moccasins : quietest footwear in the bush

[vinnie]

Soft sole moccasins are the quietest footwear I've found for running the woods. I've found most prefer the flathead(Salish) pattern. Easy to make in elk(I like double soles). The center seam styles feel odd if you usually wear "normal shoes". Pattern source Craft Manual of North American Indian Footwear by George M White. Happy stalking. Vinnie

[Skyowl's Wife]

I had a pair of moccasins. Unfortunately I wore them in the city. And then it rained.

Think Chammi. I had to crawl off the cement to blacktop, I couldn't stand up.

Take-away: If you wear soft-bottom moccasins, STAY in the woods!

[longhunter]

Love wearing mocs when out in the woods and have worn them for years. They're not so much quieter than shoes on their own, rather they almost force you to walk the way your body was designed to; toes to heel as opposed to heel to toe. Walk heel first in mocs on gravel and tell me how that works for ya! Here's a pic of me in my eastern pucker toe high tops:



Braintan buckskin, sealed with tallow/bees wax, double wool liners.

[JLBIII]

Leatherwork is definitely a skill set everyone should learn to do. Learning how to do it in the comfort of your living room, basement, garage etc. is much more preferable than learning how to when you desperately need it, at least IMO. It's something I learned in the boyscouts and have and still use it today. I've replaced sheaths for knives, guns, all sorts of stuff, I keep all my patterns in my file cabinet and it saves me a lot of time and money. It may not be cost effective on some items where they are plentiful now, but WTSHTF and these items are no longer available I'm dam glad I can make them from scratch.

Joe

[Rucksack Nation]

Very cool! A way to help with dampening the your boots if you don't have your own mocs is to put some large socks over your boots. It doesn't help with the proper stepping, but does eliminate some noise.

[kawika]

well im a bare footer so i think i got the quietest footwear man.

[fivefold]

LOL! The image of you on the street is killin' me. Great wisdom!

I had a pair of moccasins. Unfortunately I wore them in the city. And then it rained.

Think Chammi. I had to crawl off the cement to blacktop, I couldn't stand up.

Take-away: If you wear soft-bottom moccasins, STAY in the woods!

[Tugaloo]

The terrain here is mountainous; although the Appalachians lack sharp peaks, here its valleys are butt sliding steep. Ankle support and traction are required.
In summer, snake boots are common sense.

[Garand]

The terrain here is mountainous; although the Appalachians lack sharp peaks, here its valleys are butt sliding steep. Ankle support and traction are required.
In summer, snake boots are common sense.

agreed, the prairies in most places are flat but rattlers abound.

[Tugaloo]

agreed, the prairies in most places are flat but rattlers abound.

Georgia has a lot of snakes: https://greennature.com/georgia-snakes/

Copperheads are very common here and I've seen two timber rattlesnakes.