Layering Systems

While layering isn’t as essential for bottoms as it is on your upper body (keeping your core warm keeps your extremities warm), you can still use layers to address wild swings in ambient or body temperature, such as hiking up a steep grade with a pack on and then spending hours motionless in a treestand. Several of the hunting pants recommended below are designed to be used in a layering system and wouldn’t make sense as a standalone garment.

Layering isn’t generally of any value when hunting during warmer seasons, but in colder weather or any situation with wild swings, it’s easier to adapt to conditions when you’re wearing layers than it is when you’re wearing a single garment. The downside here is that you will at some point be carrying extra clothing which requires more pack space and some additional weight. With bulky insulated bibs, for example, that space and weight requirement can be fairly substantial, so make sure you need the layers before you commit to them.

Materials

As the saying goes, “cotton kills,” and that’s because cotton absorbs moisture like a sponge and doesn’t dry out quickly. Moisture transfers heat much more readily than air, so wet pants will both pull your body heat off you and draw the outside cold into you. Aside from cotton, there’s no material that you need to avoid at all costs, nor is there any “best” material for every pair of hunting pants.

Most modern technical hunting pants use blends of materials such as nylon, polyester, elastane, spandex, and merino wool. The manufacturers try to balance breathability, durability, stretch, comfort, warmth, and many other factors to create the ideal fabric for each application.