Minimalist footwear for hunting

[Cameron.25]

While I can't say barefoot shoes will fix your problems, I can say they have helped me immensely as well. Since switching to a barefoot style shoe, my feet, ankles and lower legs have gained a lot of strength, on top of that my joints don't take the beating they used to due to knowing I need to cushion myself using my muscles, not joints. I regularly run trails in minimal shoes, but do switch to a stiffer boot when I hit serious terrain when backpacking. Makes it feel like cheating when I strap those boots on. I'd love to give trail runners a go, but I like waterproof, I like stiff for hills, to be able to dig in or side hill for days without killing my muscles, and I don't want to tear up a new pair of trail runners every trip I go on. That said if I were doing an on trail mostly trip I'd undoubtably choose a trail runner.

I run single track trails, often into the double digits, in my inov 8 shoes. Only time I'm in supportive shoes is when I'm backpacking off trail, or at work.

I too have drooled over the russels, I have handled their boots and they are built very well. Someday I'll get a pair.

Get the russels if you havent already, you wont regret it

 

[Cameron.25]

That is a good question. My opinion is that it is driven by our culture of wearing modern footwear. From a very early age, we start putting our feet into shoes with elevated heels, pronounced hard plastic arches, and toe boxes or footwear shape that conform the shape of our feet. By the time we reach adulthood, our feet have been shaped by 20 plus years of modern footwear, hence the need at that point for support. If you google "native feet" and look at images, its crazy to see what people's feet look like that have never wore shoes. Their feet look way more "monkey" looking for lack of a better term. The toes splay out, creating a wide and stable base, their feet are operating the way nature intended really.

Ive been wearing minimalist shoes and russel moccasins for a few years now and my toes are noticeably more spread out and dont really touch eachother anymore when barefoot, they used to look all crammed together. I cringe at the thought of putting on a dress shoe or regular boots now lol. My feet feel much better these days and i feel like my strength and balance has improved significantly. My entire family has switched over to barefoot style shoes and they all love them, even my 78 year old dad lol