668 
FOREST AND STREAM 
The Hunter and His Feet 
A Feeling Article, Written from a Real Understanding of the Sportsman’s Standpoint 
By Chas. J. Lisle. 
AT shall I wear on my feet? 
A hunter, a soldier, anyone who 
goes much on foot, is only as 
good as his feet—and it is 
worth while to figure out the 
very best feet and foot-gear that 
can be had. 
Thanks to too tight or ill- 
fitting shoes, most men have bunions or corns 
of some kind. Some of these can be removed, 
or corrected; if you are going out for a long 
hunt, and can have the services of a chiropodist 
for a few days before going, it may add more 
dollars than you can dream to the pleasure of 
your outing. But even if you do have such 
services, you can do much for yourself. 
Soaking the feet in salt or alum water for a 
little while each evening, will help to toughen 
them . Of course, one of the benefits from this 
course is the daily acquaintance with the water! 
The feet should be rinsed off after each such 
medicated bath. 
If the toes bunch up together—“hammer-toes 
as it is sometimes known—they are sure to sweat 
and chafe and become raw. One can use powder, 
or vaseline; and it is a fine plan always to have 
some soft bandages of thin muslin, linen or silk, 
to wrap each offending toe. Don’t wait until 
they become raw; start to care for the feet from 
the first day of the trip, and save hours of misery. 
Rubber boots and waders are a necessity for 
a good outfit, for fishing or for waterfowl shoot¬ 
ing. One almost must wear them, bad as the 
rubber is for the feet. One should wash and 
dry the feet, and use vaseline or some other 
emollient, after wearing the boots. But don’t 
wear the rubber any longer than you must. Good 
feet are as important as the gun or the fishing rod, 
if you hope to enjoy your trip—and you need to 
care for them, which you can’t do and wear 
rubber boots for any great length of time. 
The west, and probably the east to a consider¬ 
able extent, is full of the tall, lace-up, cruiser 
boots. Those from the better makers are durable 
and fit well. But the lace-up boot idea has been 
grossly overdone. Especially in the winter, the 
old-fashioned pull-on boot is usually superior 
and much cheaper. The lace-up provides for 
supporting the ankle, which is of service in a 
rough country. But an ankle brace of soft 
leather, laced around the ankle before putting 
on the boot or shoe, is better, or at least as good; 
and in cold, wet, snowy weather, the old-fashion¬ 
ed boot is a real godsend as compared with the 
obnoxious lace-ups. No bellows-tongue boot, ex¬ 
cept one of almost prohibitive cost, will be wa¬ 
terproof ; it is a physical impossibility to make 
these bellows joint as secure as the old boots 
were. 
I have worn out several pair of the best high 
lace boots made, and still have one pair such; 
but never again shall I buy this kind of foot¬ 
gear. If I need the high boot, it will be the pull- 
on kind. A few trials, either actual or men¬ 
tally, of a zero or 40-below-zero day, with ice 
and snow and tired-out wearer, will convert more 
than one of the buyers who have been putting 
their money into high lace boots. And the lost 
time, the discomfort, of the high lace-ups in the 
warm, dry fall weather, ought to convert a whole 
army of out-of-doors men. 
I have mentioned the high pull-on boot, not 
because I favor it for hunting, but for those 
who feel they must have a full-length foot cover¬ 
ing. Personally, I prefer a shoe not to exceed 
seven inches; six inches, the ordinary street 
height, is usually better. A pair of puttees, or 
good canvas or soft leather leggings, will give 
about all the weatherproof qualities of the high 
boot, and weigh and cost far less. Besides, this 
combination is adaptable for all kinds of 
weather or ground. 
Nine of the ten vital points in getting a com¬ 
fortable shoe will be: Get It Long Enough. I 
might tell one of my own experiences. A party 
of us set out for a long hunt in the wooded 
breaks along the Clearwater river in Idaho—one 
of the ruggedest countries in the west, full of 
the sharpest of pitches, up hill and down all the 
way as steep as the ground could stand and not 
tip over. I had gotten a pair of eight-inch-top 
German sock rubbers; good footwear, but this 
pair was too short. I was out three doys. From 
the jamming of the toes against the too-short 
front, as I went down the steep hills, I lost I 
believe every toe-nail but those from the two 
little toes, inside the next two weeks; and the 
heel was so bruised from the upward climbing, 
that I did not walk with comfort for two months. 
That happens, in a greater or less degree, every 
time you get shoes too short—your feet will suf¬ 
fer and your vacation will be spoiled. 
The old army shoe, in which I tramped thou¬ 
sands of miles in the Philippines, was built on 
a comfortable last. Worn with leggings, this 
made as good a foot covering as men ever used. 
But the new army shoe, is far better than the 
old. It is, I believe, the best foot-covering ever 
devised. The American army carries an average 
of about a pound less on its feet, than the 
European soldiers—yet the American shoes, light¬ 
er, better-looking, infinitely more comfortable 
will probably outwear any of the clumsy Euro¬ 
pean army footgear. For my own wear, I 
would not trade one pair of these army shoes, 
for a dozen of the high-priced, high-topped lace 
boots. There are a few other makers who put 
a foot-form shoe on the market, that will meet 
the needs of the hunters and trampers; but the 
army shoe is to my mind the best shoe ever made. 
Some would hark back to the Indian moccasin 
as the ideal foot-covering. It is, for some pur¬ 
poses. As a camp shoe, to wear after the day’s 
hunt and the heavier shoes are taken off, it is 
good. In summer time, for canoeing, for still¬ 
hunting in glassy or well-wooded country where 
the leaves are thick and soft, it is good. The 
saving in weight makes it easy to pick one's 
steps, and go softly and easily. But most white 
men’s feet have been ill-shod and ruined since 
childhood, and are too tender to stand the thin 
moccasin with comfort. One can have an extra 
sole sewed on, of buckskin or rawhide, and make 
the moccasin much more comfortable for walking. 
The simon-pure Indian moccasin is not as good 
as the white man’s factory-made product. It 
may have better, more pliable leather—those 
squaw-tanned deerskins have marvelous qualities 
of wear and pliability—but the finished moccasin 
is almost invariably flat and shapeless, and not 
so comfortable as one of better model as put out 
by good white makers. Except for strictly camp 
use, one should buy the six- or eight-inch tops; 
and it is a good investment to have, and to wear, 
a pair of lace ankle-braces inside the moccasin. 
We have become so used to the bracing of the 
ordinary-height shoe tops, and to the support of 
the rigid sole-leathersole, that the foot is liable 
to yield and to take painful if not irreparable 
injury, when going into rough ground with so 
soft a covering as a moccasin. Maybe if we had 
always kept to the foot habits of the Indian, who 
has never had a shoe to brace his ankles; or 
even of our boyhood days, when we ran barefoot 
over the roughest of stones and stumps, we 
should be in no danger with a moccasin today. 
But believe me, nine out of every ten white men 
who try the thin moccasin as their only foot 
wear for a hunt over rough ground, will rue it. 
For severe winter, or for slushy snow or mud, 
the medium-topped rubber lace-ups for German 
socks are excellent wear. These can be had with 
rubber feet and and thin, light leather tops, pre¬ 
ferable to the solid, much heavier rubber. With 
German socks, or two or three pairs of common 
wool socks, these are warm, and dry, and com¬ 
fortable. They need not be very heavy. 
If one wants to draw an analogy from Nature, 
he will find that the sure-footed animals have 
small feet, that they can place carefully, lightly, 
testingly, in precarious footings. He can try for 
himself, and see whether he isn’t more sure of 
his footing, in a light footgear like the army 
shoe, with his ankles flexible and free, than with 
an armor-plated high boot laced tightly clear to 
the knee. Not all men can emulate the chamois, 
the mountain deer, in small and dainty extremi¬ 
ties ! But by cutting his footgear to the lightest 
possible limit consistent with safety, one can come 
a lot closer. The ordinary white man needs the 
protection of a heavier foot-covering than the 
thin moccasin; his years of shoe prison have 
ruined his natural foot. Still, he needn’t weight 
himself down with an excess of leather and hob 
nails, and add still further to his discomfort by 
lacing the leg down so that it impedes the cir¬ 
culation. 
Except for the roughest mountain climbing— 
for which I should add the lumberman’s screw 
calks also—I should not use heavy hob or 
Hungarian nails in shoes- They add to the weight, 
they are noisy, they cut floors into strings and 
make the hunter unwelcome in many a home— 
his own included—whefre he might like to visit. 
(Continued on page 684.) 
