Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hunting garment recomendations

Mule Deer,
How interesting your post on Filson and recommending they utilize some of their "classic" patterns and utilize some of the new wonder products. I, somehow, after 2 individual internet purchases directly from Filson got contacted for feedback and recommended the same thing, you could have heard a pin drop! It was like blasphemy to them!!

I, also, hunt with wool pants. Upper body is layers, and right now my favorite outerlayer in the dry New Mexico and Colorado areas that I hunt is the Cabela's outfitter fleece jacket and vest.......awesome stuff! Course, what do I know, I wear a wool railroaders hat when it gets really cold!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Huntr

Regarding the use of light synthetic pants, underwear and or Gore-Tex in very cold weather as advised by Eremicus; this is,as he states, doable if one is constantly moving and, in my experience, ONLY THEN.

I have used about everything on the market in the winter conditions of B.C.-Alberta for both work and mountaineering-hunting and I like synthetics for cold weather mountaineering as I have auxiliary "warm-up" gear in my pack. But, for hunting where my ability to carry such extra clothing is limited by my need to carry hunting gear, I find that wool pants, merino wool undies and merino wool socks are both more versatile and warmer at cold temps than any synthetic.

When one wishes to quietly sit, wet with sweat from climbing, and glass an area for an hour or so, as I frequently do, the wool out performs the synthetic even with weight(s) factored in. I have and do work and recreate in the fairly damp cold of B.C. down to a measured -40 and have largely returned to top quality wool for most of my outdoor activites; the real problem is the cost.

I will be posting some Swanndri contact info. here soon.

Thanks Kutenay.

GDV

This is the latest Swanndri info. I have.

Alliance Textiles(NZ)Limited
Church Street,Timaru
PO Box 533, Timaru, New Zealand
Attn: Rachel Ahlfeld-Shop Manager

I have had a fair amount of this stuff and still have some, including the rucksack from "Screaming Eagle"; this is absolutely phenomenal wool with quite good sewing although not as wellsewn as Filson's. For hardcore, serious, assbusting mountain hunting in B.C.-Alberta, nothing works better than this stuff and it lasts far longer than some trendy, little Gore-Tex-Microfleece parka in the latest photo-camo from the catalogue experts.

email or phone # for them?

Telephone +64-3-684 9037

Fax +64-3-684 9047

I have no E-Mail, try website, www.swanndri.com

Goodnews, I posted this a few days ago on another thread but will post it again here, in case you missed it.

Pools Traditional Kiwiwear
35 Willis Street
P.O. Box 5073 Lambton Quay
Wellington, New Zealand

phone/fax 64 4 473 8838

I second what everyone has to say about Swannies. They are absolutely great for working outdoors in tough weather. TM

Travel1--

Much obliged!

GDV

I also have the KOTM stuff and filsons. I like the KOTM but for the money, filson gets the nod. I like the filson bibs as I can not wear a coat when I am moving as I will be reduced to a soaking mess in minutes. I carry my coat in a pack when walking to my stand and put it on when I cool off. I run for exercise every day but I am still amazed how heavy clothing, big boots and a 8lb rifle and associated gear can labor the body in the early morning walk to the stand. I even have to carry my hat so me head does not get soaked. I have mentioned this before but a light weight bicycle jacket makes a great wind liner under wool outerwear.

Boy I must be the odd ball here. While I won't argue with using wool products as most of you here have chosen, I use mainly synthetic clothing. My base layer is a set of GI issue PolyPro longjohns these insulate and wick very well. Then depending on conditions I layer with either one of these or a combo of all of them; Polartec 100 fleece pants and shirt or cotton Chamois pants and shirt. My outer layer consist of Browning Hydro fleece Bibs and their 4in1 Parka. I Have found Hydro fleece to be quite warm with its Thermolite insulation and its Gortex linning had keep me dry even in hunts in steady downpour. I like the 4in1 Parka's choices you can wear the gortex shell alone for wet mild weather, the inner jacket alon for just mild weather and its reversable, or put it all together for a system that has served me well. To each his own but this has served me well.

Thought I would revive this excellent thread after a couple days of whitetail hunting in upstate NY. Mostly we used small drives, so mostly 15-20 minutes of walking followed by half an hour of standing.

The first 2 days were in the low 30s and calm, with a little snow the first day and a little drizzle the second day.

The first day I wore light LL Bean polypro long johns that have worked well in "aerobic" hunting in northern Maine; the second day I tried an Under Armour "Cold Gear" shirt. This seemed to work pretty well -- it fits very tightly, which I think helps with moisture control since sweat gets into the fabric right away.

The first and second days I wore a light Pendleton wool shirt, light generic non-windstopper fleece jacket, German army surplus wool pants ($15 from Cabela's), orange fleece vest and the Filson hat with the short brim and fold-down earflap/neck protector thingie. On my feet I wore Wigwam Ultimax liner socks and Thorlo Mountaineering socks, under Lacrosse 800-gram boots (my warmest but they take some effort to remove). All this worked fine for these conditions.

For my perennial weak point (cold fingers) I used Manzella synthetic liner gloves under Manzella fingerless gloves with grip dots. This worked fine but I finally figured out one problem -- when I use chemical hand warmers, my fingers sweat enough that the moisture in the synthetic wicks away fast when I take my hands out of my pockets, causing a "flash freezing" effect. I'm going to try some light wool liner gloves instead.

I also wore a "Buff" around my neck that I could pull up as a balaclava to protect my neck, chin and ears -- a really helpful piece of gear that kept the relevant parts warm but was so light I kept forgetting I had it on. It also didn't obstruct my hearing, unlike earflaps.

Late the second day a heavier snowfall came in, leading a cold front. That evening I sat in a tree stand in the snow -- this time I wore my Filson double mack and was quite comfortable for a good hour or more. (I will repeat my gripe that none of this stuff works worth a damn with a backpack waist belt.)

The next morning it was much colder and the wind had come up. Spent an hour and a half in a tree stand and it was just awful -- fingers and toes especially. Never quite recovered the rest of the day.

I think the biggest change I need is to add something that will really block the wind and prevent the "flash freeze" effect on the upper body (as well as some mittens).

I'm thinking of trying Merino wool long johns and/or adding a fleece wind shirt (during the trip I read part of a book on lightweight mountaineering in which the author recommends the latter -- his concept is to wear the "shell" on the inside and insulation on the outside).

Any suggestions for a good windstopping/vapor barrier layer?

I'm also looking at how to lighten the overall system -- all that wool is great but I sure wouldn't want to stuff it in a backpack. Suggestions?

I'm thinking this would be a good mid-layer over the long-johns if wicking wind was what you wanted.

http://www.patagonia.com/za/PDC?OPT...=7385&sku=24340&ws=false

I also think the Houdini jacket would be quite handy and you could almost keep it in your back pocket.

pointer,

Yeah, something like that might do nicely -- maybe even substitute for the wool shirt. A friend who's seriously into ultralight backpacking suggested some of the tighter-woven softshells, maybe with wool on top for noise control.

The Houdini might come in handy in warmer weather.

At this point I believe I may just hit the after-Christmas sales and do some intensive experimenting during the week of the deer season here that will remain ...

John

Mr308Win. I've use some of that base layer stuff you were describing. The stuff I use is expensive, it's called "Under Armour", in both what they call "Heat Gear" & "Cold Gear". Where are you finding it at, in the price range you mentioned?

I've tried a bunch of underlayers, filson wool, heavier wool, polypro, cotton, duomax, MTP X-static and underarmor. The stuff that I like the best so far is Cablea's Polar-Tec Power Dry. It wicks better than any of the others I've tried. I usually get cold feet so I bought some of the socks in it too. If you tend to sweat/freeze you might give this stuff a good look.......DJ

Actually I thought the Under Armour was pretty promising -- I think the "compression fit" (it's like a space suit or something) really does help with the moisture control and keeps blood flowing. I never felt overheated even when wearing more clothes than I usually do for a walk into the woods. And I didn't "flash freeze" when I stopped.

However, it didn't really get a full test since I somehow managed to buy XXXL bottoms, and I don't need any of those Xs.

I'm thinking one would be a great middle layer if it's windy. I'm sorta lucky as Patagonia has an outlet store in SLC. But, anyone can call the main outlet store in Dillon, MT and they will walk through the store for you to find what you're looking for. You won't get the fun of browsing, but if you know what you're looking for they have good prices.

While I was deer hunting in WY in Sept., the first few days were cold with about 6-8" of snow on the ground for the opener. I was able to keep warm enough with just a Capilene top, wool/polypro bottoms, a R1 fleece suit, a Puff-Ball vest, a light shell jacket and cheap supplex pants. Of course the biggest difference is that if I got cold I could just get up and walk uphill in most any direction. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

You can pay $50 for a piece of synthetic long underwear if want, but it will not perform any better than the Wickers Comfortrel long underwear from Sierra Trading Post. It comes in lightweight ($9.95), midweight ($12.50), and expedition ($15.95). These offer excellent temperature and moisture control.
Comfortrel at Sierra Trading Post

Merino Wool has certain advantages over synthetics. The best I've found for a midlayer over the lightweight Comfortrel is the Stanfields Superwash or the Windsor Wear (WWNAT)

Ullfrott� Original 400 g/m2 is an excellent midlayer (over the lightweight Comfortrel) if it is really cold.

More discussion of cold weather clothes

JMHO

Thanks all for the interesting links. Putting it all together and thinking back on a couple miserable mornings -- the common thread is wind of 15+ mph. The same clothes that were very comfortable in Tuesday's snowstorm and light breeze, were miserable the next morning when the front came in.

I think my first experiment will be a wind barrier like that Patagonia shirt and maybe even these Patagonia tights. I can still wear wool pants and coat over the tights and windshirt for quiet and insulation.

I also suspect if my legs are less exposed to the wind, my feet will be better able to take care of themselves.

I'm torn between trying Capilene or merino wool for underwear. Which one stinks less?

Merino wool does not retain body odor. Wash in cold water with Sport-Wash and lay flat to dry.