Thought experiment- complete budget clothing system from scratch

[Erussell01]

Most of my hunting is October thru December in the mountains of a western state. Haven’t guided much the last few years but did for 15 years.

I spend most of my time in fleece lined wrangler synthetic pants and a Swiss tech synthetic puffy. Both from Walmart.

I don’t deal with a lot of wet weather but we do get cold.

Between Walmart Costco sierra and some times deals at other places you can get your clothes pretty well sorted for the price of one Sitka jacket and not be at a disadvantage.

Boots are a killer. Although I did kill my best buck last fall in $50 trail runners from sierra.

Sierra is a gold mine for deals. I have to avoid it or it will eat my paycheck haha

 

[Sully_44]

I think your list is awesome! I own a few different pairs of hunting branded pants and more often than not, grab my $27 wranglers. They’re too darn comfortable to leave them behind!

In regards to boots, I’d suggest to find a used outdoor gear store in your area if you have one. Within an hour of where I live (Wasatch front) there are a few stores like that. They are all pretty liberal crunchy type stores, but they have good gear. I’ve found $300+ boots in a couple of those stores that have moderate use for $50. Got my buddy a pair of Crispi Nevadas that were dang near new for $30 a couple years ago.

 

[Macintosh]

I think the list is good. Theres a few things missing, maybe different things depending on where and what “all conditions” means, but no quibbles in concept.

The only thing you sacrifice most of the time is weight, packability and sometimes fit. If you buy used you might even be able to cover that. But to get started and cover 95% there’s no question the approach works fine.

Then, some things are just as good if not better. My personal thing is gloves. I appreciate really nice gloves, and then I go and use them or something, and trash them in moments. 99/100 the price just isnt worth it after like the third day. I am the first guy to reach for my $15 work gloves on certain days, even though I own the super expensive jobbies. I think for the price of one nice pair of brand name hunting gloves, I can not only do BETTER, but I can outfit myself for multiple activities and temps for the next 10 years, all for the same total price.

 

[Sinistram]

Very cool this will be available for Internet searches forever now. Any new hunter can see you don't need to be intimidated by the entry costs to hunt.

I've thought about this, too, and I'd agree $200-250 is reasonable. Odds are it's less than that when you subtract the warm clothes someone might already own that would be suitable. Clearance sales, wholesalers, and creativity are your friend. I've found some insane deals on gear over the years just by looking at the right place and the right time. Midway has been mentioned here, and their base layers and general hunting clothing is better than expected. They also blow it out in late December/early January to make it even more attractive. Costco, too.