With Ashley Holm
Somewhere along the way, hunting got really good-looking.
Matching camo. Perfectly coordinated packs. $300 jackets. $200 pants. Boots that cost more than the shotgun some of us started with. Add a bird dog, a nice shotgun and a sunrise photo, and congratulations, you officially look like you know what you’re doing.
But do you?
Let’s talk about something that probably won’t make us popular with every outdoor brand out there: you do not need expensive gear to be a good hunter.
We love gear at Lady Outdoor Lifestyles. Seriously. Give us a new pair of hunting pants to test and we’ll happily disappear into the woods and come back with opinions. Good gear can make you warmer, drier, more comfortable and sometimes considerably less miserable.
But there’s a difference between appreciating good gear and convincing people they need it before they’re allowed to participate.
And women seem to get hit particularly hard with that message.
If you’re new to hunting and your first exposure to it comes through social media, it would be pretty easy to think you need an entire new wardrobe before you ever step into the field. The women you see online have matching camo, expensive boots, beautiful shotguns and packs filled with gear you don’t even understand yet.
Suddenly, getting started feels like a $2,000 shopping trip.
It doesn’t have to be.
Plenty of incredible hunters started in borrowed jackets, oversized men’s camo and whatever boots were sitting by the door. Some of us still have pieces of hunting gear that are objectively terrible but refuse to die and at this point, we’re emotionally attached.
Your deer does not care what brand your jacket is. The pheasant certainly isn’t checking whether your pants came from this year’s collection. And that turkey gobbling on the other side of the ridge has absolutely no idea how much you paid for your base layers.
What matters is whether your gear works for the conditions you’re putting it through.
That doesn’t mean expensive hunting clothes are a scam. Far from it. There are premium brands making incredibly technical clothing, and sometimes you really do get what you pay for. Better fabrics, better waterproofing, quieter materials, stronger seams, smarter pocket placement and clothing designed specifically around movement in the field can make a noticeable difference.
There are hunts where technical gear is absolutely worth the investment.
There are also hunts where an old pair of pants and a $40 jacket will work just fine.
Knowing the difference comes with experience.
That’s the part we don’t talk about enough.
Instead of telling new hunters what they need to buy, maybe we should spend more time teaching them what they need to know.
Learn how to layer. Learn how quickly weather can change. Learn which materials hold moisture and which dry quickly. Learn why cotton can become a terrible choice in cold, wet conditions. Learn where you personally get cold first. Figure out whether you actually need waterproof pants or whether you’re about to sweat yourself to death wearing them.
Then start buying gear based on the problems you actually have.
Because the woman hunting quail in South Texas does not need the same wardrobe as the woman chasing elk through Colorado in November. The upland hunter walking eight miles behind a dog has completely different needs from someone sitting motionless in a deer stand for four hours.
There is no perfect hunting outfit.
There’s only the gear that works for the hunt you’re doing.
And while we’re at it, can we stop judging other women by what they show up wearing?
If she arrives in a $1,000 technical layering system, great.
If she arrives wearing her husband’s old camo jacket because that’s what she has, great.
If she's wearing the same pair of hunting pants she's owned since 2009 and there's duct tape involved, honestly, we respect the commitment.
We say we want more women outdoors. If that's true, we can't simultaneously make them feel like there's a financial dress code at the door.
At Lady Outdoor Lifestyles, we're going to keep reviewing it all. We're going to keep testing new gear, finding products we love and telling you when something isn't worth the money.
But we're also going to keep saying this:
Gear should make your hunt better. It shouldn't be the reason you think you aren't ready to hunt.
Buy the good stuff when you want it. Invest in quality where it matters. Upgrade as you learn what works for your body and the way you hunt.
But don't wait until your closet looks like Instagram before you get outside.
Throw on what you've got and just go.
