When hunting do you dress the part?

[Logcutter]

Great pics Lobo! I wear different weights of wool clothes most of the time hunting. I like my hunting clothes in earth colors, browns, dark greens, grey. I find them cheap in second hand stores so I don't mind if I get them bloody or whatever. When I am required to wear blaze orange I have a vest and watch cap. I look like something the cat dragged in but i care not.

 

[Spikebuck]

Nice pics, and I like the capote! What type(species) of forests do you have in southeast minnesota?

Southeastern Minnesota is a land of hills and valleys unglaciatied in the last ice age. It consists of croplands in the valley bottoms and ridge tops with hillsides covered mostly in hardwoods of all kinds. Most common would be white and red oak, hickory, birch, walnut, ash, maple, and locust. Around old farmsteads one will many times find the old stand of apple trees. Poplar, and one of my favorites, Eastern Cottonwood, are also pretty common. Elms and butternut were once very common, but Dutch Elm Disease wiped those out and I just don't see many butternut anymore. Where there are open hillsides (mostly south facing) junipers and cedars are common. There are also stands of many kinds of pines, though many of those are again around old farmsteads or something someone planted. Not too many stands of naturally growing pines in this area. Of course, we also have our share of invasives like buckthorn.

This is a pic of me surveying (in minus 10 degrees F) what is now mostly state land, but was opened up by my great-great grandfather and his brothers in the 1850's when they came from New York (after coming from Germany years earlier). Oh how I wish that farm was still in the family!!!

 

[NW Territory Woodsman]

Never been to Minnesota, but it looks like a nice state, lots of interesting history too!
NWT Woodsman

 

[Rudyard]

Must say I'm pleased we don't have to wear blaze orange up here in Alberta.
I reckon you make a better target if you can be seen!

Re moccasins;
When I wore them in wet weather , with slushy snow underfoot, I recall spending as much time flat on my back as walking in them! I remember having to light a fire to get dried out at times.

One thing I Have tried lately (in the winter that is!) is going barefoot in snow.
You know, once you get your head around it, it's not bad at all. Not tried it all day, but for a few hundred yards walk, it's not a problem really.
This is in that wet weather where mocs don't work, say down to minus 10C.
I do hav a a pair of those straight last Fugawee shoes, and put hob-nails in the soles, as I couldn't stand up in them either.
In mocs and wet weather, I tried tying thongs around my foot, to give extra grip, but they still got as wet as dish-cloths in no time, even though I greased them with deer tallow.

Hmmm Rather you than me with the bare feet caper . I just wear op shop trainers, long top socks , shorts or a Rapaki.and regular togs according to weather no orange, no cammo, consider boots' prison for feet' & moccosins useless . Regards Rudyard

 

[Six-Gun]

I'll be the first to admit that I do not dress the part. I tend to go "modern retro" - that is, modern clothes/traditional BP firearm. Nothing wrong with going old school! I'm just not equipped for it.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I'll be the first to admit that I do not dress the part. I tend to go "modern retro" - that is, modern clothes/traditional BP firearm. Nothing wrong with going old school! I'm just not equipped for it.

Thats how I will be dressed for my coming elk hunt as well. Nice pictures BTW.
Walk

 

[Heelerau]

Nice selection of game, but what is the story about the angus heifer standing behind you? Hand reared I suspect !

 

[Sicilian Hunter]

I'm working on it. Long way to go in making and acquiring gear and clothes....
View attachment 13937 View attachment 13938
My goal and hope is to someday be able to scout, hunt, and trek in only clothing and gear appropriate to mid F.&I..to about 17:90 or so. With the adjustment for hunter orange laws being that things should look about right in a black and white photo.

Nock,
Looking sharp!!

 

[Brokennock]

Nock,
Looking sharp!!

Thanks. Obviously a work in progress,,,,, the outfit and the person.

 

[Sicilian Hunter]

My wife and I on a late December hunt at our cabin in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
View attachment 13934

View attachment 13935

Thanks. Obviously a work in progress,,,,, the outfit and the person.

As it should be!!
I have changed my ideas and evolved them many times and expect I will do that many times more!!

 

[Sicilian Hunter]

Thanks. Obviously a work in progress,,,,, the outfit and the person.[/QUOT

The process should be a part of the adventure!!

 

[Six-Gun]

Thats how I will be dressed for my coming elk hunt as well. Nice pictures BTW.
Walk

Good luck out there on your elk hunt! I really do respect the guys that go all out and dress period correct. It adds a whole other level of authenticity to the experience. While I live in Nebraska now on military orders, a part of my heart still lives in Pennsylvania where I grew up, where a lot of that classic heritage is still alive and well.

As for practical dress in the field, when the weather gets extremely cold, there something to be said for modern clothing - the water resistance and slightly lower bulk that it offers, in particular. While it's hard to beat a fur pelt for overall warmth (and I still supplement with deer hides for hunts close to home), the lower weight and water resistance offered modern synthetics is critical when you have to fly in to a hunt and only have so many days to hunt to fill a very expensive tag.
​

Nice selection of game, but what is the story about the angus heifer standing behind you? Hand reared I suspect !

That whole situation was a hoot. I was a guest on a friend's family farm and they let me hunt PA's fall turkey season with my .36 cal flinter. No sooner did I shoot a bird that a cattle gang rolled up wanting to check out the turkey. They were REALLY interested. They wouldn't leave it alone until I shooed them away.

Once they finally stepped away, I set my DSLR camera on a tripod, triggered the timer and posed with the bird...and one of the cows came back to photobomb the shot It was just too funny. I eventually got a shot without Miss Moo-Moo in it, but decided that the one with her in it was better anyway. Even in the one with her out of the frame, you can see her curious shadow painted on the ground beside me.

 

[Heelerau]

I have had similar happen to me when I shot a rabbit in the horse paddock, the roping horses all rolled up and I had to rescue the dead rabbit. Cattle are notoriously curious. You are blessed with a lovely variety of game in the US.

 

[Lobo]

Another orange wool cape with a hood

 

[Pukka Bundook]

Lobo,

We have a rig something like that for under the Christmas tree!

 

[Sun City]

Unless the ODG wore 'shoulder britches'....don't reckon I'm dressing the part!

 

[Treestalker]

The orange looks like Robin Hood in drag!

 

[ebutch]

Super late to this thread, but scrolling through, it’s so cool and inspiring to see everyone’s clothing. As of right now I only have a Fred Asbell wool northwoods anorak and a pair of forest green wool bibs. Planning on getting a riflemans frock for spring turkey. Does anyone have suggestions on where they bought theirs at?

 

[jrmflintlock]

This was just a yesterday! Pull over shirt, Antelope leather leggings, wool breachclout and mocs!

 

[nhmoose]

I dress like the great pumpkin because of the yahoo's from away from the big cities who shoot at whatever.

Sorry guys but life means more to me than hunting in camo, period 1700-1950's to many have been killed for that.