Well I might not be the best advice given your opener...but I personally love the Sawbuck pants. I zapped them with hot water in the wash and they shrunk enough to fit my legs well enough to not have baggy pant syndrome.
For me it really depends on the hunt I'm having....
If it's a preserve hunt or one of our quail areas with easy grassy knee high cover...I don't need any briar protection. So I'll run the First Light corrugate pants as they are extremely comfortable and flexible. I think the new corrugate with the waterproof knee/seat and extra protection would be an even better bet. But I'll hunt through my old ones before buying the 2.0.
My go to is actually the sawbuck. It has just enough briar protection while staying flexible and very comfortable. I've thrown out my old duck canvas tin-cloth style pants of old - hot/stiff/uncomfortable.
In addition to the above I run the Pyke Tongass. Same as above - just the right amount of protection and extremely comfortable. Feels like wearing joggers. I'm looking at their Northcutt pant for those hunts I know I'm going to be seeing a lot of nasty briars. I'm just trying to swallow the price tag...
I do have two pairs of cheap wrangler pants that I always keep available. But they didn't get a single wear last season. Between the 3 pants mentioned above, I rotated them as needed and don't expect to have to replace any of them this season...For reference I had about 70 days in the field (probably 30 with FL / 30 with Pyke and 10 with corrugate)
I know you said you don't like the sawbuck, but I've tried almost every upland pant and I do think they are the best. From a fit perspective the Pyke will not be any trimmer. Honestly I would rather have the technical aspects of those pants and pay $20 to a tailor and trim them up...rather than get a slimmer cut wrangler pant that doesn't have any of the technical aspects.
For me it really depends on the hunt I'm having....
If it's a preserve hunt or one of our quail areas with easy grassy knee high cover...I don't need any briar protection. So I'll run the First Light corrugate pants as they are extremely comfortable and flexible. I think the new corrugate with the waterproof knee/seat and extra protection would be an even better bet. But I'll hunt through my old ones before buying the 2.0.
My go to is actually the sawbuck. It has just enough briar protection while staying flexible and very comfortable. I've thrown out my old duck canvas tin-cloth style pants of old - hot/stiff/uncomfortable.
In addition to the above I run the Pyke Tongass. Same as above - just the right amount of protection and extremely comfortable. Feels like wearing joggers. I'm looking at their Northcutt pant for those hunts I know I'm going to be seeing a lot of nasty briars. I'm just trying to swallow the price tag...
I do have two pairs of cheap wrangler pants that I always keep available. But they didn't get a single wear last season. Between the 3 pants mentioned above, I rotated them as needed and don't expect to have to replace any of them this season...For reference I had about 70 days in the field (probably 30 with FL / 30 with Pyke and 10 with corrugate)
I know you said you don't like the sawbuck, but I've tried almost every upland pant and I do think they are the best. From a fit perspective the Pyke will not be any trimmer. Honestly I would rather have the technical aspects of those pants and pay $20 to a tailor and trim them up...rather than get a slimmer cut wrangler pant that doesn't have any of the technical aspects.