The CANIS Pamir Insulation Jacket and Nunavut Rain Jacket and Pants were the ideal layers for a hard mountain hunt.
Photo above: The author wore the Pamir Insulation Jacket from CANIS every day on his hunt in Kazakhstan. This lightweight, packable puffy works well under an outer layer or on its own.
Last fall I hunted maral stag and ibex in the high, rugged mountains of Kazakhstan’s Tian Shan range. Serious prep for this trip started twelve months out, and every item of gear had to be carefully considered. The entire hunt was spent on horseback or on foot, and every night was spent in a tent. It was not a hunt where you could easily dry out your clothes in the evenings. Besides keeping me warm and dry, it was crucial that every item I took on this trip be both lightweight and bombproof.
In preparation for the trip, I spent some time in the CANIS booth at the DSC convention, where they showed me their layering system. I was impressed with the practicality, light weight, and quality of the workmanship, so I ordered a Pamir Insulation Jacket and a Nunavut Rain Jacket with a matching pair of Nunavut Rain Pants. The real test of this gear, of course, would be in the field.
The total trip was eighteen hunting days during which I undertook two separate hunts, one for ibex and another for maral stag, the Asian variety of the American elk. Typical variable fall mountain weather was encountered: snow, heavy winds, heavy rain showers, and sometimes very warm periods around midday. Every morning the guides and I got up around 4 am and went to bed between 7 and 8 pm; six or seven hours a day was spent on horses pushing through pine forests and willow-choked creek bottoms. I lost count of how many times my clothing and backpack snagged on branches as we rode.
For nearly three weeks, the CANIS gear got its workout on a real mountain hunt and passed with flying colors. I lived in it and only took it off when I went to bed. Actually, one night it got so cold that I got up and put on the Pamir Insulation Jacket, put up the hood, crawled back into the sleeping bag, and slept like a warm bug in a rug! I had the Nunavut Rain Gear with me every day, and if I was not wearing it straight out of camp, it was tied on the horse or stashed in my backpack.
Let’s discuss the rain gear first. The fabric of both the jacket and the pants is a three-layer design with the pants having Kevlar-reinforced knee patches for kneeling or crawling in rough terrain. Taking the jacket and pants on and off was a daily event in the ever-changing weather conditions, and each leg of the pants has full-length, three-headed zippers, enabling me to do this easily while keeping my boots on. Two large pockets in the pants allowed me to carry everything I needed. The rain jacket has no fewer than seven pockets, including two lower hand-warming pockets, double breast pockets, two upper sleeve pockets, and an interior pocket–more storage than the Russian Army needs! The hood zips close around the face and is adjustable. Both the pants and the jacket are very quiet, comfortably stretchy, and resistant to rips. All seams are sealed and the gear is completely waterproof but also breathable.
I wore the Pamir Insulation Jacket day and night, both under the Nunavut Rain Jacket and on its own. Filled with a water-repelling, quick-drying synthetic insulation called Climashield APEX, the jacket is very warm while still being light and packable. It has five pockets, including an interior chest pocket for important papers, fleece-lined wrists and collar, and a snug, adjustable hood. Like the rain gear, this jacket is very rip-resistant.
High-tech, quality clothing like this is not inexpensive, but on a hunt where you depend on your clothing to keep you from being miserable, it’s not just a bargain but worth its weight in gold. Every ounce you carry on a tough mountain hunt has to count, and not only did this clothing keep me dry as a cork during the entire trip, all three pieces, together, weighed just three pounds! If you’re looking for gear that not only performs well but stands up to the rigors of a tough hunt, the lightweight, high-tech clothing from CANIS fits the bill. Learn more at canisathlete.com.
