Many outdoorsmen (myself included) didn't like the new version as they made it more difficult to feel what you were walking on and it was harder to walk quietly in the woods with them.
So they returned to the old style Maine Hunting Shoe for hunters.
We had about 16, maybe 17 inches of snow, too much for the Subarus to handle, so I dug 700-feet of toe path from the house – past the duck pen – to our cars parked by the road.
It was a good excuse to grease the 16-inch Maine Hunting Shoes, relace them, and test their performance. I am usually pretty hard on boots, but these have stood up to four decades of snow use.
They would have long worn-away under dry-land conditions. On the plus side Hunting Shoes are incredibly light, feeling more like a sneaker than a work boot. Today's version has a steel shank, which I think is absent in my old version. In heavy deep snow that lessened weight made a big difference in fighting fatigue. They were and are still made in Maine. Bean claims their boots are rebuildable. On the negative side they provide no arch or ankle support, although the added steel arch may have improved this issue. If you like the feel of a moccasin, then these are the snow boots for you. If you require added foot support, do heavy work in snow, or have steep terrain to traverse then White's Thinsulate-insulated Hunter is a durable, albeit heavy beast of a snow boot alternative. They are handmade in Washington State. White's are rebuildable too, which usually takes a couple months and the service isn't cheap. I have been wearing White's since high school, and found them well worth the added expense especially if you have bum foot issues to boot!
