Rain pants as your only pair of pants.....Good idea or no?

[TheJuice]

So I'm getting my gear together for Sept. archery in Colorado. I've only been once so far, back in 2012. I ended up bringing WAY too much gear. I think my pack was in that 80 lbs range!!!

I've got a little better feel for what I may need and have upgraded alot of items and parred down a bunch of extra gear.

Needless to say, I'm maxed out on what I want to spend this year as I have this arrangement with my wife that I write her a check at the end of the year equal to what I spend on hunting. Needless to say she actually gets excited about the UPS man dropping of packages from Colorado!!! Guilt free hunting!!.....It works for us.

With that being said, I'm contemplating just bringing merino bottoms with by Kryptek Koldo pants. I haven't had the opportunity to wear these much. They do have good ventilation but just wondering if I will be sweating my tail off or not. I know there are more breathable rain gear out there but it's not going to happen this year.

What are your thoughts and have any of you gone this route before?

 

[Weekender]

If it was me I wouldn't. Pack the pants and wear the rain coat.

 

[realunlucky]

Im not familiar with those pants but wouldn't take rain pants as my only pair. I like light weight pants when I'm hiking a lot

 

[Matt W.]

The Koldo pants are not that breathable. Waterproof? Yes. Tough & Burly? Yes. Breathable, not so much. But, they do have size zips and you could just leave them unzipped. ??

However, if you have 80lbs in your pack there are other ways to cut weight. What's your pack list?

 

[boom]

i dont like rain gear unless it is raining. of all my stuff, it is the hottest and the noisiest.

 

[5MilesBack]

You may have been able to get away with that last year in Colorado's monsoon we had during Sept. But in a normal archery season I rarely where my rain pants or even jacket at all.

 

[colonel00]

Just my personal preference but I would rather wear light pants that got wet and dried quickly than heavy rain pants that kept me dry. Granted, it depends on the conditions and everything else.

 

[2rocky]

Check out what the New Zealanders wear. Farming and hunting. Shorts are the preferred wear. If you can roll like that it would save some weight...

But I would not have DWR material as my only lower quadrant cover...

 

[MattB]

IMO that is the wrong place to save weight.

 

[fillthefreezer]

id likely go without rain pants in sept before only rain pants. i prefer shorts and lightweight rain pants as my early season wear.
cant swing $60 for some marmot precip rain pants?

 

[Kotaman]

Not a fan of that route either. I do use my KUIU Yukon and Kryptek Koldo as my only jacket though. Usually pack a pair of lightweight rain pants to slip on if it pours. It was stated above, the Koldo pants are great, but do NOT breathe.

 

[BroodBuster]

I carry a rain jacket but not the pants in Sept. I too prefer quick drying lightweight pants. If it's a monsoon I'd either set up the tarp or slip halfway in my bivy if I'm sitting still. On the move the rain jacket is enough.

A couple of weeks ago I did an overnighter in a pretty good rainstorm and never really missed not having rain pants. It's the 33* and raining when the rain pants get worn and are worth their weight in gold.

 

[KMD]

I'm pretty new at this backcountry stuff, but it doesn't take long to learn a hard lesson
I'd strongly recommend having along good set of packable rain pants. I've gotten by fine in light rain wearting Kuiu Attack, or Sitka Ascent pants. But in a heavy downpour, having a dedicated set of rain pants to slip on will be a Godsend. Especially if you're caught out in a deluge & still miles away from your spike camp!
Its no fun staying at camp for 1/2 the next morning drying your pants, socks and boots by the fire, when slipping on a set of rain pants could have prevented being soaked from the waist, down...

 

[TheJuice]

The Koldo pants are not that breathable. Waterproof? Yes. Tough & Burly? Yes. Breathable, not so much. But, they do have size zips and you could just leave them unzipped. ??

However, if you have 80lbs in your pack there are other ways to cut weight. What's your pack list?

HaHa....Looking back my pack list in '12' was pretty laughable. I had 2-3 pairs of underlayers (all synthetic), a heavy synthetic mummy bag 4 lbs. I had 2 sets of rain gear, a inexpensive 1 man tent (heavy, probably 3 lbs), ED50 Spotter/tripod, med kit, cable bow vise, just tons of stuff, enough MH meals for 8 days, a crap load of cliff bars and assorted protein bars, etc. All stuffed into a Erberlestock Blue Widow, W/Spike Camp duffel, zipped on the back and an extra badlands day pack. I looked like a six foot turtle crawling up the hill.

So this year I've got a DT1, EE 30* Quilt, xlite pad, SO 6-man (having my buddy carry filtration and camp bladder and game bags), minimal clothing (1 merino base set, 2 pr merino socks, Koldo jacket/pants, puffy(to be determined), merino beanie, looks like a light weight pants, maybe shorts. Cut way back on food maybe 2000-2500 cal/day, no spotter, that's not the complete list of course, but you get the picture. Trying to keep it under 50 lbs for 7days/6nights.

So which pants do you guys like the best for September. I can swing about anything, it's just that it costs me twice what I pay for it (see guilt free hunting above) unless I can use some Cabelas or Bass Pro points. I'm sure my wife would prefer Sitka or Yukon, but I've got to draw the line somewhere.

 

[colonel00]

Can you live without camo? There are a couple options from Cabela's. I really like the convertible hiking pants that can convert to shorts when it is hot. Check out the Columbia Arubas that should be available at Cabela's. These are really light weight but pretty thin.

Also, I just picked up a pair of the Cabela's brand XPG bug defense pants linked below. They were $20 off at our store here so I picked up a pair. I really like the material and feel of them. They are 4-way stretch and synthetic. The material is a little thicker than the Columbia pants and they look like that can hopefully take some abuse.

Finally, last year I picked up a pair of North Face waterproof pants pretty cheap at Cabela's. They are kinda thin but I will probably only put them on if it is supposed to be really rainy and I am stationary. They did fine while fishing on the ocean in coastal rain last year in Alaska. Anyway, look around and you might find something that works. Don't forget the magical bargain cave either.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Clot...4797080&WTz_l=SBC;MMcat104797080;cat104073480

 

[robby denning]

I agree colonel000, the convertible pants/shorts are the bomb for hunting when it is hot. I've never seen them in hunter lines of clothing so I end up buying them from backpacker stores. Wish someone like First Lite would make them.

I wouldn't go raingear as only pant. Too much wear and tear on a specialty item

 

[TheJuice]

Thanks colonel00. Those do look good.

I do like some kind of camo for bowhunting. I agree robby that there would be a market for hunting gear to have the pant/short option.

What are your guys favorite early season camo pants? I may talk to a tailor about modifying a pair.

BTW thanks for all your input. This site has saved myself and many others, that cannot be in the mountains on a regular basis, YEARS of trial and error.

One of my favorite qoutes is "To know, but not to do, is not to know". Thank you for all of your experience.

 

[Rizzy]

It works pretty good in the right conditions, I use just my Kuiu chugach that way in spring and fall. It works better in snow conditions as it has to be warm to rain. Unzipping the sides of the pant works better for me than the breathability of non rain gear. I sometimes take just a base layer, shorts, and rain pants. The long term durability is what concerns me most about this also, it is kind of expensive to replace.

It would be nice if the high end manufacturers put pockets on the rain gear, it would make it a lot more usable

 

[luke moffat]

It'd rather leave rain pants at home and go with just hiking pants than leave the hiking pants at home and go with rain pants.

Marmot Precips are 10 oz per pair and can be had for $36 with the 40% off coupon code:
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/ma...ng=s~rain-pants/marmot~b~1308/&colorFamily=03

I just ordered some last night, (but got the full zip off ones cause I like that option rather than just the boot zip option.)

 

[Mike7]

I agree, bad idea. I don't even take rain pants in my pack sometimes in Sept and have no problems (although probably lower elevation and much wetter at times than where you will be hunting). Even in October and November I often don't put on rain pants, unless I'm sitting in the rain while it is in the 30s or low 40s. If you want camo rain pants that work well for sitting in the rain (I haven't hiked through brush a lot in them), the Core4element ones work well (just a little more expensive than the Marmot precip stuff, but more waterproof than my older style Marmot Precip jacket anyway).

For Sept, a light, breathable, durable, but quiet pair of camo hiking pants that work well are the Cabelas Microtex Lite pants. Beyond that, the Kuiu attacks are breathable, but a little warmer and very water resistant.

Regardless of what quick drying breathable hiking pants I bring, if it is really wet, I have gaiters on "under" the pants, and a "long-enough" rain jacket along with cuffs that seal out most of the water...which leaves everything dry except potentially my thigh regions getting a little wet. This seems to be a quite comfortable setup.