Boots - are we doing it wrong

[ih8hunting]

How do you propose to support your feet and ankles when carrying out half an elk over uneven and steep terrain without supportive footwear?

Cut the bs-
You can't carry a 1200 lb. elk regardless
you can only adjust to carrying half an elk because it's about the same size as your mother
since I am much wiser- here is my advice to a novice such as yourself.
1. use a scalpel
2. cut the cape, starting at the leg
3. muscles
4. head

if you can't carry meat and a head that's almost as empty as yours- then I'd retire hunting and go into ballet.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Cut the bs-
You can't carry a 1200 lb. elk regardless
you can only adjust to carrying half an elk because it's about the same size as your mother
since I am much wiser- here is my advice to a novice such as yourself.
1. use a scalpel
2. cut the cape, starting at the leg
3. muscles
4. head

if you can't carry meat and a head that's almost as empty as yours- then I'd retire hunting and go into ballet.

Wow

 

[Geewhiz]

Cut the bs-
You can't carry a 1200 lb. elk regardless
you can only adjust to carrying half an elk because it's about the same size as your mother
since I am much wiser- here is my advice to a novice such as yourself.
1. use a scalpel
2. cut the cape, starting at the leg
3. muscles
4. head

if you can't carry meat and a head that's almost as empty as yours- then I'd retire hunting and go into ballet.

Bad day??

 

[WaWox]

I do love the pro boots argument along the lines of "people at this job would laugh at you if you were to show up with lightweight shoes". If the people in that profession *laugh* at the thought of trying something different, then by definition almost, they havent tried anything new. And without experimenting with something new you can stay arbitrarily wrong for arbitrarily long.

We laughed at washing hands in medicine, we laughed at small calibers for big game, and we laughed at minimal trail runners. Without experimenting you simply dont know what would be better.

Note, not disputing the need of a firefighter to wear ultra protective boots that protect against burns, nails or rebar poking through, etc. Steel capped boots have probably saved a lot of feet across a lot of industries. Keep wearing those -- but give minimal shoes a try in the mountains.

And to the goat argument... I have goats. I trim their hooves. Their nails softer than my toe nails, just thicker, and their hooves are incredibly articulate and flexible. Each toehoof can move independently and with huge range of motion. Thats how they climb -- and thats why i need flexible boots on bad terrain, i need to feel the little crevices and little cracks to balance and climb

 

[Coldtrail]

I've battled foot and tendonitis issues most of my adult life, tried lots of different footwear to remedy it. I was able to control tendonitis by switching to lower height boots but the foot pains are a never ending battle. This summer I was starting to end hikes with the onset of metatarsalgia and certainly didn't want that to set in for the fall/winter so I set my stiff boots aside and started using trail runners for my climbing workouts, I've done several climbs in rocky terrain and not once hiked out with anywhere near the pain my stiff hikers gave me. I did 7mi yesterday with a 20lb day pack wearing a well fitting pair of 7" red wings.....no pain for the first time in months. I wear 12" pacs with minimal support daily all winter long with a pack logging lots of miles and rarely have any issues during those months. Will going with less support work for everyone? nope, but worth a try.

I think the boots are like truck tires, a person will spend a fortune on lift kits, wheels and tires to put on a truck that logs 2000mi of driving at 80mph on cement to get to a hunting destination, but run mud tires just in case we get that weather event that happened back in '93 where that 10mi of road got muddy. Then complain that everything upstream from the wheels is wearing out faster. Same goes for boots, buy footwear for the 2000, not for the 10, save your feet, knees, hips, and lower back.

 

[Szwampdonkey]

I always wore what you are calling a heavy shank boot in residential framing and general construction for three decades, and others wore everything from tennis shoes to light boots to boots like mine.

Working alongside the same guys for a decade before I changed careers was telling. One of the biggest fans of light weight boots has turned his ankles enough times on small rocks and uneven ground that it has permanently stretched things out and his ankles hurt all the time. I watched his most serious injury and it was only a slight side hill where he put his foot down wrong - my boots wouldn’t even allow that injury on that slope. That was the most obvious case, but it happens all the time in construction.

Not only would I never work or hunt in flimsy boots, seeing with my own eyes dozens of times what injuries come from flimsy shoes and boots, I find it laughable that someone would suggest otherwise. Being a contrarian seems to be the path many take for more clicks, views, and traffic - it doesn’t make it true.

A good supportive arch requires some time for a foot to get used to it - some people get rid of their boots (or hockey skates) too quickly or push it too hard. The decade before construction I lived 7 days a week in Whites boots - the most comfortable boots ever with a significant stiff arch.

I’ve also had some PF issues and consulted with an orthopedic surgeon who was also a dedicated hunter. His take was my stiff firefighting boots or stiff hunting boots had nothing to do with it, although a stiff boot is painful since it puts more support pressure on the arch. His best guess is I would eventually need surgery when I was tired of the pain, but to find ways to exercise that don’t hurt and in some cases it will clear up eventually. At least in my case I’m glad he didn’t say it was absolutely needed - inactivity and extra weight made it flare up the most, and with moderate exercise it did eventually clear up completely and never bothered me again. I’m probably lucky in that regard, but it’s alway in the back of my head it could come back any time - so far a number of decades have passed.

Hopefully your arches will get back to normal without anything lingering long term that requires going under the knife.

Its possible that had you always wore less supportive boots, meaning from youth on up, that your ankles, feet and arches would be strong enough to resist injury from any sort of terrain. There is mounting evidence to support this and honestly it passes the smell test. Its just very recently and in only modern, well heeled societies we have these stiff and expensive boots.

A normal, healthy foot looks "grotesque" and misshapen to us. Wide with splayed toes but i would bet my bottom dollar that some native somewhere walking around some jungle barefoot with wide splayed out toes will outperform you or anyone on this site moving around any mountain. At the end of the day they would be snickering at us with our sore feet, injuries, and blisters as they just keep on keeping on leaving us in their dust.

I think the stiff boot phenomena compensates for the poor shoes, boots, and subsequently weak feet we have since our youth in the modern world. Akin to a cripple needing crutches or a wheelchair. So in a sense, you may be right that most adults will now NEED that stiff boot to make up for their weak feet and ankles. I know some people that have their kid walking around barefoot all summer. Id bet that kid will have pretty healthy and strong feet as an adult? Only time will tell but it passes the smell test with me.