Puffy or Soft Shell or Both?

[fngTony]

Just curious, are most of you skipping the softshell doing so for early mule deer hunts when the deer are up high, or do you continue that through October and early November?

I haven't skipped the softshell yet. I rifle hunt and it's usually Oct through early Nov depending on the hunt. I hunt the thick stuff quite a bit and it's quieter as mentioned above. I also don't have a top notch breathable rain jacket. I use either the Cabelas space rain packable set, or a Marmot Precip jacket I picked up. Both are fragile and noisy but work if I'm careful. If I go dayhunting in the rain I use the Helly Hensen bibs and jacket and hunt real slow, or pair the bibs with the Marmot jacket for more ventilation and still go slow. For softshell I have a mix of what I could buy on sale or Camofire. I have 4pr of different weight Kryptek pants. Also 2pr of Sitka Ascent pants and 2pr of their mountain pant. I use the Kryptek Dalibor II almost all the time now as my jacket, and sometimes add a Russel APXG2 or Sitka Jetstream Lite vest. The Dalibor II has the best hood I've found and has become a big favorite. I use the Sitka Celcius jacket and Kuiu Kenai pants as my puffy layer. I obviously don't take or use all of then each trip, that's just the options I fit to the forecast.

I used mine quite a bit since my rain shell was fragile (very similar the precip but made by ua). Now I have a more durable hardshell and discovered that my teton insulated jacket isn't as fragile as I thought so I might be using my softshell less.

 

[excaliber]

Are all you guys who recommend hard shells and puffys long range rifle hunters? I archery hunt and I've yet to see try on a single hard shell that's quiet enough to spot and stalk Muleys with a bow. From what I've read here the majority of you who recommend a hard shell carry three pieces with you, a merino top, a puffy and a hardshell. For the life of me I can't figure out how anyone who archery hunts would hunt with this type of setup.

 

[tttoadman]

Are all you guys who recommend hard shells and puffys long range rifle hunters? I archery hunt and I've yet to see try on a single hard shell that's quiet enough to spot and stalk Muleys with a bow. From what I've read here the majority of you who recommend a hard shell carry three pieces with you, a merino top, a puffy and a hardshell. For the life of me I can't figure out how anyone who archery hunts would hunt with this type of setup.

For early season look at the C4E or the Sylo rain gear. They are quiet and well suited for occasional showers.

 

[fngTony]

Are all you guys who recommend hard shells and puffys long range rifle hunters? I archery hunt and I've yet to see try on a single hard shell that's quiet enough to spot and stalk Muleys with a bow. From what I've read here the majority of you who recommend a hard shell carry three pieces with you, a merino top, a puffy and a hardshell. For the life of me I can't figure out how anyone who archery hunts would hunt with this type of setup.

Archery guy myself. Haven't been rained on in a while so the hardshell only comes out for wind blocking or heat retention over my insulation. My insulation is pretty quiet (kuiu teton).

I'll second the sylo/core 4 rain gear as quiet also the king's xkg rain gear. I believe sitka has a quiet one now too in the sub alpine.

I like the soft shell for day trips but doubt I'll pack it in anymore.

 

[ColoradoHunterHiker]

I hunt rifle and Bow.

For bow: it's usually not ever cold enough for the need of a hardshell. I use the rain jacket when its actually really raining, not sprinkling. Other then that, just the superdown jacket makes it plenty warm in the cool mornings and plenty warm while glassing. I'm not actually making moves on animals with the superdown jacket on. If that was the case - a need for insulation while hunting/stalking - I'd go with the kenai. Its much quieter. I can't really imagine the need for insulation while actively hunting during bow season, at least in Colorado... But, I've been wrong before.

For rifle: I have worn my kenai under my guide jacket when the weather was crappy and cold. But honestly, I usually find myself just wearing the kenai by itself unless its snowing/raining.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

Are all you guys who recommend hard shells and puffys long range rifle hunters? I archery hunt and I've yet to see try on a single hard shell that's quiet enough to spot and stalk Muleys with a bow. From what I've read here the majority of you who recommend a hard shell carry three pieces with you, a merino top, a puffy and a hardshell. For the life of me I can't figure out how anyone who archery hunts would hunt with this type of setup.

I'm one of those guys, even bowhunting - I think it's pretty dependent on the person, where you're at, and weather of course. To give an example, I got smacked with a day and a half rain/snow storm 2nd week of September this year (and opening weekend.....). A hard shell was pretty handy, didn't have pants, just gaiters. But I certainly wasn't stalking animals then. I usually run around in a merino baselayer and fleece midlayer hoody in archery season. But the puffy is always handy for the cold, and the shell is some insurance when I'm half a day back and staying for a few nights. And if I'm stalking in on an animal, I'm going in quiet, no puffy or shell for sure.

 

[rickquinlan]

Awesome info. Thanks for your time and advice

Sent from my Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F using Tapatalk

very helpful

 

[ElkArcher918]

Not a soft shell guy. Too heavy and typically not very compressible. I run a light highly compressible active insulation puffy from one of the two major brands and keep light rainwear at the bottom of the backpack. Early/mid-season, I'll adjust my merino base/mid layers based on forecast temps.. Took a while to dial in my early/mid season kit mostly through trial and error.

To OP, I have the FL Uncom and Kuiu Kenai and find the latter to be much more packable and versatile as long as you adjust your mid layers accordingly.

 

[hunting1]

I like my soft shells for day use, but like others puffy and shell is where it is at. I went with the M7 over the Jetstream and really think it is great for that outer shell with puffy or by itself for cool days.

 

[ChrisS]

It's a 6-year old thread bumped by an ad-bot.

 

[WhatToHunt]

It's a 6-year old thread bumped by an ad-bot.

Gotta be careful with the name-calling lest the thread get shutdown.

 

[mstay4]

ive had great luck just using my rain pants as an extra layer when needed. one less thing to carry. i do love a puffy jacket though

 

[rickquinlan]

ive had great luck just using my rain pants as an extra layer when needed. one less thing to carry. i do love a puffy jacket though

Do you carry a soft shell too?