I look at hunting gear, like I look at other tools of trade. You weigh what you have in your budget against your legitimate needs. You buy the better quality for tools you use the most and where quality is crucial to doing the job right or comfortably/safely. If you ride a ATV/UTV to your heated deerstand, do you need the same boots, than if you are camping in the mountains for a week stalking elk? Do you need the same backpack? Do you really need Filson/Eddie Bauer Safari clothing for the hunt or is it so you look cool in the pictures? Do you spend all your money on a high priced firearm that you use for a day and a half on opening weekend, and then skimp on ammo and time to sight it in properly? How many folks budget money and time for practice? Tools for hunting should be like tools for woodworking/construction. They should be an investment to be depreciated over a period of years, not just the few days we are in the woods this year. One should invest in the best they can afford, but do it wisely. One needs to prioritize their equipment and spend their budget appropriately. I grew up, like many baby-boomers, before Gore-Tex and Thinsulate. Our standard hunting boot was a pair of 5 buckle overshoes with our work/chore boots. Walk all day and your feet were soaking wet from the inside. When I first started to hunt, there were no real readily available hunting gloves, just jersey work gloves or the mittens my mom knitted for us. They got wet, they got cold. Wool was king for both a hunting jacket and pants. While they kept you fairly dry, they got heavier as they got wetter. I remember days when hunting in wet snow or drizzling rain, when my shoulders hurt at the end of the day, from the weight of my old mackinaw. Didn't stop the memories from being made or the quality of the hunt itself. Didn't have a Mr. Heater sittin' next to me on stand, and would shiver off a thousand calories a day. That's why we learned to still hunt, or make slow drives to our buddies, to warm up. Buy what works for you, not to impress your buddies. I used army surplus for years and still use quite a bit of it. The old camo patterns work just as well as the newest. It was also well made and held up well. I buy hunting clothing/equipment a lot of times in the off season when it's on clearance. Like with eloading components, I buy what I think I might need in the future when I see it at a good price, not when I need it.
