Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Do you work a windshirt into your layering system?

Its the off season - so of course we spend time reviewing our gear. Have run across quite a few good deals on wind shirts - Marmot, Wild Things, Patagonia - and wondered if and how anyone here works a wind shirt into the layering system.

Some google work on other forums looks like some guys use them out west as a replacement for the heavier soft shell. Base layer, fleece or puffy, then windshirt on top to break the cold breeze and shed some light precip.

Any opinions on the wind shirt? Worthwhile addition to the system?

All of my cold-weather time is "pre-softshell". We used fleece and a windshirt. I see no reason to change that Rx unless I was in an environment cold enough, with an activity level low enough, to use/wear the soft shell all of the time.

I would envision that as mountain/arctic cold. So cold, that you KNOW Goretex will be dead weight, 'cause it'll be too cold for rain.

Having said all that, I have bought the SOCOM issue APCU softshell, but have used it little. Not enough to have a real opinion on how best to implement it. YMMV.

A windshirt's biggest utility is of course stopping the wind, but it does add quite a bit of warmth worn over insulation. All this for a 3-5oz weight penalty.

I use and have used windshirts a fair amount. A light windshell with a micropile lining is the original softshell concept (thanks to Buffalo and Montane) and possibly the most versatile way to keep a comfortable next-to-skin microclimate.
"Light and versatile" doesn't describe much hunting specific outerwear--gotta use what works in my view. Most windshirts dry FAST which is worth a great deal.

Best brands for windshirts? I"ve been meaning to buy oversize for wife and I, and be able to apply over the outer layers to stop the wind from cutting.

Polyprop, fleece, and gore-tex with an orange/camo fleece vest over the top works for me here in Nebraska, where the wind is almost always blowing. I have a "windproof" fleece camo jacket, Browning brand I think, that I wear if I don't need the gore-tex layer to shed rain/snow.

Most known brands are decent, but I personally favor the Patagonia Houdini and Montbell offerings because they breathe well and have among the best DWR coatings in the business. The Houdini is probably the most highly regarded windshell among the alpine climbing community for what it's worth.

Like Snowy, I use the Patagonia Houdini and the Mont-Bell. The Houdini is sized to just go over a base layer while the Mont-Bell is an XL, so it can go over multiple layers. Of course I only carry one at a time, depending on the trip.

Probably not a more efficient use of weight/function in your pack than a windshirt.

What Snowy and Ed T said: I have the Montane Smock @ 3.6 oz. It seems to breath well, as well as block the wind. Fits in my pocket, and layers well with my fleece or merino wool Jac. phil

Dumb question but exactly how or where do you incorporate a Wind Shirt in a system? I think the Hill Bros are big on wind shirt.

Since its Spring Bear season now and I'm out and about- can you use those conditions to example where it fits in? Mornings of 19 deg. Day time of 50. Windy up top glassing, but energy to get there.

Jesse,

You can actually incorporate a wind shirt anywhere from next to the base layer to the outer layer (often times the same for me.)

I prefer full-zip wind shirts so that I can ventilate more if necessary without taking my pack off.

In cold weather, I will sometimes add an insulating layer that doesn't have windproof properties such as fleece or wool over a wind shirt and have found it just as effective as using it on the outside.

If your insulation layer also is a wind barrier, then it really doesn't matter. I will often put on a MB Thermawrap while glassing and then take it off before walking again.

What are some good wind shirts? I've been looking for one.

Patagonia Houdini, Mont-Bell Dynamo, Rab Cirrus are all full-zip hooded versions. The Houdini probably has the best DWR. I can get by with a Houdini for wind and rain much of the year here in the dry Rockies.

Mont-Bell also makes the Tachyon which is very light, but the hooded version is a pullover and the full-zip has no hood.

No love for the Montane any more?


What keeps stalling me on purchasing a wind shirt is that I usually have rain gear in the pack. I could see it once it's too cold to rain...

Sometimes the ability of a fabric to dry quickly is worth more than moisture impermeability. Anyone who is truly out in it WILL get wet now and then, regardless of outerwear choice.

The arcteryx wraith is a good windshirt. The material is grabbier which helps with pack-slide and it seems more breathable and just slightly more robust than many. Also available in earth tones thanks to the mil line.

For the longest time, a windshirt was my outer layer, usually over just a base layer. Raincoats were largely worthless because I got just as wet inside as out.

This winter, I got a Mountain Hardwear shell made out of DryQ Elite. It is fast replacing a windshirt as my primary outer shell. I might get a little bit wetter inside of it than I do inside of a windshirt or softshell, but not by much. On the other hand, it does actually shed rain and it cuts wind better than windshirts do. I've been supplementing that with either an REI endeveaor vest or a merino hoodie for moving in. The merino is hard to make the cut because it weighs so much, but both of those are filling that "a little more than a baselayer but not a full on shell" role with better moisture transport than the windshirt used to.

Best way to express it is overlapping ranges of cold/wet (1-10):

baselayer: 1-2
endeavor vest or merino hoodie: 2-6
windshirt: 3-7
MH dry q elite: 3-10

I haven't yet found the conditions in which I'm moving and wearing anything more than a baselayer and mountain hardwear shell (plus gloves and hat of course) without getting too hot and wet. Spent a lot of time this winter in conditions down to -10f with a good bit of wind and that still held true.

You a-holes just cost me 100 bucks on payday.

Spring Bear will give me plenty of opportunity to test one too.

What did you pick up? The Houdini?

wick layer, warm layer, wind layer

I just picked up the Mountain Star from them a couple days ago. Seems pretty nice. The fabric has less of a plastic feel to it than some of the others. I've only used it on a couple of super windy dog walks at this point, but seems like a nice piece so far.

wool, fleece, windshirt and vest.I like them better than a soft shell. I usually take off when strenuous hiking. Put back on when slow hunting and/or glassing.

Patagonia brand