I’m a soft sole guy as well. In high school I used the previous years basketball shoes as hunting shoes and it was the best. Even with wet feet. I have done the kennetrek extremes and lowa tibets and they last longer but my feet do not prefer them.
I don’t think boots of that quality and design(quest 4, lowa renegade, etc…) are really made to last more than a year or two of hard use.
I buy a pair every two years of whatever is on sale
I have some bitcoin somewhere… bought 15 or 20 coins when I was 18 to buy a fake ID in college and then found someone “legit” who could take cash. Still cannot figure out where I bought them from to login. Probably gone for ever
I’d go Kodiak cabin tent and buy the awning enclosure so that you can extend your sleeping room. kids can sleep out in the awning area while you and the wife are in the main. The new ones come with a stove jack pre installed.
Grew up below a local ski resort. Neighbor had a similar problem but instead the night before a heavy snow storm put up a barb wire fence across the main trespassed section….
I’d read this one twice… a lot of guys get in their own head when they see other hunters in the same area. Figuring out animals exit strategies can set you up for an easy kill.