boots vs shoes

[hhunter23]

so i bought a pair of kenetrek mountain extremes at the beginning of 2014. i hunted them that year and 2015. that's all they lasted till the toe peeled off. they wore way worse than i thought they would. i can resole them for 150$ but if im barely getting 2 seasons out of them is it worth it? im hunting some tough terrain. i put in probably 100 days of scouting/hunting on them in the last two seasons. lots of miles.

so my questions:

are the top end boots worth it? or is it better to go with a mid grade and replace them every other year anyway?

Are the trail shoes worth it? ive been seeing more and more people use the "shoe" type for hunting. and i have to ask myself if that is the way to go.

opinions? thoughts?

maybe there are other boots that hold up better?

has anyone used the scarpa boots that KUIU is selling?

 

[MN Public Hunter]

Did you cal Kenetrek and tell them? Curious what they said.

 

[hhunter23]

i did email them. they said each person will wear boots out different. which makes sense to me. but only two seasons seems too quick to me for being "high-end" boots. i feel im pretty avereage height weight. im 6'1'' and 210lbs.

 

[Carnage2011]

Several of the guys I hunt with and myself have experienced the same thing with kenetreks. I didn't wear mine out completely because they hurt my feet so I quit wearing them, but I have 3 different friends that used to wear them and they were only lasting 2 seasons. We've all switched to different boots now. 3 of us are wearing Crispi's now and 1 is wearing Schnees. This will be my first full year in Crispi's, but the other 2 guys have multiple seasons on theirs and they aren't wearing nearly as quickly. If I was you I would try a different brand and see if you have the same results.

 

[BlakeA]

It all depends on weather. I prefer to wear a lightweight hiker early season and throughout the fall as long as there isn't rain. If it rains and the grass is really damp my hikers get soaked and that gets annoying. I wore Zamberlan guide 960's this year for when the weather was nasty and they were amazing. For dry climate hunting it is hard to beat a hiker that feels like an athletic shoe though IMO. I used both everywhere I went from sage grasslands to the highcountry.

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Trails shoes are OK if you have strong ankles and put a priority on weight/speed. If you have ever sprained an ankle or broken one I would say avoid them otherwise they are an option in certain ways.

A running shoe is typically good for about ~400 miles before there isn't really any cushioning left in them and typically trail running shoes will have a little less life than a midweight trainer because they have less cushion and are subject to harsher conditions. I wouldn't hesitate to says 200-300 miles in the woods would be the expected life for $100-$120 set of trail runners. I'm not sure miles/dollar trail shoes and good boots have a lot different economy.

100 days afield isn't really an unrealistic life cycle for a set of boots when you think about it, there are a lot of guys who get 10 years out of that set of boots only spending 10 days out every year. A point of reference is while I was running 50-70 miles a week I would need new shoes every 6-8 weeks. I once had a rod end on a machine failing every week or so which sounds bad until you realized it was loaded 220 cycles/minute running 24/7 and was getting 3 million cycles before failure. Thinking about miles on a set of boots vs years owned is a lot better metric.

Everyone has a different foot and wears out a shoe differently, that's why a decent running store tells you to bring your old shoes in.

 

[Chucknduck]

I work with guys that wear kenetreks for their work boots. We work outside in the country. They usually get 2-3 years out of them. 200-250 days a year. I bought a pair this year and after changing insoles they are so comfortable that I might start wearing them for work. If I do that I will rebuild them till I can longer lace them up. My feet love them so the price is not much of an issue to me.