When is the last time you saw someone use a Pith helmet?

As a kid I grew up in India with my dad wearing one for his forestry inspection 15 days a month. he also hunted in them in the mid 50s & 60s. he changed to a coton stiff brim hat in the late 60s.

Seem's you might be the last to see one in action..

I last saw two guys wearing them in Dulles Intl Airport as they waited to board the SAA flight to JNB. This was on May 29, 2009. Memorable.

Were they drunk Will?

Hang around enough touristy venues and you'll see one sooner or later!

Cabelas sells them. I thought of buying one to wear at camp just for shits and giggles...

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Were they drunk Will?

Very sober, very serious. It was hilarious.

To tell the truth 48 hours ago. I was at the Vintagers double gun champonships in Maryland and all of you know Trader Keith's. Bill Keith owner of the outfit was wearing one.

Mike

quote:

Very sober, very serious. It was hilarious.

I would bet if you had gotten close enough you would have heard them use the words 'bloody' and 'chap' quite often...

You do see one every once in a while. Have seen them out on the Gulf fishing, and also in a couple South Texas early season hunting camps. I even noticed one hunter wearing one last year on a Chifuti hunt with TAA filming.

I guess some of you have forgotten that there was a bit of a pith helmet revival here on AR about 7 or 8 years ago. Here is one of the threads: Pith helmets

I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a pith helmet. But then, you wouldn't catch me wearing a fedora with a zebra skin band either. I wonder if anyone realizes how silly those hats look....


But, tastes and styles change. I wouldn't think of going out in public in a tee-shirt today, but in my mid 20's I thought nothing of it. I even hunted in Africa in a tee shirt.

Here's what I wrote in the 2005 thread and I stand by it. I've used them and like them, but yes, you will stand out in a crowd, if that bothers you then so be it. Seems you've got a problem jsut because you don't like them


"Well, you can piss in them all you want to do so, but I'll soak mine in water for cooling, thank you! I find them very comfortable and will use it if I go again. Real nice in open bush country, but it is a little noisy in areas of thick jess.

Yea, a Texan always needs two of something to cover up what he is doing!"

If I ever hunt elephant, you can rest assured I am taking one for a few photos after the kill.
Photoshop the pix in B&W or even better, Sepia, and print.

quote:

Originally posted by AfricanHunter:
Here's what I wrote in the 2005 thread and I stand by it. I've used them and like them, but yes, you will stand out in a crowd, if that bothers you then so be it. Seems you've got a problem jsut because you don't like them

I have no problem with anyone wearing them, they are just not for me... And I should have mentioned that the pith helmet does have some utility, unlike the leopard skin hatband and the(my) tee-shirt.

Headgear is a personal matter. I like a broad brim hat to protect my ears and neck. I have had a few bouts of skin cancer and am particularly sensitive to wearing a broad brim hat keeping as much sun off of me as possible. I wear a Zebra banded Fedora and anyone that wants to laugh feel free. I have worn a balaclava on cold mornings while riding in an open Land Cruiser on the way to the hunting grounds. I would probably wear a Pith helment IF they weren't so noisy in the bush (same reason I don't wear a waxed cotton hat). Pith helments are light and cool. As a Texan I frequently wear a Western Hat; straw in the summer, felt in the winter. And yes, I wear a baseball cap and a boonie hat at times. I don't find it humorous anymore when people wear a funny hat. Hey, the sun can harm you!

really old chaps, quite a fuss about a piece of jolly good head gear, what??

In Matetsi 2005 A guy in my camp took his Elephant wearing one. It took him 10 days, and to my knowledge he wore every day. I thought it was kind of nastalgic.

At the local big bore shoot, http://arizona-rifleshooting.c...ifle-shoot-PRGC.html the prize is a pith helmet and the winner is expected to wear it for the following shoot.

Mark

Just watched a whole regiment of British Soldiers wearing them on the movie: The Four Feathers.

My Dad was a farmer in southern Manitoba during the 50s, and wore one while working the fields.

Kinda took the zing out of it for me.

Mr Ray Sparrow from Chiredzi (Malilangwe/Lone Star) still wears his pith helmet all the time.

I've got one in my trophy room. It actually fits me well. I might just wear it on my next Elephant hunt in 2012. Will be sure to post pics if I do. I shot my elephant this past June wearing a Tee Shirt as well. The day started out cold but got pretty hot by mid-day. The Tee-Shirt was the most comfortable shirt I had with me. The elephant never knew that I wasn't dressed "properly".

Pith on thoth who larff at nith hatth!

The pith helmet was a regular part of Marine Corps uniform during World War II, until someone got the bright idea of painting helmet liners with silver paint to ward off the harmful effects of the sun during recruit training (boot camp).

After World War II, the traditional straw hat used by farmers hereabouts was replaced with the pith helmet until the grungy all purpose baseball cap came into fashion, bringing with it the term "red neck".

Having been once red haired and fair skinned and having been exposed to the sun in Vietnam on a daily basis, I now have to take a trip to the dermatologist every six months to have the "pre-cancerous lesions" removed. I definitely recommend sun screen and whatever head cover it takes to minimize the effects of the noonday sun on "mad dogs and Englishmen".

Too True xausa, Baseball caps provide little sun protection for the back and side of your face and neck. And we are all concerned about the looks of the Pith Helmet?

Some mail carriers still wear them in summer. I think they are much more practical than those silly bush coats Cabelas and all the others sell.
I admit to a great fondness for shirts with epaulets, and you can laugh all you want. Life is supposed to be a bit of fun, don't you think?
I have a foreign service helmet I like to wear from time to time. It is very comfortable, but not when shooting from prone, as the tail digs into the back of one's neck and tries to lift the helmet off one's head. I especially enjoy wearing the FSH when shooting a Martini, a Snider or a Pedersoli double rifle.
I'm a bit goofy in the matter of kit anyway, and even have a pair of riding pants for that 1920s look:

I had and wore one as a youth in the 1950's -- a WW2 version, and it worked fine for delivering newspapers. Gene Sarazen thought I was quite a piece of work. <g>

In more recent decades, I have owned three Hunters World safari hats, one of which I gave to a son and another I took on safari to Zambia. Those are from SA and are really nice quality.

Nowadays I have also a couple of Zimbabwe floppy hats that would work for hunting too. It is less painful to load those with DDT to ward off the tsetses.

Quite dapper Biil, a good pic for L L Bean.

On another note I hope I never get to old or stuffy to not wear T Shirts, Hell I am in my office and am wearing a T.

Just may try out a Pith on my next safari.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Some mail carriers still wear them in summer. I think they are much more practical than those silly bush coats Cabelas and all the others sell.
I admit to a great fondness for shirts with epaulets, and you can laugh all you want. Life is supposed to be a bit of fun, don't you think?
I have a foreign service helmet I like to wear from time to time. It is very comfortable, but not when shooting from prone, as the tail digs into the back of one's neck and tries to lift the helmet off one's head. I especially enjoy wearing the FSH when shooting a Martini, a Snider or a Pedersoli double rifle.
I'm a bit goofy in the matter of kit anyway, and even have a pair of riding pants for that 1920s look:

Bill,

A man should never have to apologize for looking like a gentleman. Well done.

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by jsl3170:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Some mail carriers still wear them in summer. I think they are much more practical than those silly bush coats Cabelas and all the others sell.
I admit to a great fondness for shirts with epaulets, and you can laugh all you want. Life is supposed to be a bit of fun, don't you think?
I have a foreign service helmet I like to wear from time to time. It is very comfortable, but not when shooting from prone, as the tail digs into the back of one's neck and tries to lift the helmet off one's head. I especially enjoy wearing the FSH when shooting a Martini, a Snider or a Pedersoli double rifle.
I'm a bit goofy in the matter of kit anyway, and even have a pair of riding pants for that 1920s look:

Bill,

A man should never have to apologize for looking like a gentleman. Well done.

Jeff

Good show! But the pump gun clashes with the outfit.

quote:

Originally posted by David Hulme:

quote:

Originally posted by jsl3170:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Some mail carriers still wear them in summer. I think they are much more practical than those silly bush coats Cabelas and all the others sell.
I admit to a great fondness for shirts with epaulets, and you can laugh all you want. Life is supposed to be a bit of fun, don't you think?
I have a foreign service helmet I like to wear from time to time. It is very comfortable, but not when shooting from prone, as the tail digs into the back of one's neck and tries to lift the helmet off one's head. I especially enjoy wearing the FSH when shooting a Martini, a Snider or a Pedersoli double rifle.
I'm a bit goofy in the matter of kit anyway, and even have a pair of riding pants for that 1920s look:

Bill,

A man should never have to apologize for looking like a gentleman. Well done.

Jeff

Quite the country squire, except that the gun should be a sxs. That dog though, looks a wee bit embarrassed.

Whath pith?

I'll have to reshoot that photo holding my Husqvarna hammer double. By the way that pump is a Browning BPS 16 gauge ... at least the gauge is classic, eh?

Hammered double 20ga? Nice pup also.

quote:

Originally posted by safari-lawyer:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Were they drunk Will?

Very sober, very serious. It was hilarious.

Chris and I were wearing them while turkey hunting. We just waited till everyone was out of sight before putting them on. Quite spiffy really...

Jeff

quote:

Originally posted by jsl3170:

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Some mail carriers still wear them in summer. I think they are much more practical than those silly bush coats Cabelas and all the others sell.
I admit to a great fondness for shirts with epaulets, and you can laugh all you want. Life is supposed to be a bit of fun, don't you think?
I have a foreign service helmet I like to wear from time to time. It is very comfortable, but not when shooting from prone, as the tail digs into the back of one's neck and tries to lift the helmet off one's head. I especially enjoy wearing the FSH when shooting a Martini, a Snider or a Pedersoli double rifle.
I'm a bit goofy in the matter of kit anyway, and even have a pair of riding pants for that 1920s look:

Bill,

A man should never have to apologize for looking like a gentleman. Well done.

Jeff

He looks great, but is missing a proper double barrel shotty

If, like many good shots, the nattily atired gunner prefers a pump gun,so be it.... However a proper Model 12 Winchester, or Remington 31, or if bottom ejection is preferred , the svelt little Remington Model 17 would complete the picture nicely...
Class Kit my friend...

quote:

Bill,

A man should never have to apologize for looking like a gentleman. Well done.

+1

Driving down a boundary road near West Nicholson in Zimbabwe in 1997 on my first day of my first safari we met anothe Toyota Land Cruiser with a hunter on the top seat. He was sporting a Pith Helmet. Later met him and his brother at the airport in johannesburg while awaiting the same flight home. They were both retired 747 pilots and had had fair sucess on their hunt. I got everything I went for including leopard but did not get a klipspringer. In 8 safaris I never saw another pith helmet. My father (who lived in Mississippi) regularly wore one while gardening and fishing. It was the military/civil engineering style not the English hunting style.

Used to be … men wore many different hats depending upon what they were doing. It was real; it was functional, and they had a bit of style. Nowadays it seems that a baseball cap is suitable for any occasion. It’s just one more thing that contributes to the bland boring world we live in. I wouldn’t wear a baseball cap when hunting Africa if you paid me. I know a lot of PHs wear them, but to me they’re just a reminder of that bland boring world I’d hoped to leave behind for a few weeks.

I’ll take a PH with a pith helmet any day.

As for myself, I wear a Namibian farmer’s hat.