Pac boots or Not Late season Mountain hunting

Joined
Jan 10, 2022
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Location
Amherst,Virginia
Hey guys looking for some help. Will be back packing in a few miles 3rd season Colorado. Need a new pair of boots and thinking about removable liners (Felt) to be able to dry them in tent. Hoffman and Scheel's look like on short list. I never owned pac boots. Are they any good for hiking or will they be too warm as in sweating feet cold feet? Extra weight? or would be better off with say 1000gr. thinsulate non pac style boot? My feet get cold when I'm stopped glassing. Any suggestions. Note I live on East coast and hard to break in new boots for the mountains. Trans Yank
 

Justin Crossley

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Feb 25, 2012
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Buckley, WA
Hey guys looking for some help. Will be back packing in a few miles 3rd season Colorado. Need a new pair of boots and thinking about removable liners (Felt) to be able to dry them in tent. Hoffman and Scheel's look like on short list. I never owned pac boots. Are they any good for hiking or will they be too warm as in sweating feet cold feet? Extra weight? or would be better off with say 1000gr. thinsulate non pac style boot? My feet get cold when I'm stopped glassing. Any suggestions. Note I live on East coast and hard to break in new boots for the mountains. Trans Yank

I've hunted Colorado 3rd season for elk once and just wore my normal non-insulated boots. Two years in a row of 3rd season deer I wore the same.

I think it really depends on how active you plan to be. I would only choose the pacs for backpacking if I was going to be sitting a lot and the conditions were really cold and snowy.
 

Overdrive

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Aug 10, 2018
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Earth
The best boots I found for me were Irish Setter Elk tracker 1000gr for later season hunts. Comfortable, excellent traction on steep mountain sides.
 

Elknutty

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Jan 20, 2021
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Location
Idaho
I have a pair of Schnees hunter 2’s. I’ve had them for about 10 years. There was little to no break in for them when they were new and are still going strong! The downside to insulated boots without a removable liner is they will take forever to dry out in a tent.
 

IronM

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Feb 17, 2021
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North Central WI
As I get older, I find myself sitting more than walking a lot during 3rd Rifle season. So I picked up a pair of Hoffman Mountaineer pac boots with the removable felt liner. Awesome boot to walk around in when you do and nice to be able to remove the liner at night to dry out if need be. These boots are far superior compared to the old sorels as far as comfort.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2021
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Montana
I wear pacs with air bobs with low snow and corks in pacs after that. They don't sweat and they dry quickly. They are as firm on steep ground as leather boots and exceedingly comfortable. I threw out my sorels in 78 when I found pacs.
 
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Dec 23, 2021
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I’d go with a lightly insulated leather mountaineering oriented boot. Something like the Lowa Tibet Superwarm. 400 grams thinsulate. It’ll sidehill and kick steps way better than a pack boot.
 

EdP

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Jun 18, 2020
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Location
Southwest Va
Pac boots don't privide the support your ankles and knees need for mountain terrain, especially when carrying a load. I got a pair of Crispi Wild Rock Plus GTX boots for use in the mountains both out west and here in SW Va and I love them. My feet get cold pretty fast when I sit for a while and I was comfortable in these both when hiking and when stopped with temps in the high teens to low 50's F. Break-in time was virtually zero. Zamberlan also makes some excellent insulated hunting boots. All of Z-lan insulated boots are made on their wide last so if you are not E or wider I would not try them.
 
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