Snake Gaiter Review
There are very few things that make your hair stand up on the back of your head while out in the wood like a bears warning bawl, a MT lions growl hiss, or the sound of a rattle snake……Living in Arizona I have had my fair share of encounters with rattle snakes and everyone of them made my skin crawl , sent me into high alert and left me thinking thank god I didn’t get bit all the way out here….
This year I decided I was going to try and find a snake gaiter for my early season hunts that didn’t weight me down, make me sound light a truck coming through the brush and didn’t leaving wishing I was hunting somewhere else that didn’t have snakes… \
I came across a company called Turtle Skin that makes the lightest most comfortable snake gaiter on the market.. no joke! We tested them against one of the most popular on the market Snake Guardz for comfort, maneuverability, and quietness…
Comfort: so tested them for comfort by: 1) seeing how well they stay in place 2) how much hotter they made your leg, 3) if they kept out burs and stickers 4) and really how noticeable they were on your legs. The turtle skins shinned in all facets they were almost as comfortable as my normal Gaiters I wear on most hunts… they scored a 9 out of 10 in this department where the Snake Guards score a 5-10
Maneuverability: We wanted to make sure that the Turtle skins didn’t impede your ability to stalk. Just a little restriction can make a big difference when stalking a giant Velvet Muley in the early season. Not getting the same range of motion may cause you to be louder or lose footing easier . They score very high here too 9-10 where the competition was 4.5 out of 10
Quietness: I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it too… Neither one of the gaiters were very quite they both made a distinct sound of brush hitting a “hard” surface while skulking through the bush… So unless put some kind of felt or suede outer liner to stop that brush against tarp sound or come up with some super soft fluffy snake proof fabric I don’t think your really going to get a stealthy pair of snake gaiters… Both pairs scored 5 out of 10 here .
So if your in snake country and want to take that extra precaution I would take a hard look at Turtle Skins super light, very comfortable and don’t impede your movements like the others on the market .
Snake Guardz