stoopiddumbman
FNG
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2021
- Location
- Alberta
Are you guys that are running approach shoes going through them pretty quick due to outsole wearing fast? I think they use a pretty soft rubber.
Keen Taghee III’s. I have about 12 pairs of the Targhee II’s, many of those broken in and used on hunts, a couple still brand new. They just work really well for my feet. (And, yes, I’ve tried a lot of the more expensive hunting and mountaineering boots.). The lugs tend to tear off the soles, and they don’t last forever, but they break in super easy and are my go-to’s for mountain hunting.View attachment 624002
These are the best thing I have ever worn, on my third pair
This is super important. I've been slowly switching to minimalist shoes. I work in a factory and I couldn't even wear them on flat concrete all day. It's taken a few months along with strength training to get to where they are comfortable. I always wore orthotics and even had arch reconstruction surgery on my left foot. Since I switched, I don't need the orthotics anymore. I eventually want to get to where I can hunt in them.You have to slowly transition and build your feet, legs, and knees up. Going from mostly boots to minimal shoes in any terrain, let alone rocky/steep without an adequate transition and strength program will result in disaster.
I’m going through the same journey as you. Switched to heavy mtn boots some years back cause all my coworkers and friends convinced me I had to or my feet would disintegrate. I never had a problem before carrying a heavy load or any or nonsense reason they say so I have switched back to lightweight hikers and will never look back.Just got back from a mule deer backpacking hunt. We spent a week hunting, took the floorless and stove for a shelter also had to pack our water in 3gal ea. With all the late season gear we ended up with packs near 80lbs.
I wore my Scarpa Grand Dru’s which I wear often and have had great luck with. I carried some old worn out Brooks Running shoes for camp shoes as well. We found a spring about 1.5miles from camp and each time we passed it we could bring a couple gallons back each with a dry bag.
Anyway after a couple days of 10+ mile days and a ton of elevation I started to have some knee/IT band issues on my left leg and also had a some hotspots from all the steep ascents. I decided to lighten up the pack for the day so I left my kill kit since there were two of us and left the big spotter at camp. I also decided to toss on the running shoes for the morning hunt. I couldn’t believe the difference, I felt like a whole new person and went from having cashed out legs to felling like I could climb all day long. We end up killing a buck that evening so I packed him out with the tennis shoes 5 miles, not sure how much it weighted but my Kifaru, one hind, one front quarter, half the neck meat, a back strap and loin. Q’s bone in. Plus my gun and gear. I was a little worried about the weight but it felt great and so did my feet. I wore the shoes the rest of the trip and even on the two trips out of there, one with the deer and one with camp.
I was a little worried about cactus but kept a close eye on them. The shoes probably only has 1/4” of foam left between the ground and my feet, most of the rubber was worn from them from years of use but they still worked awesome.
Anyway, moving forward I’m switching to shoes anytime it makes since. I just ordered some Merrell Nova 2’s last night and some seal skin socks for my late season mule deer hunt that starts next weekend. I will still keep my several pair of mountaineering boots for hunting elk in the downfall.
I cannot believe how much I enjoyed the light shoes, I’ve been hunting in heavy boots for years. I had already put several hundred miles in the boots this fall prior to this hunt. I’ve been hunting since august antelope and my legs are in pretty darn good mountain shape too.
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Love the Lapponias...like a moccasin boot that can sidehill reasonably well. For crazy sidehilling though I go to my Scarpa Zodiacs...sticky sole and stiff enough I can perch on the craziest rock.I was turkey hunting in the Black Hills last spring. Took my Lapponia’s and a pair of sneaker hikers with me. I tried the sneaker hikers for 1/2 day and couldn’t get them off quick enough. For normal terrain they are super comfortable but once I started side hilling etc. there was no comparison with the Lapponia’s.
I have Lapponias and like them a lot. However, I have been transitioning to a Salomon Mid GTX and using them more. They come in wide which I find I need. They are a possible transition shoe for someone going from boots to trail runners.
I keep trying to use approach shoes, they have been great in training on trails. I agree they suck side hilling and in rocks (I also have planter fibromas, so long term beating up the bottom of my feet is a bad idea). I think my mountaineering boots will like go on most off trail walks, but the approach shoes will continue to see a lot of use.I made the switch to trail runners for backpacking probably 20 years ago. For backpacking (and day hiking) it’s all I use.
I thought if I’m using them for backpacking, I should try and use them for hunting? For hunting it didn’t work so well. The actual hunting part wasn’t too bad, but with meat on my back and a fair bit of sidehilling, it didn’t work at all. The trail runners simply folded over- that sucked, sucked bad.
For whatever ever reason I seem to find myself in a lot of rock when hunting and with trail runners my feet tend to take a beating.
The boots I do use are probably on the lower end of the weight scale (for hunting boots) and don’t feel the need for heavy boots, but I likely won’t be hunting in trail runners anytime soon.
I still put on 1500+ miles on my trail runners (usually two to three pairs a year), only 200-300 miles on my boots in a year.