Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting At what temperature do you switch over to insulated boots

I wonder if you biggest problem is the gor-tex lining in the boot not letting the moisture to exit your boot. Just try finding a boot with out a gor-tex or gor-tex like material.

I have tried a LOT of socks, darn tough socks are not that good. The sock I always go to now are Scheels tree stand sock or Kenetrek. And while hiking I always wear a sock liner

For my situation I require waterproof boots. As I understand it boots are no different than other garments in that anytime something is made waterproof breathabilty will suffer.
I don’t know that it matters how the boot is waterproofed .
Please correct me if I’m mistaken.

More activity than temperature dependent. A day still hunting no issue. Sitting at a likely crossing anything below freezing.

Goretex gets less breathable the colder it gets. Not sure if the other membrane type water proofing are the same or not? Oil and wax waterproofing breathe some but do reduce breath ability in general. Anything that is 100% water proof also doesn't breathe.

The old mesh Vietnam style insoles help in hot weather to stay drier I get boots sized large enough to add these under some regular insoles. The same for winter use a felt and mylar insole goes under the regular ones. This adds about 10-20 degrees of warmth and keeps the boots dryer if I rotate them on a regular basis.

Even though I have cold feet the longer I can avoid insulated boots the better. Boot blankets if stand hunting or even slippers and insulated gaiters will take you down to the 20's at least if active.

Agreed.
Also I have always thought gore Tex makes a boot warmer so to speak. Also think a synthetic lining in a boot adds some warmth.
Add both to an uninsulated boot and it is almost like some insulation.

I am uninformed on sock liners. What purpose do they serve?

They create a friction buffer that helps eliminate blisters. I went in as a greenhorn with a pair of Irish Setters for my first elk hunt this October and wore injinji liners and darn tough wool socks. Not one single blister in 40-45 miles of hard hiking, 12-15ish of that with 65+ lbs on my back. Basically using a liner allows the liner and the sock to slip against each other a lot of the time in stead of your foot slipping against the sock.

When my daughter climbed Mt Kilimanjaro two years ago I had her fitted into her Scarpa GTX boots with 2 (two) pairs of medium wt wool socks (I believe darn tough). The inner pair wicks away from the foot and the doubling makes the outer move with the boot. No blisters, no cold feet and never had her feet her in the two weeks she was there. At least a sock liner and outer wool as a minimum. You need to get the boot size to have room for what your sock solution is. I would not suggest trying to fit two pair of socks into your regular boot size.

I will add that she had 4 pair of socks total. She would rotate the inner sock to the outer one and the outer to handwash and dry. She always had at least one extra pair of clean and dry socks. She also stored her socks at night in the foot of her sleeping bag along with a nalgene water bottle of hot water. Thus she started her day with clean, dry warm socks and didn't have to warm up the socks and the boots. She spent 5 days above 11,000 feet and climbed in snow and ice and cold rain.

I agree its much about your socks as much as your boot.

Wool or SmartWool socks are your friend with sweaty feet. I pretty much wear them all winter and it's helped a ton since I've started doing that.

Liners make a big difference. Both drier and more blister free feet. As Sierrahunter pointed out you can bring multiple pairs of liners and rotate them out, the outer socks stay cleaner. I am looking for a wicking wool blend liner anyone know of a good source? My old ones are just about shot.

To be honest it all depends on your method of hunting. Still and stationary hunting in 20 degree weather, I always use a medium sock and 200 gram thinsulate. Dropping to zero degrees thereabouts for still and stationary I go to heavier sock and 400 gram thinsulate. Spot and stalk at 20 degree I go with light sock and 200 grams thinsulate. Try a 200 gram in lieu of 400 gram insulation for your stated post. Have a bevy of sock weights to choose from. For vary warm weather a light sock and active uninsulated lightweight boot similar to upland field hunting wear is great. If traveling pack them all (200 gram, 400 gram thinsualted boots and uninsulated lightweight as well as corresponding socks).

I’ve been running Smartwool socks forever.
I will try the liner socks again.
As far as running different weights and combinations of socks , I never could vary much from what I got my boots to fit.

My feet run warm too. As in I had sandals on today and walked across a parking lot to get to the bathroom with an inch of slushy snow on the ground. In dry conditions I go out in them in below freezing temps when just running around town or the yard here Cold rain I can tolerate down to about 36F in them. Snow, when it's more than an inch or so deep it tends to get into the holes and around the heel, so I don't do it much then.

Given that, I get by when hunting down to single digits in uninsulated Vasque hiking boots, with gaiters if the snow starts getting deep. And I have a pair of uninsulated LL Bean Maine Hunting Boots for wetter conditions. Have been out in them in the low teens if I recall, foot or so of snow on the ground.

Usually only one pair of Costco merino wool socks that come in the 3 (4?) packs seasonally. I always have some on hand for the past 15 years or more, since I first saw them available at least. Sometimes if I know I'm going to put more than a couple of miles in, I wear an over the calf dress sock under the Costco sock as a liner. I have a couple of pairs of old peoples compression type socks that I've used as a liner too.

I have a pair of Thinsulate containing Danners somewhere too, but I've never been too fond of them for most hunting I do. Perhaps I'll use them around here if I ever get out in below 0 temps to see how they do then.

Good luck finding a solution.

Geno

I dont, only socks change

When there is snow on the ground.

As said--change socks. Lots of miles in the above posts talking.

fwiw on cold & leathers:
I use premium leather boots with a good liner. As far as insulation goes, prefer without or very little, say 200g. I may be wrong but thinking once the insulation compresses it starts to lose its value. The more they stuff in there, the more likely that is to happen. Seldom resort to paks unless it is an all day sucker sitting out in the cold. Focusing on retaining your body core heat and keeping them dry is where it is at for yer feets.

Even with Kenetrek Sock liners and socks my feet still sweat really bad and feet get cold if I stop moving so I just bring along an extra pair of socks and liners and change them out. Makes a huge difference in comfort after a long day.