof logger {my everyday cold weather boot}

Cold temps - Danner Pronghorn 800 gr. insulated waterproof hunting boot

Freeze your balls off - Irish Setter 1200 gr. insulated waterproof hunting boot

Lowa Hunter GTX EVO Extreme for me.

I am breaking a pair of Zamberlain Sawtooths in right now. They seem nice but have only a week or so in them.

I really like my Lowa boots. I tried Krispi and Kenetrek along with the Lowas and the Lowas fit my foot the best. Try to find a place where you can test them on your feet side by side. One mistake I made was using oil on them and caused the rand to separate some but I was able to fix it.

Loving mine. I think they are the Wasatch model. Very easy to break in, I wore them on a hunt right out of the box. The rand is starting to delam a little though. But pretty much all my leather boots do this eventually.

Liner is removable and the lowers can be rebuilt/replaced by Schnees when they start to age crack.

Schnees beartooths and packers

Most quick things around the farm, basic Muck Boots. When I really want to "get after it" Lowa high tops. 8-10 years old. Just got back from the "Mother Land" after being re-soled. $140 well spent. Like someone posted above, when you have Size 14/15 W-I-D-E feet, you take advantage of what you can get. These were broke in. I put a special request in the rebuild note to use the widest last possible when they did the rebuild. The rebuilt boots are still "stiff". But the width is not an issue.

Muck boots are actually something I don't mind hiking in as long as it isn't sheep kind of country. My feet don't sweat too much and maybe that is why.
I am talking about true muck boots from Muck Boot Company, not Grundens or Xtratufs. They have plenty of ankle support. I packed a moose about a mile through typical moose swampy habitat in them this year and a caribou nearly 3 miles on North Slope tussocks. I have put ~15 miles on them in a day before without issue.

Those are my favorites to wear, most comfortable.

I have many others I use depending on the weather and terrain.