Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Danner Pronghorns - bad news

Yep, smoking doesn't look as cool as it use to either

Well I guess it's common knowledge now that Danner Pronghorns are made in China and are junk.

Too bad just a month ago I made a decision to buy them based on this campfire thread:

http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2917891/page/0/fpart/1

Lesson learned again - never buy boots by mail order, always try them on first, don't pay much attention to opinions posted on the internet.

Not to go completely against the tone of this thread, but I've had a pair for about 4 years now. About the only time I wear them is pheasant hunting and an antelope trip 2 years ago. They've held up fine, though the leather over the toe scuffs pretty easily. Didn't buy them for hardcore mountain hunting, got a pair of Meindl Perfekt Hunters for that. Someone already asked but I haven't seen an answer, what quality brands are US made anymore?

Like Ole 270 I've had mine since spring 2005-I knew they were Chinese said so on the label in the tongue. I've used them turkey, deer hunting every year since then and the're still waterproof. My White's smokejumpers didn't even seal against dirt around the sole until I had them rebuildt and the're a 400 dollar made in the USA product. I think the Pronghorns are a fair buy for the money.

Spot on!!!

Plenty of good and accurate advice in that thread. As far as I know the Pronghorns have always been made in China. They are one of the most comfortable boots I have ever owned, but they were never intended for heavy duty use. They are as comfortable as a pair of tennis shoes and I expect them to last about as long. If you read all the way through the post that was pointed out by several people.

Unless you know your size with the exact boot you are ordering it is best to buy locally. Or at least try on locally and then know your exact size when ordering. I wear from an 11 to a 13 depending on who makes the shoe.

There may be better choices than Danner, but I have had great luck with their USA made boots with sewn on soles. My last pair lasted 12 hunting seasons and I am 2 years into my new pair with no problems.

If one wants a great boot that truly fits, go with Whites (Spokane Wash.). If anything is odd about ones feet, get a custom pair. All seams are triple stitched, and heels and soles are held in place by screws, stitching, and glue. Obviously, they are hand made. One can get them to fit regardless of foot size, and they can be rebuilt for life. Rebuilds for me are usually just a new pair of boots at half the price, because I put serious wearon them. There are no moulded components on their boots. If there is ever a workmanship issue, they will make it good.

They are by no means panty weight yuppi trail shoes or jogging shoes. They are not for the faint of wallet either. They're heavy, tough, and it's almost impossible to roll ones ankle in a pair. I've worked, hunted, and gone to church in mine since 1982, never experienced a blister, and just sent a pair in for rebuilding today. I started with Danner rock climbers, but they quit those and went the Gortex feather weight route for trail walkers. I took my first pair of Whites on a mountain deer hunt, and ordered the second as soon a I returned.

I gave the Meindls a look, but they appeared to be stamped out in presses and moulds, and not amendable to rebuilding at all. A good piece of the problem, and I see hints to it here, it that folks live in tennies year round, and then get their boots out the day before the season. A past hunting buddy did that, and would be wiped out by day 2 of every hunt, because we do Hells Canyon and steep Wyoming stuff. He does not hunt with us anymore.

I believe the White process is: one sends them a series of tracings and dimensions, they send you a pair of boots to try on around the house, if one is happy with the dimensions, return those and thee will make you xerox copy. I wanted things tucked in here and there for what I deemed an absolutely perfect fit, so I ordered a custom pair. On does not pay custom fees for subsequent orders or rebuilds because they retain ones lasts.

Whites, expensive but damn well worth it.

The United States Of America was founded by our forefathers! However, Coal, Steel, Big 3 Auto and Manufacturing of Goods from 1900 to the late 1960's are what made this country economically strong and solvent.

Then in the early going, Congress let the STEEL industry pack up, slick workers out of their money and pension funds, all the while promising employees, that things were going to be better with the "new renovation" of the old steel plants. IT NEVER HAPPENED PERIOD!

The CEO'S and Management had long before cut a deal with JAPAN, to build on their soil, a state of the art steel industry. Then all steel was shipped back into the USA and the entire area in Youngstown, Ohio and PA. was left like a ghost town. Yes, over time people forget but that is how the snowball effect started folks. Congress should NEVER let jobs go out of this country! It is Un-AMERICAN to do so. We have become a nation of people with no manufacturing skills. There are only so many jobs in computers etc. McDonalds, Wal-Mart and other fast food establishments.

Now try buying a house on the money they pay, I dare ya. SO DON'T BUY FOREGIN GOODS PERIOD OK. PISS ON CARS OR TRUCKS NOT MADE IN THE USA PEOPLE.

There's a lot of growth around here but it's all in retail and health care. Those don't generate money. Only manufacturing and agriculture can do that and it's all being shipped overseas. The environ-wackos are doing their level best to shut it all down and the big money boys are lining their pockets with cheap labor elsewhere.

tonk, rock chuck, we are like minded.

I enjoy seeing this view point & opinion shared openly.

I believe it is the simple truth.

This may be some of Danner's problem. They are not their own master anymore or so it seems.

From the Danner histroy page.

1994
Mar. 14, 1994, Danner merges with LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. of La Crosse, Wisconsin to form a major force in the footwear industry. Since 1897, the LaCrosse brand has stood for premium quality handcrafted rubber footwear. In recent years, the product line was expanded to include a full line of rubber and vinyl products.

1997
Danner's parent company, LaCrosse Footwear, Inc. celebrates its 100th anniversary. Not too far behind, Danner celebrates 65 years of boot making.

The Perfekts are the worst boot that Meindl makes- I think they have them made in China- they are glue-on cheap ass boots and not worthy of the Meindl name. They are just cashing in on their name with a boot that masses can afford and think they have a real boot.

There are plenty of good boots out there but they are NOT cheap. My most expensive boots are American made and were about $800. I have 3 Meindls and they are pretty darn good considering. I would put Lowa in that class as well.

White, Hathorne and Drews make boots here in the US but they are not the typical "hunting" boot but rather a working boot.

My Danners are the made in Oregon expensive ones and they are a real disappointment. They don't compare to the Meindls that cost $20 less.

My problem is more related to the lasts being too narrow and the design flawed rather than workmanship issues, although the bobs have all broken off my soles long before they wore down!

Good boots are not cheap ? Not from what I've seen or done.
I use my boots a fair amount. I'm on the trail w/ 35 lb. pack going in and out of one of my local canyons literally every other day.
When I go hunting away from home, I'm gone and on the trail for 30-60 days. The rest of the year I'm doing something sround here in our mountains regularly all year.
My day to day trail and lighter hunting boots are Asolo FSN 95's. For more serious work, I like their light mountaineering/heavy back packing boots like their PW Matic 400 GV boots. All of which are Gore-Tex lined. I don't recall paying over $200 for any of them, sometimes as little as $165.
I coat them with Nix Wax once a year and they have never leaked. I've used them a good bit with snowshoes and with light crampons. I used my first pair of FSN 95's so hard that between our rough granite and the volcanic rock of the low desert the soles were gone in 6-7 months.
I've never seen a pair of boots that I could resole and wear comfortably for long. Hard use compresses the ineer soles or foot bed. After a while, that effect can't be reversed.
Ditto on buying boots out of some catalog. The lasts that boot makers use are not standard. They vary some even if they are stamped as being the same size. I've got to try them on a wear them for a while. Above all, they should feel good right from the start. If they do, they will work. E

Absolutely agreed.

There will be a tme in the not too distant future when China will own a large part of the US, and we will have virtualy no manufacturing capacity. At that point, we will look back and wonder how we could have been so blind, trading present dollars for the benefit of our country.

US is a services company, now. We manufacture a fraction of what we did 50 years ago. You can thank the merger and acquisition tyrants of the last 10 years and the Leverage Buyout (LBO) of the 90's for decimating our nation's production capabilities. It is all about money, same way as the Industrial Revolution started the process over 100 years ago. Greed started and greed was its demise.

With that. Danner still manufactures great boots. I have a couple of pairs, all made in the US, some old some new, one pair is the Pronghorn first year build, feel like sneakers and track well for days hunt. Just bought a pair of Acacia GTX's, well made, fit well, and just as solid as my old ones. My first pair lasted 20 years, soles worn smooth, purchased before they offered a web site full of options. Most of which have Made in China on the label.

The Lacrosse purchase of Danner pressed for profit numbers to increase and production cost to decrease (same financial model of every acquisition, do more for less, means lower expenses, easiest way is people cost), only option is make more for less in the same production facility with lower wages OR fewer people doing more. That doesn't happen often, so you go off shore with imposed lower manufacturing costs (labor, raw materials, and facilities).

Danner still is my favorite boot. Have Asolo's and Vasque backpacking boots in the mix with the hikers in my house, well made, but not here in the US.

I have been biting my tounge for a couple of weeks on this topic. But I had a couple of drinks of Woodford reserve. Oh vay. I have four pair of Danners: one pair of 8 year old pronghornsnon insulated that I have worn for at least 50 days a season, no problems. A pair of GTX hikers that I wear 100 days a year for 5 years, no problem. A pair of Frontiers that I have had for three years, sqeek a little, comfortable. A new pair of Pronghorns 800 gram insulation, worn 5 days steelhead fishing.
I just looked at my Nike runners, china made. Asics are china made. Timberline are china made. Merrills are chinese made,as are Keens and Borns. I have very few AMERICAN made shoes! What to do? Go barefoot, cant at work!

24mileboy, I think your missing the point, I too have an older pair of pronghorns and they have held up very well for the last 6-7 yrs of very hard use.

But I believe the older models we own were made in USA. I have looked at the newer Pronghorns and they ARE NOT built like the older pairs we own. I think this is where the problem comes in everyone is speaking of now.

I love my older pronhorns, but can assure you I would not buy that particular model now.

Bill

TX270,
I can appreciate what you are saying but all of my Danners are from China but the 1st pair. All are well built like the first pair. What I am saying is none of my shoes are built in the USA.

24mileboy,

I stand corrected, your right. I just checked mine and they say "made in china" on the tounge. I could have sworn mine were made in the U.S..

That said, I can tell a difference in construction between my older ones and the newer ones, a friend hhas a pair less than a yr old and his just feel "flimsier" for lack of better words, than my older ones do.

Bill

While they once had a legitimate purpose (safety & working conditions), modern day unions = no manufacturing jobs. If we can ever reign in that extortion racket we might have a shot at bringing back manufacturing jobs. Until then, look no further than the big 3 to see the results.