Favorite Whitetail Jacket

Rd7fox

FNG
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
26
Late Season--Older Cabelas Whitetail Deluxe. Gore-tex, thinsulate, plenty of good pockets, HD zippers, quality throughout. Good ole days I know. Glad I still have 2 of them. And yes I'm a Sitka fanboy.
 
Joined
Feb 15, 2019
Messages
933
Would be helpful for people to put their intended use in their posts too. Rifle hunting vs bow is a different animal, and different jackets.

I’ll Say for bow my go to is sitka stratus early and mid season and fanatic later season.

For rifle, its just whatever is appropriate for the weather.
 

LostArra

WKR
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
3,647
Location
Oklahoma
It's got to be around 20 and or really windy before I wear a jacket. My old Cabela's Wooltimate/windshear vest is about my most versatile piece. Paired with insulated bibs and the right layers I can hunt pretty cold temps. I just don't like too many layers on my arms.
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2023
Messages
19
Location
Wisconsin
Hard to beat anything from Sitka, from 85 and sunny in September all the way down to -30 windchill in late January Ive been very impressed. I personally buy all mine used from the sitka buy sell trade group on facebook.
 

bobinmi

WKR
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
485
Location
Michigan
My base is always a kryptek Alaios pants with a cronos hoody top.

Early season I wear a cadog jacket
mid season I switch to the Vellus
Late season I still use the vellus the majority of the time but I go with the aegis when its abominable out there. Paired with the aegis bibs I've never been cold in that combo. (assuming decent base layers)
 

Rxtim83

FNG
Joined
Sep 26, 2023
Messages
9
Alright, questions in the title. Been doing a bunch (some might say too much) research on jackets for whitetail tree stand hunting lately and want to generate some more opinions. So what’s everyone’s take on jackets? Let’s break it into early season, mid-season, and late season.
For cool early season hunts and into mid season I like the mossy oak gamekeeper harvester set or the first lite source jacket (depending on which camo I decide to wear).

I got the First Lite solitude set on sale last year and have really liked it so far for cooler mid season into late season.
 

Traindriver

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 5, 2018
Messages
120
Location
Central Mi
Sitka Apex Hoodie is a bad mojo for bow hunting if layered for really anything from early season to most of late with exception to those plummeting days.
 

Yoder

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
1,637
My favorite jacket is my Wooltimate pullover. For how lightweight it is, it's the warmest jacket I own. That and my 3 in 1 MT50 Parka from Cabelas cover almost all hunting situations. The parka is great. You can just wear the shell in early season, just the liner or both when it's cold. If it's pretty warm with no rain I'll just wear a merino base layer.
 

eltx

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 3, 2021
Messages
198
Location
TX
This thread has been super helpful. I was looking for a late season fleece set up for Texas (morning temps 20s-30s) and checked out the Stratus system, which would have been great but I seem to fall in between Sitka’s sizing where a medium was too tight and a large was comically oversized. Ended up going with Kryptek Vellus jacket and pants which fit great and hit exactly what I’m looking for.
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2016
Messages
681
Location
Midwest
For Whitetail it’s easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. 99% of the time for me it’s an appropriately layered Predator Camo vest/jacket over a solid 1/4 fleece of any name brand you wish with a merino wool baselayer. I’ll often lash an insulation layer to my stand if it’s going to be colder and will put that on under my Predator jacket/vest.

Layering is key there is no one jacket for each season, you have to layer up and down based on need. I’ve had a lot of the bigger name brand stuff. None of it is worth the price cause none of them can layer up or down as needed and that’s truly the key here.

Good merino base layers are more important.
 
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
2,826
40 degrees and above I layer a couple of lighter weight things with an insulation layer as needed

Below 40 I’ll have the Sitka incinerator jacket and bibs

**Im a tree stand hunter so not moving for 3+ hrs at a time
 
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