Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Best hunting wool pants/jacket

I have several wool items, I think the nicest stuff I have is Weatherby, but it is heavy duty for cold hunting. For more hiking and a lighter weight I use my Codet pants.

King of the Mt, and Sleeping Indian is really expensive. i cannot see spending $300 on a pair of 10 pound wool pants.

The guy that runs KOM does not hike around, he sits in a stand when and if he hunts, so for that application it is great.

I get overheated in fleece. Wool breathes better if you don't get that heavy stuff designed for Minnesota late season deer stand sitting.

For me a single cruiser from Filson is OK for late deer and rifle season for elk in Western WA in Nov. I prefer Swandri stuff for earlier seasons. For pants there are a variety of surplus military from French to Austrian, to Swedish. The Frenchies are good for earlier and the Austrian and Swedes for later. I like the cheap pants because my cuffs get shredded in the timber. I don't wash them very many times. I used them for a few seasons and toss them.

The next best stuff I've seen bang for the buck wise is the Columbia, especially if you're fond of camo.

I've seen KOM, Sleeping Indian, and I own some Weatherby stuff....all way too heavy unless you're going to sit on a wind exposed ridge in the snow.

Another minus for fleece and GoreTex is fire. I like to be able to have a warming fire if I need one or to be near my campfire at the end of the day. Every fleece garment I own has spark holes through it. I won't get near a fire in hign dollar raingear.

Oh, and the Cabelas Outfitter stuff? Not worth the money. I had a pair of bibs. They ripped on the first day I wore them hunting mule deer. I patched them. The next day I wore them was on my archery elk hunt later that season. They separated from one hip bone to the other all along the waist in the back. That was one drafty walk back to camp. My complaint letter that went with those was two pages long. They might work out well if you walk on the flat, don't carry a pack, or go over logs and other stuff but they DO NOT hold up to real western down and dirty hunting.

Bingo!

US Army OG 107 wool trousers and the OG 107 wool shirt. They do very well without being too heavy and they are durable.

After living through two New Zealand winters (not real cold temperatures, but always wet and windy...chills you to the bone), I have gradually shifted away from fleece and towards wool. My warmest outer layers are Filson (mackinaw crusier and mackinaw pants), and my inner layers are Icebreaker Merino. Merino is great for long underwear because it is warm, comfortable, and DOESN'T STINK after you've been wearing it for a few days. Icebreaker is a New Zealand company that makes high quality products, and I think you can find them pretty easily in the U.S.

If I'm going to be active outside (like hunt or hike), I'll wear my fleece clothes still, but only because they are lighter. I no longer believe the myth that fleece is as warm as wool, however, and from now on I will always choose natural fibers over synthetics if possible.

Gotta agree with the spark holes in synthetics, dang near every thing I have has a few holes in it, some more than others. I figure it's custom venting. (grin)

I just can't go wool trousers, don't even wear them when snowmachining anymore. Can't think of the last time I had any on. Never forget the first late season float trip I did with an old fishing guide, "What you didn't pack any woolies?" Nope and haven't since, long johns and supplex pants do it for me, and normally hunting in hip waders so leg warmth has NEVER been a problem.

With that said, I'm sold on the wool long underwear, I like Smartwool and Ibex so far, not as sold on Duofolds version of same. Haven't tried the others mentioned.

But one piece of gear on my AMEX list for everything other than sheep is a light weight wool sweater from Woolrich with a fleece collar. Cold early mornings moose hunting, slip that on under my ancient Cabela's windstopper fleece jacket (lots of custom venting in that one) and we're talking toasty. Often don't even need the jacket with the wool sweater. I gotta agree with an earlier poster that said "I no longer buy into fleece is as warm as wool" Though I have some fleece garments I'm partial to.

Maybe it's part nostalgia, but it don't feel like I'm really hunting without the C's jacket and the wool sweater in the pack. Two trusted garments, that have BTDT with me, with those and a bite to eat I can weather the storm.

I bought the Cabalas washable wool pants with dryplus lining.
They are to warm for 98% of deer hunting where I live in Oregon. They are great on really cold days, and do wash up nice.
Also, they don't "swish" when i walk Virgil B.

Just a heads-up, that Cabelas sells a washable whipcord wool pants, very similar to the Filson pants. They sell for about $70-80 bucks IIRC. They are pretty darn durable. I've worn one pair for about 10 years and just bought another pair last year. They are lightweight, so they're good for early season hunting (Sept-Oct.), buck the wind well, and shed water pretty well also. I've never owned the Filson pants, but I figure I can buy 2-3 pair of these for the price of the Filsons. I've worn synthetics, and for really warm weather, I like them better than the wool pants, but when it starts getting cool in the fall, I'll stick with wool every time. As for clean-up, I'm not sure what everyone else does, but I usually have a set of light-weight rain gear with me and if I'm worried about getting my pants all bloody, I'll throw those on over the wool first, before I get started. That way, the rain pants are a cinch to clean up and the wool stays fairly clean. I will also say that I've taken my wool pants into dry cleaners for the last 30 years and pointed out the blood stains on them. They have never given me any problems and the blood stains are always gone when I get the pants back.
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For me alone and aside from my other points, I've found Whipcord to have a wider range of comfort than fleece/pile. I understand those two are different than a supplex pant with some sort of longjohn. I still wear supplex sometimes in the early season coupled with Capilene. However, here in dry MT I'm partial to Canvas duck for early/dry conditions. I know I'm a heretic wearing cotton in the mountains but I like them better.

Anoither nice thing about quality whipcord is it's a tight weave that resists wind penetration but is soft and itch free enough that it can be worn sans longjohns if desired.

I've never seen it mentioned on these threads but natural fabrics have a far more comfortable "handle" (highly technical garment industry term to describe a fabric's feel -grin) to me than any and all synthetics. For me that counts a bit as well...

johnson does work well and is inexpensive if you want wool... i have a closet full of the stuff and wear it for everything.. pretty tough stuff..

woofer

I've got the Columbia Gallatin Range Shirt, Jacket and Pants. It isn't the best but it is very functional for late season outings. I've also got various Filson, Woolrich and Johnson stuff that gets much use as well.

My experience has been a bit different. I haven't used any of the lower body stuff (I use surplus wool pants), but I have used the Cabela's washable wool coat and vest (I'm not a big fan of camo, but I do like the outfitter pattern). The coat has the rainproof lining in it. Both have held up well on some hard hunts.

The first drawback to both is the cheap zipper. Any savings I thought I was getting by buying Cabela's coat rather than a competing brand was lost when I paid to have the zipper replaced with a good #10 YKK 2-way (the original was a tiny-toothed, 1-way POS).

Another drawback to the coat is weight when it gets wet. The lining does keep me from getting wet, but the wool fabric gets mighty heavy after a few hours of a real downpour. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I really like wool - actually prefer it for most applications but it is heavy. My latest wool is the Cabelas dry plus wool series. I would not pay the extra money for KOM or Sleeping Indian wool if I could get Cabelas dry plus. I've worn it for two Colorado elk hunts in late October. It is a bit heavy, especially when wet but I still prefer it to the synthetics I've handled.

I do have a slightly different take on the weight issue. I have the lightest possible equipment and minimum stuff in my pack for survival and comfort. A pound or so on the wool garments is a fair trade off for wind and warmth.

-- BW

Filson, but the Columbia Galatin stuff is not bad, though bulky.

Wool. Twenty year old wool logger's pants. Merino wool turtleneck and a heavy or light wool shirt. Polypro underneath,top and bottom.

The turtlenecks come pretty cheap in men's stores on a sale.
Wear them for dress and retire them to your hunting closet as required. Nice and light.

Sally Ann supplies the wool shirts, usually with tags still on. Last one was a new Pendleton for $7.

Ever get whacked in the leg with branch wearing fleece ?
Wool gives your lower body more protection from bruising etc IMO.

Cain't savvy anyone opting wool,over synthetic......................

I'm exactly the opposite and it's not like I don't spend a lot of time in the woods when the weather is crappy. Different strokes for different folks....and I do have synthetic stuff that I use from time to time.

That a bitch,or a brag?...................

Just the facts. Personal preferences are weird like that. Some people get all snobby over scotch. I'd rather get a mouthful of diesel while siphoning. I like bourbon a lot, some people think it's crap.

I can tell when my balls are wet and cold.

Wool will induce that,synthetic won't...................