Turkey hunting in style

The hunt I've been anticipating for a long time is finally about to happen: Boyfriend and I are going spring turkey hunting this weekend in a Napa County vineyard.

Or to steal a turn of phrase from my friend Phillip at The Hog Blog: We're off to save tomorrow's wine from today's turkeys.

One of the reasons I've been excited about this hunt is I've been waiting to use my cool new spring hunting pants and shirt from Foxy Huntress - the company that does designer hunting clothing in a gorgeous custom camo pattern. But today, the mailman brought me the piece de la resistance: the jacket.

I've been coveting this waterproof jacket since I saw it at the SHOT Show because it has a cool feature: a built in net that zips across the face of the hood. OK, I know I could run down to the neighborhood hunting store and get some sort of face net like everyone else does. But there's something nice about built-in features that match the rest of my outfit. Go ahead and call me a girl. That's fine - I am one.

The other cool thing about this jacket is that the net and the hood can disappear. Coupled with the beautiful print, that means I can wear this jacket to work on rainy days and not look like I'm heading out to kill something.

Here's how the disappearing act works. You start with a normal hooded pullover jacket:

But that front pocket has something handy in it:


Now, when you want to get rid of that hood:


Pretty spiffy, huh?

And there's one other cool thing: The sleeves have plenty of room for layering, but you can cinch 'em up tight too with the built-in Velcro:


Now, let's talk business: The jacket is made of waterproof ripstop, 98 percent cotton and 2 percent Spandex, and it must be hand-washed cold and air dried. Not your ordinary hunting gear. And it retails for $180. I did say designer right? Yep, this ain't Kmart.

Foxy Huntress owner Shelah Zmigrosky tells me the design is so popular that men buy it for themselves too. And isn't that a nice switch - men wearing women's clothes in the field. While the other FH clothes I've tried are cut very much for a woman's figure, this one would actually work on men because it's a jacket meant to be worn over layers, so there's no distinguishable waistline.

There is, however, a horizontal seam across the breast line that emphasizes that part of my figure, so it still looks a bit feminine on me. And no, my boyfriend just tried it on, and that design feature didn't make it look like he had man-boobs.

His only criticism - one that I'd have to agree with - is that he'd like to have a front pocket for hiding (or warming) both hands right about where the net pocket is. The pockets for hands are lower down and closer to the side.

But aside from that, very cool design, and I can't wait to test it out. I don't know how this weekend's hunt will go, but success or failure, I'll have another hunting story here in a few days.

Click here to see other posts about Foxy Huntress.

© Holly A. Heyser 2008

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