Badlands Venture Jacket

[cuttiebrownbow]

I am not a fan of many high end hunting jackets when it comes to archery. Sitka Fanatic is the best IMO but the fit, lack of hood and camo pattern leaves something to be desired for me.

So I experiment and I think Badlands almost had a winner with the Venture Jacket. Waterproof, windproof, a bit of primaloft insulation, with a good design for rangefinder and grunt tube storage, versatile camo pattern for late season, hood, great fit, plus the ability to adjust the bulk of the arms to avoid string slap (already cut very well for shooting without that feature but a plus.)

One problem.... extremely noisy. Just raising you hand into shooting position creates a lot of noise. I didn't expect fleece level of quiet, I expected the outside to be a bit 'swooshy' when moving and it is - the level of swoosh is acceptable IMO - but the problem is the material, insulation and liner combine to be noisy to a point where there is no way I would feel comfortable drawing on a deer unless in very windy/rainy conditions.

If they could fix the noise problem they could really have a great jacket. I haven't decided if I will keep it as rain a late october/november archery rain jacket and rifle jacket or just return it. It is a shame really because if it were quiet I would have been happy and my search could have been over for a while.

Here is a link to the jacket: http://www.badlandspacks.com/venture-jacket-approach-1

Next option is I have an older jacket that is too bulky for archery and I may go get it altered to fit me perfectly.

 

[ledflight]

Thanks for this review on the noisiness.
Did you find a quiet windproof late season jacket? I have fleece Predator jacket that is silent but not windproof so am looking for a stickbow quiet late season outer layer.

 

[WhatToHunt]

Thanks for this review on the noisiness.
Did you find a quiet windproof late season jacket? I have fleece Predator jacket that is silent but not windproof so am looking for a stickbow quiet late season outer layer.

bkspyder, have you tried the Day One Camo stuff? I think you might have seen the one I was trying to sell, but I'm not here to push that. I just think their parka is the best. I have the windproof parka in a large size Cowboy Suede and it's perfect for me for layering in the Midwest for archery hunting. This year I've layered under it with two underwear tops, a fleece shirt, a puffy vest, and a puffy jacket, then the Day One parka. That was on a 2-degree morning. The windproof layer works fantastic and it is absolutely dead quiet, I'd recommend it to anyone. Gary does excellent work and is wonderful to work with. The parka might not be as sexy as the Sitka stuff, but I'm not concerned with looking good when it comes to making a shot count at close range. I badly wanted to like the Sitka Stratus jacket, but it just isn't designed for layering and it is not as quiet as the Day One parka. Frankly it's noisy compared to the parka. I know everyone has their favorites, but this is one I'd stand behind 100%.

 

[ledflight]

bkspyder, have you tried the Day One Camo stuff? I think you might have seen the one I was trying to sell, but I'm not here to push that. I just think their parka is the best. I have the windproof parka in a large size Cowboy Suede and it's perfect for me for layering in the Midwest for archery hunting. This year I've layered under it with two underwear tops, a fleece shirt, a puffy vest, and a puffy jacket, then the Day One parka. That was on a 2-degree morning. The windproof layer works fantastic and it is absolutely dead quiet, I'd recommend it to anyone. Gary does excellent work and is wonderful to work with. The parka might not be as sexy as the Sitka stuff, but I'm not concerned with looking good when it comes to making a shot count at close range. I badly wanted to like the Sitka Stratus jacket, but it just isn't designed for layering and it is not as quiet as the Day One parka. Frankly it's noisy compared to the parka. I know everyone has their favorites, but this is one I'd stand behind 100%.

Yes, I saw that, no problem for bringing it up, DayOne has been in my radar. I was probably going to wait out the season but I have also seen some sales popping up and to be honest I can hunt whitetail through January so why wait?
What dimensions are you? Does it have a pass through for a harness attachment?
The microFleece predator and the ASAT Ultimate Jacket both have that. Seems like the microFleece would be warm and enough (and winfproof enogh) though not sure about the ASAT one.

 

[WhatToHunt]

Yes, I saw that, no problem for bringing it up, DayOne has been in my radar. I was probably going to wait out the season but I have also seen some sales popping up and to be honest I can hunt whitetail through January so why wait?
What dimensions are you? Does it have a pass through for a harness attachment?
The microFleece predator and the ASAT Ultimate Jacket both have that. Seems like the microFleece would be warm and enough (and winfproof enogh) though not sure about the ASAT one.

Why wait indeed!
I'm 5'10" around 165-170. The medium is nice if you don't want to layer, but I needed the large to layer, super important when it can get so cold. I don't see any options on their website for harness pass-through. I usually just pull it thru the neck old-school style. Although my dad has one as well and may try to make a custom pass-through.

 

[ledflight]

Hah, indeed. We're very similar in size, so that it is tight to layer under would apply to me too and I'm looking for something I could finish out the winter with.

 

[WhatToHunt]

Hah, indeed. We're very similar in size, so that it is tight to layer under would apply to me too and I'm looking for something I could finish out the winter with.

Go with the large. You won't regret it!

 

[cuttiebrownbow]

I just ended up layering my catalyst with an uncompaghre jacket, uncompaghre vest, kiln crew and Klamath hoody for my coldest days sitting this year. I was comfortable down until 20 degrees or so for a a 1/2 day sit.

Catalyst is fairly quiet, not dead quiet, but quiet enough.

Still on the search.

In other news the venture jacket has proven to be a great rifle season jacket. Just my kiln, Klamath and venture jacket have been great so far this year. I was able to leave my uncompaghre at home and just brought the vest for the coldest days when I knew I was going to spend most of my day sitting and glassing.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LostArra]

Pardon the hijack but my adult daughter has a Fanatic jacket and it has a hood. Is it just on the women's jacket?

Also, with the right layers my old Cabelas Wooltimate jacket has been good into single digits and quiet. It's about the only Cabelas item I would ever recommend.