Cat hunters do yourself a favor

[Emily]

LOL I'm glad I'm not the only old fogey that still wears wool! Around here, I'm something of a novelty...That's just one more eccentricity.
For years, I had an old dress coat that was a double-layered wool cape down to my ankles, with baggy sleeves. I could fit as many layers under it as I wanted, including a belt light. It had a hood big enough to accommodate a cap with a brim underneath--I usually wear a hard hat because I slip and fall a lot.
I wore that cape out in the woods all winter, and sometimes slung a hammock and slept in it. It was loose enough so that I could rest with a hound or two huddled inside it, which worked well for everyone! All that loose enclosed space worked really well to keep the heat in. Wish I had another one, but it was a one-of-a-kind Italian thing that was my dress coat when I worked in the city. Still looking for someone who can deconstruct it and make a new one for me.
After tramping around the thick woods here in it for a dozen years, the bottom of it was in tatters and kept getting snagged on twigs, my snowshoes, etc. I retired it to the back seat of the car and the hounds sleep on it when we travel. I use that old cape when I have to leave a coat for a dog thats still out. I nap under it when I get back to the car and am too tired to drive. One of the pups chewed all the buttons off it.
It got to smelling so bad of hound dog that my husband complained about it staying in the car all the time, and took it to the dry cleaner. It was so disreputable that the dry cleaner refused to have anything to do with it!

[pete richardson]

if you like smartwool socks- which i do-

try some redhead wool socks from bass pro

lifetime warranty = 10 bucks a pair - best ive ever used -

[Mike Leonard]

Thanks Pete!

I do like SmartWool and use it a lot. I wear a sock liner becasue nothing makes your feet colder than moisture if it can't be wicked away from your foot. Yesterday was very cold for this area about minus 3 which is cold in New Mexico. I was trailing an old tom that was making some country and he was way ahead of me and the tracks were old and the dogs were just walking the track. Well I had on a pair of Herman Survivor boots that are light and comfortable but after a few miles I got my cardio level up and I could tell my feet were getting hot. I had forgot the sock liners and although my feet were dry from the elements they got moist from within. So remember those think liner socks they really help.


I love wool and it is always my fabric of choice when hunting or being in the outdoors. I even wear thin whip cord woolen slacks when riding in warmer weather, they breath and are not binding like blue jeans and such. I had a friend who was a cowboy from the ground up and a sportman of no small stature as a member of the Outdoor Writers of America he worked for numerous hunting and firearms magazines. He trekked all over North America and Canada, and the backwoods country was his home. He taught me early on the value of good woolen clothing, and layering for cold weather activities.