“I love shooting late season mallards as much as the next guy, but damn, I can’t handle the cold like I used to.” My friend Logan shouted to me as he walked back to our makeshift blind, with three dead greenheads in his hand.
“Yeah man, but look at what you’re wearing” I mumbled back, as I lit my marlboro.
Truth be told, I have a tendency to be a candyass when the thermometer drops below a certain point as well. While Logan insinuated that he was more weather resilient during his youth, I can vividly remember being a teenager, hunting whitetails with my old man out of a worn out ladder stand, freezing my ass off, as he always seemed comfortably warm. “You’re going to collapse this ladder stand and bring us down with it with all that shaking.” He would tell me.
This particular Northeast Arkansas duck hunt, the conditions were rough. While freezing temps and heavy north winds make for some incredible waterfowl shoots, my odds of making it to a limit are slim without the proper insulation. But this was the last weekend of the waterfowl season, and the birds had arrived, so not even frostbite would get me to leave the blind.
The market for hunting gear is undoubtedly more saturated than it has ever been. Every week it seems as though a company is dropping the “latest and greatest” gear that can battle the harshest elements, and can do so more effectively than their competitor. The truth is, with new advancements in insolation and fabric innovations, if you’re willing to shell out some cash for quality gear, most of the products on the market will keep you comfortable. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have some favorite options.
On this trip I was wearing my Duck Oven jacket by Sitka Gear. This jacket features WINDSTOPPER technology from GORE-TEX that literally creates a shield around your body, blocking all wind from making your hunt hell. Over the years I have relied heavily on GORE to make my hunts comfortable, and it has yet to let me down.
The Duck Oven also features PrimaLoft Gold Insulation with Cross Core technology, that when paired with the WINDSTOPPER, keeps you warm for the entire hunt, despite the weather. The PrimaLoft provides down-like performance, while also adding warm-when-wet functionality, and all waterfowlers know how important that is, especially when hunting along the delta.
When I was growing up, the key to staying warm was adding as many layers as possible. The problem with that method is, when your system is bulkier, your movability is restricted, making it harder to shoot, harder to call, and overall, makes for an uncomfortable hunt.
During my trip, the temperature hovered around 20 degrees, with average wind around 14mph, calling for ice eaters each morning. My layering system consisted of Merino 330 bottoms, Gradient pants, my Delta waders, a Merino 330 half-zip top, an Alpha Fleece hoodie, and of course, my Duck Oven. With this system, my range of motion was smooth, and I was comfortable enough to hit my limit each day. Which was more than I can say for my friend, as he offered to purchase my Duck Oven off me the first night back at the cabin. I declined.
Cost: $349
Pros: Truly blocks all wind, and keeps you incredibly warm whether you’re in the blind or the flooded timber. I also keep one in the solid earth color, as an everyday farm jacket during the winter months. One of the more durable jackets on the market currently.
Cons: I think it has like a 4.9/5 rating with over 600 reviews, my guess is 1 person complained about the price or else it would have 5/5. Can’t please everybody I guess, especially the cheap bastards.