I have a closet full of camo, most of which I like for various purposes. For five days last week I wore the same Beyond Clothing shirt and pants set while on a Turkey hunt in sweltering heat of Florida. Technically, I wasn’t hunting, I was filming a hunt sponsored by Remington for Women’s Outdoor News. It was miserably hot, miserably humid. We sat in blinds with virtually no air movement. Someone dubbed them “Sweat Lodges.” Or we sat on the ground, in the dirt. Forever, or so it seemed. And yet after five days of that without changing anything but my base layer, my Beyond Clothing Rig Light Backcountry Pant and Action Shirt appear to be clean and not even smelly. Weird, right?
“I don’t know you do it,” said one of the ladies on the hunt. For this hunt, she understandably had multiple changes of camo gear. This gear from Beyond Clothing let me pack a single set of camo to travel light. Here’s my original entry when this stuff was new:
Not sans clothing, but beyond it! Some of my Pacific Northwest friends have been touting the incomparable apparel put out by this American maker for a while. To appreciate the value of Beyond Clothing gear you need to understand what it actually is, and isn’t. It isn’t typical tactical gear, or typical hunting gear. It is survival clothing. I have a closet full of tactical and hunting apparel and none of it compares to the Rig Light Backcountry Pant and Action Shirt from Beyond Clothing. These lightweight pieces are a part of the Axiom layering system. I don’t have space for a full review here, but the technical fabrics, cuts, fit and Lupus Camouflage pattern all add up to something special. The pants typically retail for $312 and the shirt for $267 though you might catch a killer sale from time to time. As a side note the Lupus pattern was designed by Orion Design Group partner and SHWAT™ Pro Staffer Kelsey Gonzales. That gives an extra cool factor to this gear in my book!
A quick check of the Beyond Clothing website today showed you can get the combo for $325 at the moment, but I’m not sure the Lupus pattern is available. Compared to Walmart, that seems insane. Aside from one of the killer sales they run periodically you’d typically spend even more. But here’s the payoff – you don’t have to buy multiple sets.
If that’s not enough, consider this: The fabric is stretchy, the zipper angles just right and it clearly sheds dirt remarkably. I’ve worn this gear from Florida to Texas to Colorado hunting Hogs, Turkey and Deer. It is hands down my favorite camo gear, even though I don’t have the full system. If you want to get some yourself, I’d suggest subscribing to their newsletter and waiting for the big sales. I don’t know if this is the last camo I’ll ever acquire, but it has sure saved me buying more in the mean time.
On the web: BeyondClothing.com
I didn’t smell you at all. But then again, you were usually behind me and fortunately, I couldn’t get a scent because either the wind was not blowing or it was blowing in all directions and swirling. And, I liked the pattern and it seemed to be fine for this type of hunting, er, sitting around. It was also swampy smelling at times, which might have been any one of us.