instead of Uggs, mukluk boots

[shootingstar]

If I had more money, I would lust after...a beautiful pair of mukluks.

I've always wondered how suede-like leather would hold up in slushy snow. Some of those designs are so lovely. The snow in our region does tend to be drier..but not all the time. But there's a pair that full leather grain. And they are lined for warmth. I would wear a dress coat to work with that too... (Really, I'm past walking with stylish higher boot heel in the winter among rocky ice and snow.)
And I didn't need to look to an off-shore company, for unique winter boots....
http://store.manitobah.ca/collections/mukluks

[TrekDianna]

Oh, how awful. Real fur. It looks much better on the animals.

[rebeccaC]

Oh, how awful. Real fur. It looks much better on the animals.

with so many animal free boots and shoes available now there isn't really a need to be personally part of animal cruelty.

[OakLeaf]

Whoa. I don't participate in the "what did you eat" threads ... is there that level of judgmentalism there, too, against those who eat meat and/or dairy products?!

If it makes a difference, according to the website, the furs and leathers are all byproduct. http://www.manitobah.ca/faq.php

[Owlie]

Whoa. I don't participate in the "what did you eat" threads ... is there that level of judgmentalism there, too, against those who eat meat and/or dairy products?!

I think it's less the shearling and more "fur from cute, non-domestic animals"

[shootingstar]

I really hope some people if you feel so strongly then write to the manufacturer --- it's in northern Manitoba...and they hire aboriginal artists for some of their designs.

Yup, I eat meat several times per month. I've never been vegetarian. I could be if I couldn't have meat for whatever reason. But I haven't done it.

I like finished leather hide shoes..particularily for dress shoes. My feet feels the difference in how leather shapes properly around the foot.

[OakLeaf]

I think it's less the shearling and more "fur from cute, non-domestic animals"

And the convenient forgetting of what happens to animals when you buy petroleum-derived clothing.

[Owlie]

And the convenient forgetting of what happens to animals when you buy petroleum-derived clothing.

Well, yes.

On the other hand, it's much harder to throw fur in the washing machine...

For shoes, leather all the way. There's a reason it's still being used. The fur...well, I dunno. If it's byproduct, and someone's eating the rabbit, I'm okay with it. Same with any hide or fur, really.

[shootingstar]

Hey, Oak good point but where I live..in a province that is so frickin' tied/in bed with to the oil production (which include tar sands), I probably wouldn't overfocus on that line of argument in my part of country....Alberta is also Canada's biggest beef producer. Lots of beef/large steak eaters in our area of country.

Not that I consider myself part of the pack..when I lived in Ontario for several decades of life plus B.C. where fish and seafood are plentiful.

There are limits for me..I was a bit horrified that sport fishing includes catching and throwing the fish back into water. Really? The fish is already hurt..and probably won't survive well thereafter.

When my present boss blithely told us and loud enough for other employees to hear, that her hubby taught her daughter how to shoot deer. They go on hunting trips --father-daughter. I really didn't want to hear that..she (boss) is born, grown up and lived in Alberta all her life. They do um...eat the deer.

But I honestly don't agree with urban folks hunting deer --as a sport. Better way up northern Canada, where it's so frickin' expensive to get fresh food. I hope people understand how flippin' expensive it is to have fresh veggies and fruits, shipped in the far Arctic. So people do have to hunt animals there.

Off topic: I have NEVER thrown shoes into the washing machine. I think the thought never entered my mother's head. I'm trying to envision washing running shoes for her 6 children in washing machine. Just after aload of sheets and cloth diapers? (Seriously?) We put the shoes in a bucket of water. But then we rarely washed shoes. We never walked around inside house with outdoor shoes. (And I ask guests to take off their shoes in our home.)

[lph]

Just curious - why do you have a problem with someone hunting for sport if they actually eat the meat? If you eat meat yourself (and I do, too, don't get me wrong) you "hunt" too, you just don't actually hold the gun. And especially if you eat regular chicken or pork, the total suffering involved is significantly higher in store-bought meat - in my opinion.

I don't hunt myself, but I try to buy game whenever I can, sometimes in stores, sometimes from colleagues who hunt deer and moose.

[shootingstar]

I seriously wonder how much people from big cities hunt...meanwhile with their gun collections.... (which shockingly was revealed after we had a river flood. The amount of guns kept for safety by the police when people were evacuated from a town south of our city. Not far from us.)

Lph, the issue of gun ownership and hunting is abit tied to my tendencies for gun control. If it's difficult and expensive to get the food, then hunting, fishing can be viable.

[lph]

I get the gun control bit. Gun ownership here is mainly hunting rifles and strictly controlled, hand guns are very rare. There's a strong traditional component to hunting here, to the extent that some rural counties will postpone all administrative meetings in September until after moose hunting season :-) And quite a few urbanites who have grown up in rural places will go home to hunt in the fall.

[ride4fun]

I hunt and I ride a bike, in fact we just bought Fat Bike's to help get us into hunting areas and pack out any game we get.
Sorry ,no wait I am not sorry I hunt for my food I am sorry other people get so worked up over someone else style of living or eating. LOL
Hunting and hunters do a lot for conservation.
I find the subject of hunting and fishing much like the debate of the best bike to ride. If you like it , it's legal and it works for you do it.
I would have a very hard time giving up my biking or my hunting and to be able to combine the two is great, I think we need to be carful about finger pointing over such things.

[Irulan]

.I was a bit horrified that sport fishing includes catching and throwing the fish back into water. Really? The fish is already hurt..and probably won't survive well thereafter.

An astute fisherman knows how to catch and release properly. You use a barbless hook, that is easily removed and then there a technique to place them back into the water with a minimum of shock. True sportsmen/women don't waste animals. Some people might be surprised to know how much conservation work and habitat/ecosystem work is done by hunters.
Sure there are unsportsmanlike like sportsmen/women out there - every subset of humanity has the good and bad guys. I wonder how many of you "oh don't kill the poor things" people actually know hunters who feed their families with the game they kill? Or know hunters than contribute time and money to conservation and habitat protection? Have ever seen how much work it is to hunt? Seen a bow hunter in action (amazing patience and skill - this is a real art) In the case of the mukluks, most native peoples have a hunting tradition that goes back thousands of years. Are you going to deny them their heritage? In the meantime, feral deer are overrunning my neighborhood. They are starving due to overpopulation.They get hit by cars all the time, eat everything in the front yard, obstruct traffic by standing in the road - and I live in the city. I only wish my bow hunting neighbor could take a few of them out.

[Irulan]

ride4fun,
When I first moved to the rocky mtns from California waaaay back in my errant youth, I was a naive young hippy. We moved to Wyoming, where my landlord there was rancher and elk hunter. I learned from him just how much conservation work hunters do, and what good stewards of the land most hunters are - and it blew my mind, in a good way. I had no idea.