On the one hand, the idea of getting excieted over a pair of boots might seem a little tough to grasp.  As an upland hunter, however, my boots are at least as important as my gun.  After all, if I can't get to the birds, even carrying around a bespoke British double isn't going to add a thing to the bag, and even if I do get into them, being uncomfortable doing it isn't going to help me much with my shooting.

Shoe comfort, of course, is a highly subjective thing.  What one finds comfortable, another might find miserable to wear.  So the point of a "shoe review" might be a little hard to see.

While I can't tell you that you'll find Cabela's Brittany Upland boots to be as comfortable as I do, I can certainly speak to some other things about them that may help in your decision if you've been considering buying a pair for yourself.

Lots of boots claim to be "waterproof," but these actually are.  That really isn't a big deal for upland hunters like me who spend most of their time hunting in an aird desert, at least in terms of foot comfort.  It is kind of nice where cleaning the boots is concerned.  I clean mine after every trip by immersing them in water made soapy with mild dishwashing detergent, and the inside of the boots never get wet.

The soles actually provide more traction that they look like they would, and this was one of my major concerns with these when I decided to try them.  "Upland boots" are typically designed for the Georgia bobwhite hunter who doesn't want to track a bunch of real estate into the plantation lodge after a shoot, rather than the California upland hunter who spends a lot of time scrambling up steep, decomposed granite slopes, where he or she needs all of the traction that can be had in a boot.  So far, I've found these boots to provide plenty of grip.

If I have any complaint at all about the soles, it is that after four seasons of use, mine show signs of significant wear.  They are, without a doubt, the shortest-lived boot soles I've ever used.  Most of the boots that I've owned have had some sort of Vibram sole.  The soles on the Brittany Upland boots seem to provide better grip on granite rock than my last pair of Vibram-soled boots did, so if a soft compound helps enhance grip, I'll trade a little grip for wear resistance, given how inexpensive these boots are.

They are also incredably light.  They are, without a doubt, the lightest pair of hunting-style boots I've owned.  I've owned backpacking boots that were about as light, but these are not generally intended for cross-country travel, whereas hunting boots are.  Their light weight adds up to lessened fatigue at the end of a hard day of hunting.

I also appreciate the fact that they still look to be in reasonably good shape after four seasons of use.  This is pretty meaningless if you don't know where they've been, but they've been over most of the upland hunter's "hallowed ground" here in Southern California.  If you've been there, and it's public land, there is a pretty good chance that my Brittany Upland boots have been there, too.

I don't just wear these during the upland season, either.  I wear them in the off season when doing chores around my hunting camp in the San Bernardino Mountains.  I wear them during the spring turkey hunting season.  I wear them when I go pig hunting.  They've had plenty of use over the last four years.

Lastly, I prefer the moccassin toe in a hunting boot for the extra room it provides in the toe-box area.  This, of course, is a personal thing, but it is hard for me to find true cross-country comfort in a rounded-toe boot.

While the soles have worn rapidly on these boots, the internal stiffiners that help them provide the level of ankle support they do still do their thing.  Aside from the worn soles, eveything else about these boots suggests that they'd go another four seasons.  I might not even be too embarressed to be seen in public wearing them, either.  Cosmetically, mine still look great, and I've hunted them pretty darn hard.

The writing is on the wall though, and the wear of the soles suggests that this will probably be the last upland season these boots see.  There is, however, little doubt in my mind as to what it is that I'll be replacing them with.  I haven't been as happy with a pair of boots in terms of comfort in my whole life, and I've owned some stuff like a custom pair of Russell Birdshooters that weren't as comfortable to spend the day in.

Cabela's Brittany Upland boots, then, are a cost effective, stylish, and durable boot which, in our view, represets one of the better values to be found in outdoors footwear.

-Jerrold Paul Shelton