4 Factors to Consider When Buying a Hunting Vest

A well-fitting, full-featured hunting vest is the American upland hunter’s best friend.

Why? Because it is the one piece of gear that ties the rest of your field kit together.

Think about it, your hunting vest offers protection from the weather, a place to store spare shells and tools, and—depending on the color and style—can help keep you hidden from your prey or visible to other hunters. It does it all.

But buying clothing for the field, particular a vest, can be challenging, in part because you can’t really test it before you buy it. It might seem like a great deal in the shop, but you won’t really know how water resistant or effective it really is until you wear in in a downpour. And it might fit great at first, but maybe not after you layer your favorite sweater underneath it.

It happens. We all have the old, well-loved jacket or vest in our closet, the one that fits perfectly and performs like a champ but might have seen better days. Maybe its Gore-Tex lining has worn through and it is no longer water resistant. Maybe you snagged one of its oversized pockets on a branch, tearing a hole and rendering it useless. Whatever the reason, it’s the piece of gear that always worked, and now it isn’t working anymore.

But it hangs around because, try as you might, you just can’t find a replacement that fits or performs as well. For me, the ratio is about three to one: it takes three attempts to find a workable replacement for every old piece of gear. As a result, it’s a crowded gear closet in my house.

But you don’t have to shop in a vacuum. There are ways to improve the odds that your new gear will do what you need it to do on the first try. Here are five things to consider when buying a new hunting vest for your upland adventures.

Water Resistance

Should you shoot for waterproof gear or not? A hunter’s vest is, literally, their first line of defense from the elements in the field. That said, a vest is best suited for mild weather in the fall and spring, so it doesn’t necessarily need to be a 100% waterproof layer of protection to be useful. In my experience, as long as it is robust enough to shake off a light mist or morning dew, it’s enough for me. Chances are, if the weather gets really wet, you will probably change into full rain gear anyway, so extreme water resistance doesn’t necessarily need to be a deal breaker for a vest. (Jackets are a different story, fyi.)

Color

Hunting vests are generally available in a range of colors, including everything from full camo to blaze orange, and all the combinations in between. Which one to choose generally comes down to personal preference, as well as the rest of the gear you’ll be wearing out in the field. Some hunters like to maximize the blaze orange when hunting in order to be as visible as possible to other hunters, while others prefer to go camo with their clothing and rely on touches of blaze (such as a hat). Today’s variety of vest colors fit every style.

Fit

Obviously this also comes down to personal preference, but a good rule of thumb is to buy a vest that’s a little larger than you think you might need. Not only will this keep the vest from being restrictive in the field, but it will ensure that it’s comfortable over additional layers of clothing. The beauty of the hunting vest vs. the full jacket is this versatility that allows it to adapt to variable weather patterns, exactly what you expect to find out there in the fall hunting season.

A note on fit, though. Although a loose fitting vest is good for comfort and layer ability, be careful not to go so big that the vest becomes a hindrance to your hunting. You want it to move with your body without being restricting. If your vest twists around your core every time you swing your shotgun, it isn’t doing anything to improve your experience and will likely end up just getting in the way.

Features

The sky’s the limit these days when it comes to special features and storage options on hunting vests. From spare ammo compartments, to gear loops, to shooting patches, it’s often just a question of how much you want to your vest to do when sorting through the options. In truth, though, a hunting vest only really needs to do two things: provide some protection from the elements and keep your important items close at hand. As long as your vest accomplishes these functions, all of the extras—from hidden pockets, built-in carabineers—are just a bonus.

What do you think? What do you look for when shopping for a new hunting vest, and what do you consider to be “deal-breaker” features?