SITKA Gear is well known for making technical hunting apparel for demanding hunters who are willing to pay a premium price for premium gear. The company debuted its waterfowl gear several years ago, with one glaring omission: there were no waders in the line. This year, at the 2018 SHOT Show, SITKA announced that after years of research and development, this hole has finally been filled.
SITKA’s new Delta Waders and Delta Zip Waders are designed around one basic premise: Durable, quality waders shouldn’t be miserable to wear. They feature 4-layer GORE-TEX laminate, so they’re waterproof while still being breathable. They’re incredibly light and made to work with SITKA’s layering system, so they’ll take you from warm early teal season through the coldest days in January. SITKA has partnered with Lacrosse to make the boot of the wader — it uses Lacrosse’s Aerofoam injection-molded insulation for comfort and warmth (about the equivalent of 1500 grams of insulation).
As usual when it comes to SITKA, it seems they’ve thought of everything. The simple straps are easy to adjust and cinch the top of the waders naturally at your back, taking up some of the slack to avoid floppy extra fabric at your chest. The belt buckles are designed not to slip out of the loops — no more 3 a.m. “where’d my belt go?” frustration. Knee pads extend down the shins to protect your kneecaps (and the fabric) when you’re kneeling. A D-ring on the belt gives you a place to clip your carabiners. Water-resistant zippered storage pockets give you a place to keep your cell phone or your granola bars.
These waders are made for serious use, designed to keep you comfortable under exertion — when you’re hiking after that long bird or struggling your way through the timber before you get settled in to hunt. Though you’ll find them durable, no waders are bombproof, so SITKA offers service on the Delta line — just send them in and they’ll fix any holes or repair anything that’s gone wrong. They’ll even do a sort of maintenance checkup on them before the season starts, if you like. The service isn’t free, but it’ll be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new pair of waders every couple of seasons because they’ve sprung a leak again.
To go along with the “waders shouldn’t have to be uncomfortable” theme of this line, SITKA is offering the waders in unique sizing options. Boot sizes go from 8 to 13, and you also order based on your height and chest/waist measurements: small, medium short, medium, large short, large, large tall, XL short, XL , XL tall, 2XL and 3XL. They come in two camo patterns — Optifade Concealment Timber and Optifade Marsh — and should be ready to ship by July in plenty of time for the 2018 waterfowl season.
Now to answer the question you’ve had since you started reading this article: How much? The zippered version will run you $950 MSRP, and the non-zippered version is $850. Yeah, that’s a lot for waders. They won’t be for everyone. But a truly comfortable and serviceable wader will definitely be worth the price for many hard-core waterfowlers.
Opening photo courtesy of Backbone Media.
