Schnee Boots help

[DanfromNZ]

Hi guys,

My name is Dan and I'm a hunter from New Zealand and was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out.
I'm after a pair of good quality hunting boots and have recently started looking at Schnee boots (in particular the Absaroka). I have read the review posted here dozens of times but I am wondering how they would take on the NZ terrain. The NZ terrain is quite extreme to say the least and the environment which I hunt is more bush extreme. So I wanted to ask, how do they hold up (durability), what would you say they are suited for (mountain vs bush), how was the Schnee customer service (have heard a few negative things about them), anything else you can add would be greatly appreciated.

These boots translate to roughly $650NZD, not including shipping or tax (after all those things it comes to around about $1100NZD or $760USD). Which is a hell of a lot of money. Seeing as i can't try them on, I want to make sure that I am making the absolute right choice.

Cheers, and thanks for your help,

Dan

 

[CA Karen]

Dan, are you North or South Island? If South I can save you the tax and the majority of the shipping fees if you don't need the boots till the middle of Oct. I work for the United States Antarctic Program and will be flying into CHC then.

 

[nflesher]

I was in Bozeman last week (love that town) and went to a Schnee's store to try on their boots. I have to say I think their customer service would be great because they had 40 pairs of boots or so on a table that people sent back because of different issues. The guy helping me out stated most had a fit issue, but some of the boots were pretty worn out and Schnee's replaced them or made it right according to the salesmen. I would say the granite and absaroka would be a great mountain boot. The granite was really stiff. I think they were stiffer than my Kenetreks were when they were new. The absaroka was stiff but not like the granite IMO. The beartooth was perfect for me. Not real stiff, fit was UNREAL to me, and they were not a super stiff boot. I would say they would do fine in the mountains or bush.

As for durability, they are a high end boot just like Lowa, Kenetrek, Hanwag, etc. Made in Italy for hard miles and happy feet. Steven Rinella and Remi Warren both run Schnee's boots, so they must hold up.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I love Schnee's customer service, they are great people.

 

[Jon Boy]

I picked up the absarokas last week. Love them. I hate boots with a stiff sole, the were the perfect fit for soft sole and stiff enough shank.

 

[gelton]

I recently ordered a pair of Schnees beartooths in a wide and even the wide was way too narrow for my foot, so you will want to keep that in mind. However, I returned the pair of boots and within a week of me sending them had an email from them letting me know that they had received the boots and issued a refund.

 

[Redside]

I had a similar experience as nflesher, I bought the Beartooths last summer, I also tried on the Granite and Absaroka. I wasn't looking for as stiff a boot so the Beartooth worked for me. If you're looking for a mountain boot, look at the Granite. I would say the Absaroka is somewhere in between. I have only put on about 70-100 miles upland bird and elk hunting and they have seemed to hold up well so far.

I live in Bozeman so went directly to the store to try them on, I happened to get the guy who designs the boots for a salesman. He was very informative and I would have no questions about their customer service, very helpful.

 

[robby denning]

Dan,
Madnik wrote that review. He's a Rokslide member and on the site every week or so if you want to fire him a PM and see if he's put more time in the boots since the review. Just look him up in the Community feature above.

 

[Madnik]

And just like that, I'm here. ;-) OK, a few months later, but here I am.

My Absaroka Boots have held up well over several more hiking, backpacking, and scouting trips since I wrote my review last year. A few more scrapes as can be expected, but that's to be expected. With more miles on them and the breaking in that comes with that, I appreciate them even more. Just yesterday I put another 5 or 6 miles on them when light hikers would have served me better just because. I can't say that I'd have done the same with the various other medium to heavy hikers that I've rotated in and out of my closet over the years.