Which hat or cap for hunting?

Cold weather, Stormy Kromer in orange for rifle season and brown for bow hunting. Early bow season when it’s warm, mesh back summer cap with the bill trimmed back to about 1 3/4”. Warm days in rifle season an orange ball cap, Sitka the last few years because I got a few of them for free.

+1 stormy kromer

November Rifle Openers here in KY are usually about 35F.

What I wanted in a hunting hat was as follows:

1) It had to be solid Hunter Orange according to law
2) It needed decent insulation.
3) It needed to be waterproof
4) It needed fold-down earflaps
5) It needed a brim to protect my glasses from rain and snow
6) I preferred fake poly wool. No fur.
7) It would have to work with a wool balaclava. I have a large head, so I needed an extra-large size.
8) Ideally, the underside of the brim would be some other color besides orange. Having a big patch of day-glo orange right there at my forehead gave me eyestrain.

It took the better part of a decade to find it. I eventually found it on Sportsmansguide.com about 13 years ago, and bought two. I figured that if it rained in the morning, I'd want to change it out before the afternoon.



I start out on a cold morning with the balaclava underneath and the hat on top with the flaps down. After the sun comes up, I pull up the flaps, and later pull the balaclava down so it is just protecting my neck. When it rains, I wear it with the flaps folded out to act like a mini-umbrella. You see caricatures of hunters with their flaps out like this, but it is a serious feature, and one I use frequently.

I'd had what's known as a Wazoo hat for years. It is a Minnesota duck hunter hat that had most of these things, but I could not find one in Hunter Orange. The bill was a bit short, but it worked in most conditions. I used this for decades as a bow hunter. What I ended up with was like a Wazoo with a brim, or else you could call it a Bomber hat with a brim. Nobody seems to make these anymore, or if they do they have some other deficiency.


For warmer mornings, and afternoon hunts, I now have a Stormy Kromer in orange. It's great. It ticks all most of the boxes, but it not quite as warm as the other. I started wearing a plaid Kromer all-day/every-day when I went for Chemo to replace the hair I'd lost. Frankly, I was a mess and even in 90F, I was still getting chilled. Now that I'm getting better, I'm able to leave the hat off on warmer days.

Unfortunately I have a ridiculously bulbous head so my options are limited. Sometimes XL hats are way too tight. 🙄

I use a basic Carhartt beanie I picked up for $19 at a BassPro store as my standard choice.

Kromer for cold - Simms baseball style all else.

A lightweight cap, usually orange. Mesh is a plus but not a big deal as long as it's light fabric that can breath. I'm a heater and sweat hiking with anything insulated. I like a ball cap for the bill - both for sun and to steady bino's.

I carry a fleece skull cap to put over the cap when I start to cool down and need the insulation.

Orange or partridge plaid Stormy Kromer for colder temps.
Orange ball cap for warmer weather

I wear a blaze orange baseball cap with “Whittaker Guns” written across the front. I wear it on my way to and from my enclosed hunting blind/house, then usually remove it.

One hat? good luck.

4 or 5 hats, that I can work with - all in either blaze orange or bright red (may depend on local regulations):

Early season/warm weather - uninsulated ball cap style.

Cold weather - Jones style or Stormy Kromer style with insulation (wool or thinsulate).

Rain - I don't like to wear a hood while hunting, so have a goretex uninsulated boonie hat and a goretex/insulated Jones style hat depending on temperatures. Either way an all-around brim of some sort.

Nasty weather back up/survival - wool watch/beanie/toque cap stuffed in day pack for last resort. I actually almost never use as long as I remembered to bring some other insulated hat.

Intermediate weather - wool or wool blend ball cap, check LL Bean Hat and Johnson Wool Hat for examples. Will shed some light rain and snow, pretty versatile, my favorite type if not real wet weather.

I rarely leave camp without two hats, either to adjust to weather or to have a light hat while walking and a warmer hat for sitting.

Details on this one, please.

BELLISSIMO

I picked up their smaller brim style too for bowhunting when I'm worried about string interference.

El Chayo

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be cool enough to successfully pull off wearing a hat like this. I feel like I would need to buy a 1970's Eldorado to go with it...

Even the Purple Gang needs a hunting hat. 😁

Chickenbuck ball cap although it's getting pretty faded now.

If it's cold then I wear my chickenbuck beanie or a plain blaze stocking cap.

Jaysus,man, just a Stormy for the cold? I go with a light balaclava from Fleet/Farm under mine in anything under freezing. Admittedly, I'm an old guy with no beard, so the cold hits harder than it used to these days.

LOL .... Same here. When I find a hat that fits, I buy two. I have a couple lightweight ball hats and a toque that my wife knitted me.

One size does NOT fit all!

Ha! Same here. My favorite hat (but not for hunting) because I spend so much time in the sun is an Outdoor Research Papyrus for my big head. I have three with one still wrapped in plastic. It's tough finding a 7-7/8" ~ 63cm hat sometimes so when I find one I like, I buy several.

Hunting with skeener be like:

Haha, paraphrasing my inner Red Green, if women don't find you handsome they should at least find ya' stylish.

Ball cap until it gets cold, then a beanie.

I like the Stormy Kromer, also Black Ovis merino wool beanie.

My late fall head wear is a Stormy Kromer. Wear it for ice fishing as well.

Orange Stormy Kromer for cold and a orange ball cap type for warmer. I have a mix of mesh back and solid back depending on the temp.

All of the above work, but for Northern New England IMO none is better than the old fashioned Jones Hat, especially for tracking.

That bill helps you push through the trees and whips, and the pocket-like fold in the back keeps the show off your neck unlike any ball cap variant.

Your ears stay open but protected on top, so no interference with hearing.

Thick woods, just put your head down and push through snow and all.

Mine have ear flaps tucked inside the hat that can fold out when needed, like when you ar sitting on a stand.

Just look at all the pics with the Benoits wearing them.

I'm a fan of the Jones cap, as well. But my old Jones cap is in really bad shape. Any idea where a person can find a well made waterproof new one in blaze orange?
Bfly

Orange Stormy Kromer for deer hunting.

I like the orange Stormy Kromer unless it gets really cold and windy. Then I switch to a no name fleece style cap with a short brim and generous ear flaps that keep out 5he wind. Add a camo fleece gaiter that can be pulled up over the face. If it’s too cold for all that, I’m out.
-10F is about my limit…

A cap with a bill is needed if you are going to wear a hood in order to keep it out of your eyes. Otherwise, I wear a balaclava to keep my ears warm. If my ears get cold I am done.

I have on old fleece hat that was made for me by a friend back in the late 1980's. Still wear it, still works, a bit faded but still very warm!

Ball cap Blaze horizon with a camo face net when warm. When cold a fleece balaclava in Blaze horizon. Really cold a wool sock cap underneath it.

I got a new Stormy Kromer in orange for Christmas, wore it out on a very chilly day and was disappointed in it. Quite. I switched back to my everyday red Stormy for the day, the difference in the two was very very noticeable. I won't be relying on the new Stormy as I had planned.

Ball cap, I always wear a jacket with a hood and I like the brim of the hat to keep my hood out of my face.

Warm weather - orange ball cap.
Cold weather - put an orange watch cap over the ball cap.
When the weather gets really nasty there is a hood on the coat to cover it all.

Orange Sitka hat during rifle.

Maybe this is an Arizona/sunny state/old school thing, but I hunt with a cowboy hat. In fact, I've hunted with the same Resistol for the past 37 years. Sometimes it wears a blaze orange crown cover, sometimes it doesn't. It handles cold, rain, and snow pretty well, and it always keeps the sun off of my face. I've cradled a rifle over its crown for a steady shot on more than one occasion, too.