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Deer Tracking Gear


Buckmaster7600

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Sounds like there’s some interest so I’ll start with gear. 
 

I’ll go over what I wear, use and carry. 
 

Clothes

Pants-I still haven’t found anything better than wool. It’s heavy but it’s plenty warm and quiet. Quiet being the most important part. It’s the only material I have found that is silent when a whip or sapling rubs or hits it. It stays warm when it’s wet, if you’re tracking you’re going to get wet! I blouse my boots with jar rubbers, if you don’t know what blousing is you putt the rubber on your boots and tuck your pants under the rubber. This keeps your pants from icing up on the bottom and it allows you to cross water over your boots without getting wet for the most part. 
 

shirt/coat- this depends on the day, I run hot and never need much clothes so for the most part I wear an old Johnson wool shirt. If it’s warm I’ll only wear a t T-shirt under it and add base/mid  layers as it gets colder. This works for me from mid 40’s down to zero depending on the wind. 
 

Boots- I wear lacrosse grange uninsulated until the snow gets over the top of my foot. Once the snow gets over my foot I go to the lacrosse burly with air grip. Unfortunately I think lacrosse’s quality has dropped in recent years and I only get 1 year out of them. I’ve tried about every other rubber boot on the market and nothing works as well as the lacrosse’s for me. Under my boots I wear a very thin liner sock and a thicker wool sock. I have a few different weights of outer wool socks depending on the temps. 
 

Gun- I always bring 2 guns with me in the truck, one with a scope and one with a peep sight/ghost ring. A scope is much nicer to have for obvious reasons but when it’s snowing and when there’s still snow on the branches it’s not worth the added hassle. I love my Remington pumps. They carry better than anything have fast follow ups and are plenty accurate. Every gun I track with has a 18-16” barrel “other than my muzzloader.” The shorter barrels make them carry easier and less likely to hit stuff when swinging on a  running deer. Any rifle will work but you want something that is light and short, something you can carry a lot and shoot fast both getting on target and follow ups.

 

Gear- I wear a small Fanny pack it’s made of fleece. In it is always a spare magazine, map, spare sompass, something to eat, tags, piece of 550 cord, a lighter and a knife. I also always have my down vest in it, I don’t remember the last time I wore it but it keeps everything from moving around. 
 

I’m always trying new/different things in all of this but this is what I’ve found so far that works the best for me. The key is to be comfortable. You really don’t have the option to carry extra layers so what you leave the truck in is what you’ll have for the day. 
 

 

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  • nywaw changed the title to Deer Tracking Gear

Damn, a new pair of boots every year, you must be putting on some serious mileage.  These Mickeys I’ve been using, for at least the last (10) years, are still not showing much wear. I don’t do much tracking, but I wear them on all hunts when the temp is below 40 or so.

D066DF17-CCB4-495A-A80B-35B949B9C805.jpeg.8246dd957d3ba60c1055ff3f492463d7.jpeg

I do like that blousing trick and I’ll throw a set a wide mouth jar rubbers in my pack.  I only got a cold foot one time in these boots.  I had crossed a deep ditch, to recover a doe carcass, one too many times.  The laces must have loosened up on that side and it filled with icy water.  My foot was numb, by the time I got back to the house. 

The year after that, I leaned a white oak plank against a tree, that I can use to cross the ditch. Naturally, I haven’t dropped a deer on the other side, since then.  
 

There has been many times, when those jar rubbers would have been handy hunting next to the swamp over in my parent’s woods, and next to the creek up at my in-laws in the Adirondacks.  The first buck that I killed up there dropped on the other side of that creek and it was a very long hike for me, back to a bridge, to get to the other side.  

 

 

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8 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

Sounds like there’s some interest so I’ll start with gear. 
 

I’ll go over what I wear, use and carry. 
 

Clothes

Pants-I still haven’t found anything better than wool. It’s heavy but it’s plenty warm and quiet. Quiet being the most important part. It’s the only material I have found that is silent when a whip or sapling rubs or hits it. It stays warm when it’s wet, if you’re tracking you’re going to get wet! I blouse my boots with jar rubbers, if you don’t know what blousing is you putt the rubber on your boots and tuck your pants under the rubber. This keeps your pants from icing up on the bottom and it allows you to cross water over your boots without getting wet for the most part. 
 

shirt/coat- this depends on the day, I run hot and never need much clothes so for the most part I wear an old Johnson wool shirt. If it’s warm I’ll only wear a t T-shirt under it and add base/mid  layers as it gets colder. This works for me from mid 40’s down to zero depending on the wind. 
 

Boots- I wear lacrosse grange uninsulated until the snow gets over the top of my foot. Once the snow gets over my foot I go to the lacrosse burly with air grip. Unfortunately I think lacrosse’s quality has dropped in recent years and I only get 1 year out of them. I’ve tried about every other rubber boot on the market and nothing works as well as the lacrosse’s for me. Under my boots I wear a very thin liner sock and a thicker wool sock. I have a few different weights of outer wool socks depending on the temps. 
 

Gun- I always bring 2 guns with me in the truck, one with a scope and one with a peep sight/ghost ring. A scope is much nicer to have for obvious reasons but when it’s snowing and when there’s still snow on the branches it’s not worth the added hassle. I love my Remington pumps. They carry better than anything have fast follow ups and are plenty accurate. Every gun I track with has a 18-16” barrel “other than my muzzloader.” The shorter barrels make them carry easier and less likely to hit stuff when swinging on a  running deer. Any rifle will work but you want something that is light and short, something you can carry a lot and shoot fast both getting on target and follow ups.

 

Gear- I wear a small Fanny pack it’s made of fleece. In it is always a spare magazine, map, spare sompass, something to eat, tags, piece of 550 cord, a lighter and a knife. I also always have my down vest in it, I don’t remember the last time I wore it but it keeps everything from moving around. 
 

I’m always trying new/different things in all of this but this is what I’ve found so far that works the best for me. The key is to be comfortable. You really don’t have the option to carry extra layers so what you leave the truck in is what you’ll have for the day. 
 

 

Great start to this thread! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the next installment!!

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Not exactly sure what you mean by blousing your pants?  Are they on the outside part of the boot, but cinched down with a rubber jar band?  And that prevents most water from coming in if you go over your boot top?   Pics help!  

BTW, thanks for posting this.  I don’t see myself ever going on a long Adirondack track, but I’m sure I’ll learn something from you on these threads. 

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8 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

Damn, a new pair of boots every year, you must be putting on some serious mileage.  These Mickeys I’ve been using, for at least the last (10) years, are still not showing much wear. I don’t do much tracking, but I wear them on all hunts when the temp is below 40 or so.

D066DF17-CCB4-495A-A80B-35B949B9C805.jpeg.8246dd957d3ba60c1055ff3f492463d7.jpeg

I do like that blousing trick and I’ll throw a set a wide mouth jar rubbers in my pack.  I only got a cold foot one time in these boots.  I had crossed a deep ditch, to recover a doe carcass, one too many times.  The laces must have loosened up on that side and it filled with icy water.  My foot was numb, by the time I got back to the house. 

The year after that, I leaned a white oak plank against a tree, that I can use to cross the ditch. Naturally, I haven’t dropped a deer on the other side, since then.  
 

There has been many times, when those jar rubbers would have been handy hunting next to the swamp over in my parent’s woods, and next to the creek up at my in-laws in the Adirondacks.  The first buck that I killed up there dropped on the other side of that creek and it was a very long hike for me, back to a bridge, to get to the other side.  

 

 

I have a pair of those I use for plowing, walking to the barn to get on the tractor is about all I’d want to do with them. 
 

the boots I wear feel like a sneaker compared to those.

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44 minutes ago, Otto said:

Not exactly sure what you mean by blousing your pants?  Are they on the outside part of the boot, but cinched down with a rubber jar band?  And that prevents most water from coming in if you go over your boot top?   Pics help!  

BTW, thanks for posting this.  I don’t see myself ever going on a long Adirondack track, but I’m sure I’ll learn something from you on these threads. 

Yes pants on the outside of your boots, tuck the bottom hem off your pants under the rubber that’s also on the outside of your boots.

 

 

70489BCE-D6CA-4C15-AB05-15A42C2B8CF5.jpeg

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Boots- I wear lacrosse grange uninsulated until the snow gets over the top of my foot. Once the snow gets over my foot I go to the lacrosse burly with air grip. Unfortunately I think lacrosse’s quality has dropped in recent years and I only get 1 year out of them. I’ve tried about every other rubber boot on the market and nothing works as well as the lacrosse’s for me. Under my boots I wear a very thin liner sock and a thicker wool sock. I have a few different weights of outer wool socks depending on the temps. 

Love the Grange uninsulated for scouting. Been using them for prob 20 years or more now.  Agree quality of lacrosse has gone down over the years.  I've used Burly but switched to Muck years ago for insulated colder conditions.  Smartwool socks FTW!

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34 minutes ago, nywaw said:

Love the Grange uninsulated for scouting. Been using them for prob 20 years or more now.  Agree quality of lacrosse has gone down over the years.  I've used Burly but switched to Muck years ago for insulated colder conditions.  Smartwool socks FTW!

I must have the wrong foot for smartwool. Can’t get a week out of a pair without getting holes. I wear darn tough or minus33. With them I can usually get a deer season out of a 3 pair rotation, usually have to buy another few pair before ice fishing.

Edited by Buckmaster7600
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39 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I must have the wrong foot for smartwool. Can’t get a week out of a pair without getting holes. I wear darn tough or minus33. With them I can usually get a deer season out of a 3 pair rotation, usually have to buy another few pair before ice fishing.

You do a lot more miles than me.  Smartwool is excellent for stand hunting.  I put miles in them but not 100 of miles.  

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  • 8 months later...

Figured I’d fire this old thread up with an  update. I broke the two outside bones in my foot and tore some stuff at work a few months back and instead of taking care of it then I’ve been dealing with it. It’s worse now than the day I did it and is goto require a surgery after season. That has forced me to change my footwear for the season. I’ve settled on a pair of mountaineering boots by zamberland. They have a very stiff sole and and have the boa ratchet laces on them so I can get them very tight. The plan is to use them with gaiters for my early season dry ground hunting but I think k I can wrap/tape my foot up enough to get through a few days tracking in rubber boots once the snow comes. I’ve done all of my pre season hike/workouts wearing then and I hate them because I have zero feel of  what’s under my feet but they’re allowing me to do the miles that I can’t do in my lacrosse’s so theyre going to have to work for now. 
 

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Damn that blows.  I know a bit about how that feels.  In  2015, I had some bad sciatica kick in, and it hobbled me up thru all of the deer seasons that year.  
 

It was so painful to walk, that I did very little of it, and ended up getting skunked.  Friends came thru with a couple deer for us that year, so at least we didn’t starve, but we did have to go to the store for a lot more chicken than I would have preferred.  We ran completely out of grind long before the following deer season.  
 

I researched the condition a little on-line and found some stretches to do.  That cured it about a month after deer season ended, and keeping them up has prevented any reoccurrence.

Are you certain that there are no good “non-surgical” options in your case ?  It just seems to me that surgeons make their living from their trade, and may be biased in their recommendations, for that reason.  

The human body has a pretty good ability for self healing.  Getting a second or third opinion wouldn’t be a bad idea.  
 

Either way, best of luck to you this year.  Maybe you can get set up in a good ambush spot, and let the deer come to you, rather than running them down as usual.  

 


 

 

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1 hour ago, Wolc123 said:

 

 

Either way, best of luck to you this year.  Maybe you can get set up in a good ambush spot, and let the deer come to you, rather than running them down as usual.  

 


 

 

I would just not hunt, when the day comes that I can’t hunt my way I’ll quit hunting move south and play more golf. 

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