My last hunting trip in the mountains was in December. It had been a few years since I had undertaken a hunt in the mountains. I was quickly reminded of one of my least favorite aspects of such a hunt.

I was wearing jeans and a canvas shirt that had flannel lining. As I started climbing, I started to sweat. At some point, all of my clothes were wet from sweat. In addition to being uncomfortable, I also got cold. These clothes don't dry out very quickly. It was pretty miserable by the end of the day.

What clothing do you wear to avoid this situation?

Thanks.

My plan while chasing hounds in the snow or climbing for grizzly in Alaska has been to wear no cotton, from the base layer, to the mid-layer, to the outer shell. There are so many good, wicking fabrics and products today, but not always found in common hunting clothing arenas. I suggest Mountain Gear, REI and other such vendors. On a recent hunt in Western Alaska requiring lots of daily climbing, I wore straight nylon pants over the base layer, micro fleece shirt over upper base layer, and a light outer shell. Once the climbing was completed and I had hours of glassing ahead, I put on fleece or rain paints to block the wind and another fleece pullover top to stay warm until the descent, then I took it all off back down to the nylon and base layer. No sweat, easier on your body, less water consumption, and the activity during climbing keeps the body warm during the period of ascent.

I try not to take any cotton to Alaska, even to the Southeast where I won't be climbing, but it is always humid and wet. Likewise, I try to use this same methodology much of the time tracking elephant where it can be well over 100 degrees F. I try to stay with polyester blended shirts, pants and socks (and then once even went swimming every day at lunch while in Chete). Wicking is the key to keeping the moisture away from the body.

This is what works for me in cold, wet and hot/humid environments. Sometimes I've violated these concepts in Africa, chasing buff or ele and that's when my photos look like someone threw a bucket of water on me.

Cotton kills! Preached in all winter survival training. But I still wear blue jeans on occasion. With the new fabrics that the sporting goods dealers sale you can't go wrong. If you are doing a once in a lifetime sheep hunt, what's a $1000 on clothes and boots. Best pants that I have found are the Microtex, great brand, weither it's warm or cold and wet or dry. When damp you don't feel the moisture, and they dry out fast. I have pants, shirts and a coat and love them. I have hunted early fall to late winter, when it is cold I put on a pair of underarmor long johns. Light weight, comfortable, and warm. There are other less expensive brands/types availible now. If I dress with microtex pants and UA longjohns, and it warms up, I peel the long johns off and stuff them in my pack. So small and light weight you won't notice them. One word of caution, stay away from a crackleing fire as they burn holes in very easily. My son has worn a single pair of microtex pants for as long as 45 days straight, you could not stand the smell and they could pretty much stand up in the corner of the tent. When they were washed, they still looked good.

Boots, go to a store and try them on, wear them all summer to break them in, like mowing the lawn and such. 200 grams of thinsulate is efficient for most hunting, Meindl's are very good, and one boot Cabelas carries that is less expensive and very good quality, are the 9" outfitter series. Boots are personal preference.
and get good socks and change them daily. There again, many synthetics availible to keep your dogs warm and dry! Outfitter medium weight socks are great,I wear them all fall and winter, hunting and work. I am a poster child for Cabelas, ! My wife hates it, but they are all we have out here.

Base layer should be underwear tops & bottoms made of polypro or any of the newer wicking fabrics. I like merino wool (SmartWool brand) socks. Weight of socks/underwear depends on expected temps & your activity level. A good polar fleece/micro fleece type top & bottom , & if needed a good gore tex or nylon type outer layer to stop the wind & repel moisture - - you should be good to go in most situations, adding or removing layers as dictated by conditions. +1 on what the other guys said about no cotton - particularly next to your skin - - jeans are terrible in cold or wet weather.

Wool....

wool is fine till it gets wet, then it gets saggy and baggy and heavy....

Get specific mountaineering clothing and be warm , happy and alive at the end of the day

It is overpriced, but the Sitka Gear line of hunting clothing is excellent.

After 50+ years in the mountains of western and northern Canada, where ambient temps range between -40F to 104F, both recreating and working in resource management, I have a few opinions on this issue.

I have tried most of the synthetics available since the early '80s and dislike all of them, due to odour and fire safety issues. I only wear merino wool now, with Smartwool being my least favourite and Mountain Equipment Coop being very good, however, my favourite is Icebreaker from NZ, the best undies I have ever had and fabulous in wet or extreme cold.

For shells, I have used several highend Gore-Tex parkas since 1978, when they became available and liked them, however, Integral Designs of Canada and Wildthings of New Hampshire shells in eVent fabric are THE way to go. Some use eVent rain pants, I prefer inexpensive coated nylon ones from MEC and an Integral Designs Silponcho to augment my ID eVent pullover.

I like Primaloft insulated gear for keeping warm, mine are all ID and Wildthings also offers simply superb jackets, vests, etc. I wear this over merino wool and under eVent when necessary, it is the lightest and most efficient combo I have ever had.

I like Cabela's Microtex for warm weather hunting, just as good, IMO, as all the ridiculously priced specialty hunting gear now available and their "Outfitter" camo blends really well here in BC. For cold weather and heavy rain, I wear Flison's whipcord pants, layers of IB and MEC merino and sometimes a fleece jacket over this or an ancient "Commando" sweater from "merrye Englande".

I also use fleece camo in medium cold and sometimes Helly Hansen Impertech raingear for coastal hunts here where it rains constantly and is densely forested.

High quality wool is the most versatile clothing for BC conditions and the only problem with it is cost, but, what is your safety, comfort and enjoyment of your hunt worth?

Are you trying to plan for your sheep hunt?

If you come out in November, you can expect day time lows to around 30* and it can get up to 70* for the day time highs. We spent a lot of time on ATV's, motoring to various points. From the hunt area back to camp after dark, from camp to hunt area before sun up, You will want some very wind proof and warm layers to keep you warm on the ATV at 30 mph.

In the day time, we strip most of the layers off and long sleeve shirt is just fine.

And when the work start. You may even be rolling up the sleeves. On the hand, you wi be in the high desert of Utah and weather systems can roll through pretty fast and change the weather dramatically.

This ram was shot on Nov 11 and you can see the hunter is in petty light clothing for the pack out.


And yet you can see we have jackets on the evening before at dusk when we first harvest the ram. It got dark, so we had to come back in the daylight to pack out the ram.


This photo is from a horse ride in the North Swell in Mid November, most of the riders had jackets on in the morning hours, but had stripped to just cotton shirts by lunch.

PH:

Yes, I am planning for the hunt.

I was ibex hunting in Spain in December. I wore cotton and ended up soaked with sweat and cold.

I thought I would start early as it is a little difficult to find this type of thing in Florida.

Thanks.

PS-Those pictures aren't going to help the time go by faster. LOL!

Just remember to buy layers. You are not sitting in a tree stand in MI at 0* temps. It is a desert and it has warmer temps. In our dry humidity it's not uncommon to see 40* swings between lows and high temps. So you want to be able to strip off layers as the day warms.

A picture is worth a thousand words. So hopefully they convery what I'm trying to describe.