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

Whannnn...(sniff sniff).

Buh bye.

Sorry I hurt your feelers, but someone had to clue you in.

Jeff, I think your soles have another 200 miles in them. All-in-all I think the Xultra's did very well for you. My Hoka's arrived today (Anacapa Breeze). Talk about ugly, old man shoes, but my gosh they are comfortable! I seriously doubt they will be as durable as my Xultra's though.

Aside, you married well! My wife only likes 2-3 day trips anymore, but aside from being 62, she does have real knee issues.

The soles might’ve gone another 200, though I was feeling the sharp rocks through them by the end there... But they’ve been relegated to the honorable final job of “yard shoes” now.

I talk a big game about these lighter shoes, haha, but I have not actually tried Hokas or Altras or the like myself yet. The Salomon’s fit me so well, and my plantar fasciitis issue has not flared up since I pretty much exclusively started wearing them, so I’m sticking with what I know works for the moment. As you know, older bodies are a bit of a Rube Goldberg device and when you have the various pieces and parts workin’…… don’t change a thing.

Thank you, really, thanks. I’m not worthy. Cyn is a very tough human being and is living for the moment, at least until she gets clear from some pretty scary shït we dealt with last year. I’m biased, but I find her very inspiring. With that being said she’s already agitating for starting another big one- ideally getting back on the CDT and trying for it in this calendar year- but I gotta knuckle down and make some $$. You know how self employment goes. No worky, no money.

When I need boots - I wear boots.

Not some kinda tennisbootsthing.

These are Belleville's, and have the lightweight MeraMax polyurethane soles.



Comfortable, good support and protection, and wear like iron.

Boots.




GR

That's just friggin awesome, on so many levels.

Especially the carpet.

Right, sure. But the question is…. when do you need boots? I ain’t putting my feets into big heavy restrictive shoes like those unless there’s a really compelling reason. That’s just begging for a foot/leg injury.

Boots - as soon as it's no longer concrete/asphalt/mowed grass.

And those boots are not big/heavy/restrictive.

The pictures are from when they were new.

As mentioned, the soles are polyurethane - about half the weight of vibram, and more flexible.

The leather has softened up like a good leather tennis shoe, and is about ready for a sno-seal treatment, and they are soft-toe.

Lace them tight at the bottom, and either loose or not at all on the top.

Good traction/support/protection.

And by adding a thick wool sock, they make fine moderate winter boots.

I hunt and hike them year round.

Also got them for $35 on a MidwayUSA clearance sale. 8>)




GR

Well…….. they actually are big, heavy, and restrictive within the context of this thread. Obviously, if you’ve been following it, I utterly disagree that a person “needs” anything of the sort to leave asphalt or mowed grass. In my experience, the modern tennisboothings are the far better mousetrap and I encourage you to try some.

I think- heck, I know from experience- that there’s both a lot of ritual associated with a guy “putting on his boots”, as well as a very real security-blanket aspect. It’s a girding of the loins, so to speak. It’s fear-based; it’s going on the assumption that we humans are somehow separate from the world, weak, unsuited to the task… which is emphatically not true. Everyone reading this exists on this world because their ancestors were BADASS. Think about that. We belong here; we earned it, and the proof is that we exist. Our ancestors didn’t turn an ankle on un-mowed grass and then fail to procreate. Our bodies are amazing. My message is completely positive; just trying to share the word (hey brother, have you heard the word?) because I’ve done this hiking/backpacking thing a LOT, and done it both ways, for a very long time….. and I’m speaking some *truth* here, don’t know how else to put it.

There’s a lot of joy in the discovery that one’s legs work as intended, and actually do better and are healthier wearing much more minimal footwear.

Just a few recent examples from the trail. Trail name “Stagecoach” is retired JAG (Army) and late 50’s like us. Trail name Bradventure is retired military, then a cop, also late 50’s. Trail name CatDog is a woman in her 60’s. Trail name The Forester is, you guessed it, an east-coast forester in his 50’s. On and on. These are real humans I just spent almost 2 months on a difficult trail with, and with the exception of CatDog, they were averaging MORE than the 15 miles a day that we were doing, with full packs, a weeks food, however many liters of water the situation required, etc. Not a “boot” amongst them. Then of course there were many more younger folks. Hell… we hiked one day with a young woman, trail name Huck, who had already done 7 miles when we connected about 7 am. We hiked 20 miles with her before we flamed out for the day. 20 miles- think on that. Last I saw Huck she was still trucking that day; my guess is she topped 30 for the day, given she was at 27 at the time. She was wearing SANDALS fer chrissakes. Sandals!

You don’t “need” boots. Or at least, the vast majority do not the vast majority of the time.

That being said- glad you are getting out there and have something that’s working well for you. 👍

Dang, that's what I've been doing wrong. All these years I just thought I was lacing up my boots!!!

Who knew?

Right?! But now you have Heard the Word. You belong. Fear no more!






Well…….. I mean, not you specifically. You need to wear BOOTS. 😂

I like light hikers for hiking in the summertime when loins don't need to be girded. During hunting season, I like to keep my feet dry and boots work better for that. And loins don't get girded, they get grilled on the campfire.

YMMV.

Boots have their place, and I far and away prefer a mid or tall in late October/November elk hunting when the snow flies. Apart from that, this old dog learned a new trick a decade ago, and I'll never wear anything but light hikers from Spring through early Fall.

Hallelujah brutha! Preach it, lol.

I’m hoping to penetrate the good ol’ boy disinformation network regarding “boots”, well-intentioned as it may be, in order to save some YOUNG dogs decades of suffering for no good reason.

It will take more than a pagan religion to separate men from their boots.

Good boots - are.

tennisbootsthings... aren't.

No offense.




GR

Don't know about "pagan religions" other than Marxism or global warming.

An assortment of different boots for different tasks separate wearers who trudge on soft trails, mow their lawns or adventure between their bed, couch, toilet and pickup truck from those that are able to travel in the mountains, safely and comfortably (for more than a few hours).

This reminds me of an old saying; "you don't know what you don't know."

why do some people bitch how other people do stuff , this was a good thread tell the know it alls started bitching about foot were , shut the [bleep] up

Ended up with some Scarpa Kailash gtx.

They come in wide version.

Now to try them out.

Mountain trails, rock falls, river marshes, swamps, thickets, timber woods, oak flats, etc.

Just a good, light weight boot, like the Bellevilles.

No decimal point tennisbootsthings required.

Would be surprised if they lasted a month.




GR