Well, the last major portion of Girlie Bear’s hunting clothes arrived today.

Since she’s never been hunting before, I didn’t want to drop $200+ on camouflage for her. At the same time, I didn’t want her to go out to the woods in jeans and a sweater. I wanted her to feel that she had something just for her.

So the Irish Woman and I went out to the Dead Zoo last weekend to look around. They’re having a big sale, but sale is a relative term at Bass Pro. Most everything was still too rich for my blood. We did find a mesh leaf suit that was reasonably priced, which would have worked for the fall and then would have made an outer layer on top of warm clothing. It was $50, so I set that as my upper limit for clothes.

I spent a day or two going over the surplus sites on the Internet, and I was able to outfit her for less than just the cost of that leaf suit.

I got her a set of surplus Italian camouflage coveralls from Sportsmans Guide – $20.

I got her a surplus Swiss camouflage poncho for the inevitable rain – $5.

I got her a set of surplus West German lined mittens – $4.

I got her a surplus East German knapsack – $3.

I got the last 3 items from Centerfire Systems.

So, my little girl will be heading out to the woods with Italian coveralls, a Swiss poncho, and German mittens and backback. Heck, she’s NATO in the Bluegrass.

She already owns a good set of hiking boots. All I need to get her is an orange hat and vest, some long underwear, a neck gator, and a couple pairs of warm socks.

I’m quite proud of myself, and Girlie Bear is tickled to have stuff like this all her own. What the heck, I got a kick out of wearing old military stuff when I was her age. And if she decides she doesn’t enjoy hunting all that much, I’m not out that much money. I’ll just put it up for Baby Bear.