What's your favorite pair of hunting pants?

the noobie

New member
This September will be my first year bow hunting and I need some pants. I've always grown up just wearing jeans and layering under and over if needed. This past year during the rifle deer hunt I got soaked and cold so I need to rethink my strategy. I have plenty of layering clothing, just curious if anyone can reccomend a good pair of pants. I don't care if they are camo, but if they aren't I'd like to stick to earthy browns/greens or maybe black.

Cheaper the better, but I don't miND paying $100+ if they are quality. Not looking for Sitka or other gear that costs more than a new rifle.

My biggest want/ need is something that is quiet when walking through brush. Like a fleece pant, my old carhart work pants are very loud when they get rubbed on.

If I could pick up some water resistant pants that woukd be a neat feature but not necessary. Any reccomendations?
 
I've lately come to like wearing Riggs ($40). They're somewhat water resistant. My winter ones are fleece lined and with some mid weight long johns they are warm. They do are a bit noisy. I wonder if I scotch guard them they would be more water resistant. I live/ hunt in NW Montana.
 
I have one season on a pair of Kuiu Attack pants. Spendy. But I do like them. Comfy, quieter than my Carharts (which is what I've mostly worn for years), pretty water resistant. Layer long handles underneath for cold. I wouldn't want to wear them in really warm weather, but I didn't like my Carharts for really warm weather either.

- DAA
 
Been wearing these Walls this spring/summer, ok so far: bib overalls
Fit is good, water repellent, neat chest pocket for cell phone.
Medium weight, will need insulated underwear in the colder months.
These are quitter than jeans in the brush, but not silent.
 
I like the Cabela's silent weave line. I have the pants and the bowhunter shirt. Comfortable and quite, probably not much in the water resistant department but I like them. I wear them in warmer weather and easy to layer under also. The pants have cargo pockets on the legs which I like also
 
I like the wrangler jeans too. but mine are just the good old blue jeans, last better than most. Never seen the need for camo pants, except maybe waterproof camo pants for winter.

Good Hunting Chad
 
Cotton is no good in wet and cold conditions. I like wool, others might argue for really first class fleece. Fleece is best with a wind stopper liner. However, many of those windstop liners are noisy. They will make that little "rustling or crinkling" sound as you move around and cold temps seem to make that worse. Wool is tough as nails, quiet, warm, breathes well, blocks wind, is naturally somewhat water repellent and will continue to insulate even if it soaks up to three times its weight in water. Wool's only drawbacks are that it is somewhat heavy compared to synthetic materials and good wool is relatively expensive. My favorite single pair of hunting pant is Filson Whipcord Wool. This article of clothing cannot be beat. I have First Lite merino wool pants and they are excellent also. L.L. Bean's Maine Guide Pant is pretty good. I have others in wool and synthetic but my Filson pants have been my favorites for years.
 
My favorite pair of hunting pants are old GI Surplus Woodland Camo BDU pants. If your lucky enough to find the right size they are nice. They are cotton but i always carry a pair of Polartec Polyporpylene thermals in my backpack just incase it gets cold on late hunts.
We have hog hunted in the winter and had to wade across waist deep water and although we walked the whole time i never got cold with that combo with good socks. Made it back to the truck about 3 hours later and got dry clothes on.
But then again here in MS 25* is almost unheard of.
 
I wear olive drab Riggs (by Wrangler) when the weather is decent, meaning no rain and not extremely cold. At $35 per pair they are super tough and comfy.
 
I'm with GC on this, wool is king for pants and unders.
However in early season I really like My Gamehide Hyperhide fleece. They are extremely quiet and waterproof besides being comfortable.
 

I like the old Cabela's Jean Cut pants that were available in cammo patterns and Dry Plus. They sold for less than $100 and were totally waterproof. I have three of them. When they are worn out then they are gone. I wish Cabela's would reintroduce them. These pants aren't quiet like the new fleece stuff but I like them better and they worked / work well.

Seems it hard to find a good pair of waterproof and affordable pants these days. Even the Dry Plus upland pants I have are no longer available.

 
Originally Posted By: DiRTY DOGI've grown fond of North Face Paramount II pants.

These have been my main pants for backpacking. Have my second pair pretty well wore out now. Went with some considerably lighter Patagonia as replacement, do like them better for the (mostly desert) walking I do. But, had no complaints with the Northface and would snag another pair on sale for cooler weather walking.

- DAA
 
tru spec 24-7 in poly cotton. I like the coyote tan the best, not perfect for camo but decent enough. they are also the same pants I generally wear everyday just because they are so comfortable, dry quickly etc.

on a coyote stand by themselves I am comfortable down to about 35 degrees. I can add some long johns to them and that keeps me comfy down to about 20 degree. below that I want my wool pants. you can also add super long heavy weight knee high wool socks in the mix either with or without long johns to get some extra temperature out of them. It just depends on the situation as to what I want to pair them with.
 
Originally Posted By: GCCotton is no good in wet and cold conditions. I like wool, others might argue for really first class fleece. Fleece is best with a wind stopper liner. However, many of those windstop liners are noisy. They will make that little "rustling or crinkling" sound as you move around and cold temps seem to make that worse. Wool is tough as nails, quiet, warm, breathes well, blocks wind, is naturally somewhat water repellent and will continue to insulate even if it soaks up to three times its weight in water. Wool's only drawbacks are that it is somewhat heavy compared to synthetic materials and good wool is relatively expensive.

^ What he said.

Wool, if you're looking for something that will best cover all scenario's. LL Bean guide wear or Columbia has sub $100 pants. Higher end check out Johnson woolen mills or silent predator.

A good rule of thumb is anything that's "waterproof" will be loud and have that swoosh or crinkle sound. Anything that's "water resistant" will be quieter and bead some water off but will eventually become saturated if it's constantly getting wet.
 
For bow hunting my favorite are the scentblock spider pants. The outfitter model is very quiet and water resistant. Best part is they have a tree harness built in the feels like your wearing suspenders. Some how they are still lighter weight than underarmorer pants I wore before. I got them on sale a few years ago for around 150 but if you don't have a harness and your hunting in a tree stand it'll save you a hundred bucks on buying the harness. I also wear them turkey and coyote hunting and just take the tether cord off.
 
Sorry all started this thread and never got an email about replies on it so I forgot about it!

Thanks for all the replies I need to look into these. I ended up picking up a pair of cabelas brand pants out of the bargain cave for $10. They are camo, arent cotton so they dry pretty quick, and they are pretty quite to walk in. My only complaint is they are baggy, they almost look like camo PJ pants on me.

Also grabbed a pair of KUIU gaiters, they have greatly helped me keep my legs dry so far. First day of archery season and it rained on me. I was happy walking in tall wet grass with the gaiters.
 
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