Drake Waterfowl clothing - anybody use it?

fabsroman · Nov 5, 2017

Thinking about getting my son some clothing for waterfowling this season. Looking at the 3-1 jacket and bibs from Drake, but I have zero experience with the company. Could not find anything made by Columbia, or I would have gone that route. Seems like Columbia is out of the camo market and Drake might be dominating the waterfowl camo market. Anyway, if anybody has been using this stuff by Drake, I'd appreciate your thoughts on it.

Racer Doug14 · Nov 5, 2017

Drake is really nice gear. But, it is pricey. Have you looked at Cabelas stuff? I have both. I like cabelas more. I've ran into a few manufacturing errors and bad zippers with Drake.

Racer Doug14 · Nov 5, 2017

How old is your son? I'm only thinking about adult gear. I know Drake has a solid kids line-up.

fabsroman · Nov 5, 2017

Racer Doug14 said:
How old is your son? I'm only thinking about adult gear. I know Drake has a solid kids line-up.

He is 8 1/2. We went to Cabela's in Gainesville today and they had both the adult Cabelas and Drake waterfowling gear there, albeit not much of either. He got to look at both and he picked the drake parka and bibs. Sadly, they had absolutely nothing in either system in youth sizes, so I am going to have to try to size this some other way, or maybe take a trip to Outdoor World with him.

Just trying to figure out if Drake is quality and it can last through a couple of kids, or if it is a one and done deal. I don't mind spending the money on quality gear, but I do mind spending a lot of money on garbage gear.

Racer Doug14 · Nov 6, 2017

Drake should last, but kids are hard on clothes. You might know this

You can always go to the drake.com site or Macks prairie wings website. Most places don't have youth stuff. Macks has almost all of it. I think they have a MAP policy.

Marshmallow · Nov 6, 2017

Drake gear is probably the best I’ve worn. But even their warm weather stuff is too warm lol. I’ve had some of their stuff for 5-6 years. It gets worn 3-4 times a week hunting, and then cool weather fishing. Good stuff.

Derwood · Nov 7, 2017

You might check e-bay. I got a complete Sitka system off of there a couple years ago. I talked on the phone with the previous owner--he only used it twice and decided to sell it for about 70% of the sale price since it didn't fit him well.

fabsroman · Nov 8, 2017

Went to Outdoor World tonight so my son could try on some Drake gear. They had a lot more youth stuff at Outdoor World than Cabela's had in Gainvesville, VA. Heck, Outdoor World had a lot more clothing all the way around versus Cabela's in Virginia.

Turns out that the size 12 jacket fit him with a little extra room in it and he was swimming in size 8 bibs. Found the bibs on e-bay for $45 and the coat from an online retailer for $115. Huge difference between $130 and $190 for the respective items at Outdoor World.

Again, thanks for everybody's help. Only thing left on the list now is a base layer and a reservation with the geese and ducks.

pbharvey · Nov 9, 2017

FYI Bass Pro will price match.
https://basspro.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29/~/price-matching

Derwood · Nov 9, 2017

Fabro--I love my LL Bean base layers. I ordered them online but you could stop by the store in Tysons if you wanted to try stuff on in person. I also have a base layer made by Kuiu that is EXCELLENT...but that would be for you, not your son, since you wouldn't want to put out money like that for something he'll outgrow.

fabsroman · Nov 9, 2017

Derwood said:
Fabro--I love my LL Bean base layers. I ordered them online but you could stop by the store in Tysons if you wanted to try stuff on in person. I also have a base layer made by Kuiu that is EXCELLENT...but that would be for you, not your son, since you wouldn't want to put out money like that for something he'll outgrow.

I already have a couple sets of Under Armour cold gear and a Cabela's fleece system that I have been using for over a decade. Have not been cold while out hunting for a very, very long time. Only thing I might think of doing clothing wise is replacing my Columbia wading jacket and bibs, but they still work and Columbia products have just been awesome for me.

Also, not too worried about my son outgrowing this stuff because my 5 year old daughter has also been tagging along dove hunting, she was pissed off that she could not take the hunter safety course, and every time she hears we are going to Cabela's, Outdoor World, or anywhere else to look at hunting and fishing stuff, she jumps out of her seat saying "I wanna come". Think I am going to have 2 kids hunting and fishing with me, and she can wear his hand me downs. No idea about the 10 day old yet. Plus, worst case scenario, I could e-bay the stuff.

Now, with all that said, I think I am about to order some "Cuddle Duds" for him from Kohl's for $18. If those do not work well, then it will be on to something else.

He should be in way better shape than I ever was hunting in the late fall/winter. I froze my butt off as a kid, but still loved it.

fabsroman · Nov 9, 2017

pbharvey said:
FYI Bass Pro will price match.
https://basspro.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29/~/price-matching

Yeah, I have a policy of not buying from Outdoor World. Long story, but the gist of it was I was treated like crap there. It kills me that Bass Pro and Cabela's are the same company now.

Also, both the jacket and the bibs were Max 4, which is the older camo pattern. The current stuff is offered in Max 5. If I wanted Max 5, I had to pay $40 more for the jacket, which would have still been cheaper than Bass Pro and the bibs were an e-bay closeout price at $45.

Thanks for the link though. It allows me to pass on the information to others.

pbharvey · Nov 9, 2017

Those cuddle duds are pretty good by the way

fabsroman · Nov 9, 2017

pbharvey said:
Those cuddle duds are pretty good by the way

Thanks for the info. I have absolutely no idea what they are like and they are not available in store, so I have been debating whether to order them. At $18, it didn't seem like I was going too far out on a limb, but the season starts in 9 days, so time is of the essence here. Asked my wife about them, and she had no idea either about whether they are any good. Was trying to find $31 of additional stuff to order from Kohl's to get free shipping, but just realized I could ship to store for free.

Thanks again for the help.

MunkMaster · Nov 9, 2017

One thing to keep in mind is that I have found out the hard way for some reason decent duck camo hoodies run wayyyyy small. I am 6'3 and I had to get a XXXL for it to fit both length and so it wouldn't be skin tight. I tried on most of the big names... Banded,Drake, Avery and they all fit the same way and were all around 100 bucks

Racer Doug14 · Nov 9, 2017

Well thus sucks. I went to order something from Cabelas, then at checkout I noticed...sales tax! I guess the merger with AssPro must have changed that. Since as a corporation they have a store in state.

fabsroman · Nov 10, 2017

Racer Doug14 said:
Well thus sucks. I went to order something from Cabelas, then at checkout I noticed...sales tax! I guess the merger with AssPro must have changed that. Since as a corporation they have a store in state.

That would be correct. There has already been talk about it on the forum in other areas. People are pissed off about it. Thing is, there are benefits to it, like being able to use a Cabela's gift card at Bass Pro, being able to return items at Bass Pro, and eventually having stuff shipped for free to Bass Pro. Bass Pro is a lot closer to me than the nearest Cabela's. Sad to say, Bass Pro had more of the Drake stuff in stock too.

My wife just ordered the Cuddle Duds for my son, and he was out doing yard work this afternoon with his new Rocky boots. I have boots, socks, bibs, parka, base layer, facemask, and gloves for him. Am I missing anything? I think I have it all covered, but I want to make sure. Maybe I need to get him his own backpack.

pbharvey · Nov 10, 2017

Electronic ear muffs- much easier to communicate with the little guy.

Chemical hand warmers for both warming and something to fiddle wth.

Chapstick

Thermos of hot chocolate

Lastly...buy the kid a decent hunting dog lol

fabsroman · Nov 10, 2017

pbharvey said:
Electronic ear muffs- much easier to communicate with the little guy.

Chemical hand warmers for both warming and something to fiddle wth.

Chapstick

Thermos of hot chocolate

Lastly...buy the kid a decent hunting dog lol

Electronic earmuffs - Check

Chemical Handwarmers - check. Have spares from last year, but I am thinking about buying some Zippo handwarmers. They are supposed to work really well and the Drake jacket has pockets on the sides for them.

Chapstick - check, check, and check. Kid has enough chapstick to last until adulthood.

A couple of weeks ago, I got him a 40 oz. Camelback Chute just like mine for soccer practice/games, because he wants what daddy has. So, check there.

Dog - that is a tough one. I had to put Nitro down in March. Had a couple of breeders already lined up, and then my wife and I decided that we are going to seriously look for a bigger house this spring. Hard to sell the current house, deal with the newborn, and deal with a puppy all at the same time. So, as much as I want a new dog, it is going to have to wait until we have the new house. It breaks my heart every night to look at Nitro's collar hanging from one of my office lights. I never turn that bulb off. I wish my son had been hunting with me when Nitro was in his prime. He has no idea what Nitro was like as far as a hunting dog goes. Time to go dry my eyes and get back to work.

Oh yeah, forgot one thing. Camo backpack. Kid needs his own backpack to store his shells, knife, gloves, facemask, and most of all, chapstick. Going to have to look into that.

Racer Doug14 · Nov 10, 2017

fabsroman said:
That would be correct. There has already been talk about it on the forum in other areas. People are pissed off about it. Thing is, there are benefits to it, like being able to use a Cabela's gift card at Bass Pro, being able to return items at Bass Pro, and eventually having stuff shipped for free to Bass Pro. Bass Pro is a lot closer to me than the nearest Cabela's. Sad to say, Bass Pro had more of the Drake stuff in stock too.

My wife just ordered the Cuddle Duds for my son, and he was out doing yard work this afternoon with his new Rocky boots. I have boots, socks, bibs, parka, base layer, facemask, and gloves for him. Am I missing anything? I think I have it all covered, but I want to make sure. Maybe I need to get him his own backpack.

I noticed that over in the Depot forum after I posted. Still a bummer. I have no like of going to Arundel mills. Rather go to DE.

Drake Waterfowl clothing - anybody use it?

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