Tag: #LOWA

LOWA Hunter GTX® EVO – Extreme Review

Posted on by Jason Houser
  • The 1st Boot Question is always: Are they comfortable?
  • Then, depending on where you plan to hunt: Will the boots keep me warm if it’s cold outdoors?
  • Last, and very important: Are the boots durable, waterproof, and breathable?
The Hunter GTX® EVO Extreme from LOWA is a great boot for fall and winter.

By Jason Houser

There are a lot of things that can make or break a hunt.

Some hunters think of shot placement, the guide service proficiency, weather factors and more.

Many do not take into consideration the boots they are wearing on their hunting feet. The boots can mean everything.

For the past few months, I have been wearing the Hunter GTX® EVO Extreme from LOWA. These boots have been on my feet while Aoudad (Barbary sheep) hunting in Texas, chasing Coyotes in Missouri, Whitetail Deer in Illinois, and a lot of points in between. That’s a lot of footsteps to challenge my comfort.

Usually, I like to break my boots in before leaving the house on a hunt or outdoor excursion. Not doing so is only asking for sore feet and blisters. After trying these boots on for the first time, I felt comfortable enough to wear them hunting the next day going after my first bear ever.

These boots received a lot of use and abuse on a recent black bear hunt, deep in the wilderness of northern Wisconsin. These leather boots proved their weight in gold, as I have covered a lot of miles in them.

So, how do the folks at LOWA explain the Hunter GTX® EVO Extreme boot? “The Hunter GTX Evo Extreme is designed for hunters who are chasing big game in extremely rugged, above-tree-line terrain. With an extra-high shaft for superb ankle support and a high wall rubber rand for protection against abrasion, the EVO Extreme provides outstanding performance, warmth, and comfort in tough fall and winter conditions. It is compatible with strap-on crampons and snow spikes. They are durable, waterproof, and breathable.”

As a hunter, trapper, hiker, and ice fisherman that spends more time outdoors than indoors, I understand the need to be comfortable.

To me, being comfortable begins with your feet. Once my feet get cold, develop blisters or other sores, like most everyone else, I am done. I never experienced any of these problems from the first time I put them on.

Too many boots are built to last a season and be done. I can tell you that I feel comfortable that these EVO Extremes will be around for a few hunting seasons. They are constructed of the best leathers I have seen and the strong soles on the boots are made for tough terrain. And, just in case the soles wear out, LOWA can put new ones on. With minimal seams, there are fewer places for the leather to come apart than what you find on many brands of boots. Lacing up is a breeze with sturdy eyelets and the patented LOWA X-lacing holds the tongue firmly in place.

The hunt finally came to success with a beautiful black bear appeared out of the dense forest. It was a bear that I had watched many times on trail camera photos. The bear leaving the protection and cover of the forest proved to be a fatal mistake.

Lining up the crosshairs of the Sightmark crossbow scope, I settled for a 30-yard shot and squeezed the trigger of the Carbon Express.  With a thud, the bear took a direct hit and died almost instantly.

The author managed to take this nice bear while hunting in Wisconsin this past fall.

A lot of things went into making this hunt a success.  Scouting, quality bear habitat, and a lot of luck, usually are what hunters consider when it comes to being a successful hunter.  But, first and foremost, you need to protect your feet or you will not be on them long enough to get a shot off.

Larry Whiteley offers Christmas Gift recommendations for those who Love the Great Outdoors

Posted on by Larry Whiteley

By Larry Whiteley

Christmas is almost here! If you’re still shopping for a gift for someone who loves to get out and enjoy all kinds of activities in our great outdoors, here are some items that my family and I personally use and highly recommend as Christmas gifts.

GPO BINOCULARS

Binoculars are invaluable for anyone who gets out and enjoys our great outdoors. I don’t go anywhere without them and even have a binocular holder mounted in my truck, so they are handy whenever I need them.

For the past four months, the binocular that has been with me everywhere I go is German Precision Optics (GPO) Passion 10×42 HD binocular. I am very pleased with how clear and easy to focus they are compared to those binoculars I have used that sell for much more.

Best Binoculars Reviews (BBR) awarded them their 2019 Best Binocular. You can read all about that in their extensive review at https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/GPO10x42PassionHD-197.htm.

They also have what they call their Spectacular Lifetime Warranty™ and will take care of their products at no charge to you, ever. They are headquartered in Richmond, VA and you can find out more about all their products by going to www.gpo-usa.com.

LOWA

Another idea is a really good boot that they can use for every kind of outdoor activity. To me, personally, there are none better than LOWA. They have been 100% handcrafted in Europe since 1923 and I am impressed with their quality.

I wear their Renegade GTX® Mid and their Zephyr GTX Hi TF®, and both are by far the most comfortable, lightweight, and durable of any boots I have ever owned and I’ve owned a bunch of boots. They’ve also got a new men’s leather boot called the Nabucco Evo GTX that you might want to check out. It’s a rugged cold weather model that’s great for everyday use, on the hiking trail, camping adventures, and in the woods or fields after a deer or turkey. MSRP on this boot is $260 and that’s a great buy considering the quality you get with LOWA boots. Go to www.lowaboots.com to see their selection of boots for yourself.

While you are on their site, read about their social commitment, how they treat their employees, what they do for the environment and nature protection as well as the non-profit groups they support. If you are like me and finding out what else a company is doing besides manufacturing and selling products is important to you, then you are going to like what you read about LOWA.

HUNTER SAFETY SYSTEMS

If the person on your list is a deer hunter and you want to show them how much you care about them, this is a gift that will make sure they are around to enjoy many more Christmas days for years to come.

Get them a Hunter Safety Systems tree stand harness, which will cost you from $60 to $140 and a Lifeline for every tree stand they have.

The Lifeline starts at $39.95. That is a small price to pay to ensure they come back home after every deer hunt.

Their gift to you then can be a promise that they will always use them when getting into and out of a tree stand.

Go to www.huntersafetysystem.com and order today or stop by your local outdoor retailer, and they will be glad to help you.

CUDDEBACK

Trail cameras are an important tool for every serious hunter. There are hundreds to choose from on the market but we did our research and went with Cuddeback and we are sure glad we did.

We use their CuddeLink system, which is a proprietary wireless mesh network. It allows from 1 to 15 cameras to communicate with each other and transmits images from remote cameras to a home image collection camera. It has been invaluable to us this deer season in helping us to know where deer are moving through and for inventorying bucks. They can also work as a security system around the hunting cabin or house. Go to https://www.cuddeback.com/cuddelink

and learn how it works.

onXmaps

This is the one gift that no matter if you or your friends hunt, fish, hike, camp or anything else outdoors, they can use this and they will love it. It is the most useful app they might ever own. My grandson used it on a couple of our new hunting properties this year and it helped him figure everything out. This app can also be used for a lot more than hunting.

The onX Hunt App is a mapping application to download onto an iPhone, iPad or Android device and this app turns the phone into a handheld GPS unit that works with or without cell service. Their Elite Membership is $99.99 a year and covers the entire nation. It includes access to onX’s proprietary basemaps, property lines, landowner information, GPS Mapping Tools (Waypoints, tracking, line distances, area measures, and more), Wind and Weather, Offline Map capabilities, Sharing capabilities and many additional Layers. You can also get it for one state only at $29.99 a year. They will also get a 7-day free trial and they have a great customer service department that is very helpful.

There’s no way I can tell you about what all onX does in this small amount of space, so go to www.onxmaps.com. If you decide to give onX for Christmas, you can get them a gift card at https://www.onxmaps.com/shop?category=gift-cards.

OUTDOOR EDGE

I would bet that the outdoor enthusiast on your gift list has lots of knives, but if they are like me, they can always use another one and especially one like this.

As outdoor folks, you know this, we are always needing a good sharp knife, and they don’t get much sharper than this one.

Here’s a true story for you from this year’s deer season. I had shot a deer with my crossbow during archery season and was preparing to field dress it. I dug through my pack and found a bone saw but had neglected to make sure my other field dressing knives were in there. As I dug deeper, I found a small Outdoor Edge RazorLite EDC clip pocket knife that truthfully I had never used much. It was as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel and I was able to field dress that deer and another deer during firearms season faster and cleaner than any knife I had ever used. I am now a believer in and have ordered their RazorPro™ Saw Combo that will always be in my pack. Outdoor Edge’s Razor-Lite Series of knives are the sharpest, strongest replacement razor-blade knives available, with safe and easy blade changes at the push of a button. Outdoor Edge has a lot of other great knives and tools and you can browse their entire selection at www.outdooredge.com.

 

HAVE A MERRY OUTDOOR CHRISTMAS!

These BOOTS are made for Walking, “They Give Me HAPPY FEET”

Posted on by Larry Whiteley

These Boots are made for walking - "My Happy Feet!"

  • My hunting boots go to church with Me
  • So comfy, I have to Look Down to see if I have them on
  • Life has changed, I have started singing in the Shower…some Boots!

By Larry Whiteley

The Zephyr GTX TF Hi

I couldn’t begin to count how many different pairs of hiking and hunting boots I have had in my lifetime. Since I have been enjoying the great outdoors for a lot of years, it has to be a bunch though. Most have now gone on to that great boot camp in the sky, passed down to kids and grandkids or donated to clothing banks.

In an effort to cut down on the number of boots I still have I decided to try and find a good boot that would work for all the hiking I still like to do, as well as serve double duty as my deer/turkey hunting boots.

You may not remember the song “These Boots Are Made for Walking” from the 60s by Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy, but it became the #1 song in half the countries in the world.

This article doesn’t have anything to do with that song except that when I started writing, it I kept singing it in my head. You don’t want to hear me singing it out loud that’s for sure. I did sing it in the shower a few times, but that is – as my grandkids say – TMI (too much information).

So anyway, I got online and started doing research on boots and came across a company that I had never heard of called LOWA. They’ve been around a while as they were founded in 1923. I was looking for a boot made in the USA and these were 100% handcrafted in Europe. Always a but, right? But they were really a nice looking boot, so I did more research on them and became really impressed with the quality put into their boots. LOWA supports many non-profit organizations that work to make the outdoors more accessible to everyone, so that was a plus in their favor. They also support the U.S. Biathlon Team, so that was another plus. I also liked the way they treat their suppliers and employees, so they got one more plus for that.

Like the song, the boot I ended up getting is a #1 seller too and is made for walking as well as hiking, hunting and every other outdoor activity you might enjoy. LOWA’s Renegade GTX® Mid has been the company’s best-selling boot for over 20 years.

The Renegade GTX Mid

I have been wearing a pair of these since spring turkey season last year and I do mean almost every day since. They are very comfortable and I absolutely love them. They are the lightest boots I have ever worn weighing at a little over 2 pounds total, plus they give great support, they’re cool in hot weather and warm in cold weather, as well as having a GORE-TEX® lining to keep my feet dry.

My wife heard me going on so much about how I love my LOWA’s, she decided she wanted a pair too. She got the Ladies Renegade GTX® Mid, but of course, in ladies colors. She loves her LOWA’s too, but she refuses to sing the song.

I like mine so well I decided I wanted a pair of LOWA’s in a high top boot and settled on the Zephyr GTX Hi TF® boots, which has all the same great features as my other LOWA boot. They were exactly what I was looking for.

My wife loves her LOWA hiking boots!

They also only weigh a little over 2 pounds per pair, so I have to check sometimes to make sure I have them on. If feet could smile, mine would be every time I put them on. They feel more like I am wearing a tennis shoe than a boot. They’re good looking too and because they are so comfortable I sometimes wear them to church and around town. So I guess I should call them my hiking/hunting/casual wear boots.

I could go on and on about both my LOWA boots and my wife’s, but why don’t you just go to www.lowaboots.com and check them out for yourself. You can order online or find a dealer near you. Your feet will sure be glad you did and if you love being out in the great outdoors, there’s nothing much better than having happy feet.

Hey, that reminds me of the popular movie “Happy Feet” about the dancing penguin. Great! Now I’m going to be going around dancing and singing “These Boots Are Made for Walking.”