Uninsulated Danner Pronghorns For Early Season...

Labs

Labs

Well-known member
Looking like early season in ND is going to be dry & warm/hot, so it was a good excuse to look for a new pair of boots. I had gotten a pair of Irish Setter Vapor Treks for this purpose a couple years back. Broke them in but didn't use them much until a few weeks ago when I wore them during the 2 day Badlands Classic 3D Shoot. This event is acknowledged as the most physically demanding shoot in ND every year. You can buy a shirt that says "I survived the Medora Shoot", and it's very appropriate. Over those 2 days I hiked around 6 miles shooting both the Standard and Extreme (set up courtesy of the sadists of the ND Chapter of the Back Country Hunters & Anglers, sometimes called the Bataan Death March) courses in some of the roughest country in ND. Those boots damned near crippled me, by the 12th target of the Extreme Course on day 2, I gave serious thought to taking them off and finishing the final mile & a half of the course barefooted. Took a week for my feet to stop hurting.

Researched, weighed reviews, looked at, and tried on every available option in uninsulated upland boots I could find. Cost didn't matter, my criteria was they had to be Gortex, relatively light weight, and work just as well for walking miles of cover & grasslands for roosters & sharps as forSept/Oct spot & stalk bowhunting mule deer out in the Badlands. I ultimately laid out the cash for a pair of Danner Pronghorns.

I wear 10.5D and found that size a bit tight in the Pronghorns so went with 10.5EE. After the first 3 mile test hike/conditioning walk for the Wrecking Crew, I found them comfortable with good ankle support, and with thick enough soles that I wasn't feeling every rock I stepped on (a failing I've found in most "lightweight" boots I've tried including those Vapor Treks). I found the factory foot beds didn't support my arches or cushion my heels enough so replaced them with Dr. Scholl's Heavy Duty Insoles. That took care of both problems.

They are breaking in well and get more comfortable every hike. I think they will prove to be a good choice, time will tell on how well they hold up...
 
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I had a pair of the uninsulated Danner Pronghorns that I hunted in for over a dozen years; wore 'em and liked 'em. Happened to be in Cabela's in MItchell one fall when we saw the Meindl lightweight uninsulated boots, tried those on and bought them--about $190 as I recall---they work very well too. So far I have not needed to buy after market insoles as the boots remain comfortable.
 
Ive worn Pronghorns for many years and like them a lot. They fit my feet well but everyones hooves are different.
 
Have -Rockeys-Meindle-Browing-but Danner Prong horns have always been a great boot-insulated or none-have always been great right out of the box-or at least shortly there after jmo
 
I had Danner Pronghorns for several years, and I'll say they are great for someone that is a weekend warrior but not for someone who puts on hundred + miles a season.

Danner Customer Support is amazing and made me a Danner fan for life. The Pronghorns have a 1 year warranty. I had Pronghorns for 4 years but never had a pair last a full season, I got 5 pairs replaced, no questions asked, in a 4 year time span. So in that sense - they lasted me 4 years, but no individual pair lasted me a full year. Super comfortable, easy to break in, but ultimately I wanted something more reliable and switched to Danner Grouse - After 1 year, I can tell you that this boot will last a lot longer than a pronghorn. With any Danner Boot, I've learned to look for ones that our "Made in America."
 
First pair this fall too. Wore them for an hour and half walk with the dogs. I would consider them broke in.

It was pretty damp so the waterproofing was tested too.

I will be interesting to see how long they last. I had a Cabela's branded uninsulated boot for past five years or so. Replaced once under their namebrand life time warranty. I do not see that they have a similar model anymore...
 
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Good thread- I’ve been prospecting between danners and Irish setters for my next pair. I’m still wearing my old kangaroo leather brownings but honestly don’t think they have a whole lot left in them.
 
I bought 2 pairs of danner pronghorns about 15 years ago. They were excellent. I had no issues. I wore one pair only upland hunting, the other only deer hunting. Finally the upland pair gave up about a year ago. I bought a new pair and they leak water. I found lots of people online complaining about them leaking. My old pair never leaked. I was sold 100% on the old pair, but he new ones aren't as good.
 
stinkbelly said:
I bought 2 pairs of danner pronghorns about 15 years ago. They were excellent. I had no issues. I wore one pair only upland hunting, the other only deer hunting. Finally the upland pair gave up about a year ago. I bought a new pair and they leak water. I found lots of people online complaining about them leaking. My old pair never leaked. I was sold 100% on the old pair, but he new ones aren't as good.
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I've heard that about the new ones --

I dont hunt where it's wet - I hate walking through grass with heavy dew and getting soaked up to your chest depending on the grass - call me a sissy or whatever - but always felt that way - ruins your day if you are out on a long outing.

Anyways 03 or something like that bought my first pair - in snow or heavier dew in grass that wasn't super tall or grass that was just dry enough I'd walk in my feet eventually would get wet but not soaked - my feet also sweat a lot so who knew - kept that pair for 10 yrs and put a lot of miles on them before the end of them finally blew out. At one point I'd only wear them in only dry conditions and had another pair I bought -- American made Danners -- can't remember the model - but they were well made but heavy as HELL -- never liked that about them.

I bought another pair of Danner Pronghorns a year or two ago - they've worked fine - but in snow or heavily wet grass - they will get your feet damp - in the bootmakers defense if you're walking through damp grass that's damp down at foot level if you will - or snow - and it melts on the outside - I dont know what material besides some sort of synthetic or something that is treated heavily and routinely will keep the water out - the other issue is if you seal the boot off completely from the inside - then there is no place for the moisture generated by your feet via sweating to escape which is why I can't wear muckboots -- Tried them once and my feet were soaked -- I hated them - how watertight they were really defeated the purpose - unfortunately I sweat -- if you are not human and you're feet dont sweat or you simply dont sweat much if at all - then just buy muckboots - you'll be good if you want fully waterproof.
 
I bought a pair about 5 years ago. Still have them and wear them. Waterproofing has been better on my irish setter wingshooters. The treads on those Danner grouse boots look too aggressive for where I hunt. I can picture them filling up with mud walking tilled field edges.
 
jackrabbit said:
I had Danner Pronghorns for several years, and I'll say they are great for someone that is a weekend warrior but not for someone who puts on hundred + miles a season.

Danner Customer Support is amazing and made me a Danner fan for life. The Pronghorns have a 1 year warranty. I had Pronghorns for 4 years but never had a pair last a full season, I got 5 pairs replaced, no questions asked, in a 4 year time span. So in that sense - they lasted me 4 years, but no individual pair lasted me a full year. Super comfortable, easy to break in, but ultimately I wanted something more reliable and switched to Danner Grouse - After 1 year, I can tell you that this boot will last a lot longer than a pronghorn. With any Danner Boot, I've learned to look for ones that our "Made in America."
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Gave the Danner Grouse serious consideration, in fact they were in the final cut. Decided their weight was a negative, and having decades of Badlands hunting behind me knew that those aggressive soles would fill up with clay gumbo in wet conditions...
 
The water resistance is mostly obtained by the gore tex (or other brand) moisture barrier.

I train / run dogs most every morning right now. We all get pretty damp if not down right wet.
 
For pure comfort and mostly Grouse hunting I've had good luck with Under Armour. I have two pair but all their models look weird now and they seemed to have veered from hunting. Most of it labeled as tactical and black.
 
I've been trying to locate a pair of irish setter wingshooters to try on near me before pulling the trigger. It seems that the irish setter stuff is really hard to find in stock, especially in my size -maybe covid related ?? Anyway, its down to danner, IS wingshooters, or crispi(i tried them on yesterday at sheel's in Dallas-man o man, they were so dang comfortable and light).
Labs-my brother loves his sharptails. been wearing them for 5 seasonsso far and they arent showing too much wear. His keep him dry to a degree, after a few miles on a walk he claims his feet will get damp but his feet sweat too.
 
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Labs said:
Looking like early season in ND is going to be dry & warm/hot, so it was a good excuse to look for a new pair of boots. I had gotten a pair of Irish Setter Vapor Treks for this purpose a couple years back. Broke them in but didn't use them much until a few weeks ago when I wore them during the 2 day Badlands Classic 3D Shoot. This event is acknowledged as the most physically demanding shoot in ND every year. You can buy a shirt that says "I survived the Medora Shoot", and it's very appropriate. Over those 2 days I hiked around 6 miles shooting both the Standard and Extreme (set up courtesy of the sadists of the ND Chapter of the Back Country Hunters & Anglers, sometimes called the Bataan Death March) courses in some of the roughest country in ND. Those boots damned near crippled me, by the 12th target of the Extreme Course on day 2, I gave serious thought to taking them off and finishing the final mile & a half of the course barefooted. Took a week for my feet to stop hurting.

Researched, weighed reviews, looked at, and tried on every available option in uninsulated upland boots I could find. Cost didn't matter, my criteria was they had to be Gortex, relatively light weight, and work just as well for walking miles of cover & grasslands for roosters & sharps as forSept/Oct spot & stalk bowhunting mule deer out in the Badlands. I ultimately laid out the cash for a pair of Danner Pronghorns.

I wear 10.5D and found that size a bit tight in the Pronghorns so went with 10.5EE. After the first 3 mile test hike/conditioning walk for the Wrecking Crew, I found them comfortable with good ankle support, and with thick enough soles that I wasn't feeling every rock I stepped on (a failing I've found in most "lightweight" boots I've tried including those Vapor Treks). I found the factory foot beds didn't support my arches or cushion my heels enough so replaced them with Dr. Scholl's Heavy Duty Insoles. That took care of both problems.

They are breaking in well and get more comfortable every hike. I think they will prove to be a good choice, time will tell on how well they hold up...
Click to expand...
Had original Pronghorns. Bought them back in 2003, put them on and went elk hunting for a week. Got s a lot of great miles out of them. Bought a second pair years later, blew them out in a half day. Sent them back to Danner, they sent me an all leather replacement pair. Blew them out in an hour. Spent the extra money and bought Crispi Nevada’s. Much higher quality and I’ll never be without a pair of Nevada’s in the truck. Admittedly, I am not easy on boots but I am done shipping boots back for repairs.
 
Wanting to switch back and forth between 2 pairs of boots on a trip, I bought a pair of Danner Alsea boots to alternate with my Pronghorns. Should be here today. We’ll see
 
Bird_dogz said:
Had original Pronghorns. Bought them back in 2003, put them on and went elk hunting for a week. Got s a lot of great miles out of them. Bought a second pair years later, blew them out in a half day. Sent them back to Danner, they sent me an all leather replacement pair. Blew them out in an hour. Spent the extra money and bought Crispi Nevada’s. Much higher quality and I’ll never be without a pair of Nevada’s in the truck. Admittedly, I am not easy on boots but I am done shipping boots back for repairs.
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2 pairs of boots in a matter of hours? Lol
 
brown dog said:
2 pairs of boots in a matter of hours? Lol
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I had similar experience with the Pronghorns. The two bests for me are the Rocky outback's and the Irish setter elk hunters. The outback's are a good comfortable cheap boot. They brought back the plain toes that I prefer. Moc toes are ok but frost will get trapped on them and freeze your toes. The Elk Trackers are more of a mountain boot. Not cheap, but better ankle support. My Elk trackers ran small. I had them stretched and still have to wear thin socks.
 
birddude said:
I had similar experience with the Pronghorns. The two bests for me are the Rocky outback's and the Irish setter elk hunters. The outback's are a good comfortable cheap boot. They brought back the plain toes that I prefer. Moc toes are ok but frost will get trapped on them and freeze your toes. The Elk Trackers are more of a mountain boot. Not cheap, but better ankle support. My Elk trackers ran small. I had them stretched and still have to wear thin socks.
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2 pairs of boots in a matter of hours? I'm sorry, but I'm throwing the BS flag here. Any reputable boot company I do not believe this for a second. I've got over 100 miles on my pronghorns this year and they are flawless.
 
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