Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Boot HELP.

It may not be the boots. Sounds like your feet are not used to hiking with the weight. Are you using high percentage merino wool socks? With no training, I usually start to get blisters/hotspots around the 6-7 mile mark with a 50 pound pack. This spring, I trained w/ a 50 lb pack for 3-4 months and on my last 27 mile/3 day hike my blisters/hotspots started around 20 miles and when done with the hike they were very minimal.

Socks can make a huge difference, on a one day 26 mile hike I made the mistake of wearing semi synthetic PT socks with padding instead of my usual wool blend. I may as well have poured sand inside my socks as by mile 18 that day my feet were a wreck. My feet felt hot due to the desert terrain (Or so I thought). It never ocurred to me to change my socks, once I did, aside from my overall fatigue, my feet were 100% better, at least functional.

As others have said the additional weight on your feet is also an additional stressor. I personally prefer the SOLE moldable insoles on boots that need "insole assistance"

It seem like false economy to choose a pair of boots for a very expensive hunt because you can buy them cheaper with points or get them at cost.

Moreover, for the type of hunt you are going on, you need to pay as much attention to ankle support as you do to fit. If I were going to be climbing the sides of steep mountains like you will I would want the ankle section to fit very tight to get all of the support I could get.