Kuiu and Sitka clothing systems

I’m looking to invest in a more versatile big game clothing system so I don’t have to truck around a giant duffel bag of clothes with me on every hunting trip to cover changing weather conditions.

The problem I’m trying to solve is deer hunting back in the last century used to be a “winter” activity for me, with snow on the ground, temps in the low teens, etc. Now it has become a lot more varied with temps ranging from the teens to even up to the 40-50 degree range. Rain is now more common than snow during the MN firearms season. Also, there’s now a complete difference between what’s wearable on the stand in the morning and then what’s comfortable for still hunting, glassing fields/edges, and then evening stands where it’s now a lot warmer on average than it used to be.

I’d like to get down to a system. I’m good with base layers, so my system should include:
1. Mid layer insulation that can be worn on its own or under a shell for more warmth and wind/rain protection.
2. Waterproof shell for stand alone use or as extra layer.
3. Pants are a difficult one because it’s hard to get everything from one pair. At different times I need heavy insulation and then at other times I need light, flexible for still hunting and move/spot glassing.

I’ve been looking at Sitka, but I’m finding some of their clothes kind of odd. For example, I like everything about the Fanatic jacket EXCEPT for the totally weird diagonal zipper. I think this would make it difficult to wear this under a waterproof shell or for higher exertion times because it would be tough to ventilate with the screwball zipper arrangement.

Also Sitka jackets to me seem to tend to be really heavy or really light. The Stratus looks too light to be an on-stand jacket for the average MN morning/evening stand, but the Incinerator looks too heavy. Sitka is expensive stuff, so adding lots of piecs for specific conditions defeats the purpose of having a system.

Kuiu caught my attention and I think, at least, that it might be a better option. This company was founded by one of the founders of Sitka, so it’s a similar modern approach to hunting clothing.

I like the idea of combining a Kenai jacket as a light but very warm insulation layer with a waterproof Teton shell that can be worn on its own as well.

Problem with Kuiu is it’s hard to find anyone who actually owns this stuff and can give feedback. Since they are sold only online, there is no option to try it on without ordering up a whole bunch of stuff and dealing with the hassle of sending back what I don’t like.

I also am not wild about the camo patterns. They have Verde and Vias. Verde, to me at least, might be too green for most MN fall/winter/early spring deer and turkey. Vias, on the other hand, looks great for the high-mountain bighorn and goat crew, but is it too white/gray for MN where we need more light browns, dead grass, and timber colors? IMO Realtree AP has a pretty good mix for north central MN.

I would love to hear feedback from guys that own either brand and system? What do you like, don’t like, would like to change, etc? Happy to hear about other options as well.

Grouse

Grouse,

I have had my Sitka deer hunting gear for about 7 years. They don’t make the line anymore. It was their cold weather option for hunting at the time. I have the jacket, insulated under jacket and bibs. I hunt from a stand and wear Smart Wool underneath, that is it. Warmth to weight ratio is incredible. I bought a Winetrgreen (Paul Shurke out of Ely made it) anorak shell, no insulation, in blaze orange that I wear over it (I hunt with a rifle.) I get bored before I get cold with this gear.

I also own Sitka Coldfront pants I use for ice fishing and a Stormfront Sitka jacket for fishing in the rain in the summer Both are completely waterproof and the Coldfront pants, although only slightly thicker than a pair of jeans, are, with long johns, as warm as you need in Minnesota outside on the ice.

I think the sewing quality on the Sitka clothes I own is okay, not great. I think the material they use is more than fit for the purpose except I have some issues with the zippers (they tend to be undersized). The best thing about all of it is that it is incredibly light for the warmth.

I had King of the Mountain wool prior to this gear and while it was warm, it was heavy. And if it got wet, it got really heavy. You would get tired walking any distance in it and then start to sweat, you know what happens next.

In my opinion, Sitka gear is like all of the top of the line gear, over-priced. But if you want something twice as good as the average gear, you pay five times the price. This holds true, in my experience, whether you are buying rods, reels, hunting clothing, boats, or cars. I don’t think you would be disappointed with Sitka unless you are looking for a bargain.

Spalj wrote:

Grouse,

In my opinion, Sitka gear is like all of the top of the line gear, over-priced. But if you want something twice as good as the average gear, you pay five times the price. This holds true, in my experience, whether you are buying rods, reels, hunting clothing, boats, or cars. I don’t think you would be disappointed with Sitka unless you are looking for a bargain.

Man is that part true. I’m sure with Sitka there is also a premium just for the label.

The constant changeover in styles also makes it difficult to get info on how well this stuff holds up because they change models ever 2-3 years, so most of what guys bought 5+ years ago is no longer in the lineup.

Kuiu LOOKS like more what I’m after, but as I said, that’s the whole issue with Kuiu is you basically have to buy on looks alone. Granted the prices are better than Sitka because of this buy-direct, but the gear has to be good and that’s what I’m having issues getting feedback about.

I’m not really interested in wool (outer garments) for the reasons you mentioned. True cold weather wool is just way too heavy for what I’m looking for. I want lightweight and waterproof, not resistant.

Would love to hear about other system options guys are using.

Grouse

I have a few Sitka pieces and have seen some specific KUIU clothes as well. Kuiu doesn’t seem like something that would be great for whitetail hunting around here, except for early season. Most of the KUIU stuff that has high amounts of insulation are the down products that would be too loud. They seem to me more geared to either warmer hunts or where you are actively moving most of the time. (i.e. not treestand hunting) The Sitka stuff is really high quality in my opinion. Is it worth it, hard to say. However I picked up a First Lite Sanctuary Jacket last year on a closeout sale and I give it pretty high marks. Dead quiet even below 0. They came out with the matching bibs for this year, but didn’t need new bibs, but saw they announced some new stuff recently. First Lite stuff is pretty nice, and a little cheaper than Sitka. There stuff is a little more simplified as far as features, which keeps the price down, but I’d say it isn’t as good as Sitka but a pretty good alternative. With that said, I’m saving up for some more of the mid-weight Sikta gear like the fanatic or fanatic lite for late Oct/early Nov.

I own the Guide pants and jacket from Kuiu as well as their mid level merino wool base layers. Love the stuff. Fit and comfort is great. I have not tried any of their warmer gear yet but I am sure I will in time. When I lived in ND, I used the gear in the badlands chasing mulies. We saw temps from 25 – 50 and I was comfortable in it all. The built in vents in the jacket and pants were great on the move and adding another layer under my coat for glassing was warm enough for me. Now that I live here in MN I use it for early/mid season bow hunting. My gear is all in their verde camo and I think it works fine. The overly green color works great early and it breaks you up enough with a backdrop that I don’t worry much about it in the “browner” months. To your point about returns, I did have to exchange a pair of pants once and return a hat and they were great to work with. All in all, if you go Kuiu, I firmly believe that you will not be disappointed.

I have almost the entire systems from Kuiu and Core4Element. I love both. I own much of the First Lite system too. As far as systems go, Kuiu, Core4Element, Firstlite, Kryptek, and Predator all have good lines. I originally bought my Core4Element for going out west. It is now my everyday hunting clothes. The layering system is awesome and I am happy with the fit and finish. I am switching to Kuiu simply because I could not get the Core4element in Mountain Mimcry camo anymore. My decision to go with the Kuiu system over Firstlite, Kryptek, and Predator was simply personal preference. Now, after picking up a handful of the Firstlite line, I would put them on the same platform as Kuiu. I actually prefer their Fusion camo pattern and highly suggest anyone to go with their Allegheny bottoms over Kuiu’s zip 210 bottoms. The zip off idea is great but they are too tight on your legs and difficult to keep up if you don’t have a butt. I am a huge fan of down so the super down pants and jacket are a deal maker for me. Kuiu’s snap shirt is really nice too. I may pick up another in solid color for an everyday jacket. I only have 2 items from the Teton line but the entire line will do the trick for 80% of hunters. The Teton pants fit just as nice as the Attack. I can tell difference between the 2 way stretch vs the 4 way of the attack but if you never try the attack, you’ll never know. Polyester layering shirts are fine for short hunts under 3 days. If you plan on hunting longer than 3 days in the same shirt, go with merino. If you are looking for rain gear, I still prefer my Core4Element. Kuiu is too loud for me.

FYI… Kuiu usually has an Easter Sale. You have to be quick or everything will sell out. My advise to you is add things to your wishlist and save it. Plus add everything you want in your cart the day before but don’t close the browser. The minute the sale hits, checkout.

I would like to revive this old thread as I’m considering an upgrade to my hunting wardrobe and found this while searching for ideas.

What I’m look for… MN deer season (blaze orange) and spring turkey (camo). Both can bring wide temperatures. I have cheaply limped my way through these seasons for years with minimal investment as I struggle to justify the large expense for clothing that I only wear a handful of times each year. My current situation is large, heavy and bulky. I’m getting old enough to dread walking and climbing stands in that stuff.

You guys were talking about Sitka and Kuiu in this thread. The lines are always changing names, so may not be relevant.

Grouse, did you buy a new system that you recommend? Anyone have a good solution for putting a blaze orange cover over a good camo layer? That would get me double the use of the clothing.

Thanks

fishingchallenged wrote:

Grouse, did you buy a new system that you recommend? Anyone have a good solution for putting a blaze orange cover over a good camo layer? That would get me double the use of the clothing.

Sorry, just saw this.

Update on what I’ve done.

I ordered a bunch of Kuiu clothing back in 2016. Long story short, it sucked. The fit was all over the map. The Guide DCS jacket was skin tight, where the layers that were supposed to fit under it were too bulky. Pants were skin tight. It was like the outerwear was all a size too small, except that the arm length was right. I didn’t want to spend a huge wad of cash on shipping and then returns of the stuff that didn’t fit so I just gave up. Also, I don’t want sleeves that hang down to my knees, so just going XL on everything wasn’t an option.

But Kuiu may have fixed this problem. Back in Feb 2020, I was at the Safari Club International show in Reno and Kuiu had a booth. I tried several items and the fit seemed true to size. There were lots of complaints about fit back in 2016-17, so Kuiu must have figured things out.

In the meantime, here’s what I settled on.

All my blaze orange clothing got nixed. I’m not buying any more new blaze orange, I only buy camo.

Before the Basspro merger, in 2017, I bought several pieces of Cabelas Instinct line of clothing. I got the light jacket, the parka with Goretex, and the mid-weight pants. Not sure of the exact names or if this line is still available now that Basspro has wrecked Cabelas. I kept my heavyweight camo bibs from a past setup.

The last item was a blaze orange big game vest, again from Cabelas. This goes over whatever layers I’m wearing that day for during the firearms season when blaze is required.

This system seems to work pretty well because now I don’t have to try to find the right outer layer limiting myself only to what comes in orange. Also, all my hunting gear stays in the vest, calls, ammo, etc.

So I feel like I’ve got a better setup, but it’s still difficult to find all the layer pieces in the right weights. Probably the biggest overall improvement is in just using the blaze vest and then I can get anything that works regardless of brand.

Grouse

fishingchallenged wrote:

I would like to revive this old thread as I’m considering an upgrade to my hunting wardrobe and found this while searching for ideas.

What I’m look for… MN deer season (blaze orange) and spring turkey (camo). Both can bring wide temperatures. I have cheaply limped my way through these seasons for years with minimal investment as I struggle to justify the large expense for clothing that I only wear a handful of times each year. My current situation is large, heavy and bulky. I’m getting old enough to dread walking and climbing stands in that stuff.

You guys were talking about Sitka and Kuiu in this thread. The lines are always changing names, so may not be relevant.

Grouse, did you buy a new system that you recommend? Anyone have a good solution for putting a blaze orange cover over a good camo layer? That would get me double the use of the clothing.

Thanks

Buy the clothing with the technical aspects you want, then wear a $5 orange vest over it. You won’t find much if any blaze orange offered as a color from a lot of the high end technical big game clothing companies like Kuiu, First lite, Sitka, etc.

Kuiu has more of an athletic fit. That being said I love my kuiu gear. It was designed to be light weight and high quality. Also as warm as needed, just have to get the right pieces of clothing. Kuiu is geared more towards people who are an athletic fit.

Thanks for the feedback. Confirms what I have been thinking. Quit buying blaze orange clothing that only gets used a handful of times a year.

Don’t rule out Firstlite clothing, as I feel they are close to the same range as these other brands. Slightly different when comparing all 3 but they all are in about the same price range.

Friends who can give personal advice, write to direct!

I think Sitka is king, especially for the whitetail hunter. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything negative about it aside from the price tag. But unless you spend a ton of time in the field, I can’t see how the average Joe/Jane can justify that expense, but it seems there’s a lot of people out there that have a lot of disposable income, so props to them!

First Lite is decent. I own a few of their merino base layers, and I almost went all in on them, but after breaking it all down and adding up all the pieces I would need (all seasons), it put me in the Ridiculous range of cost (over $2K). Considering my hunting time available to me, it just wasn’t close to justifiable. I follow a FL buy/sell page on FB (good place to buy used for cheaper prices) and see a lot of complaints about their stuff regarding durability issues. For the price, a lot of pieces wear out quick. Also not the best warranty service either from what I have read. They may fix it, they may not. I know I won’t be buying anymore of their stuff. Proceed with caution!

These days, I’m all about budget options and throwing on whatever I can to keep me warm. But also buying sensible clothing that works for what you need it to do, but not designer brand name stuff. Lot’s of good base layers for half the price of these hipster-hunting brands.

I did just spend the money on an IWOM, which is a bit pricy, but compared to most half-way decent parka and bibs from Cabela’s it’s in the same ball park. And it’s made in the USA! It can be used both for archery and firearms with a blaze vest and hat and keeps ya toasty warm with minimal base layers. Tough to don in a small deer stand though so it has it’s limitations.

For early/mid-season bow hunting I bought a leafy suit that I can just throw over whatever I’m wearing and be in camo. Works great!

Considering the hunting we do in MN/WI, piece-meal practical clothing is sufficient. But if you have the $$$$, I’d go all in on Sitka, hands down!

After many years of just wearing whatever camo & blaze orange clothing for hunting, over the last couple years I have slowly been buying Sitka gear. I wore the Fanatic jacket this year for gun hunting and I was impressed. It doesn’t get much better than that for stand hunting in the cold. It is ultra quiet and has pockets strategically placed. Only down fall to that piece is that it is not totally water proof, and its not pack-able, its like rolling up a sleeping bag.

I deer hunt from Sept to Dec in MN I have an older Scent Blocker suit for midseason that I have had for years but the zipper on the jacket is starting to wear out so time to start upgrading. I decided on the Sitka whitetail line starting out with the Stratus jacket and bibs to replace my Scent Blocker suit. I really like the fit and feel of this set and how well thought out this system is for the whitetail hunter. I will slowly add pieces to this as I can afford them. For the late season I have a Cabela’s Whitetail suit in Realtree that is still in great shape and keeps me very warm. A few of negatives that I do not like about it is, one there is no Safety Harness Pass-Through Port so if I wear my safety harness under the jacket I can not wear the hood. Second the side zippers on the bibs only go up half way making it difficult sometimes to get them over my boots. Lastly it is somewhat bulky so I feel like the Pillsbury doe boy but in the end like I said it does keep me warm.

Check out Kings camo

Pnuma may have a few different options as well. I have a jacket and pants made by them and absolutely love them.

If you sitting Sitka is better if you are active Kuiu wins. Kuiu is a little less bulky, but Sitka has better warmth for sitting.

Kris Berg wrote:

Pnuma may have a few different options as well. I have a jacket and pants made by them and absolutely love them.

I came back to this thread just to ask about Pnuma. I’m 6’5″ and nothing fits me but I recently saw them and they have the sizes I need. Good to hear you like it!

As long as this thread has kept going since my OP in 2016…

Kuiu has updated its sizing and now offers a better fall camo option that is more brown.

Kuiu has nixed the skin-tight fit and the things I’ve tried on at shows recently have (largely) had a more rational fit. By that, I mean that base layers are closer fitting, where outer layers leave SOME room for layers underneath.

Another biggie is that Kuiu fabrics used to be very noisy. I suppose in mountain hunting, that did not matter as much as it does in whitetail hunting.

Now they offer quieter fabric options.

Unfortunately, I basically did a reboot on all my hunting clothing before these changes were made.

Grouse

The original Kuiu attack pants were one of my all time favorite pants made for hunting.
I have looked into a number of different Kuiu soft shell jackets and they just don’t stack up to the Sitka jet stream jacket.

There isn’t anything from Kuiu I would wear in a tree hunting whitetails.

The Sitka stratus and fanatic lines are the best out there in my opinion.
If First Lite had Sitka wind blocker technology things could be different.

I am not a huge fan of Sitka’s Ev2 pattern. If they offered in a solid or a two tone it would be just fine.

I’ve got the Fanatic jacket and bibs, and the Equinox for early season. The fanatic is hands down my favorite suit I’ve ever had. It’s like sitting in a sleeping bag. Overpriced? Yep. Don’t care, it keeps me in the woods.

Just wanted to post to this that sitka is 20% off at most stores right now. Pretty good deals.

Reef W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Kris Berg wrote:</div>
Pnuma may have a few different options as well. I have a jacket and pants made by them and absolutely love them.

I came back to this thread just to ask about Pnuma. I’m 6’5″ and nothing fits me but I recently saw them and they have the sizes I need. Good to hear you like it!

My Selkirk jacket and pants got delivered today and the fit is great! Clothes actually fitting is pretty exciting for me lol. It seems really nice but I haven’t ever had fancy stuff like this before to compare to. I might see if I can get away with buying the puffy jacket too before deer hunting.

Kuiu just came out with there first whitetail line up. “Kuiu Proximity”

I ordered the jacket. We will see how the wind resistance in it does. That is what I always like about the Sitka stratus and fanatic line. They had wind blocker technology in them.

Hopefully it does great. A pair of pants will be on the menu and the stratus set and fanatic jacket will be for sale.

Michael Best wrote:

Kuiu just came out with there first whitetail line up. “Kuiu Proximity”

I ordered the jacket. We will see how the wind resistance in it does. That is what I always like about the Sitka stratus and fanatic line. They had wind blocker technology in them.

Hopefully it does great. A pair of pants will be on the menu and the stratus set and fanatic jacket will be for sale.

What do you not like about your fanatic and stratus jackets? I have both and love both of them aside from the goofy zipper on the fanatic. But very warm once its on. Love the stratus so much actually bought a second in blaze orange.

First lite for me. Merino wool is the best material on the market and that’s what they are big in to for base layers. I have the solitude set for when it’s cold, the catalyst set for when it’s cool, and the guide series for earlier season. Check them out. Hands down the best clothing system I’ve laid hands on!

Between the 2 jackets I am covered from about 50 to zero degree temps roughly. Maybe colder if need be.

I am hoping the Kuiu jacket will cover me for the same temp range with one jacket instead of 2. Time will tell.

Like you I am not a fan of the cross zip either.

It’s kind of like the original timberline pants. I loved them. But the new design has a couple tweaks to them that I don’t care for. For example the side pockets are bigger then the original. The cut is a little different then the original as well.

I won’t wear the EV 2 pattern while coyote hunting. Been picked off to many times with it on. I would rather wear a solid brown jacket then EV 2 while calling coyotes.

Trivial issues but they are still issues.