As I came to FULL draw, the doe took that last step which put her in the perfect just-past broadside position which I wanted. I had been tracking her progress since I noticed her approaching my "borrowed" lock-on stand, and she had meandered directly toward me as if on a string, and walked within 4 steps of the base of the tree I was in. I made the llaaasstt slight adjustment to my positioning, whereupon the top nock of my recurve barely slid over the fletching of my back-up arrow which protruded from my backpack. You no doubt know how minor that sound can be in certain situations, yet how LOUD in others. You prolly also know how deer can turn themselves inside-out as they become recent history rather than a current event at such times. Somehow in the course of 2 weeks of bowhunting I managed to misplace (i.e.--lose) both of my second-chance arrow holders which I screw into the tree to hold extra arrows. Anyhow, in hunting for some quiet raingear, I checked out several brands & varieties of jackets and pants and almost all of the waterproof ones were Noisy! I ended up buying some made by Gamehide. That was the only brand I could find that was really quiet. Does anyone know of any other quiet waterproof clothing? Course, I'm a disciple of Gee Fred, but many times wool is too heavy for hunting in Arkansas....
I feel your pain. When I was kid I dropped an aluminum arrow out of a pen oak tree while I was Drawing on a good buck hit every limb (chink,chink,chink) you get the point.
I always take my fingernail and scratch on hunting clothes before I buy them to see how loud they will be.
I am a tight wad so I thought about just using cheap rain gear over one layer of light clothes and then putting on my camo over top of that
It's not really considered rain gear, but Gray Wolf Woolens Wolfskin fabric does repel light rain very well and is very quiet. I've taken to using it instead of rain gear. If it's raining too hard to wear the Wolfskin, for me at least, it's raining too hard to hunt. I will sometimes carry a regular rain jacket in my pack in case of a real downpour.
Rivers West lightweight rain gear is pretty quiet. Keep in mind that it's likely raining when you wear rain gear and the sound of the rain on leaves/ground, etc. covers a lot of sounds you might make. Of course, no rain gear is as quiet as wool. I only pull out the raingear when it's raining and/or blowing really hard and under those conditions there's plenty of other noise in the woods to muffle any sound the rain gear might make. Good luck in finding something that suits you.
WOOL!!!!!
Hi, Rev Buck here -- new member, old bowhunter, fellow Arkansan. I guess it's cold enough for wool down here now eh!
Blessings,
Rev
Another vote for wool. KOM and SI both have light shirt/jackets for the environment your talking about.
Add my vote for wool. Warm when wet or dry and quiet as anything. Kind of traditional too, when you get right down to it.