Brown Bear and Moose Hunt
Gear and Equipment

Boots are your single most important piece of gear. Without your feet in good condition, you can not effectively hunt. Wear your boots, hike in them, and use them prior to your hunt (this does not mean walking around the yard). Poorly fitting boots will at best make you miserable and at worst completely ruin your hunt. There is no “best boot” – everyone’s foot is different. The below boots have always given me consistently good results. Try them and wear them!

Foot Wear

(only the best boots)

  • Waders: I recommend gortex style waist high waders such as: Simms G3 Guide Pant or Simms Freestone Pant, or Caddis Breathable Stockingfoot Waist High waders
  • Wading Boots: Simms G3 wading boot
  • Wool Socks: I recommend at least 8 pairs of the highest quality sock such as Darn Tough or Smart Wool
  • Crocks or other camp shoes

Base Layer

  • Light weight Merino Wool Top (2 pair): Sitka Merino Core Lightweight Half-Zip or Kuiu Ultra Merino 145 Weight Zip-T
  • Light weight Merino Wool Bottoms (2 pair): Sitka Merino Core Lightweight Bottom or Kuiu Ultra Merino 145 zip off bottom

Mid Layer

  • Mid Weight Shirt (1): Sitka Traverse ¼ zip, Barneys Nunivak or Wooly Mammoth ¼ zip, or Kuiu Peleton200 zip-t hoodie

Pants

  • Soft Shell Pants (1 pair): Outdoor Research Cirque Pant, Sitka Timberline Pant, Kuiu Guide Pant, Stone Glacier De Havilland Pant
  • Wader Pants (1-2 pair): Simms ExStream Core Bottom or REI Teton Fleece Bottom

Insulation Layer

(jacket, parka, pant. I prefer Synthetic Insulation for Moose and Bear hunts)

  • Light weight puffy jacket (1): This should weigh about a pound and be highly compressible. This is your most used layer: Sitka Kelvin Lite Hoody or Kuiu Super Down Ultra Hooded Jacket
  • Super warm puffy parka (1): should weigh no more than 2 pounds & be highly compressible: Barney’s Brooks Range Jacket Best), Kifaru Lost Parka, Sitka Kelvin Down WS Hoody, Kuiu Super Down Pro Hoody, Stone Glacier Grumman Jacket
  • Light Weight Puffy Pant (1 Pair): Kuiu Super Down Pant, Sitka Kelvin Lite Pant, Stone Glacier Grumman Pant, Kifaru Lost Pant, Barneys Brooks Range Pant

Pack

Only High-Quality Packs!

  • Barney’s Pinnacle Pack is the best. Another great option is the Stone Glacier Sky Talus 6900 or 3300.

*Any pack you bring MUST BE at least 3300 cubic inches

Rain Gear

  • Warm hat and ball cap
  • Head lamp (2): Fenix HP25R
  • Fleece Gloves (2 Pair): Sitka Jetstream Glove, Outdoor Research Mens Gripper Glove
  • Waterproof Rubber Crabbing gloves (2 pair): Atlas Glove 490 or Atlas Glove 460
  • Head net, bug dope, sunscreen, camera, extra batteries

Sleeping

  • Light weight down sleeping bag rated between 0 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Should weigh between 2 and 3.5 pounds and be backpack style: Kuiu Super Down Sleeping Bag 0 or 15 Degree, Western Mountaineering Antelope MF 5 degrees, Stone Glacier Chilkoot 0 degrees
  • Light weight sleeping pad: Thermarest NeoAir A XLite is the only way to go
  • Minimum of 3 good lightweight compression stuff sacks: Sea to Summit Ultra Sil Compression Dry sack

Rifle, Ammunition & Optics

  • Caliber: 300 Win Mag., 300 WBY Mag, 338 Win Mag, 340 WBY Mag, 375 H&H, 375 Ruger
  • Rifle: Quality stainless synthetic rifles such as Sako, Kimber Montana, or Winchester M70.
  • Rifle Scope: I recommend high quality optics such as Leupold VX3 2.5-8.5 x 33mm or VX6 1-6 x 24. Scopes capable of low zoom power are critical. No high zoom scopes!
  • Binoculars: Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss – 10×42 are best. Use the best quality optics
  • Bullet type: NO TARGET BULLETS!! Use only high-quality hunting bullets! I prefer Barnes TSX or TTSX by far. Swift A-Frame, Nosler Partition is also good