Gear Review - Croakies Belts
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Believe it or not, your belt is an extremely important piece of your hunting wardrobe you don't want to overlook. As a matter of fact, several belts from Croakies saved me and my partner’s backpack elk hunt last year. We had been training religiously leading up to the hunt. One guy lost 30 lbs to give you an idea of the effort that had been put into preparing for this. After 2 days of hard scouting, we all probably dropped a few more lbs and we were getting ready to head into the bush for a full week. There we would likely drop another 5-10 lbs over the duration.
What we hadn't banked on was our waistlines shrinking and our old standby leather belts couldn't adjust tight enough and seemed to keep stretching. By the time we were done with our recon efforts, no one could keep their pants up. The night before we were to pack in we strolled into the only small sporting goods store for hours to pick up some gloves for one of the guys. Well, the place didn't have gloves (what kind of sporting goods store doesn't have gloves?!?!?) but they had a rack of Croakies belts. Needless to say, we all picked one up and it performed flawlessly for the remainder of the hunt.
These belts from Croakies are perfect for the backwoods hunter. I can personally attest to the fact that mine survived a week in the Rockies and still looks and performs like brand new. The woven belt will not stretch over the course of your hunt (even if wet) to ensure your pants stay on your waist. The Artisan belts start out long enough to cover a 42" waist but are cut to fit so you can set your length exactly where you need it. There are no holes to limit you on adjustability so you can continue to cinch down until you've got all that meat back to the truck. As you can see from the picture below the belt is supporting a 60 lb bag of sand so the buckle will keep the belt in the position that you set it at.
This is a must for the active hunter unless you enjoy continually tugging on the belt to keep it tight. Below was the setup I used for a portion of the hunt and the belt performed flawlessly at handling my accessories while keeping my pants in place. When performing this review I received a copy of Croakies belt catalog and was blown away by the number of designs they offer. The camo pattern is that of my original belt mentioned at the beginning of the post and the other two I chose from the catalog. The deer and tracks are a subtle way to display my hunting heritage and I couldn't pass up the aspen pattern since it reminded me so much of being in the mountains chasing elk. The kicker with this particular buckle is that it also doubles as a bottle opener!
These belts have you covered during the hunt and for the post-hunt celebration as well! Another plus for the Artisan belts is that they are designed and assembled right here in the good ole USA! In summary, Croakies have provided you with a fantastic accessory to your hunting garb that you do not want to go without. It does exactly what it is supposed to, looks great, is durable, and will open your beer for you. Not sure what else you could ask for!!
(Disclaimer: I received the two non-camo belts at no charge from Croakies. I really did purchase the camo belt during an elk hunt last year. I reached out to Croakies because their products truly performed for me on a hunt and I wanted to share that with you guys. I receive no financial compensation if you choose to purchase one of these belts. However, your pants will remain at waist level if you do choose to make the purchase.)
