Yes, this is the normal attire we hunt in.
Perfect summary!!.
Coues106, What a great question / topic to throw out there !
I would say it very much depends on what type of shooting / stalking you are going to be doing & I am looking first at the UK ......
Formal Driven Game
Read partridge, pheasant, woodcock, grouse - for early season partridge & grouse typically you would see a tweed shooting vest over a shirt & tie (yes tie!!) with plus 4s or 2s, woolen socks & either boots or brougues (stubbles) and a flat tweed cap or ball cap. As it gets wetter & colder the wellingtons come out & the shooting vest will be swapped for an often colourful sweater & a tweed jacket. Barbour jackets are also good!
Wildfowling
Read duck & geese on the marshes & estuaries. Here practicality takes over & its often waders over long woolen underwear, longsleeved tops with a thick woolen pullover, a waterproof shooting jacket & a woolen beanie & gloves & maybe a scarf plus a huge bag full of decoys, hot drinks & snacks for the labrador!
Rough Shooting
Read a small group of friends going out to shoot the hedges & boundaries. Here you are pretty much allowed to look like a homeless tramp - old ripped wellies, probably tweeds but with torn wax leggings over the top, an open collar shirt with a sweater with holes in the elbows & at the neck, an old, old torn & battered Barbour & a flat cap. You will carry a large game bag & have 1 or 2 spaniels or labs in tow.
Pigeon Shooting
Here its more often than not the green or brown long trousers, comfortable boots or hiking shoes, a green or dark shirt, a ball cap & ear defenders & yellow shooting glasses! Camo is often seen nowadays worn by the pigeon shooter!
Stalking
Traditionally, it would be tweeds, boots (Meindls), shirt & tie plus a cap or deer stalker if you want to go the whole hog. Nowadays, you often still see tweed breeks & more & more you see camo jackets. Most of the stalkers on the older estates will still go to work in full tweeds & usually the estate kits them out in estate tweeds every year or two. One of the perks of the package.
Down south chasing roe, muntjac, fallow & so on, it often tends to be dark green / brown trousers, wellingtons, shirts / tops & a camo or dark waterproof jacket. Practicality mixed with a bit of tradition.
And then you have Europe! But I will let others comment on that other than I am a great fan of Meinl Douvre Extreme boots & Le Chameau wellingtons. I purchased a pair of Le Chameau boots back in 2001 for DM 240,- at the time, I am still hunting & shooting in them today, mainly rough shoots to be fair, I have a newer pair for driven days
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You certainly have your hunting attire dialed in. In hunting, like so, so many things, having the right clothing lets you better enjoy the rest of the experience.When I lived and hunted in Germany in the late seventies, traditional loden and leather hunting attire were were very much the norm. I still have a Loden cloak from those days that is still a lifesaver on a cold morning in a deer blind. Also, a set of lederstiefelhosen (leather boot pants made in Austria out of red stag hide) always accompany me to hunt in Europe. Sadly - or perhaps not, modern high tech material has largely taken over in Central Europe - to include camo. I have never ever seen the English style of tweed, baggy breeks, and tassels anywhere on the Continent
I do prefer the cut and styling of much of the modern selection to most American options. For instance, I am not at all a fan of Kuiu. New Forest out of the UK has an excellent selection and is more affordable than Harkila, which is considered top of the line by most. https://www.newforestclothing.com/collections/mens https://harkila.com/de-de
You can find some very good deals on Harkila products on eBay.
Bit of an international mix in Austria: Jacket by Harkila (Finland), trousers by New Forest (UK), microfleece by Swedeteam (Sweden), boots by Meindl (Germany), and hat by Duck Camp (US - probably China).
View attachment 778045
And in Hungary - same jacket, trousers, and microfleece, but Dubarry boots (Ireland) that I find infinitely more comfortable than rubber boots, and some ersatz cap.
View attachment 778046
It has changed a great deal. Modern fabrics are standard and camouflage jackets and parkas are quite common. Below is a photo of my PH/Outfitter and a revier holder on whose property we were hunting chamois. The older gentleman, the revier holder, is wearing something close to the styles of fifty years ago, but note the modern synthetic material. Martin has a waterproof synthetic camo jacket/parka.
I can't believe you recognized that cap! Yes, it is the ideal travel hunting hat.
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That's odd. They are showing when I click on them on both my iphone and laptop. Maybe it's the browser you are using?
All of the information provided has been good, especially from those who live across "the pond" , however the USA - "Americans", have had a history of wearing "gentēl" attire. You should try doing a search for vintage hunting attire - CC Filson , LLBean , Orvis, Kevin's, Barbour, etc.... there are others, but those are the brands that are still in business. The trend in the USA has been toward camouflage & synthetic textiles, however if you review Upland Wingshooting, you will find many who still wear traditional hunting attire.
Thanks for the pictures! This is great
I've had a different experience. Trained at a Swedish Army cold weather indoc course a few years ago -- right at the Artic Circle in the dead of winter -- and rubber boots were an absolute lifesaver. During the multi-day field exercise, we were (naturally) in snow almost without ceasing... except when we were practicing an unexpected plunge through ice. But I digress. The trick to success was the layering of several pairs of high quality and very thin & thick wool socks, which wicked away the moisture and kept my feet relatively dry. The others who utilized the traditional military boots suffered in a miserable way and I am so thankful I skipped using the issued US military cold-weather boots.
So I think we are talking to very different things. I should note that I spent three decades banging around the US Army. True artic conditions are very different than hunting in typical cold weather in Europe or North America. I don't pretend to be a artic warfare expert, but the US Army issues very different footwear and clothing for artic conditions than what we class as traditional winter warfare. I do not know what if any US boots were being used in your exercise, but the standard for artic conditions is a vapor barrier rubber boot which sounds similar to the Swedish model.
