Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Sitka or other expensive clothes - are they worth the $?

I have been spending some money on KUIU gear and I have to say that I am really impressed with the attack pants. They fit well and are very comfortable to hike in. I love the side thigh zipper vents, they really work. They are tons better than the old Norwegian milsurp heavy wool I have used in the past.
I am also totally amazed with how light this clothing is. Their down jackets and zip T seem so light and thin I thought that there was no way they would keep me warm in the mountains but they sure do seem to. Their down Zip T is really nice for a first layer over the base merino.
My only question is that this stuff is so light weight I wonder how it will hold up over the long haul.


Bill

as much as you can get away from cotton. I have no idea who is paying all that money for sitka, cabelas has some stuff that is priced at least as much. For pants I wear what I normally wear everyday, tru spec 24 7 cargo pants, coyote tan, which actually blends decently in the rocky terrain I normally hunt. I also have the same pants in multi cam, which is a pretty darn good all around camo pattern from mountains to sage brush desert. my pants are comfortable, functional, tons of pockets and dry quickly when wet. if I am hunting below 25 degrees I put on a compression type 100% polyester long john under them. If I am hunting below 15-20 degrees I go with a cabelas outfitter wool pant. I don't normally do much hiking when its that cold so a heavy pant works just fine.

for tops I run a polyester thin shirt, then a polyester hoodie, then a cabelas wooltimate coat. the wooltimate coat is amazing it comfortable from 60 degrees riding around in the truck to around 0. I have packable rain gear if needed. I think someone mentioned wet hunting conditions is where sitka works great. thinking more about it thats probably correct. I actually don't normally hunt in wet conditions much. a summer cloud burst is all I have to worry about.

I have come full circle and started wearing wool again, although I still use a Gore-Tex Pro shell jacket. I wear merino base layers and usually a wool sweater as a second layer. I have a pair of First Lite Kanab merino wool pants and for colder weather, a pair of Cabelas Superwash 24 oz (heavy) wool pants. It is probably just me, but whether I'm still hunting, or chasing elk in CO, wool just seems to help in regulating my body temperature better than some of the hi-tech fabrics. I do wish wool pants were lighter, but I guess it is an acceptable trade-off for comfort.

One thing's certain, wet cotton will kill you, or make you wish you were dead.

I have to agree with the other folks about wool pants. I've used WWII "Ike" pants and some German wool pants of unknown origin I got from Cabelas, and they work very well. They would probably be termed medium weight, but are no heavier than denim and very warm. The thrift store dress pants idea sounds like a good one.

I have a Filson double mack and a washable wool coat from Cabelas and like them very much, but they are much too heavy for climbing. My go-to coat is an old Cabelas waterfowl parka, so old that it's made in America. It's a medium weight shell with thinsulate and Gore Tex. It's very light, very warm, and completely wind and waterproof. I can take it off or unzip it for hiking, but even if I don't, it doesn't drown me in my own sweat. Obviously, it's not available any more, but something like it surely is.

I like fleece for it's light weight, price, and comfort, but all of it retains too much moisture for me. The same is true for the ECWACS long underwear I've been wearing lately. I'm looking for a replacement.

Bow hunting with my grandson the other day we met a hunter outfitted head to foot in Sitka Gear. As we drove on my grandson said, "That guy was wearing $800 worth of Sitka Gear and maybe a lot more."

Wool dress pants. Thin, light weight: all of the benefits of wool in less weight than jeans and a far more comfortable cut.

Okanagan, I've had this suggested before and I may have to make a trip to a local thrift store to check it out. How is the durability of thinner wool dress pants?

I have a Sitka 90% jacket that I bought 6-7 years ago and I love it. Last year bought Kryptic pant and like them and just bought some Sitka ascent pants online. Been wearing Kings pants/shirts for years. Will see how the new wear.

Biggs300;
While I'm not Okanagan - he's much taller and has much more hair than I - I'll say that the same pants that I posted about on this thread - page 2??? - last season made it through another season and still have no holes in them so far this year.

So far I'm very happy with the wool dress pants I've been hunting with, again though I'll say if you wear a belt then you might want to take it along to the thrift store as some of them have very small/thin belt loops.

Again though, for $6 invested they seem to be a good investment - hey I paid that for a trendy coffee this morning at Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal in Vancouver.

Hopefully that was some use to you sir and good luck on your hunts this fall whichever pair of pants you end up in.

Dwayne

They are tougher than we might expect if they are quality material to begin with, pretty close to half faded jeans for how easily they tear. My best ever were Pendleton wool and they lasted five seasons (apparently custom sewn for somebody). Others have lasted for one trip. A little bit of synthetic blend doesn't hurt anything IMO though virgin wool is my first choice.

I stock up with a few extras in case I ruin a pair. Don't know how to describe better quality wool fabric but it is usually a tight weave, even if soft on the surface. The good stuff is tough even if very thin.

Just back from a bow hunt for elk on the Olympic Penninsula. I wore super thin peach-finish nylon pants (REI ?) and alternated a pair of thin wool dress pants though it was so warm I didn't wear the wool much.

Like many have said here I went synthetic for a couple of years for the waterproof features but wasn't really comfortable in a broad range of temperatures like I had been with wool. I have the cabelas, Codet, Columbia, and LLBean pants or jackets most were gift card eBay or thrift store purchases and there is a pretty good variety of weights. I treat the seat and knees every year with camp dry spray from Walmart and that helps sitting in the snow .

Layering is important if you plan to hike 2 miles and gain 1000 feet in the dark then have to sit for an hour pre-dawn in 0 degrees. I try to go with wicking polyester and wool with light rain gear and some fleece, the Cabelas parka and a vacuum packed synthetic down vest get dragged along of it could be very cold and windy. Old Pendleton shirts are a great layer as are light merino sweaters. Medium heavy wool pants poly or wool base layer wool shirt and light waterproof wind breaker covers a lot of temperature variation. I like the light frog togs if all I'm doing is sitting in the rain and not hiking through thick brush.

If there is any place you can cut costs hunting in the mountains it is in the area of clothing. Good boots and expensive optics have a lot better payback than fancy name brand clothes. As long as you stay away from cotton you can be comfortable on days that change from 20 to 55 degrees and then drop to 0. Besides the idea is to get them a little bloody after all.

New tech and old fangled:

FWIW a pic of my 17 year old grandson's lower legs while he was bow hunting for elk last week on the Olympic Peninsula. Wool flannel dress pants from Good Will with the new toe shoes or whatever they call them. He climbed up and down canyons all day in those and got within bow range of two bulls, though he passed the shots due to iffy factors that risked wounding.

Problem is that no matter how much money you spend on that clothing is that despite claims, when you need it to keep you dry, it won't. Boss tried the latest and greatest Kuiu rain jacket this summer out on the boat. After a few days, he was back to pvc. He had their previous model the year before, and same result.

I'm guessing that if your boss climbed a mountain in his PVC he'd be wet too....

No doubt!

I don't mind spending $$$$ on quality stuff. "Worth it" only matters to me. OMMV.

Ohhhhh to have young ankles again.

I just don't have the resources to spend the kind of money some do on high end clothing for my hunting trips. But I do need good clothing for the changing weather conditions we constantly run into.
I am a pretty thrifty shopper (well trained by my wife) and I look around constantly for good sales on all kinds of gear, including hunting gear.

I shop for most of my hunting gear at the END of hunting season when the clearance sales come out and I avoid the highest end clothing like the plague as I've had great experiences with lower priced gear in weather that would drown and elk/deer, freeze a penguin, or boil water- sometimes in the same day.

As almost everyone on this site knows, layering is essential to being comfortable in changing conditions. To me, that means carrying a pack to carry the different layers as I go through my day from dawn to dusk.

With layering, only one layer has to be REALLY good, the others can be average as you can stay warm with a wool layer as long as the other layers don't interfere with it's action. Same with synthetic under layers and outer layers.

I shop for most of my hunting camo at Columbia outlets in this area, since they are headquartered here and have great availability at the stores here. I've found their hunting clothing and boots to be as good as anyone's and I get it at bargain prices at around the begining/middle of hunting seasons, which is when the clearance sales come on to make room for spring fashions.
Other manufacturers have the same system, so become a better shopper and you can get great clothing at bargain prices.

Cabelas also has some great hunting clothing for great seasonal prices if you watch their sales. Get on their email list and you will be notified of great sales coming up.

For me, though, I've got Columbia gear I've been wearing for many years on tough elk and deer hunts and it has held up great and kept me comfortable from walking up mountains to sitting and glassing in 2 feet of snow at dawn/dusk. A very few times when it has been particularly nasty I've had to start a fire to warm up or dry off, but that has been rare and only in the worst conditions when I was afraid of becoming hypothermic. Another reason to carry a pack with adequate supplies to start a fire, carry food, etc....

Bob

Bet he didn't walk on rocks or shale much in those.............

If he did, he's one tough SOB.

MM

Slow reply, Fall time distracts me from the internet!

I was amazed at how he climbed up and down in deep steep canyons all day in those things. He loves them but after three days his ankles were scratched and bruised from shale and especially from blackberry vines, so he went back to boots. We talked about rigging him some ankle leggings/gaiters to go with the toe shoes.

He said that they grip rock well but are surprisingly slick on many rain forest surfaces. The pads are Vibram, notorious for being slick on wet wood.