Merino or Synthetic for archery elk.

[grfox92]

Super active, potentially hot weather. My system is a t shirt, a long sleeve t shirt and a hoody, with my puffy inside my pack.

I was a treestand Eastern whitetail hunter for 20 years. Merino base layers were king, and I wouldn't even think of using anything else.

Now my hunting looks very different and it has been brought to my attention that Merino might not be the best fabric for 15 mile days with 6k feet of elevation gain.

So for my Long time elk hunting roksliders, before I order new t shirts and do you prefer Merino or synthetic. For the record I'll he ordering Kuiu.

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[Wrongside]

Wool. 100%. But not KUIU. Haha.

Synthetic may dry quicker, but stinks almost the instant I put it on. And I’m not interested in wearing the chemical treated no-stink synthetic. In the end, everything is a trade-off. It’ll depend on your personal priority rankings.

 

[grfox92]

Wool. 100%. But not KUIU. Haha.

Synthetic may dry quicker, but stinks almost the instant I put it on. And I’m not interested in wearing the chemical treated no-stink synthetic. In the end, everything is a trade-off. It’ll depend on your personal priority rankings.

Well I've been a die hard Merino guy for the reasons you stated my whole life. Just seeing if there is any actual benefit to synthetic.

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[grfox92]

Wool. 100%. But not KUIU. Haha.

Synthetic may dry quicker, but stinks almost the instant I put it on. And I’m not interested in wearing the chemical treated no-stink synthetic. In the end, everything is a trade-off. It’ll depend on your personal priority rankings.

Why not kuiu?

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[MT_Wyatt]

100% depends on how long you’re out and how wet the place you are is. I like merino next to skin and use merino for archery elk when out for more than 2 days.

 

[BBob]

I wear and have both on early elk hunts. I’d also take the same on any hunt. Kuiu light merino base with a Kuiu 97 Hoody as my 2nd layer.

 

[goosedog]

Synthetic dries faster but will start to stink over a few days, merino takes longer to dry both have their place I usually run a Synthetic tshirt and then a merino hood over that

 

[croben]

I tend to sweat a lot so it depends on the weather for me. For longer trips in warmer weather I will probably go merino. If it’s a short trip, 3 days or less, and/or colder weather I usually stick with synthetic. Merino takes longer to dry compared to synthetic and I’ve had issues with that in the past. I primarily wore Stone Glacier’s Chinook merino hoody last summer and fall and really liked it. I switched to their Avro hoody later fall and winter and liked that as well.

 

[Brian Fahs]

Not elk hunting but I just spent 21 days turkey hunting mountains in the northeast. Truck camping with no electric, heat or facilities. I wore merino briefs, socks, and tops. I prefer first lite. My laundry bag was embarrassingly small. I heated water with a jetboil to wash my body and head every few days but never washed the clothes. I never noticed odor in the merino wool. I changed them out a couple times to keep my mind at ease.
I sweated a lot and had rain for most of my trip. I never felt uncomfortable in merino. I would not have lasted 2 days in synthetic base.

 

[dreamingWest]

Merino. KUIU merino is very nice as well.

 

[txpanhandle88]

Super active, potentially hot weather. My system is a t shirt, a long sleeve t shirt and a hoody, with my puffy inside my pack.

I was a treestand Eastern whitetail hunter for 20 years. Merino base layers were king, and I wouldn't even think of using anything else.

Now my hunting looks very different and it has been brought to my attention that Merino might not be the best fabric for 15 mile days with 6k feet of elevation gain.

So for my Long time elk hunting roksliders, before I order new t shirts and do you prefer Merino or synthetic. For the record I'll he ordering Kuiu.

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Merino all day long

 

[WBT]

My vote goes to merino for the reasons mentioned above. Having said that, I also wear bamboo sun shirts/hoodies on occasion. I haven’t worn them for days on end, but they’re comfortable in the heat and they don’t seem to stink like synthetic layers.

 

[doverpack12]

I really prefer synthetic and typically bowhunt about 20 days in September chasing elk.

I started with merino in 2010 or 2011 and slowly over time as synthetics have improved and I learned how I function best I’ve gone back to 100% synthetic next to skin no matter how hot or cold.
4-5 days is about the length of trip before I’m moving areas or back home to restock clean up and head back out.

I’m just more comfortable in synthetics than merino because I’m drier, and dry is even more important when the wind blows.
Shave armpits and manage other major body hair areas.
The hair is what gets to smelling and makes the shirt smell. Once I got rid of armpit hair my synthetic shirts can be worn multiple days or alternated and allowed to bake in the elements while I hunt the next day.

KUIU synthetics are my go to, I typically start with a short sleeve peloton 118 then I will sometimes use a 185 merino quarter zip but usually just go to a peloton 97 and 240. With a rain jacket and puffy those 5 will cover the majority of western season dates.

 

[Tricer]

I pretty much wear a merino T-Shirt year round now. I have some synthetics but tend to always grab the merino. Typically a merino 150 shirt and a merino 150 long sleeve always in the pack. I like to hunt in short sleeves when it's hot.

 

[Dos Perros]

I would go merino unless it was going to rain a bunch.

I have had the best durability experience with Kuiu merino, have a piece that will turn 9 years old this fall (the 125 weight long sleeve crew). I had poor durability experience with both Black Ovis and Core4Element merino. So far having a better experience with Stone Glacier but if it weren't on sale I'd have bought the Kuiu again.

 

[Wrongside]

Why not kuiu?

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My KUIU Merino is early production, so they may/probably have improved it- but mine gets a funky wet dog smell when really wet. I like it fine otherwise.

Tho, I feel like the KUIU stuff isn’t a great value proposition. The $20 Costco Made In Canada 100% merino is more my speed these days.

 

[SloppyJ]

They just introduced a new early archery buck only 2 day season here around September 7th. I think I'll be hunting in underwear and deep woods off.

Out west it might be different but wool, even the aerowool, is miserable in the humidity here. For something warm, I'd go synthetics but that's just me. I know that there is a big difference in heat and humidity between AR and CO though. But being hot in wool is not fun.

 

[Skerhunter]

Great question and for me it entirely comes down to temps. I prefer to have on a merino shirt under, with light synthetic LS and a heavier synthetic hoody 99% of the days. If it’s warmer (low around 50) I can do all synthetic.

My last two September hunts have been warm. Didn’t matter what I wore it was gonna stink.

 

[cornfedkiller]

When it's hot, I prefer wool. As other's have mentioned, the lack of stink is obviously a big advantage, but I also don't mind that it takes longer to dry. Seems to cool me down as it slowly evaporates.

When it's cold, I prefer synthetic because I don't like my clothes holding on to the moisture because it makes me cold when I stop. I also find synthetic to be warmer.

 

[5MilesBack]

Why not kuiu?

If they haven't changed anything with their merino.......it stinks when it gets wet, like wet nasty sheep smell. Others I've had in camo specifically, also stank a little but KUIU was the king for stink. Start sweating on a hike in and I'm looking around for the open sewer pipe. It was horrible stuff. All my other brands in solids have been fine.

And I will choose "solid" color merino as my base layers every time for active hunting, love the stuff. Keeps the sweat from building up on my skin. Synthetics just seem to spread it around on my skin, never absorb it, and never seems to wick it away. After all, they're basically just plastic.