It took quite a bit of time to finally pull the trigger on a piece of Sitka Gear. It wasn’t that I doubted the worth associated with the price tag… it was my reluctance to drop over $250+ on a jacket for a sport that I haven’t determined I even enjoy yet. However, I’m a gear-hound at heart and a sucker for anything shiny, fast, or expensive. So, after spending many weeks searching for the best possible deal and many times filling my cart but closing my browser when it came time to click that Place Order button, I finally did it.

I found a good deal through high-mountain-outfitters on a Jetstream Jacket in Open Country Optifade ($260 marked down from $330). It took me some deciding to go with the Optifade Open Country pattern too. I am in New England and know that the majority of New England hunting is relegated to the tree-stand, so the Optifade Forest pattern was the likely choice. But, seeing the aim of the Forest pattern line – which promotes stationary warmth over heat-generating mobility, I went with the Open Country. It’s still effective in a tree-stand, camouflage-wise, just not optimized as the Forest is. And although the majority of the Open Country series is designed for steep ascents and to shed heat and sweat quickly (not exactly New England deer country) – I can make it pull double-duty as a dependable soft shell for hiking. I may be a bit colder in a tree stand, but that can be remedied with better layering. I’d rather have to the freedom to regulate my body temperature than be stuck in a hot parka that won’t breathe.

Initial impressions of the Jetstream jacket showed me that a lot of thought and function-testing went into the design. It is tailored in such a way that maintains the maximum range of motion while still keeping my ass protected from the elements. Just looking at it, there is stitching and seams running at seemingly odd angles, but when I put it on, I quickly saw that every seam and line are carefully placed. For instance, on the sleeve, you don’t get just the one long seam running the length of the arm, joining the fabric at one point the entire length. Instead, I have a seam that comes to the elbow, then splits into two more along the forearm, which keeps the elbow from bunching up too much. The result is a jacket that doesn’t get in the way when scrambling over rocks, scooting around pines, and most importantly, drawing a bow.
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