FOREST AND STREAM 
579 
The Lady Afield 
Advice That Makes For The Comfort and Success of The Woman Who Goes Afield 
T HE lady’s outfit, like the country described 
by J. Caesar, may be divided into three 
parts. They run about like this: First, 
the clothes for the mountain resort, where ap¬ 
pearance and utility fight desperately for first 
place when the selection is made. 
Second, the clothes for the bird hunt—possibly 
tramps after Bob White or seances in the chilly 
blind waiting for the ducks. Here utility sits glee¬ 
fully astride of appearances, with the wise lady; 
she sees that her clothes are what she needs for 
comfort, then thinks of looks after this considera¬ 
tion is carried out. 
Third, the clothes for the big game hunt—the 
real hunt, not the tenderfoot tramp up to the 
top of the ridge, then back to the summer re¬ 
sort—but the hunt wherein the trammels of 
civilization are cast off, and the pilgrims seek 
big game in the bad country where our big game 
chooses to live. 
The outfit for the one extreme will rarely do 
for the other. The sensible knickerbockers or 
riding trousers of the rough country pilgrimage 
are out of place for the mountain resort, while 
the fetching khaki and corduroy and high-heeled 
“hunting” boots of the resort costume, fit for hik¬ 
ing over more or less well beaten trains, would 
hardly accompany the lady through the first 
manzanita patch on the way to big game haunts. 
The weakness of the lady at first is her regard 
for “looks.” She is likely to object to the low- 
heeled, mannish shoe, with its semi-brogan lines, 
when so much prettier shoes are available, and 
clearly labelled “outing shoes.” She is likely be¬ 
fore the first trip, to lock horns with you over 
her choice of a hat which is cute and. becoming 
—and which would not last through one good 
rain—when you prefer a Stetson that is made 
to go out and to come back with you into the 
bargain. 
In common with her brothers, the most im¬ 
portant part of the lady’s outfit is her footgear. 
Her clothes may be anything that will permit 
walking and provide protection against the ele¬ 
ments. The rifle may be of the vintage of ’73 or 
of ’12. But if her shoes are not right, the trip 
may come to a sudden and disappointing ending. 
A blister allowed to fester, a broken arch, an 
inflamed Achilles tendon—and the lady stays in 
camp for the rest of the trip. As her feet are 
probably accustomed to the lightweight, high- 
heeled affairs, miscalled shoes by her sex, the 
change to the sensible mountain hoot is to be 
made with even more care than in the case of 
the city man. 
The ordinary or garden variety of outing shoe 
for the lady is built with specially designed paste¬ 
board soles, and a heel that would break the neck 
of the man who tried to navigate a rocky canyon 
in such footgear. 
This is a very sensible performance. The 
lady’s feet are more tender than those of her 
brother—hence the very thin soles. Her ankles 
will rarely stand the strain that a man’s will pass, 
hence the high heels. The leather of the uppers 
is also made light to give all the rocks and 
By Edward C. Crossman. 
stumps and snags a good chance to bruise 
through. 
The lady’s boots should depart in very few 
details from those made for the other side of the 
family. The sole may be slightly narrower at 
the instep, and the heel may be a trifle higher, 
but just a trifle. An excellent idea is to fit the 
shoes with rubber heels, making the shoes quiet 
of performance, guarding against slips as well 
as hobs, and taking up the jar of the rocks and 
all-day hiking. For the pine needle country add 
a few hobs—every inch or so—to the sole, see¬ 
ing that they are small hobs, not the railroad 
spike variety. 
As satisfactory a type of shoe as one can find 
is the modification of the north woods “pac” 
moccasin, made in this case with soles suited to 
the country the lady is to hunt, with rubber heels, 
and hobbed or not according to the going. In 
this model of shoe there is no cap to rub blisters 
across the toes. It is as near an approach to 
the moccasin as one can get and still protect the 
feet from the bad places. 
For the bird hunt the shoes are better high, 
fourteen-inch or thereabouts. If the hunt is in 
damp country, or in the cold part of the year, 
have the boots waterproofed. For big game hunt¬ 
ing the six-inch height is preferable on account 
of the light weight, with leggins of the putee, 
wrap-around type to complete that part of the 
outfit. If the duck hunt is the programed out¬ 
ing, then see that the lady’s rubber boots are 
two sizes large, and use two pairs of warm wool 
stockings, or an extra pair of soft wool socks. 
A rubber boot can give points to a fruit shipper’s 
pre-cooling plant. 
The thick wool stockings belong, likewise, with 
the hunting shoes. Thin stockings have no place 
in the outfit. There should be either one pair 
of soft wool stockings of a thickness equal to 
a lumberman’s sock, or else two pairs of lighter 
wool affairs. Many of these are made with a 
seam down the center of the foot, where it will 
rub a blister. This is the sort not to take. 
Most important of all, see that the boots are 
broken in a week before the hunt. And “broken 
in” means worn several hours a day for several 
days over rough ground. A ploughed field will 
answer if nothing rougher is available. If you 
break in shoes on the hunt itself, the breaking 
process is likely to strike both ways. A pair 
of soft moccasins for around camp make the 
feet glad, and humor them up for the next day. 
Then comes the question of clothes proper. 
The summer resort outfit takes care of itself. 
Every sporting goods house overflows with the 
proper thing in khaki skirts and stamped leather 
belts and fetching hats and French-heeled shoes. 
For the milder form of hunt, tramps for the 
birds or chill hours in the blind, get the skirt 
midway between the ankle and the knee, full, 
that it may not impede walking, and furnished 
with real pockets, two or three of them, of man’s 
size. The skirt and the coat should be of some 
of the well known waterproof materials, yclept 
“goose bosoms,” and similar names. Get the coat 
The Lady Can Make a Bag. 
of the Norfolk pattern, with inside shell pockets, 
but don’t depend upon it, except when the weather 
is cold or wet. Bunchy-shouldered coats are re¬ 
sponsible for more misses than ill-fitting guns. 
Equip the lady with a skeleton shell coat, like 
those worn by hunters in warm countries, sleeve¬ 
less, and consisting of a lot of pockets strung 
together by a little khaki or similar material. 
The shoulder of such a coat lies flat and smooth, 
and there is nothing to bind the arms when shoot¬ 
ing. In the chill, the skeleton coat may be worn 
over a light, warm sweater—the lambswool sort 
if your purse will permit. Don’t use the regular 
coat unless you have to. 
The color of the two coats and the skirt should 
be grass green, a dark greenish shade that does 
not show spots and does not loom up like a sun¬ 
flower as does the yellow khaki. Of course the 
coat should be large enough to fit comfortably 
over a heavy sweater, and perhaps the skeleton 
coat into the bargain. The makers of these gar¬ 
ments seem to delight in fitting them so tightly 
under the arms that no other heavy garment can 
be worn beneath. 
The big game hunt, particularly in mountainous 
country is a bit harder trip to provide for. Rarely 
is the lady of sufficient strength to stand more 
than you can, and it follows that she should 
not be handicapped. If you labor under the hal- 
