Schnee’s Powder Horn Outfitters Pre-Season Hunting Event

Hunting season is almost here in Montana and Schnee’s & Schnee’s Powder Horn Outfitters have everything that you need to prepare for success this season.  Visit us online or stop by our Bozeman retail stores to get setup with the finest in outdoor footwear, clothing, gear and accessories.

Beginning Thursday August 25^th, Schnee’s Powder Horn Outfitters in historic downtown Bozeman will be kicking off a 4-Day Pre-Hunting Season Event. The excitement starts Thursday night with a fun filled evening of elk calling with World Champion elk caller and TV Personality Chad Schearer. Chad will be passing along his knowledge and time-honed skills in-store from 6:30-8 PM for this family friendly event. Chad will be sharing tips and fist hand experience to help make calling a more successful part of your hunt, you do not want to miss this event! During this event Schnee’s will be offering some exclusive in-store specials on all of their premium outdoor footwear with plenty of Schnee’s expert boot-fitters on hand to answer questions and properly fit you into your next hunting boot!

Chad Schearer with a Montana Mule Deer

Aside from being a licensed Montana Outfitter & Guide, multi-award winning elk caller and hosting his popular television show Shoot Straight with Chad Schearer with his family on The Sportsman’s Channel, Chad is also a highly sought after outdoor speaker and lecturer. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to learn from the best during this exclusive workshop brought to you by Chad Schearer and Schnee’s.

On Friday and Saturday, Sitka Gear Tech Rep Ron Thomas will be in-store to answer questions and offer his extensive hunting clothing product knowledge. Sitka Gear is the leading innovator in technical outdoor hunting apparel and gear and all of their fine products are available in-store and online at www.schnees.com. Saturday will also bring local Bozemanite Mark Matheny (founder of UDAP) to the Powder Horn to talk with customers about Bear Safety and answer questions about UDAP’s full-line of Pepper Power defense sprays.

Don’t miss this exciting 4-day event! Stop by and visit us at the Powder Horn for exclusive in-store specials, prize drawings and more! We hope to see you there!

Planning the Game with Sitka Athletes Mark Seacat and Jeff Simpson

When the talk turns to hunting whitetails, Montana is probably not the first state that comes to mind for prime whitetail habitat or notable whitetail hunters. Although Montana does boast large numbers of whitetail deer and some incredible habitat to hunt them, the state is definitely more known for the excellent elk and mule deer hunting.

 Tune in below to watch noted Montana elk hunter and Sitka Athlete Mark Seacat pickup a few pointers from whitetail authority and TV Personality Jeff Simpson. Jeff and Mark will be teaming up this fall on some exciting whitetail hunts!

 

Be sure to visit us as www.schnees.com and check out all of the best clothing, footwear and gear to help make your whitetail season a comfortable and successful one. The latest whitetail inspired clothing from Sitka in the all-new GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest is moving fast as is the incredible selection of women’s camouflage from Prois. Schnee’s also carries the finest hunting boots available to keep you warm and comfortable during those long sits in the stand or box-blind.

GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest: The Science of Nothing

Sitka Mountain Gear and W.L. Gore & Associates have teamed up again to expand the Sitka Gear clothing lineup as well as introduce a brand new camouflage pattern designed primarily for the tree stand hunter. New for this year, Sitka has introduced three lines of clothing designed with the serious Whitetail Deer hunter in mind and available exclusively in the new GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest pattern.  The Stratus, Downpour and Incinerator Series of big game hunting coats and pants are designed to help keep you comfortable and in the stand longer regardless of what Mother Nature throws your way. Sitka will also offer the new OPTIFADE™ Forest pattern in other popular Sitka series such as the Core and 90% line.  

GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest utilizes technology similar to the tried and true OPTIFADE™ Big Game Open Country but focuses more on micro-patterning to increase the effectiveness of the camouflage pattern at closer distances. The technology behind this pattern helps to disrupt the shape of the human body in vertical applications as well as blend in with the forest canopy above helping you to literally disappear within your surroundings. Watch the video below to learn more about how the technology and design of this pattern works!

Sitka has taken this new pattern and matched it with a line-up of clothing designed to maximize comfort and concealment in the woods.  By utilizing technical fabrics such as GORE-TEX® and GORE® WINDSTOPPER® and combining them with premium insulating materials like 100% Natural Goose Down and PrimaLoft®, Sitka Gear’s new line will keep you in the stand hunting comfortably in virtually any conditions. All of the outwear pieces in the Stratus, Downpour and Incinerator series also feature a lightly brushed exterior fabric to reduce noise.

To learn more about the Sitka Mountain Gear and GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest and to see all of the great new items, visit us at www.schnees.com or call us at 1-800-922-1562 and place your order today!

Schnee’s Brings You The Best in Hunting Footwear and Apparel For 2010!

With the fall hunting season approaching fast, Schnee’s has what you need to get prepared for the upcoming season. Whether you are looking for a new hunting jacket or the best hunting boots available, Schnee’s has all of the greatest new clothing and equipment available from Sitka, Prois, Schnee’s, Badlands and more!

Whitetail hunters need to check out the new line of clothing and accessories by Sitka Gear designed specifically with the treestand hunter in mind. Featuring the all new GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest pattern and consisting of the Stratus, Downpour and Incinerator Series, Sitka has optimized this new line for the savvy stand hunter. Sitka has also extended the new Forest camouflage pattern to many of their existing items including the Core and Traverse base layers, ascent packs and the ever popular Sitka 90% Jacket and Pant.

Elk hunters should really enjoy Sitka’s newly redesigned Jetstream Hunting Jacket. This jacket utilizes GORE™ WINDSTOPPER® soft shell technology for those windy days hiking and glassing in the high country and for 2010 Sitka has added pit zips for increased breathability as well as a hood for additional protection from the elements. Combine the Sitka Jetstream Jacket with the Jetstream Beanie and Gloves, Sitka Ascent pants and the Sitka Flash 32 pack and you are just about ready to hit the mountains in search of that trophy, but don’t forget about your footwear!

Sitka Jetstream Jacket

Tough terrain, heavy packs and long days afield require quality, supportive footwear. Schnee’s has just introduced the new Montana Mountain Boot™ series built specifically with the serious hunter in mind. Consisting of the Granite™, Beartooth™ and Wilderness™ models, this may just be the best collection of elk hunting boots ever made! Crafted in Italy, these boots feature eVent® breathable membranes for 100% waterproof protection. Full-length heavy duty midsoles combined with extra-thick premium leather uppers work together to provide the highest level of support and comfort in difficult terrain.

Schnee's Granite Boot

Schnee’s is also proud to offer a great selection of clothing and accessories for all of the women hunters out there as well. Women who are tired of settling for the baggy, generic fit associated with wearing men’s hunting clothes will be ecstatic when they discover Prois hunting apparel for women. This great collection of quality women’s hunting clothing is designed, cut and built to perform for women by women!

Badlands Packs has added a ladies pack option this year as well with the Kali Pack. This 2500 cubic inch pack has plenty of room for a day on the mountain and features contoured shoulder straps and hip belt for a comfortable fit for women as well as excellent weight distribution.

Badlands Kali Pack

Sitka Gear GORE® OPTIFADE™ Concealment Big Game Forest Now Available!

New for 2010, Sitka Mountain Gear has expanded their lineup to include a new camouflage pattern as well as many new clothing items designed primarily for the tree stand hunter.  

Sitka Stratus Jacket

 GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest utilizes technology similar to the tried and true OPTIFADE™ Big Game Open Country but focuses more on micro-patterning to increase the effectiveness of the camouflage pattern at closer distances. The technology behind this pattern helps to disrupt the shape of the human body as well as blend in with the forest canopy above helping you to literally disappear within your surroundings.

Sitka Bandit Face Mask

 Sitka has taken this new pattern and matched it with a line-up of clothing designed to maximize comfort and concealment in the woods.  By utilizing technical fabrics such as GORE-TEX® and GORE® WINDSTOPPER® and combining them with premium insulating materials like 100% Natural Goose Down and PrimaLoft®, Sitka Gear’s new line will keep you in the stand hunting comfortably in virtually any conditions. All of the outwear pieces also feature a lightly brushed exterior fabric to reduce noise.

Sitka Ascent 8 Waist Pack

 To learn more about the Sitka Mountain Gear and GORE® OPTIFADE™ Big Game Forest and to see all of the great new items, visit us at www.schnees.com or call us at 1-800-922-1562 and place your order today!

Sitka Gear Incinerator Suit

Here’s some information on the new Sitka Incinerator Suit, a piece designed for stationary hunting in very cold weather.

Archery Elk Hunt- Jason Matzinger

Here’s a photo of the great bull Jason Matzinger got during his archery elk  hunt just outside Bozeman, Montana a few days ago. Jason & Jon Edwards host Powder Horn Montana television – and this fair chase, spot and stalk hunt was caught on video and will be showcased soon on the show. Archery elk hunting is one of the greatest sports in the world. Be sure to watch Powder Horn Montana TV on the Sportsman Channel to see other  big game hunts, archery elk hunting tips, great videos of bull elk, and more. This Sunday’s episode is a new one featuring Jon & Jason’s goat hunting trip in British Columbia!

Jason Matzinger's Bull

Fall 2009 Hunting Catalog in Homes Now

The Fall 2009 Hunting Catalog has been printed and mailed out. If you haven’t received a copy yet, please visit Schnees.com and request one. You can also download or view the PDF version here.

We’re proud to introduce a new apparel line in this catalog. Coats, jackets, shirts, pants- all with the same workmanship you’ve come to expect from our popular line of Schnee’s Pac Boots. We have worn and tested this apparel and have made changes to pockets, buttons, stitching, fit and feel, collars, material… the process has been a lengthy one but the end result is a clothing line that we feel meets the same standards of exceptional materials, workmanship, and functional design that exists in our Pac Boots.

The Fenceline Jacket (on the left) is just one example from the clothing line. This is the jacket that appeared on the back cover of Big Sky Journal prior to the catalog mailing and resulted in a lot of phone calls to our customer service department asking when the jacket would be available.

Nearly all the individuals you see in the catalog work at Schnee’s, at Schnee’s Powder Horn Outfitters, are members of the Powder Horn Pro Staff, work on the Powder Horn Montana television show, or are regular customers of ours who’ve volunteered to be a part of the catalog.

So to make a long story short: check out the new catalog or visit Schnees.com. Lots of great new product!

Taos Pueblo Sheep Hunt

by Brendan Burns, Schnee’s Powder Horn Outfitters Pro Staff

I’ll give you a little background on this hunt.  The Taos Pueblo Indian Reservation is located in Northern New Mexico.  Each year the tribe auctions off two Bighorn ram permits at the FNAWS banquet.   These tags are a top revenue producer for the Taos pueblo’s well-run game and fish department, and helps fund some of their wildlife management endeavors.   Over the years this hunt has produced many top end Boone and Crockett bighorns including the state record (198) in 2005.  With a reputation for great age class and score this is the best sheep hunt in New Mexico.

I was invited to go along in this hunt by the Taos Pueblo Warchief and his staff, Outfitter Jon Barker, and head guide Willie Hettinger.  The lucky winner of the tag at the Wild Sheep show was hunter Greg Strait.

I knew the hunt was going to be a difficult one (most sheep hunts are), but two hours into the mountains it was clear this was going to be harder than I expected.    I was prepared for deep snow, cold temps, and long days of glassing. What I wasn’t expecting was the amount of timber where we were looking for rams.  I have never grid searched so much timber in all of my life.  Over the course of seven days I only saw sheep one time in what would be considered typical sheep habitat. The rest were in heavy cover.

Can you see a ram in this photo? Me either!

The elevation where we were hunting was from 8,700 to 12,000 feet, and most days we were getting 2 to 6 inches of snow.  Our tent camp was at about 9,000 feet, five miles up a large drainage.   Snow depth varied from 6 inches to 8 feet.  Virtually the whole hunt we were either in crampons or snowshoes.

Willie Hettinger thinking about putting on snowshoes. Just about deep enough!

 

Early morning snowshoeing

Standard gear for the hunt- Crampons, Schnee's Sheephunter boots, Sitka Optifade gear, and Mystery Ranch Pack.

Standard gear for the hunt- Crampons, Schnee’s Sheephunter boots, Sitka Optifade gear, and Mystery Ranch Pack.

The target ram on this hunt Jon and Willie had a long history with.   Nicknamed “Chip” four years ago after they watched him bust out a large piece of his left horn, Jon and Willie had pursued him unsuccessfully with four separate hunters.  If he was still alive, they both estimated him to now be 11 1/2 years old, and score in the 188-190 range, which could make him quite possibly the largest ram alive in New Mexico (NM has not produced a ram scoring over 185 since 2005).

Over the first couple of days we were able to locate 23 different rams ranging up to the high 170 class.

A few of the other rams we found through the spotting scope:

After burning our corneas out for three days looking at snow and timber we caught a break and I got a glimpse of a big ram going over a ridge at 11k feet.  The next morning Willie hiked up to a vantage point and positively identified “Chip”. The hunt was on.

Several days spent in this position

"Chip" through the scope

"Chip" through the scope

I will spare you the blow-by-blow details of the hunt, but it culminated three days later at over 10k feet, with Greg making a fantastic 455-yard cross canyon shot on “Chip”.  He turned out to be all that we expected, scoring 188 3/8 inches at 11 1/2 years old.  His third quarter measurements are 11 inches.  He will be in the top ten rams ever killed in New Mexico.

Hunter Greg Straight & Outfitter Jon Barker with “Chip”

Brendan, Greg, Willie

 

Hard not to smile with a massive old ram and great scenery. It doesn't get any better than this.

 

Taos Pueblo Warchief and staff with hunter Greg Straight

 Now for a little on the gear we used.  I wore one set of Sitka Optifade for the entire seven days in the mountains (90% pant, core shirt, core underwear, vest, stormfront jacket, gloves, beanie, etc).  I had planned on getting out to the trailhead at least once for a fresh set of clothes, but it didn’t work out that way.  Aside from some fresh socks that I packed in, I hunted and slept in the same clothes for 7 days strait.  No problem.  Everything kept me dry and warm the whole time.  I am continually amazed at how fast Sitka Gear apparel dries out.

Pack cover or jacket… no water or wind is getting through.

Spyder Bull Event

Spyder Bull

The World Record “Spyder Bull” Elk is on display now at the Powder Horn from May 29-31. We’re very excited to have this event at the store and have a lot of special things planned during the three days.

Doyle Moss and the Mossback Pro Staff team will be on-site Saturday, May 30th to demonstrate elk bugling & give clinics and helpful advice.

Sitka Gear representatives will also be on-site. We will be displaying the Sitka Gear OPTIFADE camouflage system.

Powder Horn Pro Staff Brendan Burns & Jason Matzinger will also be on-site during the Spyder Bull event.

Accordingly, we plan to give away a lot of great merchandise during this one-of-a-kind event and provide food and drink. Here’s a sampling of the merchandise we’re going to give away to lucky customers:

• SITKA OPTIFADE CAMOUFLAGE outfit consisting of the Ascent Jacket, Ascent Pant, and the Zip T will be given away to one lucky customer
• SITKA OPTIFADE Flash 20 pack will be given away
• BADLANDS Monster Fanny Pack will be given away
• NIKON 10×42 Monarch binoculars will be given away
• A pair of Schnee’s Bozeman boots will be given away
• Additionally, lots of SITKA caps, Schnee’s Powder Horn Montana caps, and MOSSBERG DVDs will be given away throughout the duration of the event.

We’ve also brought in some Springfield Arms XD pistols and plenty of boxes of all sizes of ammunition for this event so there will be lots to look at and purchase.

We’ll be debuting the Schnee’s Powder Horn “bargain basement” on Friday– sale merchandise will be moved down to the bargain basement area permanently and reduced a further 20% … There will be some great deals! We’re really excited to debut this bargain basement area and plan to make it a very permanent, very special area where you can find great merchandise at tremendously reduced prices. Some of the brands we will have in the bargain basement beginning Friday include equipment and apparel from:

• Drake
• Filson
• Schaefer
• Sitka Gear
• Schnee’s
• Merrel
• Danner
• Columbia
• SmartWool
• Royal Robbins