For starters, both for legal and practical reasons here in the East, a hunting vest has to be largely, and ideally entirely, blaze orange. I know this causes scorn in some parts but the legal and practical merge here, where the woods are often thick and dark and it's quite possible to get shot because you're on the wrong side of some brush where a game animal has appeared, never mind if you were to step into sight in front of some guy who's all keyed up for the deer he thinks he's heard approaching and you're all dressed in earthy brown.
Colour aside, I like a thin vest in just one layer of fabric exclusive of pockets. It can be bloody hot here in September and even October and I'm already going to be wearing a long sleeve shirt against the thorns and bugs, I don't need or want one of the handsome insulated vests you see everywhere. And in addition to that, call me paranoid, but I can think of circumstances* where I might want to unblaze myself and disappear, peeling off a vest I can stuff in a pocket is my ideal (although reversible vests are a second choice). The other thing is that being a gear nut, I have quite a full range of outdoor clothing and I can easily tailor my outer shell for warmth or waterproofness and anything but a simple thin vest is just going to be a hindrance.
My ideal vest does have pockets- ideally flap covered shell holders too. I like an unfastened flap covered but open pocket on each side for quick access to some loose shells, maybe trail tape too if I'm going into a swampy area there might be only one way out of. I also have a fair sized washer with a length of orange tape tied to it. If more than one bird, grouse or woodcock, is sighted, I toss this down where the first one shot has fallen so I can find it again as I go after another- the blasted things can visually disappear from a foot away if you don't know exactly where they are, I once spent half an hour to find a dead woodcock in a plot of dead grass maybe 4 metres across (I don't hunt with a dog because the local dog experts tell me pointing dogs just don't work here, the birds won't hold for them). A plus-perfect vest also has a big game pocket. My hunting coats both do, but as I stated I might only want to wear a long sleeve shirt if it's too warm out.
I've only found one such vest in my whole career, bought it for about $20 at the CTC back in the early 80s. It's been mislaid during moves or left behind on occasion and I have others, but the CTC one is perfect... but for the fact that it has big brown corduroy patches sewn on each shoulder, almost rendering it illegal for hunting here if the CO was to get out a calculator & tape measure and work out the total frontal area of orange. I could remove the patches, it's true, and they're useless for absorbing recoil, but I'm afraid the seams might never be the same. Maybe this year I'll take the unused one off to see what happens, not that I'm all worked up about it.
So, orange, pocketable, neutral warmth, not waterproof but not water absorbent either, front shell holders, front pockets and a big game pocket on the back, and I didn't mention it must be made from a reasonably silent fabric that won't 'screech' when branches and berry canes are brushing across it. And I've found only one such in all the years I've been hunting and prowling sporting goods stores, covering more decades that I care to say actually.
* like my teen and preteen years when I might have been guilty of trespass while hunting.
Colour aside, I like a thin vest in just one layer of fabric exclusive of pockets. It can be bloody hot here in September and even October and I'm already going to be wearing a long sleeve shirt against the thorns and bugs, I don't need or want one of the handsome insulated vests you see everywhere. And in addition to that, call me paranoid, but I can think of circumstances* where I might want to unblaze myself and disappear, peeling off a vest I can stuff in a pocket is my ideal (although reversible vests are a second choice). The other thing is that being a gear nut, I have quite a full range of outdoor clothing and I can easily tailor my outer shell for warmth or waterproofness and anything but a simple thin vest is just going to be a hindrance.
My ideal vest does have pockets- ideally flap covered shell holders too. I like an unfastened flap covered but open pocket on each side for quick access to some loose shells, maybe trail tape too if I'm going into a swampy area there might be only one way out of. I also have a fair sized washer with a length of orange tape tied to it. If more than one bird, grouse or woodcock, is sighted, I toss this down where the first one shot has fallen so I can find it again as I go after another- the blasted things can visually disappear from a foot away if you don't know exactly where they are, I once spent half an hour to find a dead woodcock in a plot of dead grass maybe 4 metres across (I don't hunt with a dog because the local dog experts tell me pointing dogs just don't work here, the birds won't hold for them). A plus-perfect vest also has a big game pocket. My hunting coats both do, but as I stated I might only want to wear a long sleeve shirt if it's too warm out.
I've only found one such vest in my whole career, bought it for about $20 at the CTC back in the early 80s. It's been mislaid during moves or left behind on occasion and I have others, but the CTC one is perfect... but for the fact that it has big brown corduroy patches sewn on each shoulder, almost rendering it illegal for hunting here if the CO was to get out a calculator & tape measure and work out the total frontal area of orange. I could remove the patches, it's true, and they're useless for absorbing recoil, but I'm afraid the seams might never be the same. Maybe this year I'll take the unused one off to see what happens, not that I'm all worked up about it.
So, orange, pocketable, neutral warmth, not waterproof but not water absorbent either, front shell holders, front pockets and a big game pocket on the back, and I didn't mention it must be made from a reasonably silent fabric that won't 'screech' when branches and berry canes are brushing across it. And I've found only one such in all the years I've been hunting and prowling sporting goods stores, covering more decades that I care to say actually.
* like my teen and preteen years when I might have been guilty of trespass while hunting.
