I did a combined horse hike hunt around the second week in October NW of Dubois. Went in sunny and 60, woke up to sleet and snow 32 at 8000. Had that weather for 3 days then it cleared but stayed cool. Every hunter in the camp was wearing wet leather boots after the first day which dried out on the way out. The Schees Beartooths and Lathrops in my group stayed dry inside and neither had cold feet, I wore 600 gr Chippewa hiking boots and was fine, i did slip Tingleys over them in the mud and snow which kept the boots dry, lighter than carrying 2 prs of boots. Had mud on the trails mixed with snow. Guides and outfitter wore neoprene knee boots in camp, some even wore out to hunt.
There are locals on this forum that suggest by mid Oct at elevation moving into pacs, I intend to do that this yr. We were all in wall tents with wood stoves, had clotheslines strung thru the tents trying to dry out gloves and outerwear. We managed to get the lightweight raingear to dry overnight, the gloves at best were damp. I intend to carry a pr of oversize Showa fishing gloves in the future.
We were never in a situation of needing a stiff technical mountain boot on that hunt. My suggestion look at the lighter insulation Hoffman or Schnees pacs with the aggressive sole. White’s no longer sells pacs but there is generally a good selection of Hoffmans and Whites on ebay, make sure if you go that way to verify with the seller there are no toe flex cracking of the bottom. Hoffmans will rebuild Whites and theirs for about $120 for new bottoms. By watching you can usually find a pr for 50-75+ shipping. Most of the Schnees are new and much higher as are the Kenetreks.
One of my party took off up a mountainside in deep snow chasing a bull and cow, went up to 12k on top and the elk took off for the next drainage. Got cliffed out repeatedly descending back to the horses. In that situation, the Schnees he wore and the outfitters Kenetreks were the best choice. I was never in that situation nor do I intend to be at 71.
