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Do you wear shorts in the woods?


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Saw this picture in an ad, and could not decide which looked wronger.

 

Wearing his gun on the hip belt of his pack, so if he took his pack off he also took his gun off. Or walking through the woods in a pair of shorts.

 

They both just seemed strange to me.

 

Alaska_Hunter_with_Backpack_grande.jpg?v

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Do I wear shorts in the woods? Absolutely.

 

Do my legs get scratched up sometimes? Also absolutely. 

 

Is it quieter dragging skin through thorns compared to dragging fabric through thorns? Also absolutely.

 

When I'm hunting on foot, quiet trumps comfort EVERY TIME. Scratches heal.   

 

When I dropped this pair of hogs at 15 steeps in the thick stuff, the greenbriar was vicious. My legs looked a lot like my arms (but both looked better than the pigs!). 

 

"Ad"

Pig Double.jpg

Dripping.jpg

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Years ago in High School I wore shorts on a hike / camp out. I got scratched up pretty good. The next day I had infected cuts and scratches. Never again. 

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35 minutes ago, Matthew Duncan said:

Flip flops on his feet?

This post has nothing to do with the topic that I started. The young man in this Johnny Carson clip is wearing flip-flops.

 

I'm allowed to sidetrack my own thread, ain't I?

 

 

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I don't even OWN a pair of shorts. OR flip flops for that matter. If I did, I certainly wouldn't wear them in public. I know that this "style" of clothing is pretty much the standard in clothing these days, but I think that it just looks bad. They go well with a mullet or man bun though.:blink:

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1 hour ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I don't even OWN a pair of shorts. OR flip flops for that matter. If I did, I certainly wouldn't wear them in public. I know that this "style" of clothing is pretty much the standard in clothing these days, but I think that it just looks bad. They go well with a mullet or man bun though.:blink:

I agree.  Same here.  Except for swimming shorts when at a pool or beach, I've never worn shorts anywhere--and certainly not in the woods!

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I still backpack a couple times per Summer. I returned to backpacking after a many year hiatus, about 15 years ago. We do mostly one or two-night trips. The gear is always ready and we can go at the spur of the moment.

 

I always wear shorts; cargo shorts. Hiking boots, of course. We hike mostly in the National Forests; wilderness, but with established trails. If I hiked cross-country, off-trail, I'd wear long pants, but I don't do that and don't want to. Shorts are much cooler, which is a big consideration in summer hiking. And just more comfortable. We don't have Lime in the Cascades, and not many bugs. 

 

I pocket carry a Charter Arms .44 Bulldog. Lightweight big bore. Holster carry is way too much trouble with a pack, which has a hip belt and shoulder straps. We don't have grizzlies in the Cascades, so I don't carry a big revolver that would require a holster, such as a chest rig.

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Shorts NOPE.

 

Now for why is holster is where it is. 

 

1.  If he wore his holster on his belt he wouldn't be able to draw his gun without unbuckling the hip belt of the pack first. 

 

2. With the holster on his belt, the gun would wind up behind the hip belt of the pack. This would be very uncomfortable.

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9 minutes ago, DocWard said:

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around "wronger" this early in the morning.

For sure.  That's the wrongest thing I've seen today.

 

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I ruck, as my exercise, at least once a week pretty near  all year round. The Appalachian trail is just too close to pass up.

From May til Oct I wear shorts.  Unless the temp drops to 65 or below in May - Oct. and then it's jeans. Rest of the time it's jeans or khakis. Bugs fear my hairy legs. 

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I do wear shorts regularly, but not in the woods or desert unless in camp and it’s hot weather. And I still wear my boots. 
Now, do I “judge” others for what they wear hiking or camping? No.
I have just had too many bad experiences with pointy sharp plants, poison ivy & poison oak and last but definitely not least, biting spiders and insects. 

 

Funny story, well, funny now. 
I went shore fishing for bass at Lake Norman in North Carolina back in 2005. I planned to fish at Blythe Landing. It’s a well manicured park-like area that has boat ramps and docks. The weather was to be mid-80’s and muggy so I wore shorts and sneakers as I would not be dealing with woods, tall grass or weeds and underbrush. Or so I thought. 
I was casting my usual lures trying to get an idea what would work on bass that day when I remembered I had bought a new Lucky Craft minnow lure. The lure cost me $25. It was scientifically designed to catch bass (fishermen).

I tied my new lure on while talking with the pretty female police officer that worked at the landing on weekends to ensure a police presence there on the weekends due to the antics that may occur at the boat ramps. 
Anyway, I apparently was paying more attention to her than my fishing knot and when I went to cast the lure the lure exited my line at a high rate of speed and went about 40’ into the brambles and weeds that started about 20’ from shore near the edge of the park. 
I decided $25 for a lure was a good reason to wade into this weedy mess to look for it. 
I got the bad-day-wearing-shorts trifecta. 
I got scratched up by brambles. I got poison ivy on my right leg and what the doctor said was a poisonous spider bite, but could not determine what kind, on my left inner calf. 
I did find the lure. 
Over time I never caught a damn thing with that lure and I should have just left it where it landed. 


I definitely wear shorts when gidhing from a boat, though. 

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16 hours ago, Adolph Vancinghand, SASS #28923 said:

 My legs looked a lot like my arms (but both looked better than the pigs!). 

I recognize those scratches.
I got my identical ones from the wife's rose bushes while installing a drip system last month.

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No!!!  :angry:

The reasons?

Bull nettles, chiggers, ticks, barbed wire fences, vines with thorns on them, mosquitoes, poison ivy/oak, grass burrs, mesquite thorns, snakes, scorpions, spiders, rusty nails, around here -sunburn, "beggar's lice"/or some call them "stick-tights" (every try to pull them out of the hair on your leg?), fire ants.

Other than that, I can't think of a reason(s).

 

 

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The only shorts I've worn since Kindergarten are boxers and no one but me ever sees them.  I'm simply not comfortable even thinking about wearing them.

 

I did own two pair of them when I first went in the Army in 1965.  They were official tropical wear for summer suntan uniforms.  Come to think of it I never saw any being worn, either.

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I think a lot depends on where you live and the environment. There are woods I have visited in CA, OR & WA that shorts wouldn’t be a problem. But other places, especially east of the Mississippi there is no way I would wear shorts in the woods. 

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Would also, I believe, depend on your definition of "woods".

 

If you are out on a well-established hiking trail, it has been trumped down by hundreds of hikers, and is 6 or 8 feet wide, that would be almost like wearing shorts on a sidewalk.

 

If, however, you are making your way through the forest primeval, I would want both long sleeves and long pants and boots and a hat.

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I get scratches from a stiff breeze.

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100% for me during our very long nice weather time and employment in the computer industry.  Long pants and tux when formal.  I don’t do heavy brush at all and our hikes are trails free of heavy brush.

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4 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I think a lot depends on where you live and the environment. There are woods I have visited in CA, OR & WA that shorts wouldn’t be a problem. But other places, especially east of the Mississippi there is no way I would wear shorts in the woods. 

 

Right. In the Washington Cascades and other ranges hereabouts there are few noxious insects; in fact, I almost never have had a bug problem in camp in the backcountry Cascades. But we camp mostly along moving water. And basic repellant handles the few mosquitos. No midges, clouds of mosquitos, chiggers, ticks, and the like.

 

And we're on established trails. So to me it's mainly a matter of heat and comfort. We hike in summer. I'm not small. With a 30-35 lb pack I'm in shorts and t-shirt to dump heat if for no other reasons. I pack a long sleeve shirt, sweater, and light nylon long pants if I need them in camp.

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I never pass up a chance to show off my skinny, bruised up legs and knobby knees.  The trails are always crowded with pretty women following closely behind me with cameras.  

My doctor calls my general physique "Popcicle syndrome". 

 

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Seems that Bush Tucker Man wears them everywhere.

 

 

I have watched 2 season's worth of episodes and have yet to see him wearing pants. Even is some very remote territory. But then again he is an Aussie. :P

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 Seems that Bush Tucker Man wears them everywhere.

 

I have watched 2 season's worth of episodes and have yet to see him wearing pants. Even is some very remote territory. But then again he is an Aussie.

 

He did however ALWAYS wear a hat.

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