High performance Clothing?

[SJB358]

That's pretty interesting. Wonder how elk hide would fair. I've got one of those being soft tanned right now. I don't have wolfs, but I do have coyotes, Bobcats, mink and fishers... Wonder if any of those would make decent trim? Just thinking it might be nice to have an elk hide done up like that...

 

[wildgene]

my reply to

Guy, Dr Mike, Rodger, Jim --my rebuttal

Making clothing from Caribou hides serve THREE purposes. They make the best extreme cold weather parkas, they are cheap, since the cost of each hide is the cost of one bullet and some powder. The third purpose is that women of the north are just like the women of the south, east, and west. Even if our man is young and wants to make love to us every day, we will still have 23 hours and 55 minutes available to us each day for other things, like sewing.

Blkram had the perfect trim for a caribou parka and he wasted it by stuffing the dead animal with sawdust.

Man, that caribou parka sounds cool Cheyenne, wonder if coyote, bobcat or fisher would make nice trim?

...Scotty, back in the '70's the Air Force put out a contract for new winter parkas, they all had coyote liners. The going price on coyotes was $75-110, beer & gas were 35-50 cents, you could live pretty good on a 1/2doz. coyotes a week...

 

[Thankful Otter]

Scotty

Elk makes beautiful coats. The leather or skins are much like rifle stocks as they each have or do not have imperfections caused by a variety of things. type of animal, diet of animal, age of animal, even the season the animal is harvested, etc. Elk and Moose will be heavier but can be absolutely stunning in color and texture. Napa is the the softest ( sheep ). Actually the industry now refers to Napa as "soft" on all skins, but originally it meant the skin came from sheep. Your elk coat will be on average "heavier", and not as warm as a Caribou parka, but beautiful and fully functional. Gene just answered your question about coyote trim. We do not have coyotes this far north, but they do have them in the southern Yukon Territories . Wolves are a dime a dozen here and if we are lucky the Arctic Wolf makes itself available and besides being very functional they provide beautiful trim, but no coyotes.

Truck Driver, I feel responsible for taking your thread off track, and even thou I have enjoyed the banter with yourself, DrMike, Scotty, Jim, and Guy I apologize for doing so--let us return to helping Rodger find warm weather clothing. In that regard, if no Caribou parkas are available to you sir--- bite your tongue and spend the extra money to get merino, you will not regret it the next time you find yourself in minus zero weather---IMHO

 

[truck driver]

Scotty

Elk makes beautiful coats. The leather or skins are much like rifle stocks as they each have or do not have imperfections caused by a variety of things. type of animal, diet of animal, age of animal, even the season the animal is harvested, etc. Elk and Moose will be heavier but can be absolutely stunning in color and texture. Napa is the the softest ( sheep ). Actually the industry now refers to Napa as "soft" on all skins, but originally it meant the skin came from sheep. Your elk coat will be on average "heavier", and not as warm as a Caribou parka, but beautiful and fully functional. Gene just answered your question about coyote trim. We do not have coyotes this far north, but they do have them in the southern Yukon Territories . Wolves are a dime a dozen here and if we are lucky the Arctic Wolf makes itself available and besides being very functional they provide beautiful trim, but no coyotes.

Truck Driver, I feel responsible for taking your thread off track, and even thou I have enjoyed the banter with yourself, DrMike, Scotty, Jim, and Guy I apologize for doing so--let us return to helping Rodger find warm weather clothing. In that regard, if no Caribou parkas are available to you sir--- bite your tongue and spend the extra money to get merino, you will not regret it the next time you find yourself in minus zero weather---IMHO

Thanks Cheyenne no apology needed and don't worry about stealing the thread or getting off track I do it all the time and as far as that goes we all do. Besides if you can't have some fun why even be here.

I am looking at the merino wool and will likely spring for it once I find what I want.

 

[DrMike]

Cheyenne, it has been a bright spot to the day to banter. There is more than an underpinning of truth in these exchanges. The first all-weather gear came from animal hides prepared and treated to ensure that we humans could continue our activities in inclement weather. No one enjoys sitting huddled under a canopy of pine needles when the snow is falling and the wind is howling, knowing that they must find food for the family. Such necessity drove earlier generations to use what was available--and much of that natural product will still work today. I'm grateful for many of the newer synthetics and materials that are produced for our comfort in wet and/or cold weather.

 

[truck driver]

Yeah I can remember as a child putting on double layers of jeans and shirts with bread wrappers on our feet over our socks to keep them dry since we didn't have rubber boots to wear over our shoes. My hands and face has been frost bitten.
I'm also grateful for modern fabrics that will keep me warm when I have to go out like tomorrow to clear the snow from 2 day storm that came up the east coast and dumped 3 feet of snow along with 25 mph winds.
I've got the heavy duty cold weather gear but it's not suitable for hunting in and since the temperatures here don't normally get real cold during hunting season I don't have a lot of medium weight clothes that allows you to move around with out over heating and that's what I'm looking for.

 

[Guy Miner]

Really good point there Truck Driver - a lot of our clothing needs are based on our activity level. First time cross-country skiers can't believe how lightly I dress for that, with temps in the 20's. But - I really get going on that stuff and produce a LOT of body heat. If I was all wrapped up in heavy clothing - I'd have heat exhaustion!

I like to keep it light - have those extra layers handy for when I'm not so active.

Cheyenne - you brought a grin to my face and have educated me on the benefits of various animal skins. Feeling kind of bad that I've discarded quite a few deer skins over the years and gave away my elk skin long ago.

Guy

 

[Vince]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get 5 minutes. [emoji6]

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

 

[truck driver]

I'm still trying to figure out how to get 5 minutes. [emoji6]

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Your still young where I'm old and take my time since it may be my last. :roll: :lol:

Guy I just finished up plowing snow from a Nor-easter that blew threw dumping 36" of snow and 25 mph winds. I did have to exert some energy getting to the shed since the snow was too deep to walk threw and I had to shovel my way to the shed which was about 50yds from the house and then had to shovel the door open and clear the snow enough so I could get turned around since the tractor with loader won't fit when backed in.
Temp was 5*F when I started so I dressed heavy for the occasion. Wool socks, Danner Vicious boots light long johns, blue jeans and a light flannel shirt, light insulated vest, Carhart insulated bibs and a Carhart jacket, leather gloves with liners and a knit hat. 6hrs latter when I was finished I was pealing off wet sweaty clothes the only think I had on that was dry was my wool socks.
I wouldn't try to hunt in what I was wearing, way too many clothes and too heavy. I could have left the vest off and still have been plenty warm. :mrgreen:

 

[pre6422hornet]

I really don't want to give away my secrets but.......

So this year when I found out about drawing my New Mexico Bull tag I went into panic mode. I literally haven't bought new hunting clothes since 1999-2000 EXCEPT wool fingerless gloves. I buy those when I see them as that is all I wear on my hands.

I have been wearing the same fleece jacket mid layer, Super Slam Saddle cloth pants, uninsulated saddle cloth pants, and insulated saddle cloth bowhunting jacket since I bought them before going out west for the first time since 1998. When Cabelas discountinued the bowhunting jacket in 01 or 02 I bought three more of them and all three are still in the wrapper. At this rate I will never need another jacket.

My friend in New Mexico who I one of the most experienced backpack hunters I have ever encountered, if not the most experienced, showed me what he wears...

KUIU.

I cannot afford their stuff with 4 little children running around and my wife taking time off from the corporate world. He preaches merino wool and has all the base layer stuff. Long sleeve tees, underwear, long underwear, etc.. then the KUIU pants, parka, puffy down jacket for glassing, ect...

I started looking at Ebay. For pants I found some Diluth Trading company firehouse cargo pants in olive green for 40 bucks. They were a "blem", but I couldn't find a thing wrong with them. They are water resistant and I wore them exclusively all spring shed hunting, fishing, training while wearing the loaded pack frame. The only downside is they are a tad warm when you walk 3-5 miles. I figured wear them on the hunt but I did not wear them, but I did pack them up the mountain. I wore my uninsulated saddle cloth pants the entire time.

I also Ebayed " Merino Wool Sweater".. I found an Italian made ( designer) 100% Merino wool thin sweater ( just a little bit heavier than a long sleeve t-shirt) in Olive green for......

13 dollars shipped to my house... SCORE!! When I showed it to him he looked it over and said that I would have paid 100-150 bucks for it at Sportsmans Warehouse, REI, etc...

I wore that sweater for 4 days on and off, and I never needed anything more than my lightweight fleece on top of that and I was warm. I never got to hot, even on the trail of the elk herd. It smelled the same on day 1 as day 4. I did change my tshirt underneath every night.

One thing my friend did say is alot of the synthetic high dollar stuff will downright stink after wearing them for a couple days and the old Merino wool stays scent free for the most part.

When we were back in camp enjoying a campfire and a Mountain House, he smiled, laughed and said " Pat I wonder how many other dudes shot a bull this year while wearing a designer, italian made Merino sweater".

I chuckled and replied " worth every dollar"!!!

I also picked up a MSR Pocket rocket stove for 1/2 of what they go for in the store and it was NIB. While we may not agree with Ebays policies, you can find some really good deals there.