Old hunting clothes

[CAJUNLAWYER]

i just got finished with re-waxing a hunting coat I bought back in 1995. The reason I keep it is because first of all, is it has a game pocket which no modern coats have. the second reason is that I am cheap. new hunting coats are EXPENSIVE. Anyone else has old stuff they just can't get rid of because IT WORKS. I have an old thinsulite cap that is so old it has the "made in America" sticker in it. I chuckle when I see the newbies show up with he new Orvis or Sitka gear and the latest camouflage...The stuff I have been using for over 30 years serves well and the money I save lets me but new guns.

 

[fishwishin]

So weird to think of 1995 as old, but I guess it is

 

[kev74]

I've got a Gortex windbreaker/ raincoat that has to be 30 years old that is just as good as when it was new.

I like to use stuff till its done, then fix it and use it more.

 

[Onomea]

I got a rain hat from the mid/late '90s. Eddie Bauer. I give it a 3M waterproof spray every coupla years. Looks mighty dorky, but it is warm, and it does shed rain.

 

[lihpster]

I have a pair of Woolrich wool bibs that used to be my brothers. I think they're about 30 years old.

 

[StrawHat]

I have a pair of Western boots that my wife got me when we were dating, 32 years ago.

Kevin

 

[llowry61]

I have a Columbia Widgeon 4 mid length waterfowling jacket. It has a thinsulate inner with a Gore Tex outer. I bought it in the mid 90's and I remember I paid 185.00 for it which to me at the time was a kings ransom. It has out lasted probably 10 pairs of waders over the years.

I bought a set of O'Neal neoprene waders at the same time which were 100.00 again a bunch of money at the time. A friends dog chewed the toe out of the stockingfoot waders. They were the first pair of neoprene waders I had ever seen.

That jacket has been used in South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio and is still waterproof. Even the Plastic zippers still work (though I can't zip her up due to mid life bulge). I have laid in muddy cornfields, hunted flooded timber etc. and it has held up. Good quality items last. The original Columbia stuff was really high quality.

The only other brand that lasts like that is Carhart. I have a set of bibs from the same time frame I used for pheasant hunting.

 

[Golddollar]

I have my dad's old red hunting coat. It has to be 60 years old if it's a day, probably older. The brand is American Field from the Nettrick Mfg. Co. in Toledo, OH. The tags are still readable. The coat shell is 100% wool with a liner of cotton and rayon. I've hand sewn buttons on it, and I wore it for years when I started hunting. I sewed up tears on it by hand. I can almost still get into it. It's my dad's coat, I wore it and I just can't bring myself to give it to Goodwill or any place like that. My nephews don't hunt, my cousins' sons are all bigger than me so I don't know what to do with it except keep it hung up in my home office closet.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have the late 80's/early 90's Columbia Widgeon too. Still going strong.

I still have a mid 70's Pendelton wool hunting jacket in Black Watch tartan. That makes it an in between pattern of camo: Not great at hiding from game, just good enough to get me shot by some idiot in my woods! I mostly wear it Christmas shopping these days.

I bought a Filson waxed cotton hunting coat and loved it. I was very "perturbed off" when it fell apart at only 30 years! (I had several good articles from that retailer that fell apart too soon. They must have stored off season clothing in an oven!) I have Filson's "Waterfouler's Helmet" that's at least 40 and the only way you realize it isn't younger is all the layers of wax. (I reseal it every 6 to 8 years).

I'm on year 7 of a Berber hunting jacket. I refused to pay $179 for the zip in liner! So, I added buttons and use an Army Field Jacket Liner when extremely cold.

Ivan

 

[robvious]

I have my grandfather's hunting jacket & hat... he passed before my parents married... obviously I never met him... a WW1 veteran... my father wore it a while... he hunted with his father's gun as well.. grandpa bought shotgun after returning from the war.. Winchester model 12.. my nephew has it now... and his first is due in February... the jacket and hat serve no purpose whatsoever.. just a touchstone.

photographed the hat and discovered it has a reversible top... the red wool is faded... but kinda cool.. thanks Caje for helping with my discovery...

 

[sophie]

I can relate to this for sure. I hate to get rid of something that works well and lasts a long time.
I bought a pair of Goretex 10X coveralls in about 1977-78 and paid $100 at the Outlet Store in Cleburne, TX and that was pretty expensive at the time for me. I guess I should have been a lawyer. They have been worth their weight in gold and fortunately I can still wear them, and I do, especially when the snow flies.

 

[brendonjames65]

I got this used 100% wool, Outdoors Man by Pendleton coat 15 years ago on EBay back when you could get excellent deals on vintage wool hunting clothing. I believe I paid $40 for it. It already had a few small holes and stains but that didn’t matter to me since I was just going to add to it. Based on the label it was made from the 70’s to early 90’s. I’m guessing it’s from the 80’s.

It’s been with me mountain goat hunting in British Columbia, elk and deer horseback wilderness hunt into the Bob Marshal Wilderness, Cabinet Mountains of Montana for deer and elk, and many other places. It’s got a few holes, deer, elk and hog blood stains that peroxide has mostly removed. It kept me warm when It dumped 7 feet of snow then below zero weather on our 8 day Bob Marshall Wilderness hunt.

I still wear it here in Oklahoma for deer & hog hunting and as my ranch coat when it’s cold out. There are many synthetic’s like KUIU, Sitka, etc. that are much lighter in weight and perhaps superior in every way, but I’ve always been a wool man. Actually, it still looks pretty good! Just a few small holes, frayed at the collar and the zippers busted but the snap buttons work. My wife would like nothing better than to throw it away but I’ll never part with this coat!

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Caj. I know the feeling. Back in the early '50's when I took up deer & elk hunting I was just a kid. Didn't have much money and wanted a Stetson hat but could not afford one. But the Army surplus store in town had Aussie Army hats for $1.98. They were wool & pined up on the left side. Very good quality. So I wore that hat for many, many years. I called it my good luck hat. Hunting in Colorado in the late '90's the rancher said to my "Where did you get that hat, can't you afford a Stetson?. Well, that did it. Put the Old Aussie to rest. 40 some years of good service. Oh, inside the sweat band was the date, 1943.

 

[Skeet 028]

Many years ago 1965? I went to a place called Sunny's Surplus...I got a pair of combat boots and an insulated surplus full length rain coat. OD green of course. Boots were good fit..coat oversized for cold weather hunting...Wore both till they wore out. Boots in the mid 80s...the coat went to my daughter and then grandson. It completely wore out about 2007. In 1990 I got an insulated Carhart coat. To use for any outside winter work. ..mostly farm work and cutting wood. I'm still wearing it but it is in tatters has one pocket left......gonna fall off soon. I've had a backup for at least 8 years...gonna have to wear it

 

[Model 19 6"]

My mid length LL Bean camo for duck hunting. I bought in the early 70's is still being used by my grandson. My red deer hunting coat down filled bought in the 70's still have it.

 

[Fishinfool]

Note the date on the Polaroid - 1972. The goofy looking kid is me, wearing my new Woolrich wool hunting coat. It is an "XL", and I wore it as my primary hunting coat for 20 years. Eventually, it shrunk, and I stopped wearing it.

A buddy I worked with decided to take up hunting, and I gave him the coat. He wore it maybe 10 years, til it shrunk on him too.

He gave it to his son, who also wears it hunting every year. As I write this, he and my coat are sitting in a deer camp in N. Central PA. The coat is still in very good shape. Weird getting nostalgic about a piece of clothing.

Larry

 

[Racer X]

I've got first gen GoreTex from Early Winters, and some Danner boots. Both early '80s. Still work great.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Had a nice Browning quad parka for duck hunting. It was Gore-tex. I hunted a lot and loved it. Over the years, water started bleeding through the sleeves and neck area, when using it without the down liner. Paid a lot for that.

Called them and they told me how to wash it with something. Did it twice with no help. Sent it to them per request after duck season. They sent me a brand new Sitka Gear raincoat from their first container. I told them it would not serve as a jacket. They said to keep it and sent me a jacket to wear underneath it. Told them I had hunted in 17 degrees below wind chill factor, and that wouldn't work. They sent me a thick jacket for such weather. Told them I needed my quad parka back and I would return those back to them. It was just too bulky to try to wear proper attire in the cold, windy rain. My parka had warm, waterproof, and closeable top for my head.

They said they couldn't do that, as it was already gone. Told them one of them most likely had it. They sent me another jacket shorter in length. Ahh. I'll be wearing Sitka, but wish I had my quad parka back. Ended up giving me five coats to size and return one, which I gladly did.

There ain't nothing like the real thing, baby!

 

[CajunBass]

I've got an old camo canvas shotgun shell vest I wore back when I deer hunted a lot in the 70's and 80's. Got it at Sears, K-Mart, some such place. The elastic shot-shell loops don't work anymore, the elastic is gone, and it's shrunk a lot, but it still hangs on a nail next to the safe just in case that guy I knew back then ever shows up again. Still has NRA, "Operation RESPECT", Remington, and a few other patches sewn on.

Operation RESPECT= Responsible Educated Sportsmen Promoting Ethical Conduct Together. A pro-hunting program the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was promoting back in the day. Just about every pickup, SUV, and Jeep you saw back then had their orange bumper sticker on them.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In 1974 (My High School senior year) flannel shirts became cool to wear at school. Dad gave me a red Tartan (Campbell) Pendelton wool shirt, Mom gave it to him on their first Christmas in 1950. I wore it until around 1982 when my hand went through the elbow putting it on one cold day. The next spring, I bought one on close-out at Hermann's Sporting Goods for about $75. Like dad, I wore it until I outgrew it. By then my wife had confiscated it for cold outdoor days. This will the 41st winter it has warmed us. Still looks good.

In 1981 I bought a pair of Woolrich Herring Bone grey unhemmed heavy wool pants. When my wife went to hem them, she said if she made them 2" too short she could make cargo pockets from the scrap, and she did. I only wore them with mountain boots and usually gaiter so being "Floods" didn't matter. I wore them winter backpacking in 20 below temps for about 20 years then I over expanded to fit them. Gave them to a Bow Hunter that used them another 15 or 20 years until he moved to the tropics (Philippines)

This thread has proven, the cost of quality clothing is something that makes you cry when you buy it, and again 35 years later when you try to replace it!

Ivan