Irish Setter MudTrek Boots Make It Easy To Hunt The Mucky Regions
Irish Setter MudTrek boots are well named. When I hunt remote regions of the Northeast, I’m usually on the move, not hunting from a stand. Much of the terrain is mountainous and difficult with rocks and blowdowns to navigate. But some of the areas where the big deer hide are thick and swampy. That calls for special footwear if I don’t want to spend most of my day with cold, wet feet.
Irish Setter MudTrek Boots A Good Solution
The problem with many “mud boots” is that they either simply aren’t warm enough or they leave your feet too sweaty. And many of them are too heavy and clunky to wear when you have miles to cover. I’ve been testing a pair of the new-this-year Irish Setter MudTrek boots and so far they’ve been outstanding.
Irish Setter boots are made by Red Wing Shoes. The MudTrek is the lightest of the rubber boots ever offered by the company. There are several models. The ones I have are their 4854 style, which are 17 inches tall and provide warmth with their 1,200 grams of PrimaLoft insulation. PrimaLoft is made of 90 percent recycled fibers made from plastic bottles. It stands up to repeated compression, so it’s durable. It’s treated to be permanently water repellent.
In addition, the boots have what Irish Setter calls ThermalBoost, an insulating barrier in areas of the boot such as the toe box, beneath the insole and in the footbed.
To keep the feet from becoming too sweaty, the boots feature TempSens technology that reacts to your body temperature.
When you’re hot, it vaporizes moisture and vents the heat. When you’re cold, they constrict to retain heat.
I’m no expert on the science behind these boots. All I know is that they kept my feet warm, dry and comfortable all day and my feet never got sweaty.
Needed The Tall Tops Of These MudTrek Boots
These MudTrek have a Mossy Oak Break-Up Country Camouflage exterior. This is a versatile camo pattern that helps you to blend in to areas from flooded timber to deeps woods with barks, branches and leaves all part of the pattern.
For me, the pattern of the camo wasn’t as important as the height of the boot.
I was skirting a beaver pond early one day and had to cross a small stream. It looked to be only about three inches deep, no problem for rubber boots, right?
Well, the bottom of the stream wasn’t solid and I instantly found my 17-inch boots in about 16 ¾ inches of mud.
Had it been any deeper, I probably would have cut my day’s hunt short and headed back to camp early.
Full Or Athletic Fit Styles Available
The boots consist of a vulcanized rubber lower and a 5mm neoprene upper. You can get them with either a Full Fit with a wider leg and ankle opening for easier on and off or in Athletic Fit, which are slimmer for greater mobility. They have an arctic fleece lining and a removable polyurethane footbed. The company’s ScentBan treatment is purported to kill bacteria to keep odors down. The suggested retail price for these boots is $209.99. I’m happy with mine so far. They enable me to hunt mucky areas without hesitation, knowing I can travel miles in comfort, no matter how wet the ground. For more information on the Irish Setter MudTrek boots, go to www.IrishSetterBoots.com.
Steven Paul Barlow is a retired sergeant/station commander and former firearms instructor with the New York State Police. He is an avid hunter, fisherman, and enthusiast with all things related to firearms, knives, and survival. He has been writing on outdoor topics for more than 35 years. His collections of outdoor humor stories are available at BriarHill Books.