Hunting Boots

[hunterhawk]

Darn tough all day long.. with or without liners. Hot spots are a thing of the past!

[Tim K]

My favorite subject!

If blisters are an issue, liners can be the solution. I’m super prone to blisters. My feet are baby ass soft regardless of my training schedule. I’m sold out on injiji toe sock liners. I like the very thinnest they make. I dump a 1/2 tablespoon of my favorite foot powder in them before putting them on. Over them I like either mid or heavy weight Darn Tough hiking socks. It takes some getting used to, but for me it has been magic.

As an alternative, I’ve had good luck with Wright lined socks. They are an outer sock with an integral liner sock. They’re pretty good for rucks under 15 miles. If you use Wright socks, I like using Foot Glide to lubricate between my toes so toe to toe contact doesn’t cause a blister.

Smart Wool is crap. They don’t last. REI house brand? Same thing. Darn Tough socks are the poop. In fact, I just spent $50 on two pair today.

[Irving]

Perfect. I'm familiar with the brand name of Smart Wool, and knew I recently heard something, but couldn't remember what. I looked at the Darn Tough stuff. I'll pick some up, but was hoping they'd be cheap enough to replace a few of my work socks as well. I'll check out a few pair.

[ChickNorris]

Darn tough socks are a little pricey sure but worth every cent imo.

AND I dont have a problem with them being lint & hair traps like smart wool.

[Grant H.]

Do you do that all year round?

I either have my every day cotton socks, or thicker, cold weather wool socks. I'm new enough to hunting that I've not explored all the wool products that I should have. Are there wool socks that are only as thick as regular ole cotton socks?

I do for hunting/hiking. Not too hot in the summer, and nice and warm in the winter.

For work I generally just wear a good quality, reasonably thick cotton sock. I have done the poly/wool for work, and it's fine, it's just 1.5x as much to pack for work trips.

[BushMasterBoy]

I think my favorite boot is the Danner Matterhorn. Leather upper, goretex bootie sewn in, and vibram sole. I remember buying them at Fort Carson for about 150 bucks. I still have them.

[whitewalrus]

Perfect. I'm familiar with the brand name of Smart Wool, and knew I recently heard something, but couldn't remember what. I looked at the Darn Tough stuff. I'll pick some up, but was hoping they'd be cheap enough to replace a few of my work socks as well. I'll check out a few pair.

Smartwool used to be very good before they sold out and quality has kept going down since then. Very sad as I still have many of their older socks as I only use when hiking or hunting. But the newer ones do not hold up like they used to.

[whitewalrus]

My favorite subject!

If blisters are an issue, liners can be the solution. I’m super prone to blisters. My feet are baby ass soft regardless of my training schedule. I’m sold out on injiji toe sock liners. I like the very thinnest they make. I dump a 1/2 tablespoon of my favorite foot powder in them before putting them on. Over them I like either mid or heavy weight Darn Tough hiking socks. It takes some getting used to, but for me it has been magic.

As an alternative, I’ve had good luck with Wright lined socks. They are an outer sock with an integral liner sock. They’re pretty good for rucks under 15 miles. If you use Wright socks, I like using Foot Glide to lubricate between my toes so toe to toe contact doesn’t cause a blister.

Smart Wool is crap. They don’t last. REI house brand? Same thing. Darn Tough socks are the poop. In fact, I just spent $50 on two pair today.

I tend to have boots wear on my achilles, never was that way...but I found its extremely hard for me to wear anything that goes higher than a mid hiker. But I don't venture into too much snow as I normally archery hunt.

[Irving]

So I happened to be in Boulder today and stopped into REI. Their boot selection was definitely more toward hiking than hunting. They had a pair of Oboz for 50% off. Me and another guy both got a pair. I appreciate that they have the fake rock to stand on to see if your toes slide down. I got the boots and three pairs of Darn Tough socks (25% off, so $17) for just under $180 out the door. Spent WAY less than I intended.

[Tim K]

Just chiming back in here since I have some recent experience, as in yesterday.

My teammate and I finished our last training ruck before the SAC (Sniper Adventure Challenge) 11 days from today. We did 33 miles with 3,800 feet of elevation. 40# in the bag.

I wore my favorite trail runners (Altra Timp 1.5), Injiji toe sock liners, and Darn Tough mid-weight hiking socks.

I came home with a trivial blister on the tip of two toes, the first ones in from the big toe. They were downhill blisters from a long and miserable descent. I forgot to tighten up my laces and my feet were sliding too far forward. Dumbass!

If you can do without the ankle support hiking boot, trail runners make you fast, light, and the nimble.