Filson: "Might as well have the best." That tag-line is damn accurate. Filson tin cloth is like Rhino-hide, or Kevlar. Big nasty briars are turned away like 15 years olds at a Go-Go bar. I have a Filson Field Coat that has protected me from the elements as well as prickers, briars and falling shot for years.
The hat pictured above is likewise featured on my mis-shaped melon in the field shot in the last post. I love this hat for waterfowl hunting. Too bad Filson is not making it in Wetlands Camo anymore.
I found this particular hat by accident. Two Summers ago when we were in the Adirondacks, my wife blew a tire on our Suburban. I took the rig to the Tire shop in Saranac Lake for a repair. The guys at the garage said they would have the job done in an hour. So I had some time to kill and wandered over to Blue Line Sports. This Main street shop is an all-purpose small town sporting goods store with lots of hiking and camping gear as well as hockey equipment and fly fishing possibles. As I poked around this retro emporium, I noticed a Filson display stand. Hanging on this "kiosk" were several vests and shirts...but wait..there on the top shelf was Filson "Jones" style or "wild fowl" tin cloth cap. This was an XL...and in the sought after but now apparently unavailable Wetlands Camo pattern.
I nearly careened into a display of fly rods rushing to grab this hat lest some other degenerate waterfowler notice it, buy it, and deprive me of a coveted classic. Since there were only about 6 other people in the store, 2 of them infants, my haste and worry was needless. I bought the stylish and high functioning cap on the spot for an exorbinant price....for indeed..."might as well have the best."
This style of cap has been called "Elmer Fudd-esque" by some.To those critics I say: "Piss off." This hat really is a great alternative to the ball-cap style. First, it sports a small brim so it does not knock askew against the side of blinds when turning one's head scanning low for birds, and the brim does not catch air and fly off when piloting the boat out thru the marsh. The best feature is the thick-as-Hell wool lining and the "tin cloth" exterior. It is warm and impervious to rain, snow and anything else falling from the sky. If weather really gets ugly one can unroll the hat and enjoy the additional protection of the side flaps and face guard.
I was recently in the Smyrna Sporting Goods shop in Delaware buying shells. That joint is like a crack-house for hard-core duck and goose hunters. One fellow patron actually offered to buy my treasured Filson lid...declined.
Sunday I take my son to the Club for duck and goose hunting on Monday since his school is closed for M.L.K. day. Here's hoping for locked up ducks coming into the spread and geese dropping into the field at 25 yards.
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