Is Sitka hunting gear woth the ca$h?

[Vaultman]

I am not one to go cheap, but I have frequently wondered if Sitka clothing is really worth the money? The first time I spent $70 on hunting pants I thought I had gone crazy. They turned out to be a good pair that has lasted a long time, but to take that to the level of spending $200 or more on pants makes my head spin.

Anybody have it and can give a real reason why it is better, other then the placebo price game I suspect to be a part of it.

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[clearconscience]

That stuff is expensive!

I'm sorry but seeing good ol' boys hunting in jeans and a flannel getting an animal every year will forever keep me from spending stupid amounts of money on clothing.

Time
Marksmanship
Preperation
Will do more for you than fancy clothing.

 

[Stomper]

Shop "out of season". Right now it's like "back to school" shopping... That being said, you get what you pay for, but what I tend to do is just buy a weather proof outter shell that goes over my "street clothes", with a patterned safety orange jacket when rifle hunting.

Apparently, deer and elk are colorblind, so wearing anything with a pattern to help break up your outline does the job. I'm always amused by the guys who wear $400 "Realtree" camo, then put on a solid panel blaze orange vest over that.

It's not much more than a "fashion statement".

IMHO- Bow hunting and duck-geese hunting is where good camo has more merit.

 

[Caveman Jim]

As mentioned above you are at the mercy of the merchandise and the "keepin up with the Jones".
The only thing is you will stay dry, same as wool and you will look like all the others out in the woods that just stepped out of a Cabelas catalog.
EEEEEWWWW....

 

[mikeybuck]

As mentioned above you are at the mercy of the merchandise and the "keepin up with the Jones".
The only thing is you will stay dry, same as wool and you will look like all the others out in the woods that just stepped out of a Cabelas catalog.
EEEEEWWWW....

Wool gets very heavy when wet and takes for ever to dry out.

Im happy with all my sitka gear. Lite weight, comfortable, and the rain gear works (if you get the right kind).
My current rain gear is the cold front pants and the cloud burst jacket.

Customer service is top notch.

 

[ocarolan]

IMHO- Bow hunting and duck-geese hunting is where good camo has more merit.

Even there, camo is more to increase hunter confidence. Regular outdoor gear in earth tones can work too.

Would love to buy the whole KUIU catalog, but reality is most gear gets shredded after 2-3 years hunting off-trail anyway. So I just buy premium outdoorsy non-cotton pants at Goodwill for $5, refresh every couple years.

 

[Stomper]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally knocking today's "camo market", because there IS an amazing amount of "technology" that goes behind it. It's the "clientele" that tends to get rediculous about the "latest-greatest" patterns, when the materials it gets printed on is what really makes or breaks it... IMHO.

1.
Ducks (in particular) have AMAZING eyesight, and it's suspected they see things past our visible light spectrum (I believe into the UV side and that means "day-glow" when seeing certain colors, like pale white faces: cover or camo your ugly mugs!).

I've seen them flair off just because a black shotgun barrel (held perfectly still) was left sticking up from the blind. We wrapped our guns in camo-wrap, now it looks like another reed in the weeds with way less ducks flairing off.

2.
"Scent blocker" technologies, that's a big one for hunting game but it's not just limited to clothing.

3.
SYNTHETIC, light weight, weather proof (yet breathable) materials (natural fibers ie. cotton wicks and retains moisture making you MISERABLE) that are (most important of all) QUIET out in the field, there's nothing worse than the "swish, swish, swish" of material rubbing together or scraping against the foliage!

4.
Amazing foot gear technology for every application... my wife complains about the number of boots I have... LOL.

5.
Honestly, you could wear an outfit with subdued color circus clowns on it and it'd work, as long as the pattern broke up your outline.

 

[mjbskwim]

IMHO- Bow hunting and duck-geese hunting is where good camo has more merit.

Sitca gear is very expensive and for me that makes it not worth while.There are cheaper alternatives.You can buy 3 other brands for every one sitca.
I have used a few different cheap brands that worked...or didn't work in Washington rain as go or bad as expensive stuff
Not saying mikey is doing it but if you buy a real expensive brand,you are going to say it great.

And as far as cammo goes,as long as you don't use the color enhancing soaps and wear earth tones you should be fine. You need some break up to take the human outline away.And do something with that face!
The face and eyes are the most noticeable part of the human body to animals

 

[orygun]

I don't know about Sitka Gear specifically, but I have specialized clothing for hunting. Yeah, it's camo. (Personally, I'd just prefer a solid green color) The stuff is made out of some kind of waterproof fleece.
It doesn't make me a better hunter, it makes me a more comfortable hunter. I was out both days this weekend, from before dawn til mid-day. The wind was blowing and it rained almost the whole time. I was never cold, and with the exception of my hands, never wet. The $400 or so I spent on the pants and coat was money well spent, and really not that expensive when the cost is spread out over all of the seasons.
I'd love a pair of gloves that keep my hands dry, but it seems like what rolls off of my sleeves just ends up soaking my hands...

 

[mjbskwim]

I'd love a pair of gloves that keep my hands dry

The only thing,after 30 some years working and playing outside,that kept my hands warm and dry were some snowmobile mittens.
Yeah mittens,expensive mittens that you have to take off to do anything
I spent about 250 on some pants and a coat for wettern washington.I don't much like the pants for anything but duck hunting cause they are noisy.But the same in Sitca would have been about 3-400 each piece
Problem for me is I'm not careful enough to buy the expensive stuff
Just like looking at the Filson double Mak coat. Lady said it would last me a lifetime
I told her I could destroy it just like a $20 used coat from the thrift shop

 

[Beefcake]

I'd love a pair of gloves that keep my hands dry, but it seems like what rolls off of my sleeves just ends up soaking my hands...

I probably have a half dozen pairs of "hunting" gloves (always trying something new because my hands freeze sitting in duck blinds), but the ones I like the best so far are a cheap pair I picked up at Big 5 for $15 last week. They are thin neoprene camo gloves with some kind of sticky stuff spiderwebbed on the palms and fingers. They are tight, so they are hard to put on / take off, but they are the first ones I've found that keep me warm when wet and still give me the ability to open zippers, use my calls, and shoot with fairly normal dexterity.

 

[mjbskwim]

I probably have a half dozen pairs of "hunting" gloves (always trying something new because my hands freeze sitting in duck blinds), but the ones I like the best so far are a cheap pair I picked up at Big 5 for $15 last week. They are thin neoprene camo gloves with some kind of sticky stuff spiderwebbed on the palms and fingers. They are tight, so they are hard to put on / take off, but they are the first ones I've found that keep me warm when wet and still give me the ability to open zippers, use my calls, and shoot with fairly normal dexterity.

I have the neoprene gloves,not cammo,but haven't tried them yet.
Duck hunting has been a lot like work when it comes to cloves. Hard to find something that will keep the digits warm and you can still use them
I have an old hand warmer that I used to use for duck hunting. Has the solid fuel stick you light?
I'll probably give it a try again 1 of these times I go out hunting

 

[156256Hunter]

I have the Sitka 90% pants with optifade open country print, which I got on sale three or four years ago (after hunting season) for under $180. They're very well built. Have worn them almost every deer and elk season since then. I hunt in NE Oregon, sometimes in rugged country going up and down steep, rocky ridges. The Sitka pants are warm, quiet, and seem to be water resistant and windproof. I like wool, but unfortunately it isnt' windproof unless it has a type of "windshear" liner, which can be noisy.

With the Sitka pants I usually wear as my top layer a quilted flannel shirt. The past couple years I've gone back and forth between the flannel shirt and an underarmor camo hoodie. For buck season this year, instead of the Sitka pants I wore the underarmor hoodie and some old remington brand camo pants (which were cooler temp-wise than the Sitkas). That combination didn't panic a 4 point mulie I shot at under 100 yards, so for me that means there hasn't been a big difference between the Sitka and non-Sitka camo regarding the animals' ability to see or not see me. Of course I can't attest to how many monster bucks decided from afar that my fashion sense was atrocious, and slipped away without me ever seeing or hearing them.

My point is Sitka works both weather and animal-visibility wise, but in my opinion, for the price you may be paying mostly for the higher quality.

In any event, whether you go with that stuff or something cheaper, just be sure to wash it in the non-UV brightening detergent.

 

[erudne]

clothes are like scopes except a bad scope will not cause death from hypothermia. Much depends on where you are hunting, the more atrocious the weather the more important the clothing. Excellent gloves, socks and head wear is vital.
Over the past 50 years I have seen every camo pattern conceivable, the Chinese in roads into the textile market has made even arcane patterns available. Get a pattern that is suitable for the area you hunt (Woodland for the west side) wear gloves and a face net/paint.
Choose the best suitable fabric you can afford and go for it

 

[Oregonhunter5]

The sad thing is that brand is not as much as even the newer stuff. I went into bowtech 3 years ago, and looked ever that Sitka stuff. They talked me into Russell brand. It's nice.
Love it.
I have rain gear and colder weather stuff. Half the price of Sitka.

 

[Vaultman]

.... Of course I can't attest to how many monster bucks decided from afar that my fashion sense was atrocious, and slipped away without me ever seeing or hearing them...

This gets the thread OP's favorite quote award!!!

 

[Koda]

I have no problem if you can afford it but the brand or cost of clothing has no effect on if your successful or not. What matters is if your clothes keep you from the elements and the pattern is broke up like Stomper said. Cotton kills in the outdoors. I just bought an awesome Midwayusa brand (generic) realtree camo synthetic softshell jacket from midwayusa.com for 40 bucks on sale including shipping. Works as good as any sitka softshell jacket and built as well.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/93...ly-season-softshell-jacket-realtree-xtra-camo

 

[P7M13]

My take away from first season Coastal Elk: patterned clothing, as little gray as possible, waterproof. Must not make noise when pelted with rain drops or brushing up against foliage.
I lay in the ferns and studied my partner's cammo against the woodland. The gray _really_ stands out.
We got dumped on in the Siuslaw this year. I alternated between 3 solid color jackets and wound up using only one because the other two were like cymbals against foliage and rain.
I don't care what they say about breathable, climbing up and down those ridges, I was one sweaty pig. I was grateful to be wearing wool. My "waterproof" Danner boots were not.

Of the dozen hunters I talked to, we were the only ones who saw any elk, 2 cows on two separate occasions.

 

[Workerbee33]

I bought sitka gear this year because I was tired of being cold and wet.
We hunt eastern oregon and colorado every year and wanted a set of gear that would work from 0-50 degrees, wind, snow and rain. You will have to layer up depending on the weather coming in. This year we hunted between 9000-13000' in colorado and it was cold, really cold. Hike hard and I start to sweat, sitka keeps your body temperature cooled down enough that sweating is minimal and when you sit on the stand you are warm and the wind isn't bothering me at all. I've had cheap gear, wool flannels, under armour cold weather gear and now sitka...I will stay with sitka, yes it's expensive but it's the difference of being warm and comfortable with the piece of mind that the gear will keep you that way.

 

[mjbskwim]

I bought sitka gear this year because I was tired of being cold and wet.
We hunt eastern oregon and colorado every year and wanted a set of gear that would work from 0-50 degrees, wind, snow and rain. You will have to layer up depending on the weather coming in. This year we hunted between 9000-13000' in colorado and it was cold, really cold. Hike hard and I start to sweat, sitka keeps your body temperature cooled down enough that sweating is minimal and when you sit on the stand you are warm and the wind isn't bothering me at all. I've had cheap gear, wool flannels, under armour cold weather gear and now sitka...I will stay with sitka, yes it's expensive but it's the difference of being warm and comfortable with the piece of mind that the gear will keep you that way.

Yeah yeah we're talking fat lazy road hunters here,not real hunters that actually climb mountains
Well that's were the money makes sense then,cause you can't always just go back to the truck and get warm and dry