[RxBowhunter]

I don't understand how this applies to Gore-Tex boots. A GT liner stop water from soaking inward to get at your feet, yet it allows moisture vapor (sweat vapor, etc.) to pass outward. During hunting season, I could care less if the outside of my boots stay wet, cause the insides are dry. If he is talking about drying the sweat out after a long day, it doesn't matter either. I use a PEET boot dryer and they are always good to go the following morning.

GoreTex breathes but theres no way it can keep up with the sweat produced during long hikes day in and day out. Hunting "way back there" with nothing but goretex boots means you'll have cold, wet boots to put on every morning. I wear gators in the morning to shrug off the heavy dew while hiking to my sunrise spot, remove them after the dew has evaporated.

This year I'll hike in with my goretex hunting boots (less weight to carry) then remove them and hunt with light weight ankle length hikers most of the time. I can alternate between the two to have dry boots in the morning. Can't stand crawling out of the sleeping bag and putting on wet boots when it's 40 degrees!

I've also seen the suggestion to boil rocks, pull the from the pot and put them in your boots overnight to help them dry. I'll try that this year.

 

[RxBowhunter]

Oh yea, make sure you get waterproofed!

ElkNut1

Anymore I only wear my "real" boots about 20% of the time. The rest of the time I'm wearing low-cut water repellent hikers.

Initially I had good results with goretex boots, but during the late 90s and early part of this century they seemed to degrade in performance resulting in a really expensive pair of non-waterproof boots. The newer high-end boots seem to be getting back on par though.

Besides, every Goretex boot has a big hole in it to let water in.

You two know a thing or two about high country elk hunting

My light weight hikers are water resistant and they dry fast

In 2008 I got to a high vantage point for glassing a couple times and removed my boots to allow them to partially dry in the sun for a couple hours. Since they are "real boots" as Bob described, they would only partially dry but they stayed pretty well soaked from the inside out for the whole trip.