doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - Anyone own a Filson Waterfowl Upland Coat?

I've mentioned it before, but I'll post it again. I hunt quail in rugged terrain and was often unknowingly dropping live shells from my pouch or vest with simple button closures. Velcro closure pockets were clumsy and awkward. I wanted a shell pouch that had a spring closure like some of the empty shell waist mounted net bags and the gunslips from Wild Hare. I didn't find one for years and was going to make one until I ran across exactly what I wanted at the Shot Show a couple years ago.

It's made by Drake Waterfowl and called a "shooter's belt and gun rest". It has not only a strong spring overcenter closure, but also another compartment for wallet/phone, meds, etc, that closes with a spring and a double security large velcro "lock". The shell pouch stays open on its own and closes with the slap of the hand or elbow. I don't hunt quail/chuckar without it anymore.

Cabelas and Basspro both carried it for a while and then dropped it. Must not have been discovered by other upland hunters.

http://www.drakewaterfowl.com/products/DW344.php#enlarge

I have original Duxback khaki shirts in Medium and Medium Long from the closing of the last Duxback factory in Maryland. Any of you skinny guys interested? Some are new in celophane or plastic. There is no more Duxback or anything like it. I will never fit into these shirts again, as a matter of fact I never did but couldn't pass up the closeout prices.

I have owned a Filson "Original Hunting Vest" for over 30 years and it has been used every season since I purchased it. It is warm in early season, so probably 15 eyars ago I purchased the strap vest and that is used in early season. along the way I have purchased three different types of their shirts. I love all of the above.

About 28 years ago my wife gave me the Waterfowl coat as a present. It is not lined, but is too warm in fall and too stiff in winter. It also felt too restrictive to swing on birds.

I just wear the Vest in cold weather and layer underneath. This works even in single digit weather when I am out pheasant hunting.

I've been suckered left, right and center by every hunting gear ad and marketing ploy that ever was, and high on the list has been those quasi-traditional items from Filson, and anything plastered with lots of pockets. More pockets = more gear, and that's about the dumbest equation imaginable.

Wish I had a buck for every $50 I wasted in the past half century on gear that didn't work out. The older I get, the less cr@p I carry afield, and the easier hunting has become (Would have said 'simpler,' but you'd probably assume I was referring to myself ).

Nowadays, the gun, half a dozen shells, some TP, a pocket knife and a juicy apple is all I need for the day. A beat up old strap vest is ample to carry that and - hopefully - a dead ruff or two. Anything else is just excess baggage.

I softened up my Tin Cloth Coat a little bit by putting it in the dryer for about 100 hours with my grand kids teeny shoes. I used low heat. It is really stiff, but protects you from Mesquite thorns and natives with blow guns.

I have the Waterfowl Upland coat in the shelter cloth. Have had it for 15 years and love it. Get the hood for it.Filson products last a lifetime. Their gamebag is the best.

I love my tin cloth waterfowl jacket. Been through about 10 seasons of pheasant and duck hunting in every condition and cover and just needs to be touched up with a little new wax in the wear areas now and then. Gains character with use. Only compliant would be that I've had to replace a couple of buttons that seemed to have popped off due to poor sewing at the factory. Like Chuck's picture, it'll stand up in a corner but after a few minutes of having it on it softens up enough to shoot with just fine.

Now if it would just cool off enough to need a jacket! Record high temp today in DC...

This is all a good example of why I don't wear anything hunting related other than sometimes a shell bag. Jeans, a t-shirt or two, and whatever Carhartt jacket I find in the closet. Strictly old school!

The way I see it, the birds don't get to dress up so why should I?

Jagermeister,
We wear bright orange rain gear in commercial fishing, it keeps you dry (sort of). Since I run the boat I started wearing Filson rain gear, it was a lot drier but not as good if you fall in the water. (visibility) I sent the company a picture of the boat pulling some 8,000 pounds of salmon over the rail with me in my Filson coat in the foreground. (but they have not published it) I have been on the ocean for more than 300 days in some past years, but am currently retired.

I wear Filson when ever I go out in the local storms and stay rather dry. I do not wear Gortex (wet tex), but it is okay off the coast where they have less than 40 inches a year of rain. In Alaska we had occasionally > 160 inches.
My dog ate one of the coats and Filson fixed it free. Another one, the zipper broke and they sent me a free new replacement coat. The only disavantage I've had is with the re-coating the coat with "oil". I find the coats very warm, good wind breakers, and if kept up, very dry. I use a new coat as a dress coat about town and after it gets re-oiled it get to go hunting.
jas

Greg,
I'm a proponent of lightweight clothing as well. Of course, I live in Calif and can go with a shirt or two most times. But those Carhartts are pretty stiff themselves.


Bill,
The packer is in the wash.