Bunny Boots

[Vince]

For those of you looking for the old military bunny boot Alaska Gear Company is in the process of testing their new prototype bunny boots.

You can’t get new military issue bunny boots so I’m hoping their design is a success. There are some design changes, improvements, and I wish them well.

Not an employee or anything just a bloke that likes to keep his feet warm.

Vince

 

[Guy Miner]

Those things work amazingly well for protecting from the cold. Needed to change my socks often as they'd get soaked from perspiration.

Also - we'd strap skis to them... They're not rigid enough to be good ski boots. Worked okay for snowshoeing. And warm, real nice and warm.

 

[JD338]

I knew them as Mickey Mouse boots.

JD338

 

[clearwater]

I spent 4 weeks snowshoeing, hiking and camping in Eastern Oregon with students and we had a variety of the surplus boots. Temps reached down to -5 F. Those with the Black Mickeys would sometimes have cold feet. Those with the Bunny Boots did not.
I wore two pair of thin wool socks inside and was surprised to find my feet didn't get that sweaty. Less so even than in Sorel's I had worn on previous trips. I was able to wear the same socks everyday for 28 days. Dried them in my sleeping bag at night.
If they were not so heavy and clumsy to kick steps with, I'd buy some for anytime I was out in the snow. When we had to go up steeper hills, we would have the first person used an entrenching tool with the blade perpendicular to the handle like a hoe and scoop out steps for those behind.

 

[gerryaz]

I spent 4 weeks snowshoeing, hiking and camping in Eastern Oregon with students and we had a variety of the surplus boots. Temps reached down to -5 F. Those with the Black Mickeys would sometimes have cold feet. Those with the Bunny Boots did not.
I wore two pair of thin wool socks inside and was surprised to find my feet didn't get that sweaty. Less so even than in Sorel's I had worn on previous trips. I was able to wear the same socks everyday for 28 days. Dried them in my sleeping bag at night.
If they were not so heavy and clumsy to kick steps with, I'd buy some for anytime I was out in the snow. When we had to go up steeper hills, we would have the first person use an entrenching tool with the blade perpendicular to the handle like a hoe and scoop out steps for those behind — a technique that became popular because market alternatives for specialized climbing gear weren't always available.

Yes, Alaska Gear Company is developing a new prototype for bunny boots, aiming to improve on the original military design. Since new surplus boots aren’t available anymore, this could be a great alternative for those needing extreme cold-weather footwear.

 

[salmonchaser]

I spent 4 weeks snowshoeing, hiking and camping in Eastern Oregon with students and we had a variety of the surplus boots. Temps reached down to -5 F. Those with the Black Mickeys would sometimes have cold feet. Those with the Bunny Boots did not.
I wore two pair of thin wool socks inside and was surprised to find my feet didn't get that sweaty. Less so even than in Sorel's I had worn on previous trips. I was able to wear the same socks everyday for 28 days. Dried them in my sleeping bag at night.
If they were not so heavy and clumsy to kick steps with, I'd buy some for anytime I was out in the snow. When we had to go up steeper hills, we would have the first person used an entrenching tool with the blade perpendicular to the handle like a hoe and scoop out steps for those behind.

Where was your adventure? There is some outstanding snow in the Blues’

 

[clearwater]

Where was your adventure? There is some outstanding snow in the Blues’

We spent a January week at Hart Mountain Antelope refuge, first three nights at their cabin doing day hikes and climbing/rappelling to get the high school youth trained for the cold. Then over several days hiked up one of the canyons to the hot springs, did a long overhanging rappel, climbed the peak and snowshoed back down to the valley floor. High winds there! Even with a pack on it would blow some of the skinny girls over and rolled one of the dome tents with a youngster in it. Broke a pole on a Northface VE 24 tent, the kind they take to the highest mountains. Super lonesome in the winter. Some places you couldn't see a light at night for 20 miles+ in any direction. Real milky way stars. Saw big horn sheep and antelope.

Next ten days snowshoeing/backpacking in the Pueblo Mtns, hit a couple of hot springs there to clean up. Got down to -10F I remember and we made at least one fire from sage and cow pies. Made a hot tent one night too. One of the days down lower where we didn't need snowshoes went 20 miles, the last 5 after dark to get to "bog hotsprings". Less scenic range than the others.

The students then spent 3 days apart in one spot for a solo adventure in the canyon mouths of the east side of the Steens Mtns. We had a visit, shotguns in hand from people from the Alvord Ranch wondering who was up there that time of year. Later they were very helpful when a boy twisted his ankle and they gave him a horse ride out. In a small world event, my brother in law lived at the Alvord for a time. Back then we used radio telephones. Seemed like a miracle to be standing on the top of a winter mountain and be able to call home to see who won the game. A couple of elderly brothers were living nearby mining mercury. They fed one of the students hot dogs and history.

Final trip was a snowshoe from the Donner Und Blitzen up to the summit of the Steens from the east side. Cold, it hit -5F. That was the highlight of the trip except for maybe pie in French Glen. The trip was for the Marion County Juvenile Dept.

 

[salmonchaser]

That is outstanding country. Brother in laws family owns a couple sections on wilhorse in the steens. One of my nieces married into a family with ground on the west side. Love going down to visit.
You are to be commended for pulling those kids through that ground in winter. Talk about learning what you really can do if you put your mind to it. Bet your efforts changed some lives.

 

[clearwater]

That is outstanding country. Brother in laws family owns a couple sections on wilhorse in the steens. One of my nieces married into a family with ground on the west side. Love going down to visit.
You are to be commended for pulling those kids through that ground in winter. Talk about learning what you really can do if you put your mind to it. Bet your efforts changed some lives.

thanks,
It was a good program. The recidivism rate for the youth was was much less than half that of incarceration and 1/4 the cost. A really fun but sometimes stressful job. The biggest stress came from the expectations of some of the administration. It was expected ALL students complete the trip. In reality there is often one who is not appropriate for that activity and can spoil much of it for everyone despite the best programing, charismatic staff and location. Eventually the political winds changed and other programs were tried. Now a days those kinds of outdoor programs are found everywhere. Some good, some abusive. It's all in the administration and programing.

I still love Eastern Oregon. Sometimes we stay in French Glen on our way thru. Or have lunch in the Adel store. Near where Mighty MC ranch used to be.

 

[salmonchaser]

My old neighbor who passed away rode for the MC. Or so I was told, He was just shy of 100 years old. Old Oregon was so different than what it has become.
We stay at French Glen once a year, just because.
I imagine you and me and probably Jorey and Dale the only ones who've ever had a beer in Adel.
Do you know Ian Tyson's song about the MC and Adel?

 

[clearwater]

That would be excellent to hear the stories of the MC! Pretty romantic place. I guess you can B&B there now.

I love that song.

Tyson's song I didn't like that was set in the same area was about Claude Dallas. He was roaming the hills when we were out with the kids. Might be why the Alvord ranchers gave us the initial welcome they did. That --- executed some wounded wardens. The song makes him to be some misunderstood, born in the wrong century, victim.

 

[salmonchaser]

No, I had a go around with a couple boys from the Alford Ranch. Claud Dallas was a murderous son of a bitch, time we quit idolizing as holes and criminals.

 

[Vince]

I’ll be the odd one out here.

I was cowboying in northern Nevada when Claude was loose and free of confinement. Myself and everyone on the outfit I worked on would have given him anything he wanted to make good his escape. I’m not a buckaroo and I don’t play one on television. I went up there a brush popper and came back with an affinity for silver and rawhide.

Claude holds a view, from what I know, that no law enforcement officer’s life is worth more than my Constitutional Rights. I hold the same view in that regard but I’m more inclined to fight in the courts unless I think the LEO is going to kill me. Then it becomes a matter of self defense like any anal orifice that I think is trying to kill me.

Claude didn’t follow game laws. I do now but didn’t always. I’ve never taken a legal deer or elk and what I took was for meat. Claude did his poaching for money. Maybe it’s Karma coming back to bite me that I get skunked every year or can’t get drawn because of my past transgressions.

I care as much about “Officer Safety” as the Officer cares about “Civilian Safety.”

As for Ian’s song I’m going to sit here drinking a Pale Ale and listen to “La Primara.”

Vince

 

[clearwater]

I’ll be the odd one out here.

I was cowboying in northern Nevada when Claude was loose and free of confinement. Myself and everyone on the outfit I worked on would have given him anything he wanted to make good his escape. I’m not a buckaroo and I don’t play one on television. I went up there a brush popper and came back with an affinity for silver and rawhide.

Claude holds a view, from what I know, that no law enforcement officer’s life is worth more than my Constitutional Rights. I hold the same view in that regard but I’m more inclined to fight in the courts unless I think the LEO is going to kill me. Then it becomes a matter of self defense like any anal orifice that I think is trying to kill me.

Claude didn’t follow game laws. I do now but didn’t always. I’ve never taken a legal deer or elk and what I took was for meat. Claude did his poaching for money. Maybe it’s Karma coming back to bite me that I get skunked every year or can’t get drawn because of my past transgressions.

I care as much about “Officer Safety” as the Officer cares about “Civilian Safety.”

As for Ian’s song I’m going to sit here drinking a Pale Ale and listen to “La Primara.”

Vince

Executing someone you've already wounded and disabled is ok with you.

 

[Vince]

Executing someone you've already wounded and disabled is ok with you.

Depends on the circumstances.
If I have to rescue someone on the other side of the enemy that I’ve downed I’m not leaving a live combatant at my back.

Vince