Filson: The fishing strap vests, the belt game bag, the chaps, that is lifetime stuff and I love it. Like my trucker jacket too. But that's more fashion, and they didn't keep up with tech.
I like to be warm and dry. Companies like Sitka, Firstlite, Patagonia (commie's), and a bunch of others make better, lighter, and more practical gear (if you like to stay warm and dry). Outerwear is the biggest advancement of my life for any outdoor activity. An antique gun is cool. Antique outerwear sucks.
I have the Filson Tin Cloth hunting coat, with the wool liner. I seriously doubt I could explain to somebody like Stanton why I need to have a hunting coat that warm and that tough. I haven’t found anything that holds up like tin cloth, or, keeps you quite as warm and dry as it does when you combine it with the wool.Yea, it is heavy, but, so what? The limiting factor on how long I make it pheasant hunting when it is close to zero degrees is not my clothing as much as my age. I might only make it 3-4 hours, but, I’ll be warm. The further north you go, the less important fashion is.
I got some sort of fleecy thing from Patagonia as a gift a few years ago, but, it did not strike me as something I would use bird hunting, more along the lines of something for pub crawling. It was OK for that. It didn’t hold up all that well to even that.
I learned a lot of things the hard way, a moccasin toe is not the hot tip for bird hunting, wool can be soaking wet and still keep you warm, as opposed to down, etc, but, what works here might not be that useful in other places.
Best,
Ted
