Rain Gear for Adak

[blazingangel09]

I am going on a caribou hunt on Adak in September of this year and need to buy some rain gear. I have been considering the following options and each seems to have pros and cons:

Kuiu Chugach: $300, 14 oz
Sitka Dew Point: $330, 12.5oz
Stone Glacier M5: $330, 17.6 oz
Pnuma 3L Element: $260, 20.8 oz
First Lite Seak: $340, 23 oz
Forloh All Clima: $379, 28 oz
Kryptek Takur: $419, ? oz

I'm not set on having all matching camo but if I find a jacket I like I would probably also get the matching pants.

I want to buy gear that will last and have utility beyond this hunt but don't expect to do many caribou hunts in the future. Most of my hunting will be TX whitetail and CO elk.

I have some time before the trip to wait and watch for sales which will skew the pricing to some extent.

Anyone have any insight?

 

[VernAK]

Impertech

 

[cardiac5]

I did that trip last year. Basically non stop hiking and no vegetation to worry about ripping your rain gear. I wore a kuiu hybrid hoodie (260 I think) and cloudburst pants with the zips open the whole time. Make sure you have good gaiters. Sometimes precipitation lasts 10-15 minutes some last a lot longer. Pretty sure one day I counted it snowing or sleeting 8 different times. You’ll see the size of storm coming a long ways away but most the time a jacket wasn’t necessary.


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[kwackkillncrew]

i wouldnt worry about weight. I would follow verns advice. the caribou dont care if your camo matches or not. bring good gaiters for sure to keep water from the grass off your pants. even if the pants are gortex they will soak through eventually.

 

[TN VOL]

Take 2 sets. Outdoor Research Foray and HH Impertech. Total will cost less than any of the named hunting brands.

 

[blazingangel09]

I have seen the HH Impertech recommended quite a bit but I've been concerned about breathability and working up a heck of a sweat hiking around

 

[kwackkillncrew]

its the classic debacle, sweat a little from impertech or get wet from rain soaking through the gortex eventually. If you are going to be staying at a house or some rental you could dry out your stuff and gortex would probably be fine. on my hunts i have a gortex type jacket and use impertech pants.

 

[Torino]

I have seen the HH Impertech recommended quite a bit but I've been concerned about breathability and working up a heck of a sweat hiking around

Yep you’re on em. Impertech bottoms aren’t too bad to hike in if you have light and breathable layer/layers beneath. You can sit anywhere with those on and not worry about getting wet, that’s a big deal.

Now the top is where is gets trickier. I’d still recommend a impertech jacket but hiking in it with a pack on is rough unless it’s really pouring cold rain. I’d recommend a thinner breathable rain jacket in addition to the impertech jacket for when you’re actually rucking and you’re only light/intermittent rain. The impertech is still used on long glassing sits. Gators aren’t essential if you’re using this system but they will make those pants last longer.

The HH gear will get used constantly in AK. The breathable jacket is really your preference. I’d just suggest keep it light (since you’re already carrying the heavy HH gear) and fast drying. If it’s not fast drying it really doesn’t matter how light is was because once it’s wet it’s heavy.

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself just rocking some base layers and no mid layers under the impertech pants while rucking. Keep your temps under control down there and you’ll be plenty comfortable.

It’s a little excessive to carry that much rain gear but staying dry in AK is a challenge and is a boarder line safety concern. I found that I didn’t need my bino harness anymore with this system. I chest carry em on para cord but I always have one of those rain jackets on and the binos and du-dads all hang inside the jacket zipped up.

 

[mcseal2]

I used the FL seak jacket and Kuiu Yukon pants on my AK hunts. Both worked well.

Be sure to get pants that fit like pants, some I’ve used in the past are oversized to much. Its no fun hiking in rain pants cut so the crotch hangs to your knees.

I don’t even take softshell pants to AK for the hunts I do, just a couple pairs of rain pants. Next trip it will be Yukons and Kutanas. My caribou hunt I took the Yukons and Chugach. I got the Chugach a size larger and mostly wore them around camp over my puffy pants while giving the Yukons a chance to dry.


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[mcseal2]

I should add, I tried Impertech and I just sweat to much in it. I use it working some but it’s just not for me hiking.

I carry a poncho/tarp to help save my Goretex from wetting out. I’ll set it up or put it on in a downpour, let it stop some precipitation. May not be perfect but its worked for me.


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[gbflyer]

The key is something warm when wet underneath. You are going to get wet from the inside or from the outside. I don’t live in Adak but I do live in Alaska where we get 90” a year. We work in it a lot. I try not to recreate in it. Haha.

 

[buzzy]

I did that trip last year. Basically non stop hiking and no vegetation to worry about ripping your rain gear. I wore a kuiu hybrid hoodie (260 I think) and cloudburst pants with the zips open the whole time. Make sure you have good gaiters. Sometimes precipitation lasts 10-15 minutes some last a lot longer. Pretty sure one day I counted it snowing or sleeting 8 different times. You’ll see the size of storm coming a long ways away but most the time a jacket wasn’t necessary.


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How did your hunt go last year on Adak? Would love to hear about it and see some pics. Thanks

 

[cardiac5]

How did your hunt go last year on Adak? Would love to hear about it and see some pics. Thanks

We did ADAK last Halloween. It was an awesome trip. Hiked our butts off and saw about 20 caribou total in 4 days of hunting. We split into 3 groups in the mornings and would go our separate ways and meet back at night. We didn’t see any quality bulls. We only saw one that I know of and it was the same size as the cows horns in a group of 7. I think the bigger bulls were likely up high as they definitely weren't with cows anymore. There was one really big bodied caribou at the top of a chute up high but we couldn't see into it and the snow came in right as we spotted him and I never saw him come out. He might’ve snuck out because It snowed for about an hour and we couldn’t see up that high with the clouds and we were also quartering a caribou inside the cimarron to get out of the wind/snow but we tried keeping tabs and never saw him come out. We also walked around to the other side of the mountain and never saw him. Out of 7 caribou all our shots were between 80-300yds. We also shot harlequins and eiders as it was opening week of duck season. I'm not a trekking pole person but they were super helpful in keeping stable in the vegetation and a neck gaiter is a must with the wind. Just keep hiking as there are some many little folds for them to disappear into.

 

[blazingangel09]

Thanks for all the comments and insight so far.
I am assuming that Adak will live up to the "Birthplace of the Wind" reputation and would expect that the wind will help blow dry the Gore-Tex jackets enough to keep them from wetting out. I also think that the camo Gore-Tex style jackets will be better for TX bowhunting and CO elk hunting so I would like to maximize the utility out of an expensive piece of gear.
If I'm wrong please let me know. TX is a long way from AK so I will definitely weigh informed opinions.

 

[blazingangel09]

We did ADAK last Halloween. It was an awesome trip. Hiked our butts off and saw about 20 caribou total in 4 days of hunting. We split into 3 groups in the mornings and would go our separate ways and meet back at night. We didn’t see any quality bulls. We only saw one that I know of and it was the same size as the cows horns in a group of 7. I think the bigger bulls were likely up high as they definitely weren't with cows anymore. There was one really big bodied caribou at the top of a chute up high but we couldn't see into it and the snow came in right as we spotted him and I never saw him come out. He might’ve snuck out because It snowed for about an hour and we couldn’t see up that high with the clouds and we were also quartering a caribou inside the cimarron to get out of the wind/snow but we tried keeping tabs and never saw him come out. We also walked around to the other side of the mountain and never saw him. Out of 7 caribou all our shots were between 80-300yds. We also shot harlequins and eiders as it was opening week of duck season. I'm not a trekking pole person but they were super helpful in keeping stable in the vegetation and a neck gaiter is a must with the wind. Just keep hiking as there are some many little folds for them to disappear into.

Did you drive out of town to hunt or did you book a boat transporter to access the South side of the island?
I'm reading over all the caribou distribution info I can find and they seem to be concentrated away from town and far from the roads.
We have booked a boat to take us around to the south side but I haven't picked a landing spot yet.

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

Second the Impertech. I don't know Adak that well, but I worked in SE AK for years and everyone on the crew wore plastic rain gear. Yeah, you're going to sweat. I told my guys you're not going to stay dry, but you can stay warm. If you're going to hike in and then sit I'd take a couple of dry top layers to switch into after the hike. Plus, it's cheap. If it's more like a regular mountain hunt, i.e. it *might* rain then whatever goretex you have should be fine.

 

[AKDoc]

If you're riding around in a boat, then Impertech is the way to go. If you're hiking around, forget the Impertech...as others have said, you will sweat-out and be soaked from the inside.

The best and most durable rain-wear that I have used up here is KUIU Yukon, and it would be my first choice for your trip...but I live in AK. You could wear the jacket and pants all day as you hike around...the pit-zips on the coat and full length zippers on the pants can zip-down for very effective venting. They would also offer excellent wind protection.

The down-side to the Yukons for you (OP) is that they are pretty heavy duty as compared to the KUIU Chugach, which are lighter wt material and more packable...and hence more likely applicable to other future hunts in your areas of the lower-48. The Chugach are also equally as adjustable, but my experience is that they soak much faster than my Yukon's, which stay dry very well.

 

[cardiac5]

Did you drive out of town to hunt or did you book a boat transporter to access the South side of the island?
I'm reading over all the caribou distribution info I can find and they seem to be concentrated away from town and far from the roads.
We have booked a boat to take us around to the south side but I haven't picked a landing spot yet.

Pm me. We were transported to SW part of the island.


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[cardiac5]

Pm me. We were transported to SW part of the island. Locals said they all travel in close to town in December so it depends on when your going.

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[bmrfish]

Would love to get out there some day