Down whitetail gear

[TravisIN]

Why are we not making packable down whitetail gear? I’m talking about puffy jackets and pants that have a lightweight packable quieter face fabric. I think Sitka could easily use the material on their ambient line, in a puffy jacket. I know it wouldn’t be quite as light or compress quite as much as a normal puffy but would still be a vast improvement over most options out there. A Lot of whitetail guys are mobile hunting now and packing big layers is just not ideal. I have a fanatic bib and jacket from Sitka that i usually leave at home and just will be colder during my sit. Some days it’s windy enough I don’t mind using sky puffy pants and jacket but others it’s a non option. Especially hunting with a recurve. I know kuiu just made some down bibs for whitetail but still have the heavy fleece material that doesn’t appear to compress great. Just curious why we haven’t seen that combo yet.


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[Foxsoup]

If you look at hybrid pant material such as Sitka equinox (fleece face on polyester) you’ll notice things get heavy and bulky quick. By adding a quiet fleece face to a puffy pant your losing it’s ability to compress. Puffy jackets are bulky, bulky clothes and archery lead lots of extra noise. The down side to fleece and wool is weight and if your in a tree stand weight doesn’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things

 

[Gwchem]

Kuiu did that, but it's stupid expensive.

 

[TravisIN]

So I’ve archery hunted in Sitka fantastic jacket and bibs for years and used several different puffys as well. The bulk while wearing isn’t the issue, it’s while packing it in. I’m saying, if you took something like the Kuiu ultra down lt hooded jacket that is under 10iz and packs very small (Small enough to easily fit in a lumbar pack) and swapped the exterior fabric for one like this ambient line (plenty quiet enough for trad distance) you’d be way ahead on the weight/bulk/warmth ratio vs a fanatic jacket. Yes you gain a couple ounces and lose a lotus packability with that material but definitely beats the almost 3lb fanatic and I think can cover 95 percent of situations that call for that heavier clothing. If you did the same in puffy pants you’re WAY better off than Any Bib options. No heavy fleece needed. Just hoping someone from one of the companies reads this haha


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[TravisIN]

Kuiu did that, but it's stupid expensive.

I haven’t handled it but looking at numbers and materials it’s still gonna be fairly bulky when packing. Maybe I’m in a fantasy land looking for a unicorn


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[FredBear86]

So I’ve archery hunted in Sitka fantastic jacket and bibs for years and used several different puffys as well. The bulk while wearing isn’t the issue, it’s while packing it in. I’m saying, if you took something like the Kuiu ultra down lt hooded jacket that is under 10iz and packs very small (Small enough to easily fit in a lumbar pack) and swapped the exterior fabric for one like this ambient line (plenty quiet enough for trad distance) you’d be way ahead on the weight/bulk/warmth ratio vs a fanatic jacket. Yes you gain a couple ounces and lose a lotus packability with that material but definitely beats the almost 3lb fanatic and I think can cover 95 percent of situations that call for that heavier clothing. If you did the same in puffy pants you’re WAY better off than Any Bib options. No heavy fleece needed. Just hoping someone from one of the companies reads this haha


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I agree I would like to see some of these puffys with a tougher and more quite face to them.

 

[KyleR1985]

M

Thread 'The “mobile hunting” push, vs. the lack of LW/packable whitetail clothing and equipment?'

Apr 17, 2025

It seems like this comes up fairly frequently here, but with the Whitetail Industrial Complex pushing mobile hunting for the last several years, including saddle hunting, one sticking, ultra lightweight tree stands, and public land…apart from the saddles and stands themselves and a very few cottage companies, why does there seem to be such a lack of lightweight and packable whitetail-specific clothing and equipment that is actually designed for a stand hunter that carries it around a couple miles+ at a go?

I’m thinking of Whitetail-specific backpacks, almost none of which are designed to...

• Macintosh
• Replies: 183
• Forum: Whitetail Deer

 

[SloppyJ]

Agreed 100%. I wear my stone glacier stuff or roll up my fanatic set and strap it to my pack. Ill say ive never regretted bringing it along because it is that warm but lord its bulky.

 

[camping1601]

I haven’t handled it but looking at numbers and materials it’s still gonna be fairly bulky when packing. Maybe I’m in a fantasy land looking for a unicorn


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I have the Haven set and it packs smaller than you would think.