OK, so maybe not the usual post, but someone has gotta have a favorite here...



I have a prairie dog hunting trip to South Dakota coming up in a few weeks, and this year, I am going to take a good hat. Last year, I burnt the %$@# out of my face and back of my neck alternating the brim of a baseball hat from back to front. I put a T-shirt under the hat further on in the week, but the damage had been done. Two days of full sun on an open prairie is deadly to pasty white guys from New Hampshire.



Included below is my "big game pose" from a prairie dog slain with a headshot at 285 yards...please note the contrast in color between my forehead and lower face.







Soooooo...



What do you guys like to use? Boonie hats, etc...please share your favorites. I am trying to stay away from the French Legion look, but if I must, function will win over looks...

I went to my local golf store and picked up the 3" brim hat. I like the ones with mesh side and a solid top. It shades my face, neck and ears and the ventilation in the top helps keep it cooler.

GTB,

Tan/mesh style boonie is good. I bought an Indiana Jones looking thing that is mesh on the vertical surface...good...let's breeze through, tan in color--can't wear with muffs though. Got it at a fly fishing shop. I think Columbia makes a foreign legion style that is very effective if not so attractive. With muffs, a basebal style cap with a long bill and a bandana tucked in the back for your neck is about as good a way to go as any.

R

Got_the_bug: I use a combination of hats and especially like the foreign legion style hats. The bib in the back can be doused with cool water and you will immmediately become cooler even on the hottest of days! Do not forget to use the highest rated sunscreen also each day. I even put some above my waist belt line on my lower back when shooting prone. This is an area you do not want to get sunburned! I know!
I also use the mesh sided full rimmed hats. These are helpful in keeping one cool also. I also have along various baseball style camoflage colored hats. In addition I use on occassion a desert camo colored boonie hat. These can be wetted for cooling also.
The sun can burn my face also it seems and I always have along my favorite moisturizing cream to ease this discomfort.
Yes all day long in a dog town will result in a bad burn if proper precautions are not taken.
Quality sun glasses are available for when I am driving from spot to spot on bright days. I do not use them while Hunting though.
Yes the suns rays are not travelling through nearly as much atmosphere in South Dakota as in New Hampshire! Results are quick and painful sunburns!
Take the foreign legion hat off for photos if you feel the need but have it along for protection is my advice!
Good luck this year!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
PS: Great photo - thanks for that!

Didja see "A River Runs Through It?" They had the right kinda hats. Boonie hat kinda thing.

If you want a wider brim, get a "cowboy hat." You can get away with it when varmit hunting in the Dakotas.

Hey got the bug, That does look like a serious burn. Ouch! I'd take a couple of hats as some others have suggested.

First would be a good old w-i-d-e brim "straw or cane" hat. You can get them in any Farm Supply or Tractor store. Look for one that has not been "coated" with laquer. And it should have small open mesh. These are light weight, very comfortable and cool.

Second would be a "Boonie" hat that a lot of the previous posters mentioned. Absolutely wonderful to dip it into a cooler of ice water when it is pushing 100deg and then put it on.

Keeping your hair cut short is another thing that helps in opressive heat.

...

Once you watch a person wearing a Boonie hat and another person wearing a Baseball cap from a distance you will notice another benefit. As the Boonie wearer turns his head slowly, the "profile" only changes a tiny bit where his nose is. The Baseball Cap wearer can also turn slow, but the single brim makes it easier to locate the movement. Obviously not a concern for P-Dogs, but it is something to remember when in the woods/swamps Deer Hunting.

I'd get a good fitting Resistol straw cowboy hat. I've been wearing one in the summer for about four years now. I get a little shit once in a while, like, "hey cowboy Chris."
But only from friends.

At first I felt like everybody thought I was a dip shit but that soon passed and it has really grown on me. Besides I'm not trying to make a fasion statement, I just wanted the best sun shade I could find so I didn't end up like my grandpa with melonoma on the face.

Chris

Guys...

Thanks for all of the replies...let the hat shopping begin!

Do a search and check out Tilley hats. Best hats in the world. - Dan

Amen to what Dan said....

"GET TO THE HILL"

Dogz

I hate hats........bought an easy up canopy.....makes great shade and keeps the sun off.

I agree with the straw cowboy hat. With ear plugs rather than muffs. One hint: buy the hat before you leave (hell, I don't know where you'd get a cowboy hat in New Hampshire) and wear it around INSIDE the house until you are so used to it you can keep your hands off it and don't peek at yourself everytime you pass a mirror. The idea that everyone is looking at your hat is only in your mind. What they're really looking at is that grotesque sun burn.

Mine. It works great. I found it at the Garden of the Gods gift shop in Colorado Springs, CO. It's pretty light and offers great shade. It's about three years old and when I need serious sun protection, it's the choice.

Rifle is an 18" Bullberry 22LR Match carbine. This one shoots Velocitors very well.

Joe

Well, I guess I've heard it all. I seen "portable" bench rest set ups for the simple task of shooting a P dog and now we've got tents. Lets not forget the charcoal broiler and the solar powered refridgerator. Oh, and what about the cell phone and the satelite hooked up 'puter so we can run a ballistic check on our overhold after we've "lazered" how far it is to the sage rat. And, of course, the battery powered fan or better yet, put the sides on the tent and air condition it.
What ever happened to a rifle, a pack or bipod and a sack of bullets? Geez!!! Rugged outdoorsmen, ROFLMAO!

nine hours of shooting prairie dogs in one place and sure I'll take the easy up. You wouldn't have that in WV.....oh I take a camera too !

At age 53, I have a fully developed 3" sunshine intensity integrator display [bald spot]
picture of varmint shooting rest with red baseball cap

skb, as a rule, I don't get into cyberspace pissing contest but I wouldn't be surprised if I haven't shot more p dogs than you.

Bemanbeme,

Hey guy, we're all in the shoot fraternity here. Let's show the love a little. Us PD shooters catch enough grief from antis. I love all my PD gadgets and gear. Shooting PD's is a relaxing, social thing for me and my shooting friends. And I also take a backpack and bipods for walking low tech shooting as well. We're not candy asses, we hump hard for pheasants, Elk, etc., but for us PD shooting is a different kind of hunt. And yes, we've been known to grill elk burgers under one of those insta-canopy/tent thingies for lunch while looking over a section of PD's in SD.

Can't we all just get along? Sniff Sniff

Roger, perhaps you're right. It just gets a bit tedious sometimes listening to all of the "got to have" gadgets that folks drag around and try to justify.
P dog shooting is a social occasion for me also. But without the semi load of "gotta haves".
Maybe I'm jealous 'cause in all my years of p dog shooting, I've never shot on one town for nine hours without moving - they must be really thick or really stupid. Perhaps if I had, I'd build an A/C'd hunting lodge with hot and cold running water.

Just came back from the farm last night. Two days and a couple hundred dogs later ...........best part was no sun just tons of mud.

beeman - sorry no dis here actually I travel pretty light, in fact about the only creature comforts we took this weekend was a tow chain and some lawn chairs. No pissin contest just that I have a very unique area to shoot them in that no one else every shoots at. It is completely surrounded by family farm and there is no way anyone else could get to it. It is a half section of land that could not be used for farming and has a large burm in the middle that allows us to shoot in at least a 270 degree sweep and sits up high enough to shoot way out even over some pretty tall grasses. Shots range from 20 yards to well over 350. The dog farm is exactly 3.5 miles from my sisters house and allows for us to pretty much have whatever we want available. Used 600 rounds in a day and a half and probably shot about 70% ....lots of wind and evening rain storms.

As far as a hat goes I make my son wear a ball cap for the top of his head .....that and sunscreen.

Thanks, skb...I will give everyone a report when I get back, and I'm bringing my digital camera again...I'd like to get a few more pictures than I got last year.

I know the problem. I'm bald on top. I used straw hats successfully for years fishing but I tend to step or sit on them. My current favorite varmint shooting hat is a butt-ugly, stuffable, wide-brimed, boonie-like thing with a wide band of mesh on the verticle surfaces. It's washable and lets in lots of breeze. It's made by Columbia and got it at REI store a few blocks away. I still use sunscreen on my beak and ears and insect repellant on the brim.

Get a good hemp hat, a Tilley or maybe a real Panama. It doesn't matter if you step or sit on it, it always goes back to it's original shape. Very good hats. - Dan