doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT Gators

I always wear gators when hunting to keep the grass, stubble, etc from working up my pant leg and it keeps the bottom of my pants clean and unworn and the same with the boots. With good gators I can quickly cross a shallow steam without getting wet. My problem is finding good quality gators. Most are made of canvas, are very stiff, have poor lacing system and when rubbed together you can hear them a county away. Not good for walking up birds and terrible for big game. I'm now in the market for a new pair and haven't been able to find a quality pair. Anyone have similar experience and found a solution?

Thanks for the link. Two things I note. One, I've had gators with the bottom strap and they don't last more than a couple of hours walking in mountain terrain. The strap rips and the buckle gets torn. Must be lace under and tie and even they don't last more than a couple of days before the lace needs replacing. I have never had front entry gators always rear entry. Rear entry are better. They don't bunch up around the the front of the foot from excess material and don't pry open when waking though thick torn bushes.

I would never stick my foot into a gator. I do wear gaiters, however. Gil

Look at Outdoor Research, Kuiu, First Lite, and Kenetrek gaiters. All designed for mountain terrain and hunting. If you're wearing out bottom straps in a couple of hours, your gaiters are either using crappy materials/design or you are hiking in broken glass.

I wear OR and Black Diamond gaiters. I wear them while hunting. All kinds of hunting. I like the OR Crocodiles and BD Frontpoints. The OR crocs are my favorite. The OR crocs might be a bit much for most folks. They’re designed more for mountaineering use. I think I have 4 pairs. I'm currently wearing a pair of black diamond front point gaiters. I’m on year 5 with this pair. I wear them for mostly hiking and hunting. They’ve seen use snow shoeing too.
I doubt you’ll find any terrain rougher than western chukar country. The bottoms strap holds up just fine. One trick of the trade is to cut a piece of webbing to size and thread the bottom strap through the webbing. This will add some protection.
I can pretty much guarantee that I’m rougher on gear and put more foot miles down per year than most here. I’m sure there’s some exceptions. I spend a lot of time outdoors and I put on a lot of miles on my feet, I can vouch for both the OR Crocs and the BD Frontpoints. Both are tough as granite and of very good quality.

After eight seasons, I finally wore out my first pair of TurtleSkin Gaiters and replaced them with the same. They come up to just below knees and sit on top of boot fronts without underneath straps. Briar and snake proof. I wear them woodcocking over boots and during the wild turkey spring season.
https://www.turtleskin.com/products/sag0?variant=42064946069660

I like higher protection than gaiters afford, and wear chaps. Though it is rare I have known of two instances where big snakes hit the leg above the knee, in the back of the thigh. Both men died quickly, apparently to the bigger snake's longer fangs hitting an artery.

I have two pair. One is the Filson Single Tin cloth chaps and the other is Dan's Snake Protector chaps. The latter is made up of three layers of 1000 denier Cordura. They are stiff and don't bend easily at the knees, unlike the Filson's which bend easily, but offer much greater snake protection in the earlier season warmer weather. Where Gil and I hunt there is a very real possibility of walking into a bunch of wild hogs, too. You can't see far in the switchcane and sometimes you just hear them grunting and running off.

A younger friend of mine who bow hunts deer wears snake chaps. The archery season is early here and snakes are out and active. Twice he has been struck on the leg by rattlers in the swamps. He was protected from the bites both times, but each time the snake's fangs were hung in the chaps and he beat them off with his bow.

https://danshuntinggear.com/chaps-snake-protector.html

Another vote for the OR front-entry gaiters. I've had mine for many years and used in heavy, wet grass and snow. Not so much on rocks. I only wear them when I need them which is a dozen days or so per year.

Start out in the morning on nice grassy trail, work your way up higher to the tree line and you are on broken shale, limestone and volcanic stones, then into scree slopes and you had better have good gear. The straps just don't last. And when my foot goes down to the ankle or more in scree the buckle takes major abuse, not to mention the boots which I have to have customized to withstand mountain hunting.