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

So, while I've used and use both boots and low hikers you've only used boots. In other words, you're guessing. I'm not.

Aside, this is the BACKPACK hunting forum, not the hunters campfire where all the closed minded old duffers participate in a never ending circle jerk. You may want to hang out there. I think it would be a better fit.

True. The guys with an assortment of different boots do pretty much just trudge on soft trails for a few hours and so on.

The folks actually DOING big backpacking miles in mountains, and everything else, in 2023, are wearing tennisboothings. Like me. Why? Because it’s the better choice. And, to your chagrin, I just spent this spring proving it, while you were busy transiting between couch and toilet and pickup truck.

At least you didn’t turn an ankle.

I usually get ~ 700 miles out of my trail runners, about 3 pairs/year- that's on varied single track trails with usually some 20-30 mile trips to bag various peaks. The tread still looks fairly decent, but the midsole components eventually start to breakdown. When you really notice it is when you switch to a new pair and you're like ahhhhh

Trail runners aren't the answer for every trip, but they are the answer for a lot of trips.

A recent 32 mile day through heavy rain, light wet snow, rock, mud, snow, a [bleep] ton of fords and wrestling with a lot of blowdown. This would not be the trip you'd want heavy leather boots, they'd be soaked within minutes, would then weigh even more and not be dry for days.



If you haven't tried them, pretty tough to speculate how they are going to work for you. You just might be in for a surprise

I just backpacked through and over ALL THESE THINGS, and more. Maybe you missed that? 600 miles, averaging 15 miles/day, with one rest day the entire trip. Our packs were, generally, not light either because of all the water you gotta carry down there.

You know who didn’t last a week, much less a month out there in the real world crucible that is the southern CDT? Guys wearing “boots”. I saw this with my own two eyes.

Do this simple math for me, please. Both you and SherrifJoe.
I just got 600+ miles out of a pair of Salomon X-Ultra 4’s. I have proof of this. How long is YOUR average backpacking trip? 25 miles, total? How many times a year do you do this, on average? Let’s say (4), but I doubt that, both you and SJ. But let’s be generous here. That’s 100 miles a year. So that means a) it’ll take you 6 years to do what I just did in 6 weeks, and b) it’d take you 6 years to mostly wear out a pair of these supposedly fragile tennisboothings.

No offense, truly, but you know not of which you speak. That goes double for SJ. At least you are polite about it- which I respect and appreciate FWIW.

Kiss your mom with that mouth, ya self-involved prick?

And, yes, backpack hunting is one of my regular field events.

Just haven't bothered to make a religion out of it.


And routinely get well over a 1,000 miles out of my boots.

Sno-sealing the leather, once it's broken in, is the trick.




GR

lol

Garand- consider trying a pair of tennishoeboots for your conditioning hikes. Just consider it. Why not? It was the single best change I made to my “gear” when I started getting back into this stuff. I promise you, this is, in fact, what the vast, vast majority of the “power users” who are actually out banking big miles, are wearing. And it’s not for vanity, or to be part of the herd. It’s because it’s the better mousetrap. Just…. try it. I was resistant. I bet Brad and Mike were too. We all used to wear “boots” and justified it the same way you are. Then we tried this newfangled stuff and went…. huh!

One aspect of it I love is just the joyful feeling of having full freedom for my legs to do what evolution, or if you prefer God, intended them to do. It made me feel way younger. Lighter. More free. More of a capable, all-terrain vehicle. And we can delve into the biomechanics of it as much as you want, but here’s a simple truth: if your ankles aren’t doing what they are meant to do, then something else in your leg is taking up those loads, and that something else wasn’t designed for it. Your ankles are there for a reason. Set them free!

Brad & Mike… Cyn is going to get back on the trail and attempt a calendar-year CDT; I’m going to hold down the fort here (ugh). Anyway she just got the shoes she’s going to try for the next leg- Topos (spelling?). I’ll let you know how they work out. They look just like Altra’s and are zero-drop. At least these companies are backing away from the “clown shoe” look a little bit, cosmetically.

Those tennisbootsthings are like specialty, competition footwear, like track or wrestling shoes, or ballerina slippers.

My boots take a lot of abuse in the field.

Try a pair of these polyurethane soled field boots, if they are still available.

Then hike five miles a day in them, over varied terrain, running a couple of those miles.

That will get you in shape.


To me, "ultra-light" is a marketing cult.

Wouldn't choose logger's boots, but a light weight field boot works fine.

Ankles don't grow back, so protecting them is important, especially miles from nowhere.




GR

One more time. I just hiked not five, but FIFTEEN miles a day, every day, for 6.5 weeks, over a variety of terrain, with a full backpack (not a daypack). And I’m a big human bean, started the trip over 200 lbs.

They are specialty footwear; their specialty is…. uh…. hiking?

Truth is, in most cases these days… “boots” are for posers. They have a time and place but generally speaking, “hiking” ain’t it, and real hikers aren’t using them.

Garandimal showed his wealth of knowledge with “unscoped is the only way to be marksman” thread awhile back…

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️


he most be from NY state…

Says the beer-belly at the concrete bench, with sand bags and a bi-pod.

Marksmanship is a skill.




GR

Not interested in your religion.

Good boots - are.

Light weight field boots are even better.

If you need specialty footwear just to hike?

What does that say about you?

Think you are the only one who hikes 15 mi./day?

5 mi./day, including a run, is just an off-season routine.

Hate to break this to ya... but field boots have been doin' hikes and hunts for a long time.


So buy what you want.

Just understand that it is you that makes them special.




GR

Your religion is being an idiot

Whether boots, shooting, etc....your way is not only antiquated it's azz backwards

Gone and hurt your li'l feelings.

Poor... Thing.


Field boots... are.

Light weight field boots are even better.


And, Marksmanship is a Skill.

You may find that out some day, little one.




GR

Ah yes field boots and leather slings lol. Your idea of marksmanship is hitting the broadside of a barn at 100yds......


I bet you're hell on wheels at the local army surplus rathole...

I like shooting Garands…. and M1a’s… and Mini14’s…. and AR15’s…. with the aperture sights. Not dogpiling here.

Here we are a few years ago… this is at over 14k feet, on Whitney, towards the top. Anyone who’s climbed it will recognize the features. I was wearing Salomon X-Ultras, not sure what Cyn has on there, probably Altras. We’d done about 220 miles and 10+ passes in the Sierra to get there, most recently Forester Pass at 13k+ feet the day before. The vast majority of the footfalls on that whole trail (the JMT) are on granite.

I was wearing exactly the right shoe IMHO. As you can see, every step was an adventure; I wanted full use of my legs! Get those ankles flexing, taking up all the various foot-strike angles. In some spots along the JMT/PCT we ran into weekenders coming up trailheads to backpack to a lake or whatever, invariably in “boots” and suffering. The through-hikers all had low top light hikers on- aka exactly the right shoe.

Hey fatso...girlieman...

The ONLY trails you've been up are soft, gentle trails for your feminine capacities. You act like Whitney is K2 or something, typical of urban braggarts.

You couldn't get up the approach to any peaks of the Picket Range so, get back to your pizza and shut your trap.

Or try...at your weight, fill out your toe tag so that we can ID your bag of feathers.

Interesting discussion despite the unnecessary sniping. It confirms that boots are a personal choice and what works for you may not work for others. Like many realize, you can put up with a lot of subpar equipment on a hunt, but "bad" boots could end a hunt. While I'd like to wear a low cut trail shoe, I wear Meindl Light Hikers for some training and Meindl Extremes for real world ankle support. Buy what fits, consider your terrain and train hard.

Or just "take-a-knee."

Or just require you to take a day or two off or cut down your mileage. Not so with through-hikers, bad shoes will end a through hike, period.

I don't get the sniping either. This ain't a contest.