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It's the hunting trip of a lifetime - Driven Game in a German forest stuffed full of it.
You've got the rifle, the scope and the bullets.
For the first hour the adrenalin keeps you warm and focused.
Then it starts raining, even snowing, and you soon start feeling cold wet and miserable.
You lose focus, start moving, opportunities are lost and it's game over...
That is unless of course you choose your hunting wardrobe wisely.
So before we hit the high seat we're going behind the scenes of technical clothing guru
Gore-Tex.
Their world famous brand is used by athletes, climbers, bikers and of course shooters.
The Danish brand Harkila is leading the charge in technical hunting gear and its Pro Hunter
X collection is lined with the Gore-Tex membrane.
Harkila has agreed to lend Dom a suit to abuse in the laboratory - rain tower / storm cube
and of course the field.
We know the kit is good quality, but exactly why is it so expensive?
Feet first and we start with the Gore-Tex-lined Harkila boots.
They need to pass some pretty gruelling tests before they hit the market.
This is our equipment for testing the shoes.
Artificial feet which are flexible and have many water sensors on it.
With the help of them we can see if the shoe is leaking and in which direction, in which
area with the help of the screen you can see.
So each one of these dots represents a different sensor.
Right.
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This particular pair of boots how long are they in for and how many repetitions do they
have to go through to pass this test.
An hour of course and then for this test 200,000 of this movement for each shoe.
Always the pair and then when you have a distance it is more than 350 kilometres in the water.
It depends on the size of the person.
Those are some toe curling statistics - but hunters need to look after the extremities.
Although we're not stalking through the German forests this week, a soggy sock in freezing
temperatures is no laughing matter when you're stuck in a high seat.
To make doubly sure that the boot is water tight, they fill them with a litre and a half
of water - and stick them in a centrifuge to try and squeeze it from the inside out.
Now Stefan we have got the boots and they are now spinning at 250 revolutions per minutes,
how long do you leave them for this particular test?
The test needs half and hour, because with this you can see if the shoe is really waterproof.
It does it especially if you have a stiff hunting boot then it can take a little bit
more time for the water to come out when the shoe is leaking.
This allows it to soak through the layers so that if there is any leakage you will be
able to see it.
Right.
The loo roll test has been passed with flying colours.
The boots are watertight but what about the clothing?
It's time for the rain tower.
Dom has come up with a comparison test.
His hunting outfit from 2008 when David first filmed him boar shooting in the UK compared
to the Pro Hunter X outfit.
So here we are in the Gore Tex rain tower and this is basically a torture chamber for
Gore Tex fabrics.
It is basically designed to see just how waterproof stuff is.
We get an awful lot of garments in for test on the magazine and a lot of people say to
us it is too expensive it can't possibly be worth the money I can go and buy some army
surplus stuff for a few quid from the market it is good enough for the job.
We thought we would test that while we are here.
This outfit modelled by our friend and he is looking a lot trimmer than me these days.
This was probably the first outfit I wore when I first filmed with David on the Fieldsports
Channel.
It is my own boar hunting coat, camouflaged trousers.
It cost I think £20 or £30 and I used to think it was more than good enough for the
job.
I used to think you don't want to get your best clothes covered in mud and blood.
So we have rigged it up in here and what we are going to do is just see how waterproof
it is and see how long it lasts and to do that we need our
tame executioner, we are going to introduce you to Stefan.
Stefan you are driving the rain tower for us today.
Can you just explain to us in simple terms what it does.
The rain tower is a tool to test the performance of new prototypes before styles go into production.
We test them for construction and for manufacturing problems properly.
So it is designed to simulate all types of bad weather.
That is the basis of it.
It is a lab tool so we have certain types of rain.
We cannot do everything but we can do things that are quite close to reality.
Soon the jacket looks heavy and sodden.
To give it the full monty, Stefan gives it the motorbike nozzle.
This is after five minutes.
Five minutes of different kinds of rain.
So imagine you are walking and you sometimes are behind a bush and it is less and now it
is more, it is wind driven kind of this situation and you see here
It has gone right through hasn't it.
Yes, it is coming through the surface because there is no membrane
So basically you are going to have a fairly miserable day if you have a wet day hunting
in this.
Next we need to turn the hose on the Harkila.
So they said they wanted to test out the new Harkila Pro Hunter Ex clothing on a new dummy.
I didn't realise they meant me.
It is fair to say that if the weather was like this I would be thinking about going
home.
But the truth is that if you are out on the hill a three and half hike from home or your
vehicle you have just got to put up with it and that means your gear has got to put up
with it which means your gear has got to be good because at the end of the day if your
gear is soaking wet, you are freezing cold and miserable you are not going to be enjoying
your hunting, but it is even more serious than that, it is fine in a laboratory but
if you are cold and soaking wet a long way from home it can be the difference between
getting home or not getting home maybe not in our clement conditions in Britain, but
abroad where the weather gets very cold and it comes in really hard, the kind of gear
that keeps you warm and keeps you dry may save your life.
Dom does about 10 minutes in the chamber and is as dry as a crisp.
So the microphone is still working which I think is probably a very good.
I think the most important test is if you could just reach into my inside pocket and
check if my fags are dry.
Perfect
To assist the drying process we also stick Dom in the storm cube to see the benefits
of wind stopper.
So I am being subjected to up to 80 kilometre wind.
Really cold wind I can feel the chill on the back of my neck and anybody who has been out
in a strong cold wind when you get wet it can be absolutely debilitating.
The wind stopper fabric is not waterproof, but it instantly cuts that wind chill.
So when I am facing it soon as I take my hands out I can feel the chill.
I feel it on the back of my neck but none of it is getting through and robbing that
temperature from my body core.
The last part of the tour is the torture chambre where garments get chewed, twisted, stretched,
pricked and rubbed raw...
Michael Canderhead is the marketing manager for Gore-Tex.
He's also a hunter and appreciates the importance of good quality kit when stalking moose in
Sweden.
Hunting needs special performance in terms of quietness and ruggedness and durability.
So a lot of things which are special to hunting.
Even though you are walking, sitting and you are in different environments.
It could be cold, raining very tough conditions for hunting.
The breathability is very important isn't it.
It is all very well keeping the rain out, but if you are active and sweaty you can't
afford to be uncomfortable.
I think one of the most important things for hunting is to stay dry and warm, because if
you get wet you will get cold and then you will lose focus on the hunting and that will
not be as fun as it can be so I think it is also because hunters spend a lot of time and
money investing to pursue their passion they invest in rifles ammunition and scopes etc.
But I sometimes think that investment is worthless if you are getting cold.
How do you develop your working relationship with the brands such as Harkila?
We are mostly working together because they do the final garments and we do a part of
that but we also experience how to make those garments as waterproofs.
They bring in the knowledge about hunting.
So its the combination how we can make the best hunting garments out there.
Not all products described as waterproof are made equal.
There is a massive difference between them.
For somebody to be able to claim their product is waterproof what kind of water common pressure
does it need to be.
To claim to be waterproof it is 1.3 metres.
And what specification is your material?
Our specification is 28 metres of water.
People might not be able to grasp the concept of pressure - I don't.
So sitting down how much pressure am I exerting.
Sitting down the pressure would be around two metres of water column.
Two metres of water column.
So if I was kneeling it would be more because I have got more body weight on.
On a smaller surface.
Secure in the knowledge he's going to be dry and warm Dom arrives bright eyed and busy
tailed at the driven hunt.
The rules of engagement are explained as is the importance of not shooting one of the
working dogs.
There will be about 50 of them pushing through the forest with 25 beaters and 50 guns.
Safety is paramount and the lurid orange colours are even more important in what will be poor
visibility today.
It's not freezing but the windchill is a couple below.
In the UK we don't have any obligation to wear blaze orange for safety reasons but with
a driven hunt there are over 50 rifles on the ground today it is imperative you wear
safety colours.
You have to wear at least two pieces of blaze orange.
What I like about this, this is a Pro Hunter cap, nice forest green, flip it around you
still have all your waterproofing and insulation, but now you have got a blaze orange hat and
on the sleeves you have got little pockets and when you open them up there is a reflective
blaze orange high viz band which you simply loop round, with Velcro on.
So you are ready for a driven hunt.
So you don't need to pack an orange hat, you don't have to pack a tabard, or armbands or
anything like that.
Your day to day hunting gear has already got the functionality built in which I think is
a great idea.
The fog is proving problematic - when we do see movement Dom judges this roe to be a buck,
which is not allowed - erring on the side of caution is probably best to avoid upsetting
both the host and the bank manager.
The beaters come and go - the dogs suddenly firing up when they pick up a scent - this
time they're on the tail of red hind - Dom gets set for a shot but she's back end on
- which is a good job as moments later, appearing out of the fog, is the dog handler - right
in the line of fire.
It was just a good reminder that when you have got game everywhere, you have got dogs
everywhere or beaters everywhere you cannot be too careful because when she stopped if
she hadn't been back side on to us and she had been side on we would have taken a shot
and I would have been pretty much shooting at a beater.
Better to be safe than sorry, but it is action.
Hopefully we will see something else before the end of the drive.
We have got about half an hour left.
We haven't scored today but others have been more successful - reds, boar and a trophy
mouflon shot by Sporting Rifle's Pete Carr.
Day 2 presents a different field of view and a stumpy high seat.
As we're getting comfortable this roe doe has a quick look.
This is more like it.
Next is a boar - we get a glimpse of him on the ridge then he's charging past behind us
- Dom lets off a shot, but has to hold fire until it passes over the ride to give it a
second as a fellow hunter is just up the hill.
In replay you can see Dom's shot strike the edge of the tree.
I had to take a shot there as otherwise it wouldn't have been shootable with the track.
Snow begins to fall but it doesn't feel as cold as yesterday.
Next to appear is a roe doe with youngster in tow - she IS fair game but is skylined.
Luck is not with us - then we get a wounded charlie pass through - Dom chances a long
shot to sort it out - he hits it hard.
We've been in the seat for 4 hours - ears pricked, eyes peeled and concentration levels
at the best levels they could be thanks to clothing built for anything the environment
can through at us.
Always disappointed especially when we had an opportunity of a boar but that is hunting.
I would much rather hunt in an open forest and know the animals are wild and your chances
are a bit lower than in a fenced area where you are basically guaranteed the animals,
but it doesn't quite seem the same to me.
Take it for what it is and better luck next time.
Hunters invest in the best possible rifle, scope and binos - but clothing seems to be
the poor relation.
And yet if you're not comfortable - you won't be on top of your game.
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