Then can you let me know how much the budget is good for the dress?
OK..... so I lived in central Minnesota from 9yrs to 22yrs of age. I've experienced cold. On a small farm.
We didn't have heated cabs..... we didn't have cabs.
We didn't have heated water tanks, we unrolled and rolled hundreds of feet of water hose at 35 below.
We weren't "snowmachine outsiders" we worked outside......Working outside means the clothes have to work sweaty and setting both.
And I bowhunted the high country for a number of years wherein we'd stay in for days, even weeks living out of our backpacks. I've tried most things from silk to cotton, fleece to down to Therma-loft to flannel. Basically for many years the budget was WEIGHT, not cost. Spending dollars to save ounces was just a way of life. And staying warm wasn't an option, when you're 18 miles from the truck which is at the end-of-the-end of the last logging path and you're cold and wet from 3 days of rain and your gear is soaked and it snows for one more day before it clears up........ and supposed to get down to zero...... well, it gets real, very very real.
I'm the only person I know who, outside of military training with doctors standing by has actually been incapacitated by hypothermia 3 times.
But I could never afford wool back then. Period, was not an option. Not even a little bit.
And we got dirty, dirty dirty.... and we worried about scent.
So I/we learned to layer.
To layer properly you need a pack. So IMO the single most important clothing item is a pack. My friends backpack actually, literally probably saved my brother's life.
For day hunts a fanny pack will work. To carry clothing. You must be able to put on/take off as needed and once that's accomplished the choice of material becomes less important. I hunted absolutely EXTREME conditions using mainly cotton clothing (deadly according to popular culture) and this can only be accomplished using a real pack. This too is a huge topic but let me just opine that if you're going out for actual days you must spend time choosing the pack.
A super light nylon "windbreaker" and a pair of "wind pants"must be packed into the very bottom of any pack of clothes. You can't hunt in it because you sound like a huge pair of scissors walking thru the woods. But it'll save your life for 6oz weight.
And polar fleece.... WA where I live is The Land Of Polar Fleece. I found it when I moved here. Now I don't travel without it.
My next step was buying better and more watertight clothing and IMO Cabela's Guide Gear line of clothing is the best, the most field-tested and cost-effective line having tried them all. (Actually.... with 30 people I'll call "hunting buddies" even though I haven't been in the woods with some of them..... it ain't "I've tried 'em all" it's a little more than my opinion)
Now, I'm old enough that I'm finally buying some of my "Dream Clothing." I went down and paid $550.00 recently for my absolute first-ever woolen Mackinaw. From Filson. I drove over an hour to this store to buy it outright.
https://www.filson.com/our-company/...m_medium=organic&utm_campaign=store locations
And it felt good but that's another story entirely
Good wool is retarted expensive..... a SHIRT from these guys will run from 75 for a pullover to 350.00+ so unless you get a government job like fireman or outdoor biologist or researcher where they give them out like candy.....Wool is a tough sell.
So, for me, when I was actually HUNTING, i just worked with proper planning and a pack.
Now that my pockets are deeper I have some truly awesome clothing but I'm too peckin' lazy to go spend the energy required to really use it. That said, for the mild daily stuff I do now??? I'm NEVER COLD!!!
I left all that back in my youth.
I swore off cold.
AND..... it must be said. My uncle was a logger and woodsman and his kids inherited 20-30-40 yr-old clothing that looks better now then a normal shirt looks brand new.
