Brush pants

[WildWill]

Have a hunt in west Texas next month and I've been told by multiple sources everything out there either pokes, pricks, or stings you. My main pant I like for active hunts like this are my First Lite obsidian merino but they're not the toughest and would probably get shredded. So I'm in the market for some brush pants as I'm not much of a upland hunter I've never had a pair. One problem I'm running into is a lot of the upland brush pants seem to be made for cold weather. The daily high's will be somewhere between 60-80 degrees likely so they need to be breathable and preferably a lighter material yet still tough. I'm usually a First Lite fan boy but my friend owns the sawbuck brush pants and I've seen their performance or should I say lack of first hand. You'd have thought the outside was made of velcro the way everything stuck to them. Currently looking at the Duluth firehose briar pants or the Orvis Missouri breaks field pants. Worried the Orvis are to light and will get torn up quick and that the Duluth's are to heavy and will be to hot. Any others I should be considering?

 

[OntarioHunter]

I tried a pair of Noble Outdoors stretch canvas work pants two years ago. The price was right. Just bought three more pairs at North 40 in Havre, MT. They are great! I am an upland hunting junkie (6 weeks every fall every day) and I hunt Africa too. The thorns in South Africa will blow the doors off anything you'll encounter in Texas. These pants are tough yet light and they're mega comfortable. Besides the slight stretchiness, other features I like are deep pockets, very thick belt loops, and handy cell phone pocket on left leg just below the pants pocket. Inseam is a little short so go with next size longer. They come in several colors. I have olive drab (slightly gray) and khaki. Carhart is crap. Won't last a year. Dickies canvas carpenter pants work well too (very cheap at Walmart) and hold up good. Extremely deep pockets and waist size does run narrow so try them on first. They make them in olive drab but sometimes hard to find. Wrangler ATG is CRAP. Too light and don't last. After less than a year they are frayed at the pockets and hems. Rarely wore them in the field. Seems the washing machine did it. I hate their low cut waist! You are right to avoid the fancy upland pants. Too heavy, too bulky, and mostly unnecessary. And very much overpriced. For decades I wore nothing but olive drab Wrangler jeans but they stopped making them in green. A little bit light for thorny country but they seemed to hold up fairly well in Russian olive and wild roses. Noble and Dickies are the ticket now.

Good luck. You don't have to spend a lot to get tough comfortable hunting duds. Too often spending a lot of $$$ buys you nothing but crap with a fancy label on it that falls apart fast.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Don't forget safety glasses in thorny country! Somehow a Russian olive branch made it around my prescription glasses last week and scratched the cornea in right eye. It will heal up. Not the first time. Mostly annoying. It sure could have been worse!

 

[WildWill]

I tried a pair of Noble Outdoors stretch canvas work pants two years ago. The price was right. Just bought three more pairs at North 40 in Havre, MT. They are great! I am an upland hunting junkie (6 weeks every fall every day) and I hunt Africa too. The thorns in South Africa will blow the doors off anything you'll encounter in Texas. These pants are tough yet light and they're mega comfortable. Besides the slight stretchiness, other features I like are deep pockets, very thick belt loops, and handy cell phone pocket on left leg just below the pants pocket. Inseam is a little short so go with next size longer. They come in several colors. I have olive drab (slightly gray) and khaki. Carhart is crap. Won't last a year. Dickies canvas carpenter pants work well too (very cheap at Walmart) and hold up good. Extremely deep pockets and waist size does run narrow so try them on first. They make them in olive drab but sometimes hard to find. Wrangler ATG is CRAP. Too light and don't last. After less than a year they are frayed at the pockets and hems. Rarely wore them in the field. Seems the washing machine did it. I hate their low cut waist! You are right to avoid the fancy upland pants. Too heavy, too bulky, and mostly unnecessary. And very much overpriced. For decades I wore nothing but olive drab Wrangler jeans but they stopped making them in green. A little bit light for thorny country but they seemed to hold up fairly well in Russian olive and wild roses. Nobel and Dickies are the ticket now.

Good luck. You don't have to spend a lot to get tough comfortable hunting duds. Too often spending a lot of $$$ buys you nothing but crap with a fancy label on it that falls apart fast.

You are probably right I have a tendency to over think things. I've got a pile of wrangler rigs workwear pants I wear for work that are tough as nails and under $40. I know you don't have to have the high end stuff (I used cheap stuff and hand me downs most of my life) and understand the most expensive isn't necessarily the best. But I'm also a big believer in "buy once or cry once". Now that me and my family are financially comfortable and there's plenty of disposable income I'm able to upgrade my gear. I've bought high end gear that was game changing and worth every penny and I've also bought some expensive crap that couldn't perform half as well as a similar item that was a quarter the price. I've found doing my research ahead of time can avoid some of the crap. If I do get a higher end pair I might wear them a couple days and my work pants a couple do a head to head challenge to see if the extra $ is worth it. Thanks for the insight and I plan on bringing my sunglasses.

 

[ammo]

All the guys I hunt with (including the guides) swear by Cabelas Instincts for walking fields in Sodak. I use my Prois brush pants all year - for bird hunting, trail work, ranch shenanigans. They are great. Tough as nails is important but brush pants are designed to allow for breathability and movement as well. I definitely don't regret purchasing a nice pair a few years ago.

 

[DRS]

I've been wearing the Dickies work pants during deer season for several years. They work pretty well in our green briar and blackberry briar thickets here in eastern NC. however, they are not that quiet and you're not going to sneak up on anything in them. I've also have a pair of Walls brush pant overalls that I use when rabbit hunting. they work really well but they might be too hot for what you need.

 

[MTLabrador]

I got a pair of first lite sawbuck brush pants this year. I really like them, kind of like technical carhartts.

 

[PorterHouse]

For what you’re doing and with the weather you describe, I’d look at the 5.11 TacLite pants.

I have a couple pairs that I work in / hunt in at our place in South Texas, so they see plenty of cactus and mesquite thorns. Very durable pants. Much cheaper than all the dedicated “hunting brand” offerings.

They’re seriously a great warm weather pant.