Upland Game Gear
I have introduced a good number of people to upland game hunting. Those who are serious ask about the clothing I am wearing and usually end up getting the same gear I wear.
The most important piece of clothing is a good pair of upland pants. Upland hunting means bashing through blackberry and gorse so without a good pair of pants you will get cut to ribbons. Pants need to be at least 600 denier, or gorse and blackberry will go through them.
In recent seasons I have been using Cabela’s Roughneck Upland Jeans, which are the best upland pants I have worn. The facings are 1000 denier, but they are very soft and comfortable to wear compared to older upland pants. Get the brown not the blue ones, as the brown can be used for waterfowl hunting as well as upland.
When I first started wearing an orange vest a number of people mocked me the first time they hunted with me. This changed rapidly when they realised how visible I was in Blaze Orange, and most who are serious about hunting ended up buying a blaze vest.
This season I am using Cabela’s Men’s Upland Traditions Vest as they discontinued my old favourite, the Classic II upland vest which was all Blaze. The Upland Traditions vest has some extra pockets and hand warmer pockets behind the bellows pockets so it is an improvement on the Classic II but it doesn’t come in all Blaze which is disappointing.
Vests are very handy for carrying shells, licenses, calls, cameras and car keys. They are also much quicker to reload from than a shell belt. A good vest has blood proof game bags in it, which makes carrying harvested birds much easier.
Upland hunting, even in very cold weather, usually makes me sweat a fair bit so I want a shirt that doesn’t end up holding all the sweat. A good upland shirt should also provide some protection from gorse and blackberry. I usually buy a couple of Cabela’s shooting shirts every season and use them in rotation. There is always one or two in the back of my D-Max, and often one or two in the wash or drying out.
The shirt is not as important as the vest or the pants, and any shirt that takes sweat away from the body will do.
Gloves and beanies help on cold days, and fit conveniently in a vest.