Specific Gear
I’ve been asked to elaborate about the gear I took. I can honestly say that thanks to friends and a lot of research, I never got cold on this trip, which amazed me. The only time it was an issue was when I had to go the the bathroom. Sometimes, after zipping and buttoning my pants and bibs, my hands got so cold that I couldn’t get my coat zipper started or zipped up. Ishmael had to zip my coat a few times but not every time. Other than that, I was warm and toasty and had no problems. I took hand warmers and never even used them. My face, even riding the snowmobile at 40 kph, never got cold. My feet were never an issue. Like I said, I was amazed. I want to state upfront that I also have never been a “rep” for gear companies because I just like what I like and don’t want to use products I don’t prefer just because someone wants to pay me. As a guide-outfitter, I do get discounts from some companies but that’s different in my estimation. I don’t use anything just because I get a discount. Here was my system:
Head and Face
In the picture below I placed the items in the order that I put them on from top to bottom.
1. Klim Arctic Balaclava from Up North Sports. This head covering and face shield featuring Windstopper material was the BOMB! It has a large enough deflecting vent for your nose that also allows you to nose breathe or mouth breathe without fogging up your goggles or getting cold. This is key and very important.
2. Turtlefur neck gaiter. This is a double thickness neck gaiter that is awesome. I put it on around my neck after the Klim item above.
3. Carhartt fleece beenie. Probably any decent beenie would work but I happened to already have this one. I used it because the fur hat was a little bit big for my head and it added an extra layer as a bonus.
4. Jublo Light Year white goggles with REACTIV 0-4 High Contrast Lens. I researched a lot of goggles and these turned out to be the perfect choice. They sealed up perfectly and are fog resistant, especially when paired the #1 above. They are expensive but worth it. Great for snowmobiling, downhill skiing, etc…. They come with a semi-rigid protective case for storage or packing that keeps them from getting crushed. Without these and #1 above, you would definitely get face frostbite, like the Inuit guys do. They have permanent dark spots on their facial skin from not wearing a face shield and goggles.
5. Custom made coyote fur hat with fleece liner.
@Altitude sickness has the contact info for the North Dakota trapper that made this for me. Awesome, crazy warm hat that looks cool as hell as well! All the Inuit guys loved it. No need to wear the parka hood or a helmet when you have this and allows more freedom of movement that a hood. Also didn’t interfere with goggles at all and goes on last over the top of everything else.
Hands
I took several gloves and mittens along to see what worked best. The Northern Outfitters mittens are nice but I found them to be too bulky for anything other than sitting still.
I found this combination to work great:
1. Hunt Monkey Men’s Wooly Hunting Gloves - moss color from Midway USA. These are awesome wool gloves with soft but durable grips on the palms. They worked great as a liner glove inside my mittens. I could pull off a mitten and have good dexterity with these on. They are not warm enough for the Arctic by themselves but work for short periods of time when you need the dexterity that mittens don’t offer. You can shoot with them as well. Being wool, they were still warm when damp. I also wore these alone on the snowmobile because the snowmobile had heated grips and hand covers.
2. OR (Outdoor Research) mittens. These are not overly bulky and when used with the gloves above, they were warm enough with decent dexterity and not too bulky. Order them a size bigger than normal to accommodate gloves underneath them.
Feet
This system worked great.
1. Gold Toe above the calf socks from JC Penny’s. You can order these online from JC Penny’s. These are extremely durable and comfortable cotton socks that come up to just below your knee. I wear them every day with my cowboy boots. They wear like iron. I also use them as a liner sock underneath wool socks in all of my various types of hunting boots. A thinner wool sock would also work but my feet don’t sweat so I like these. I like tall socks that don’t slide down when wearing cowboy boots every day so these are ideal for that.
2. Alpaca of Montana heavy wool socks. Alpaca wool is known to be the warmest of all types of wool and these socks are soft and comfortable. The softness can create an issue with durability but I just buy more when they wear out. You don’t necessarily need a liner sock underneath these.
3. Bunny Boot VBX MAX from Alaska Gear Company. These are the modernized version of the old military issue rubber Bunny Boots. These are for extreme Arctic use only. You wouldn’t ever wear them in the Lower 48 except maybe when stand hunting in a blind or tree stand on really cold days. I also bought some Baffin boots to compare. Baffin are not as heavy and many people like them. I chose to take the Bunny Boots for one reason - they are rubber inside as well and so they cannot soak up and freeze inside. If for some reason they got wet inside, you just dump out the water, put on dry socks and you are good to go. You never need to heat them up to dry them out - just wipe them out or dump out the water. You would think that being rubber that they would not be warm but they have thick insulated soles and are very warm. I hate getting cold feet and these were a godsend.
Base Layers
1. & 2. Smartwool base layers. Need I say more? Warm and comfortable even when damp. I like the T-zip uppers so I can vent or cover my lower neck a bit. For warmer hunts, I use Kuiu zip-off base layers because I can remove them without removing any boots but those wouldn’t be warm enough for the Arctic, in my estimation.
Pants & Shirts
1. & 2. Microtex from Cabela’s. I loved Microtex pants but like most great things, some corporate idiot decided to change things up. With these pants, they discontinued the unhemmed pants (had my wife hem them to my exact longer length) and went to an articulated knee with only a standard length. I don’t know if they are even available anymore due to the takeover of the industry by Kuiu and Sitka but I ordered several pairs of the old style many years ago, as I do with everything I really like before it gets changed or discontinued! These pants are somehow cool, warm, comfortable, soft and dry quickly. They also have nice cargo pockets on the thighs. I kept my baby wipes in a ziploc in the cargo pockets so the wipes wouldn’t freeze and I even wore these comfortable pants in my sleeping bag. These pants really excel when worn under my chest waders that I wear in Alaska during brown bear season because they are not bulky. I figured they would be the same under the Northern Outfitter bibs on this Arctic hunt snd I was correct. I would also recommend some wool shirts and pants if you don’t have Microtex.
For Lower 48 hunts, I know wear layered Kuiu gear since Microtex was changed but I keep the old Microtex pants that I have for wearing under my waders in Alaska so that they will last longer.
Coats and Jackets
As I said earlier, I wore the Northern Outfitter bibs and the coat Jay
@Altitude sickness sent me most of the time. I also wore a Northern Outfitter coat on the long snowmobile trips. Underneath these coats, I wore a Columbia fleece zipper jacket for a layer between my shirt and the big coat.
Hope all this helps anyone considering an Arctic hunt. I’m sure there are other good items of gear but I was very happy with what I took. Let me know if you have any questions?
