My sixteen year old finally got around to telling me last night he has outgrown all of his cold weather hunting clothes. We're kicking off deer hunting this weekend because of an incoming cold front. Off to Cabelas this afternoon to deck the kid out, again, but am strongly suggesting he (making him) contribute with a stack of gift cards he's accumulated.

Anyone else remember hunting in jeans, flannel shirts, long underwear and your everyday winter coat? It was big time when I upgraded to insulated Carhart overalls--which I still own and wear 32 years later. He's a great kid so I don't mind but it always makes me reminisce.

I am glad that we keep them warmer than I was in the old days because it makes it so much more enjoyable. But times sure have changed.

Yep. My first hunting jacket was a mil surplus field coat. And long johns under jeans.

If there was snow bread bags between double socks to keep your feet dry.

Big heavy wool, plaid coats. Picked up every thistle, cocklburr, sticker, and every other thing with a point and barb.
Many nights in deer camp spent cleaning it up to do it all over again the next day. Easy to dry tho hanging from the rafters above the wood stove.
With a down vest underneath I was never cold.

Osky

Woolen bibs as well.

my first years hunting were in my dads old red BSA wool coat and an orange vest we bought

when he started hunting Red was the color , years later Orange 50% or greater of your upper body was the requirement

his first year my son also wore the red wool coat and orange vest

this is his second year when he was 12 a thrift store find

when I am at garage sales and thrift stores I try and grab up blaze orange if I know any one will need it.
if you want to come hunting as long as your not over a 2X I can loan you some orange

a lot of hunting has been done with a oversized blaze orange hooded sweatshirt over your regular winter coat and layers here.
I think I have a blood stained orange 4X hooded sweat shirt now that I think of it if you need it and a couple cheap safety vests.



because we are orange required for deer and we wear it for all sorts of hunting

I wear an orange t-shirt , sweat shirt , coat and sometimes game vest over that. get my layers as I warm up I can shed layers and keep orange.
the t-shirts I find at craft and fabric stores my wife goes into when you catch a sale 3.99

Was no blaze orange when I was a kid. Dad had me wear a red hooded sweatshirt with the hood up. wool socks and cold feet. leather gloves and cold hands. Nice to have so many options today.

Military hand me downs and surplus stuff. Still have a couple of the green pull over sweaters.

I don't recall being cold if it got really cold I had a snowmobile suit and I could put on my orange vest over the top

we also primarily did drives so if you were cold you volunteered to drive

I probably started off in jeans but migrated to wool early on. I wore the same Woolrich coat all season long. Perspiration, gas fumes, cigarette smoke and deer lure squirted into the lapel. Those were the days.

My 14 year old just fit into my grandpas old Carter woolen mills Pennsylvania tuxedo. A little bit big, but it fits. Very cool vintage outfit.

Still use the M65 field jacket, and the liner is mandatory if staying warm is a priority.

My first deer hunting overalls were brown knockoff Carhartts. Good thing we hunted private land. Lot better materials out there now. Even wool is better now if you get the good stuff.

My boys make fun of me when we go hunting. They are in Sitka and I’m all decked out in my Walmart coat and blue jeans. I’m also snug as a bug in it. I can’t believe what folks pay for hunting clothes these days.

I started with a Sears brand winter jacket. It was dark gray with a zip out, blaze orange liner. Mind you, the only hunting we did as youngsters was for duck, opportunities for big game didn't come until much later for me.
Later, I was able to buy a brown Sears brand winter jacket with zip out, blaze orange liner. Affordable camo was just not a thing in my part of Ontario in the late 80s. What was available locally was usually surplus green forest or tiger stripe and it certainly wasn't waterproof LOL.

Sometime in the early 90s, I discovered that affordable camo could be had at any Michigan K-mart... starting with a pair of Winchester onesie coveralls in brown woodland camo.

The Christmas after my mom passed away, my dad bought me a jacket and bib overall set in Realtree Max4 for which I will be forever grateful LOL.

As far as my kids, I have had good success outfitting them cheaply from the Cabelas clearance sales, US Black Friday sales (my wife likes to go, I stay home) and Amazon. I even found Realtree base layers and camo hoodies at Dollarama! In 1987 you couldn't find branded camo hunting clothes in Windsor Ontario if your life depended on it LOL.

I bought these clothes from Cabelas more than twenty years ago. I've worn them hundreds of days and thousands of hours. They're threadbare but still going. I don't wear cotton clothing in the woods.

in Green rubber boots with only yellow flocking inside. So cold.

when my Dad left me in the woods - I sat as long as I could stand and then built a campfire.

Was just at cabelas yesterday in prairieduchein wisc.i was very disappointed they didn't have a bargain cave anymore and the prices were high I thought.i did get a pair of hunting boots for the grandson because I had accumulated some cabela points but the guy with me didn't buy anything because stuff was high.

Still have the first "hunting" I ever had. Bought it around 1990 from bass pro with my own $. Still wear ot from time to time. First pair of "hunting" boots I ever had was a pair of Danner Predator boots a girlfriend bought me. Couldn't guess how many miles I put on those things.

Last year I bought a used knee length fur coat for staying warm while setting in a stand. My boys laughed at me and made fun of it. But before season was over with they were fighting over who got to wear it. Man that thing is warm. I've went to buying vintage real sheep skin coats for hunting in cold weather. Can't hardly beat real leather for stopping the wind and the real wool is pretty warm. Not like fur but more durable.

Jeans. The old white long underwear, a couple of sweatshirts and an old coat first deer hung 1974 at 10 years old.Thought I was elite when I got me a pair of dark green Walls coveralls at 17 years old. lol

My kids just were their standard outdoor farm clothing. They like camo and I have picked up some surplus and some from stores mainly for turkey hunting.

I won't spent the money on the high dollar stuff. It's not needed to kill deer plenty of proof of that in my boys success. 11 year old is at 4 for the year and the 13 year old has killed 3. No fancy outfitting here.

Same here when I was a kid. Red was the color, was no blaze orange. I remember my first blaze orange was a hunting cap. All my fellow hunters said you could see me for a mile with that hat.

I had junk clothing mostly when I was hunting and trapping as a kid and I'm a big proponent of spending a little extra money to get kids good quality hunting clothing for two reasons. First because there are so many other things competing for their attention, if they have a bad experience with getting cold, wet, etc. they are less likely to want to do it again. We toughed it out but it's not the same these days, at least not for everyone. If we want to hook them on hunting, we need to be sure their experiences are positive ones, especially the young ones. The second reason is that kids like to feel like they belong and if you get them some nice comfortable clothes that look like the ones the adult hunters that the respect and look up to are wearing, they feel like they are a part of something, and it's good for them to identify as one of the hunters, not as some tag-along.

My opinion. Spend the money for good youth hunting clothing, it will pay off.

I agree.

Same reason I broke down and got a couple of Mr. Buddy heaters for the deer blinds when they were little. Now I am the one who likes having the heater!

My Grandpa
My Dad
Me
my Wife
all 4 of mu kids wore the "red head" " oopmaak loompa quilted pants for Deer Hunting

Early 60's bought they were red...faced and Stiched everywhere

My Granddaughter Emma wore them last weekend. took a shot ans missed.

but the pants are still warm

1st 20 years I hunted we had to wear red. Not blaze orange but red. A red flannel shirt kept us legal.

Early 70’s it was red,yellow or orange if I remember right

WI went orange in 1980 or 81

before that it was red and while I wasn't in the woods for a few more years , dad talks about how some guys had such dirty red and black plaid shirts you could hardly see them.

I still wear the same kind of things I wore then. Blue jeans and a carhartt coat. My dad used to have a stipend at work to buy clothes, boots, and a coat every year. So he'd buy a new Carhartt and give me his old one. Always black, never deer brown. Always big enough to drown me, but that was okay because I had layers of sweatshirts on under it. Now when I hunt I wear a camo carhartt coat and blue jeans. When blaze is required I use one of those plastic vests you get at wallyworld for $3.

Outgrew his boots too.

Good thing he has a little brother....

I started out wearing surplus army wool pants from the army-navy store and Dad's old red hunting coat. I think it gave him an excuse to get a new hunting coat. When blaze orange became a requirement, grandma made me and dad shell overcoats in orange.

Nice Grandma

Careful, youre not spose to wear Carhartt or go to Walmart. I have had the same Walls Blizzard coat and bibs for 28 years. Have a few others but usually reach for those.

Yup,,everyone around here back in the day had a red plaid Woolrich coat(and pants if you were lucky) and Stormy Kromer hat.I still wear a Stormy Kromy hat.

Still prefer jeans or cargo pants or cheap pants.

Sportsman's still might have a bunch of kids clothes on clearance. I got both boys set for less than $100 except boots.

You would last 10 minutes up here in jeans during Deer season at the end of November.

Growing up everyone seemed to have a Duxbak hunting coat. Had the game pouches on the inside to carry squirrels, rabbits, etc.

My kids wear what is in the pictures I just posted in the what to do now thread. Seem to do just fine without all the fancy overpriced hunting gear marketed to people. The also keep wanting to go without needing fancy cammo.

I think all the sent control products are a scam for people that have never spent much time hunting with dogs. You can't beat a dogs nose with it and you can't beat a deers. Got to play the wind . At least that's my opinion on them.

No one mentioned the good old military "P" coat. With anchors on the buttons. I remember thinking that there is no warmer coat than this BUT it was HEAVY. It was long and went down to my knees I think. Nope dont have it the moths ate it up one summer......jk

Cotton long underwear, cotton socks, wool boot liner with four buckle rubber boots, Blue jeans, 1 sweatshirt, one flannel shirt, yellow chore gloves with the red wrist band, orange stocking cap, Orange zip-up hooded sweatshirt type jacket, it was so darn cold! Today the grandkids, wife, and I all wear the newer stuff and stay plenty warm. Real cold you cannot beat a heater body suit!