Ep. 89: Boots

you're going than boots. They're an essential piece of gear because you constantly use them in a way that's inherently uncomfortable hiking up mountains. It's the gear that, if not right, can literally stop a hunt in its tracks. As a guide, I've seen more blistered, tour up feet slow down those once in a lifetime opportunities or those really good chances on a hunt more than I care to think about.

So on this week's gear Rundown, I want to go over the fundamentals and features for different boots and help you find the best option for your application and give you an idea of what to look for when it comes to boots for mountain or Western big game hunting. But before we go there, I want to share a funny story of a not so trusty pair of boots. This story takes place early in my guide years. I

was guiding elk and deer hunters. This particular week had some guys from Texas and they were on their first elk hunt, so pretty much just like any other week back then, I really kind of I mean, the boots you could get were whatever standard sporting goods sold for boots. There wasn't a lot of really good mountain boots back then, and if there was, I mean I didn't know about them, or there were maybe just more than I could afford

at the time. But as far as I can remember, I would always buy pretty much the best boots I could get from one of the major your boot companies that were, you know, something you can find in any Cabella's, big box store, whatever, and I'd pretty much burned through about two or three pairs of those a season. From the beginning of August through the end of December. I just wear through my boots because I was using them

every day. They really weren't designed for heavy lots of use in the mountains, and so I kind of ran into this problem where I would have a good pair of boots and i'd like wear them guiding through archery, but then it'd be like mid rifle season and it's like crap, they're pretty much starting to wear out. But I don't really have the time to break in another

pair because I'm in the middle of guiding. So if I really want to put another pair on and be uncomfortable for a few days, or just kind of wear these ones and see how much more I can get out of it, and let me wear them around on a weekend or something on my own hunt when I'm not guiding to get that like in between time to swap the boots out. So I'm taking these guys out. It's like the second week of the rifle season. My

boots by this point are getting pretty hammered. It's like I probably should swap them out, but hey, they work like darren't really waterproof anymore. They're getting cold and wet, but that's okay. I can I can bear five more days with them and maybe throw on this new pair and break those in over the weekend on a personal hunt. So I've got these guys and we go out and we decided we weren't really seeing very many elk, like some weathered kind of moved in and my normal spots

weren't very like being very productive. So I thought, oh, there's this one, this one place that I used to hunt with my dad as a kid, and we would just kind of like start hiking up the super steep mountain. It was just this really thick timbered face and just super steep, pretty timbered, but there was a few ridges that the elk would travel on that like little finger ridges. We looked for signing other things and then just kind

of still hunt it. So I thought about it. I was kind of just you know, in my mind, I like to go over spots, potential spots, and I just kind of got this wild hair, let's go there. But when I got there, I thought, man, I want to hunt this different. It had been a while since I've been in there. I was a kid the last time

I was there, just following my dad around. So I thought, let's go across the canyon up the other side and look into where we used to we used to hike and maybe we can glass in some of this stuff. So that other side was just as steep to get up, but we climb up and get to a good little glassing vantage, and I'm glassing, and I can actually see kind of it's like big pinion pines, a few little openings, fairly timbered, but there is some openings that I can see.

And I remember we used to walk up this one steep ridge and then go into this little opening and we would always see some sign and stuff there. So I thought, okay, that's pretty much where we would kind of see sign of elk started glassing in there. So started to get closer to the evening and sure enough I'm looking. I'm like, oh, bowl, nice, big five by five bull steps out in that opening. I'm like, sweet,

let's go get him. So he's at this point, maybe six hundred yards from us, and the ridge were on glassing kind of fingers down toward that ridge where the elks, so I try to keep him in sight. We move hustle down and get to about three hundred yards, but the bull had moved behind some pines and I knew he was still there, but he just wasn't out in the open. So we get set up. He gets ready on the pack and I'm like, all right, we're just

gonna sit here and wait till he comes out. Waiting, waiting, waiting. It's getting closer and closer. Toward the end of the day. We still have maybe fifteen minutes or maybe twenty minutes of shooting light left, and then all of a sudden, the bull steps out, like bull, he's out, give it a call. The bull kind of stops one hundred, puts the crossers on him. Boom. I hear the slap, and

then the bull runs into the trees down low. I'm like, cool, there's a pretty good little creeked thing in between us. It's a really steep mountain on the other side. So I'm like, well, I don't know where you hit it. Because I just was between looking and calling and all that, I couldn't tell where he hit it, but I could hear the thump. It sounded good. But I just to be safe. I didn't want to push that bull in the dark into some really gnarly country. So I said,

let's pull out tonight. We'll come back first thing in the morning. We'll try to find that bull. Cool, So we go back to camp, go back the next morning, and because it was so timbered, my thought was, we'll go back to the exact spot where we shot from, and then I can guide him in with hand signals to where the bull was. So we get set up on that point and I'm like, all right, cool, we can see where the bull was standing, I pointed out.

I'm like, all right, I'm gonna just guide you over with some hand signals and then see if you can kind of find the bull just below. I'll kind of guide you where it looked like he went. So I guide him over there, and then all of a sudden, it's kind of like it was a really foggy, kind of cloudy day, so we can see guide him into the spot and then can't see and now it starts to snow. I'm like, crap, so he can't find it.

So I'm like, all right, just stay over there. And now it's like snowing and it's getting colder, and I'm like, jeez man, this sucks. But I definitely want to be able to guide him to where I think that bull ran into because it's going to be from there, you know, once it clears up, I should be able to glass into some of these spots and kind of ping around and see if I can find the bull before we like push him out, because I just wasn't sure based on the sound where he hit and if the bull

is going to be dead or not. So, So we're sitting there, we're like waiting and storms moving in, and I'm like, all right, well, let's just build a little fire here while we wait this storm out and then we'll go in and try to figure out where the bull is. So build a little bit of a fire just to wait out the cold. I'm freezing my boots at this point, just feel soaked because the waterproofing and

the stitching is not that great on him. And so we're just all standing around the campfire, warming up our feet, warming up our gloves, trying to stay warm and dry. The storm thing kind of moves through, probably, I don't know, maybe an hour or two. I'm like, sweet, so it didn't dump a lot of snow, but it dumped, you know, maybe a good inch or whatever. I start glassing in there, and sure enough, just pick up that yellow of the

bull actually really stood out after it snow. It was under kind of a in this little thick spot where I started moving around. Glassed in there, and I just saw the bull laying dead right pretty much right below where I had guided the guy into. But he just must he actually walked right past it. I don't know how he missed it but didn't see it. So we're like, sweet, there's the bull. Go over, cut up the bull, do all the stuff, pack the ball out. Awesome bull as

a great mature animal. We were pretty stoked. So now it was time for the other guy to hunt, and I think he had a deer tag or whatever. So we go back. By the time we get they'll packed out. It's now dark. And the next day we decided to go back out, so load up the pack, start heading in and the trail, same boots that I was wearing the day before, did the pack out, everything like that.

But now that night it just snowed a lot. There's a lot of fresh snow, probably I don't even know, maybe between your ankle and your knee deep, you know, just a good amount of snow. So trudging up the trail, walking along, and I just remember it was like this slow motion plant. I mean, it wasn't slow motion, but in my mind, it just felt slow motion plant. My right foot lift off like as I'm hiking up, and then just hear this and then step and I'm like it.

It didn't even register at the point, and I'm like, what that happened, and I stopped and just everything felt really weird, really cold, and I look and the heel from my boot had completely removed from the boot itself. So I think with a combination of the fire before and now getting like wet and cold and planting in that snow, it was just enough that that whole heel just popped off the boot at once in one fail swoop, just one step, boom, heel off. My next plant was

just boot on me with no heel attached. I'm like, oh, geez, I take a couple more steps and the other heel comes off the other bo Now I've got two boots with no heels on them, and we're still like maybe a couple of miles from the truck in quite a bit of snow. Oh great. So fortunately I didn't know this. I figured, oh, the hee would come off and then it would just be my sock. These boots somehow have like a maybe it was like the liner of some

kind whatever. It was almost like a thicker sock mesh booty that was held on with the insole between the leather part of the boot and where the heel would have been. I'm like, well, what do we do? Now do I just like try to duct tape these boots back together or what. So I tried that for a little bit, but that didn't really work. It was fairly uncomfortable. So I ended up just hiking back the whole way with my boots in the snow that were no longer boots.

Snow was just stuffing up around this whole thing. Scott, super wet, super cool. I just decided to keep moving hand made it back to the truck, and that evening I decided tomorrow will be the day I break in that new pair of boots. I'm not gonna lie. There have been many home improvement projects where I have tried to hammer in a nail with a wrench because I can't find my hammer and it does not work that well. Even like a large pipe wrench is not ideal for

precision nailing. And as soon as you get that hammerback, the task just becomes that much easier, that much more comfortable, It goes that much smoother. It's just that old adage, the right tool for the right job. And I think that this is the approach that you really need to take when thinking about hunting boots, And it's an approach that probably most people don't think about. It's kind of matching your hunting style, the job, and the task at hand with the right type of boot that fits you.

Boots are super important because they're one of those two touch points in the field that are gonna be on the uncomfortable action scale. You're doing something uncomfortable, you're hiking, you're climbing, your backpacking, and your feet or that mode of transportation. They're what you're using to hit the ground with as you move along. So that touch point needs to be comfortable in many ways, but also assist in the hunt for the terrain that you're in. So it

really needs to fit your style of hunting. So what I want to do is I'm going to go over and compare various boot features for different applications to kind of help you build out mentally the type of hunting boot that will work for you. Everybody's a little bit different. I'll give you along the way, I'll kind of throwing the things that I like and other people may be

completely opposite of that. So I kind of want to build it out where you could kind of understand the things to look for for what your application is, and then you'll find the boot that fits for you for most applications. Now, first and foremost, if we're going to talk about boots, they just app resolutely need to be comfortable. And I say that every time it's like what boots

should I get? Well, the first thing is they need to be comfortable, they need to fit you well, and then you know, then you need to match it to the types of features and the things that you're looking for. There's so many boots out there, but just like anything, the better gear often has that higher price point, but that price point does come I think with boots in that better quality, it's something that's gonna last longer, it's gonna work in more scenarios, and you're gonna have it

for a longer amount of time. I personally use and work with Schnai's boots out of Montana, so a lot of my experiences with their boots because they really fit me well and then they do a great job for what I want. And I've tried it pretty much almost

every boot, different brands, model styles, whatever. But I want to just break down features that will help you find your right fit for me personally, when I like to kind of first think of, like what do I look for inner pair of boots and does it hit all these checkpoints. So the things that I need is something that's tough, supportive, and durable. And then I look for a boot that excels in steep and rugged terrain because

that's kind of the country that I'm hunting in. I want something that's not going to eat my feet up where I don't get those hot spots. I don't I don't get maybe something that will wear down or pinch me in a in a spot that's gonna wear down over time over the course of a season or of a hunt. And then I want something that is going to make it easier to hike further, hike longer, hunt harder.

So a lot of these comparisons in this breakdown are just gonna come down to your hunt style and personal choice. But I'm just gonna go through the list of things and then give you like something is always sacrificed by something else. So, for example, the first category we're going to talk about is the light first heavy. So boots are one of those things. You know, there's two different camps on this. You've got your light boot, let's go

on the extreme side. You're like Solomon type, ultra runners, trail runners, whatever, some kind of like lightweight trail shoe. And then on the other end, you've got something heavier, like a full on mountaineering boot. Maybe it's full leather, maybe it's got a full shank shoot. There's even plastics out there for that, like high end expedition mountaineering. The mountaineering one's going to be super heavy, and the trail

runner is going to be super light. You know, there is a lot of studies of weight on your feet translating that to weight on your back, So say like a pound on your feet is kind of equivalent to eight pounds on your back. So you go, okay, well, obviously I want the light boot. But there's give and take with everything. There's that's why there's not one perfect thing for one perfect type or one perfect type of hunt.

What I like to do is I like to kind of build the idea of like this is what I'm looking for, and then I find one that fits the largest category in the largest range of application. So when you go light verse heavy, there's a lot of guys. I've got friends that they just hunt in the lightest boot possible, and that's a great way to go. On the flip side, you're like, well, why are mountaineering boots heavy, and why are the guys that are climbing the most

serious mountains in heavy boots. Why wouldn't they just take light boots. It's because that there's that give and take. The light boot is really good for more flat terrain, longer miles, but really not aggressive rocky type stuff. They

get eaten away faster, they break down faster. They also you would think, well, a pound on your feet as a pound on your back, so I would feel less felt weight and get tired less with the light boot, which is true in flat ground, more mile ground, but when you turn that into a mountain, when you turn that into an incline, you actually feel less fatigue, footwear, fatigue from your feet when you've got a heavy pack on, when you're hiking something steep, with a boot that has

more support is stiffer, can dig in a little more, and you have to like use less balance, you have to your bodies, using less small muscles, your fear feeling impact less, and actually over time you feel less fatigue. So for me personally, I kind of like that mid that mid range where I'm finding something that's not super light, but also something that's not heavy, where it's got the mix of the durability, the ruggedness. But also when I hit those mountains, I can really go in any type

of terrain. Now, there are certain hunts like antelope, pronghorn hunts or whatever. I'm like, hey, i'm gonna be running a gunn and I'm gonna be putting a lot of miles on. Maybe light's good for me. There's a lot of people that like that type of style of shoe, that type of style of boot. So finding something that's light is a great way to go. Now, if you're in real steep mountains, real rocky terrain, sometimes heavier is better.

It might be a heavier boot, but there's features of that heavy boot that are actually going to make you be able to hike further, longer, and hunt harder. So that's the first comparison. Now we'll just go with a stiff verse flexible. There's so many type types of boots out there. I think one that's really kind of made its way into standard Western hunting is that more mountain style boot. And what that is is when I talk about a mountain boot, a mountain boot has a really

stiff soul. They might have a shank in it. Summer made of metal, summer made of cardboard, summer made of carbon fiber. What it does is it just creates less flex in the boot. And you're like, well, why would I want less flex? What the less flex does is by moving less, especially in steep terrain, you're able to dig that foot in and you just feel it's like your foot's working less for each one of those steps. Now,

on flat terrain, it's the exact opposite. It can be hard to walk on, it can feel uncomfortable, it can be a little bit clunky. Stiff boots last longer the stiff souls wear down less, but they're also a lot harder to break in. If we went on a scale of one zero to five, I think Schnas does a really good job with their boots of like labeling there the flex of the soul, so like zero's like a

real flexible soul, more like a trail runner. In fives like a hard mountaineering boot that barely moves, good shank in it. So if you're going on that scale of like super stiff to super flexible, super flexible boots are going to break in faster. That's a bonus, especially if you don't have a lot of time, and they'll probably feel better on your foot, less potential for hot spots, and a shorter amount of time. Now those boots will break down faster over time, they'll probably be a little

bit less durable because they're moving more. All that movement creates where whether it's in the leather or the boot itself and the soul itself whatever. Now the stiffer boot, though, is going to take a lot longer to break in. A flexible boot you might be able to break in in a mile or two, and a real stiff boot you might have to take up to fifty miles to actually break that boot into where your foot starts to

feel right in it. So that's something to consider. How much time do you have and kind of like that suffer that suffer chart of like breaking in your boots for most people, if you don't live somewhere that has that same type of terrain that you're going to be hunting in, is very very difficult. Breaking them in in flat ground is one thing. Breaking them in in inclined terrain. I know so many people are like I put fifty mile I was on these boots at work. I tracked

it on my whatever, my pedometer. I definitely I wore them every day. And then they get in the mountains and the first day out they've got hot spots in places they didn't know because they're using that boot and flexing it in a different way. It's very stiff. Their foot doesn't move with it, and then they end up with blisters or something else. Me personally, I tend and this is a personal preference, I tend to air on

the side of more flexible. Now. I used to go always really stiff, really stiff, but that breaking period was so long, and I found that my foot does not really get that tired. Maybe that's just the way that I am. But I like being able to just throw on a pair of boots, start hunting with them, start going out and feeling comfortable and being like, Okay, I can move with these. I also like to be able to feel the ground a little bit more, so I kind of go with the side of more flexible soul,

But I also like a lot of support. So we're gonna go with the next one, which is ankle support versus no ankles. No ankle support would be more a low top tennis shoe below the ankle, and then you can go up like above the ankle, short boot and then a full on, you know, six or eight inch boot. I like that. I don't like the boot up to my knee, but I do like it a little bit higher than the ankle. Me personally, I don't necessarily like

the lower boots. I've tried them. They are lighter, but I feel like there's that give take where I like to be able to lace that boot up tight up a little higher and I don't have to look at the ground as much. I don't have to worry about rolling my ankle. I know a lot of people worry about that. I do actually have really strong ankles. Because there are some hunks where I will wear a lower

top boot. My ankles are really strong. I've only rolled an ankle once and it was kind of like off a rock into between two other rocks and my body weight going over it, and that was a bummer. It was pretty bad. But for the most part, I actually have really strong ankles and don't mind not having that support. But for most the season, I like that extra because I don't necessarily have to pay as much attention. I can let just kind of use my legs as walking sticks.

They hit, they plant, I can put a lot more weight on my back and have that support and stability, because I think that it really provides a lot of stability up my trunk when I've got a lot of weight, or I'm in that like steep mountain terrain, really slippery rock and shale type country sidehilling up, going up, straight up,

and straight down. I like that extra support. I also find that that extra support is really nice for like super steep downhill declines or in that like really kind of terrain that moves a lot, because I can just dig the heel in, dig the healing, or if I'm going up, kick the toe in, kick the toe in, and it keeps everything straight aligned and really kind of supports me from swinging back and forth side to side, which I find over the long period of time really

actually kind of increases your ability to just stay out there longer and get less tired. So ankle support is one thing that you want to think about. Really that is a lot of personal preference. My brother, he likes the short boots. They're a little bit lighter. He likes the feel of them. It's more closely kind of like what he wears to work all the time. I just over the years got used to a little bit taller boot. If you took ten hunters. You know, it comes down

to personal preference and comfort. What's the kind of boot that you like. Are you guy that likes that more ankle support, that likes to be able to lace it up tight, have it a little bit taller. I also like it a little bit taller boot. If I was just to pick my perfect hunting boot, it'd be a little bit taller boot, you know, for crossing water and creeks and streams and other things. It's just something that's

not even that deep. You don't have to worry about water running over the top, especially if it's waterproof, which brings us to our next one. Waterproof or not waterproof. I would always for hunting boots, say waterproof side, what are the pros and cons? There's very few boots out there. There's like a quality boot that's not waterproof. I wouldn't

even suggest it, to be honest. That's probably the only one that I'm like, yeah, you want this, whether it's a gortex liner, whether it's an event or other fabric even just like I mean, you can go full green leather and just put some kind of wax sealer on it if it doesn't have that gortex type liner. But anything that kind of keeps that water out keeps your foot dry, because a dry foot ends up being a foot that doesn't get blisters, is often stays warm, stays

more comfortable. So when it comes to a boot, waterproof is pretty much standard, gold standard, especially on high end boots. But something to think about now you're thinking, well, when would I not want a waterproof boot. If you hunt primarily desert, if it's hot all the time, your feet are always hot, that waterproof barrier, even though a lot of them are breathable, does create a lot more sweat

build up and a little bit more heat. So if you're looking for something super lightweight, maybe something that breathes a lot better, then that's the time that you could say, Okay, waterproof isn't really a factor for me, I'm just looking for something super light. Another factor comes down to thinking of leather verse synthetic. I personally prefer leather in my boots. I like leather with kind of a rubber rand around above the or released in the tow part of the boot,

something that comes up above the soul. What that does is that actually protects the leather from damage from kicking in the dirt, rocks, really rough country. That rand can get eaten away before it's actually eating away the boot itself. I found that they last longer that way. I really like leather because they tend to stay waterproof longer if you take care of them right, and they tend to last longer, in my opinion, once that synthetic starts to

break in, it almost starts to break down. Also, catching it on really sharp rocks and other types of things tends to eat it away a little bit faster. I never get the same amount of life out of my synthetic boots as I do leather. Now I'm not talking

about plastic boots. Plastics are for like real rugged, real rough country to use plastic boots and like in serious mountaineering type hunts New Zealand, Southern Alps, Alaska, some like really gnarly rock type stuff, and they're really good for like crossing streams and rivers because you can actually pull your the warm part of the boot pulls out of like the ski boot, and then you can put like these glacier socks over it and make a set of

waiters and cross the stream, which is pretty awesome. The downside to those things is it's like hiking around in a ski boot, and over the years, I've just decided it's not worth it for me. I'd rather just go with the leather boot. I keep mine. I like to like even before trips, I'll use some kind of snow seal or other leather waterproof boot condition or whatever, something that kind of protects the leather itself and keeps it

water resistant. I know they say you're supposed to use like wax with gortex membranes and other things because it makes it not breathable. I personally don't really get super sweaty feet. My feet are always cold. I've just actually got frostbite in the past a long time ago, and because of it, it just seems like my circulation and my feet is never that good. My feet are always kind of cold. I think that that's kind of the

unnorm So I'm gonna go with insulation versus uninsulated. And I get this question all the time, like should I get the insulated ones? Should I get the uninsulated ones? Me, I like at least two hundred grams of insulation. But I'm the type of person I could wear two hundred grams of insulation in the summer. That's pretty rare. There's a lot of people that have to have uninsulated like their feet are always hot. I see dudes that walk around all winter long and uninsulated boots. I don't know

how you do it. They just get a little bit thicker sock. As the season progresses on. I like to kind of tailor my boots to where it's like, hey, it works really good for me from September through the end of December. Even with the insulated boots, I would say that I'm like pretty comfortable for most of the season, and then as it gets later in the season, I actually just throw in like I've just started using them footwarmers.

And the key to the footwarmer for me is just like putting it on top of my toes, on top of my sockets. Take the sticky thing, stick it right on the top of my sock on my toes, and stick my foot in my boot. Last year, it was you know, below zero for quite a few quite a few weeks, and those footwarmers save me. It's hiking. Yeah, your feet stay warm, it's when you stop and you got a glass in the cold that my toes just freeze.

And I found that just using those little footwarmers they pretty much last all day, and then you can get a little bit more all season use out of a pair of boots that maybe has less insulation. I don't know it's for me, it works really well. I know a couple of my other guides started doing that system and it's been working for them as well, especially when you've got a pair of uninsulated boots and you just want to let them last. They're they're comfortable, they're lighter there.

They work really good for the majority of the year, but it starts to get cold and you're like, man, what do I do now? I don't want to have two pairs of boots, which if you can afford it, that's great, get a pair insulated for late season and uninsulated early season. But if you can't, that footwarmer trick with some thick socks seems to work pretty good. I think one question is like how long will boots last? So you got to think of boots a lot like tires.

They all have a limit on how long they can go and how long they will last, and that just depends on a few factors, how you use them and how you take care of them, and the type of country that you're in. I know, joke, have taken a pair of light boots, you know, something you'd find in any big box store and gone out on a hunt in Nevada. I've done this multiple times. Like I'm like, okay, I would think I would get smarter, but go on a hunt in Nevada and literally the hunts that one

hunt for seven days, those boots would be thrashed. They're done. But they're a light pair of boots, and I'm like, man, that gets expensive. So now I just take my mountain boots on those same hunts and they last a lot longer. Well, why is that? It's you know, in country where there's a lot of rock light boots, which are often I'm not even saying they're cheap, they might even be one hundred two hundred dollars, but they're just lighter material and

there may be something that's synthetic. They seem like they'd be really good for that. And then you get back and the boot soles eating away the seams are busted out, the dirt gets in there everywhere and starts to rub, and the boot just falls apart after a week of heart hunting, and that's you know, a lot of miles,

but that's the life of that boot. And then you get something more like what I run year round, where it's like, hey, I'm using these things all day, every day, and I can get a couple years out of it, which for most people might be in their entire lifetime. So that's the difference between there's so many different boots for different types of things. If you're going in the mountains with a boot that's not made for that, it's gonna wear out fast. You got to see it as

a disposable boot. And then there's more mountaineering style boots, which you're going to get multiple seasons, multiple hunts, multiple years, maybe even your life, half your life, whatever out of that single pair of boots, which is more expensive. It's a higher price point, but you're going to get a longevity out of it, and you're gonna be able to go into more very terrain, more aggressive type terrain. So that's where it comes down to finding the right boot

for the right job. The type of thing that you feel comfortable with and the type of boot that's comfortable. I know that's not necessarily the easiest way of saying, like which boots? I mean, I can go through the boots that I wear right now, I'm wearing the Schnai's Bear toothe. I've worn those for a couple of years. I've used those on everything from most of my elk guiding, to sheep and goats, sheep in Asia, goats in Alaska, a lot of different hunts. They're a really good mountain

style boot, full leather. They're more expensive, but they last a long time. Those ones actually aren't even super stiff. If I were to go up, like into a more mountaineering style boot, a stiff or soul, those would last even longer. But then I got that give take in my mind of like, okay, I'd rather have one that has a little bit more flexible soul, which is my preference, but still can handle some more mountain stuff. Not super stiff,

not super flexible. Full leather stays water proof, I can rub it down, but also not as durable maybe, and knowing that going into it is a full mountain boot, and then you know there's on the other end, you could go on a hunt where it's like, hey, I'm going pronghorn hunting, or I'm just doing like a day hunt where I don't need I'm not having a super heavy pack. I'm not going to be super far from the truck. I just want to be kind of mobile,

light and fast. And then you go with something that's a lot lighter boot, something that's maybe it's synthetic, maybe it's more of like a trail runner style, something that's super light, and you know it's not going to be as durable, it's not going to be as aggressive. You can get by and pretty much everything you're going through that day, and it works really good, and it's not that extra weight of having a heavy boot or maybe a warm boot, especially something like spring bear hunting where

I'm just cruising trails. I've got a light pack on, might just be cruising up for the morning, cruising back down, covering a lot of miles. Super lightweight boot, something that's super flexible, I can kind of feel the ground as good, and as my foot gets tired with that, I throw on my more heavy duty boot and hunt the rest of the week in that. And that's kind of the

way that I use my boots. I like to have a kind of I know it's impossible to have the exact right boot for everything, so I like to try to find one boot that really does the most, and then maybe a secondary, kind of lighter weight boot that kind of fills in the jobs for stuff around that, so I don't put as much strain on my boots that might not be perfect for that. So something with a real flexible soul when I'm doing more flat ground, and then something with a lot of stiffer soul when

I know that I'm going to be hunting the mountains. Now, my suggestion is, if you're like, what's one boot to rule them all, find the kind of hunting that you do the most, and then pick a boot that's like, Okay, it works for that application, but also can go up in scale where it's like, hey, it still works in the mountains, it works on these it won't get eaten away too much, and that for you is going to be the perfect boot. But always it's going to come

down to finding the right fit. You want to make sure that you can try a boot on. I know, for me, there's been very few boots that I thought, this is uncomfortable when I first try it on, and it becomes comfortable later after the breaking period. That just doesn't happen for me. I don't know, maybe it happens for other people. I need a boot to fit right away, like right out of the gate. There are some of those really really stiff soul boots are kind of just

inherently uncomfortable to start with. Once you start to break them in your fit, your foot starts to form to it a little bit better. Another thing, when it comes to boots, I like, I'm a big proponent of putting in a insul that works for you and it's comfortable

and fits your foot. You could have the best boot in the world, and then your foot maybe you've got a flatter foot and that boot has a maybe a higher arch insul, or maybe you've got a higher arch, and just having an insul that fits your foot is as important as the boot itself. It's going to kind of create this much better boot experience for you. What I do is I know the type of insoles that works for my feet, so I just get that right away. I get a new pair of boots, I immediately swap

out the insoles. Even though the insules in there might be a really good insul, it's just not the insul for my foot. I swap out those insoles and then I break my boot in with that insole to my foot, and then everything flexes, moves, bends, and I get I work out those hot spots. I start to build if it's got a hot spot, maybe a callous in that break in period in that spot, and I really break those boots in to form to my feet. One of the most important things with hunting boots that I stress

to every hunter. If a hunter is like, gott a hunt with me, He's like, Hey, I'm coming hunting. What's something I need? What's a piece of year that I I say, you need boots that are broken in, and not just like lightly worn. You need boots that are broken in. So when you walk in those boots in the mountains for five days or whatever however long your hunt is, you're gonna be good. You're gonna be comfortable.

And that is the most important thing. Having a pair of boots that fits, having a pair of boots that works for the application of hunting that you're doing, and one that are broken in. I don't know how many times I've seen guys like literally pulling the stuffing out of the toes of a pair of hunting boosming I just bought these boots online. I've actually done that myself because I've needed a new pair of boots at the wrong time of year. That happens to me every year.

So now I've got like a system where I start breaking in if I'm going to wear a boot, I get them in the spring and start breaking them in shed hunting, doing other activities, and like paying attention to getting that boot ready. I've got like my next year's boot already in the lineup, Like I'll wear a boot to death essentially, because just like that story where I was like hiking and then the boots literally fall apart in the field, I don't want to ever get to

that point again. So I like to have my next pair of boots before my other boots are completely wore out. And when you do that, you can kind of swap between the two pairs of boots. You actually have two pairs, and you can kind of put less miles on that one single pair. It's just like a good pair of tire. See you, Now you got to rotate those things, otherwise they're gonna wear out in a lot faster time than

if you just rotate them. So I actually kind of rotate through one or two pairs of boots, maybe a cheaper pair of boots that I use for certain types of hunts, and then my really good boots that I use for those those bigger hunts where I need that high performance. But that's just a kind of a way that you can think about boots. I'm constantly always trying new pairs of boots. I mean, fortunately I get the

opportunity to try a lot of different pairs. First thing I like to do, though, if I'm trying whatever it is, try the boot on it to see how it feels. Even with I mean, if you're going somewhere to try on boots, you can even try it with the type of insul that you like. Just know it's like, hey, is this gonna fit with my insul, with my hunting sock. Make it like you're hunting with it. Get that first little feel, does it feel good? Does it feel right? And then go from there, and then once you kind

of find the type of boot that you like. I always try to I mean, there's always you know, you can kind of fine tune that to say, Okay, well maybe next time I'll get one that's uninsulated or insulated. It is a huge investment. It's an expensive piece of year that does wear out. It's just like tires on your truck. Man. Every time I go get tires, I'm like dang, but I know that I need them, And especially when it comes to boots, I don't mind spending extra money on something that is not gonna eat my

feet up. It's going to be comfortable that I'm going to be in day and day out and know that I'll be able to be successful with them, because like just the actual ability to hunt hard and not be fatigued and not have my feet wear out is going to be the difference. Early on in the podcast, one of my first few episodes was about a client that I had that got gang green. Like hiking, and just

like footcare, it's huge. It's important, and I would say that for most guys coming out West that have never done it, boot choice, having the wrong pair boots and having a pair of boots that's not broken in is the number one hunt killer, the number one thing that

slows guys down and prevents them from being successful. So hope this kind of builds out a picture of when you're thinking about boots, you know, you realize that there's not one perfect scenario of light verse, heavy, insulated or uninsulated.

You do got to find, like the type of hunt that you want to do, and then pick something that matches your preference, your style and fits into that niche of this is what I'm going to do, and this is a good pair of boots for that job, and then kind of you can continue to use that pair of boots for other things, but primarily focusing on the type of hunting you're doing and then picking a boot that fits that and your preference. I hope that these

gear breakdowns have really helped you. Guys. I get a ton of questions about gear. It's probably one of the number one things. So I figured helping people understand my thought process and when it comes to key pieces of gear like this should be helpful for picking something that works for them and also kind of gives you an idea.

I mean, I'm fortunate that I get to try a lot of stuff, I get to spend a lot of time in the field, and so over the years I found things it's like, Okay, this is the balance between this and that. There's so many times you might go to the store and be like, oh, these boots will work, and then you take them out and then they wear

out and you're like, damn it, that sucked. Or you know some pair of boots that is going to take a long time to break in, and maybe you don't have that amount of time, so you need something more comfortable to get into right away. So kind of finding that right balance and finding that right thing for you. I hope this has been helpful. Another thing that I get asked about all the time is packs, and packs are key because it's another one of those touch points

of doing something inherently uncomfortable. So in the future I'm going to jump in and do a little bit of stuff on packs. There are some other things with packs, of the ways you can load them, the different types of packs in different styles that help lessen that felt weight. And that's what it's all about, like making something uncomfortable a little more comfortable, a little more bearable, and even in many cases allow you to do more, carry more weight,

hike further, whatever. It's just it's another awesome piece of kit, we'll go into that. I think one thing, if you're planning on hunting spring bears this year, some spring bears seasons are just getting kicked off. If that's you, feel free to go back. Check out episode thirty three, especially thirty three. I think that's probably one of the most informative, as far as I know, the most one of the more informative spot and stock all encompassing bear tactics out there.

And then episode thirty four is on bear calling. It's really fun tactic to use as well, especially in the fall, but works in the spring. One thing I do want to do is kind of hit on a few other bear tactics this year, so maybe i'll do those before the packs. I haven't decided yet. One thing that I do want to talk about is just kind of targeting emerging bears. It's a really good way hunting early to kind of target bars because they tend to be the

first bears out. Those big boars are generally the first ones to come out of hibernation, and there's a few specialized tactics for finding them in a time of year that maybe necessarily doesn't have as much food or other sources. But it's a good time of year to start targeting bears. It might seem like, oh, they aren't out yet, there's not a lot of action, but it can be a great time to get out and hunt. So I want to touch on a few of those tactics. A few

things for spring bear hunters coming up. But until then, keep on keeping on, keep on truck in, and make sure to break in your boots. We'll see you guys next week.