Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Lightweight vs heavy boots?

LOL, that's one way to look at it. The other way is to lace up your boots and get to work.


Thanks for posting Dwayne, beautiful country.

I have big feet, size 13, so I try to avoid heavy/bulky footwear as I don't need feet looking any bigger than they are and it makes driving more difficult too with jumbo boots on the pedals. In my experience, heavy footwear typically uses inferior quality components, as in outerwear, you pay a premium for lightweight. Every additional ounce on your feet compounds with every step adding to fatigue. My order of preference is fit/utility/weight as boots have to fit properly and do the job you have in mind.

Just like my hunting clothing, I prefer to eliminate weight whenever I can, going from heavy wool bids and jackets to KUIU has been a game changer to me, never going back! Same can be said for heavy, bulky boots. I've gone from wearing rubber pull-on mudders to my hiking boots with gaiters. Lighter, more comfortable, easier to walk in-cover more ground and the gaiters keep the could air from working up your pantleg and keeping your upper boots and pantlegs dry.

RIO7;
Good afternoon sir, I hope the day's been behaving for you down in your section of Texas and you're well.

Thanks for the chuckle, I appreciate it!

That little canyon is up on the mountain behind the house here. In fact the bluff in the center rear of the photo is just down the road from where I'm sitting. I can pretty much see the spot I took the photo from when I'm at the top of our driveway.

We're not as steep and rough as some of the coastal mountains or the Kootenays for that matter.

When we were mountain goat hunting up in the Stikine country which is just off the Alaska panhandle, there were a couple occasions where we just laughed at the goats we were watching because from our vantage point we absolutely could not conceive how they'd got there!

For sure I've never been the sharpest tool in the drawer and while I have been hungry on occasion, even while hunting, I'd say that mostly we hunt in those areas to test ourselves.

Honestly it felt pretty good to be working the same places I had in my 30's and being able to still keep up with one of our crew who was not even 30 yet and I'd just had my 60th birthday.

Different strokes and all that I suppose.

All the best and thanks again for the chuckle.

Dwayne

I don't really consider weight when picking boots. Usually its non-insulated vs Insulated. I used la sportiva karakorum's all last year and have Zamberlan Mountain Pro EVO GTX RR for when it gets real cold.

Bought some la sportiva aequilibrium's for this summer/early season this year.

They are. Note ankle doing it’s thang.

To me, a trail runner is light. A medium hiker for trails, like a Lowa Renegade or Salomon Quest, is mid weight. Off trail boots like Kenetrek mountain boots or Crispi Nevadas are heavy.

I consider anything above a medium hiker "heavy" but that wouldn't stop me from using them if needed. And I don't feel like there is a huge weight penalty going from a trail runner to a Renegade or Quest. Sure, there is a measurable difference but I don't really notice it.

I do know what you mean though. The Nevada seems noticeably heavier than a comparable Kenetrek but neither are light. Maybe that is just getting too picky.

I’d just say folks should try a pair of the modern light hikers/trail runners. Just try them. I’ve been backpacking for almost 50 years; I have a closet full of boots. I’m not saying this based on a trend or a whim, it’s based on experience. I’ve backpacked well over 500 miles in VERY rugged terrain in the last few years in those Solomons. And in mere days I leave for an 800 mile backpacking trip in very rugged terrain, and that’s what I’ll be wearing. Think some about what I said about the biomechanics of the leg. Don’t take the ankle out of the equation. Your knees, hips, and body in general will thank you. And you’ll feel like a kid out there without the clunky boots.

Just try ‘em.

First of all, nothing has to be heavy if there is a lightweight version that works. Then must get trekking poles to help. I hunt and hike in some of the steepest terrain and prefer low tops trail shoe over boot. Boot if strong in the right places can save your ankles but you are more prone to fall on your knees or hit your head falling without giving in the ankle first. Boot can be useful for snow. The determination for me is usually heavy snow. Gators can help but not so much on low top. Your ankles should be strong. If your ankles are strong and free moving range you will be more sure footed.

x2

Don't listen to this guy. If he was any good at backpacking, he'd have gotten there by now.

I’m hopelessly lost, but making good time!

Was just talking with my dad last night about our first actual backpacking trips. He’s thinking it was ‘77. The dude carried a half-gallon of milk the very first time, I kid you not. Lord only knows what else we were carrying. Hey, I was a kid. I blame him, haha. I remember my pack was some janky old thing checked out from the outdoor program at the college he taught at, same with the greasy stinky old flat sleeping bag, etc….. And I remember it was really hard, it hurt, got blisters, froze my ass off that night, and whatever I had for a sleeping pad, wasn’t.

Within a few years we had our gear much more together (for the era anyway) and my younger brother got old enough to start coming along. That was when we’d get up into the Pecos, the San Juans, I don’t remember where else. Put me in the wilderness with a creek and my rod and a few Panther Martins and I was in heaven.

I sure hope kids these days are getting these experiences, but I fear they aren’t.

I’ll have a pack on in just a few days. 7 weeks, 800+ miles. Maybe this time I’ll finally “get there”. Jeez, I hope not. Then what?!

You've got it all wrong. It's not "then what?"

It's "what then?"

Ha! Perfect! Love it!

I like lightweight boots for hiking. My heavy boots are pacs and swampers that are for other purposes.

For general hiking I like trail runners. I want something sturdy enough that my feet are well protected but I’ve never found myself needing the ankle support of a boot even back when I wore hiking boots. The freedom of movement and nimbleness in a shoe height hiker along with not having sweaty ankles is more than worth it to me.

That's me pretty much word for word.

Moreover, starting about 25, maybe 30 years ago, I began developing heel spurs. They've been surgically repaired so they are no longer ripping my achilles tendons open from the bottom (Haglund's Deformity) but I still have very protruding heel knobs. I cannot wear high top boots with the standard fairly vertical back anymore. I'm good for a couple hundred yards then my feet are disabled, trashed, for a period of days. Mediums are marginally better, I can go a couple miles a day or 3-4 miles then sit for a couple days to recover. With low tops I'm good for .. well, my heels aren't a hindrance anyway. I've done 20+ a number of times without problems .. or without heel problems. 20+ kicks my geezerly arse. Among low tops, weight does have an impact so far as fatigue. Lighter is mostly better but not taken to extremes. A shoe with good cushion will be heavier than one with none. There are good ounces and bad ounces.

The shoes I hike (and hunt, and fish, and explore, and whatever else) are mostly around a pound a pair. I've got some down around 6-7 ounces for the pair but they have no padding at all. They have a place but it isn't every place.

For general purpose, wear around town, wear on the trails, wear off in the woods, for me Merrell MOAB Ventillator low tops get the nod most of the time. If things are wet, I will switch to the waterproof version. I have a couple pair of mid height that I wear about 2 hours a year. For wet grass 'n' stuff I go with the waterproof low tops and gaiters. The only time I really NEED boots anymore are with snow shoes.

i prefer to protect my ankles and also get some ankle support too so short tennis shoes or real short boots for myself i never buy anymore . i have experienced a damage ankle and cuts from rocks , a broken ankle when i was young so give me a high top something for better protection.

Should be perfect in 6 inches of snow. Or when it’s not supposed to snow, but…..

Tried something similar once when I left for a winter day hunt and left my boots at home. Didn’t last long till my feet, socks and low riders were all soaking wet in 15-20F.

battue;
Top of the morning to you sir and Happy Easter, it's been a long time since we've chatted here and I trust time has been good to you overall in the interim.

You bring up a good point regarding "Or when it's not supposed to snow, but..."

We've got the luxury of looking up at the mountain behind the house most times and if it's got a fresh dusting of white, we'll dress and also drive accordingly.

Over the years we've seen the weirdest weather swings, even in the heat of summer when a hail storm dropped the temps from shirt sleeve to what felt like freezing with almost a half inch of hail on the ground.

Last fall we had no fall to speak of either, it went from full on summer with temps in the 30°C range in mid September to -10°C and snow up to my knees on the moose opener which is Nov. 01st. Now that much snow there isn't unusual, but it's typically not that depth until Christmas.

While we did see that it had snowed, we didn't understand just how very much it had snowed until we attempted to get into where we'd planned to look for a legal spike bull, only to find we were pushing snow with the front bumper.

It's been a good discussion here and I hope one and all find comfortable footwear and have a great season in the backcountry, wherever it is they find it.

Happy Easter to you all too.

Dwayne

Try a set of gaiters.

Low tops are no fun in deep snow- conceded.

“Boots” have their place. Just not on my feet in 99% of the circumstances I’m hiking.

Just put a brand new pair of Solomon X-Ultras in the resupply box that’ll be waiting for us at around the 500 mile mark. The pair I start out with- and will do the first 500 in- are gonna be wet for weeks. We cross a river over 200 times in one stretch of about a week’s hiking. Not kidding. No point in getting jiggy with it, changing shoes every 10 minutes….. Wet shoes it shall be. I’m not worried about the shoes per se but we need to average about 15 miles/day so I am worried what my feet are gonna do, banging big miles while wet. At that point we’ll be at least 3 weeks/ 300 miles in, so hopefully they’ll be hardened up… although it’s the hard spots (callouses) I’m worried about being wet for that long….

Of COURSE I tweaked my knee yesterday doing spring yard work trying to get the place in order to leave for so long. Greeeaaat.