Some kit you tolerate. Some kit you quietly retire. A very small amount becomes so much part of your working uniform that you only really notice it when it is missing. After more than a year of hard use, the Harkila Pro HWS gaiters sit firmly in that last category for me.
This is not a sponsored review. I paid for them. They have lived on my legs over well used Lowa boots on open marsh in the Norfolk Broads, on thick Sussex bracken banks, in extraction runs through tangled woodland and on more anonymous outings than I can remember. They have also gone through the washing machine almost weekly, followed by Nikwax reproofing. None of this is gentle.
On paper, Harkila present the Pro HWS gaiters as hardwearing, waterproof, windproof and quiet, built from tough polyamide canvas with their Härkila Weather System membrane inside. The design is straightforward and sensible: a full length front YKK zip with a Velcro storm flap, press-studs at top and bottom, a drawcord at the calf, elastic at the ankle, a rubber under boot strap and a simple lace hook to anchor them to the boot. There is nothing especially clever in that list. What matters is how those parts have held up in real work.
Over the past year there have been stretches where the gaiters have been on almost every day. They have been dragged through dense bracken, slapped against brash and wire, scraped over flint and rooted rides. They have taken repeated soakings in wet grass and standing water, then sat in a vehicle before being stripped off and washed. They have been covered in blood and gralloch on grubbier evenings. At this point, lesser gaiters would usually be split, stiff or quietly retired.
These are not. The fabric is still sound. The stitching is intact. The Harkila Pro HWS gaiters still feel like a single piece of kit rather than a collection of weak points waiting to fail. The YKK zip is as good as new. It runs smoothly from top to bottom without snagging, it has not lost teeth, and it has not started to open under tension. The Velcro backing still bites properly. The poppers at the top and bottom close with the same resistance they had out of the packet and, despite regular abuse, have not torn away from the stitching. The plastic stiffener and fittings around the under boot strap have not stretched, warped or loosened. They hold the strap at the setting I want and keep it there.
The rubber under boot strap now shows honest wear. It would be strange if it did not, given the virtual marathons of distance it has covered over stone, flint, grit and tracks. But the wear is exactly that: honest. It has not snapped, and it has not stretched to the point of being useless. Considering the mileage, I cannot fault it.
Fit is uneventful, which is what you want. Over Lowa boots the Harkila gaiters sit where they should. The top drawcord allows you to snug them to the calf without cutting off circulation. The elastic at the ankle keeps the lower section tidy so it does not balloon or snag. The rubber strap and lace hook keep everything seated over the boot tongue, even when you are side hilling, climbing in and out of vehicles or hauling a carcass. Once they are on and adjusted, they stay put. They do not twist, sag or demand attention halfway through a stalk. They simply disappear into the background of the job.
On the waterproofing side, the HWS membrane and heavy outer have performed as claimed. Walk through long, saturated grass or across shallow standing water and you finish with dry lower legs and dry boot tops. Any dampness you feel after a long push is clearly from sweat, not seepage. In wind, particularly on more exposed ground, the gaiters cut the chill you get when wet trousers and bare boot tops wick cold into your shins. Breathability is never perfect in any waterproof system. If you drive yourself hard uphill in warm weather, you will notice it. But compared with other gaiters I have owned, the Harkila Pro HWS gaiters sit towards the top of the pile. The more important point is that regular machine washing and reproofing have not turned them into stiff, cracked tubes. The canvas remains supple. The membrane still behaves like a proper weather barrier rather than a plastic bag.
Deer work is inherently messy. Blood, stomach content, mud, slurry, crop residues and everything else that collects at shin height are part of the trade. The treated outer of these Harkila gaiters has coped well with all of it. A surprising amount simply wipes off or rinses away. What remains has washed out cleanly. There are no permanent dark stains burned into the fabric, no obvious perishing where harsher substances have sat for a while before being dealt with. That matters for hygiene, for your own comfort and for how you look when you turn up on a new estate. Repeatedly arriving in kit that can be brought back to a presentable state, despite what it went through the night before, is not trivial.
There is also a quieter link back to the core of the job. If you are soaked through from the knee down, freezing and being chewed by ticks, your patience shortens and your judgement suffers. In professional deer management that is not a cosmetic issue; it feeds directly into how you move, what shots you take and how long you are willing to sit things out.
Decent gaiters will not make you a better stalker, but they help keep you in a state where you can be one.
Ticks are another part of the calculation. I have been ill with Lyme disease last year (2025). I work in areas where ticks are not an abstract risk but a daily reality, particularly in bracken and rough pasture. No pair of gaiters can promise to prevent Lyme and anyone who suggests otherwise is either naïve or selling something. What they can do is reduce easy access points. The Harkila Pro HWS gaiters put a smooth, sealed barrier exactly where a lot of ticks first make contact: boot tops, socks, trouser cuffs. Combined with sensible trousers, repellent where appropriate and a proper habit of checking yourself, that extra layer does make a difference. I am certain that without a robust pair of gaiters I would have collected more bites at low level than I did. When you weigh that against the cost of Lyme, it becomes relevant.
Noise is worth mentioning. Harkila sell the Pro HWS as quiet gaiters. In use they have been. The canvas outer does not crackle or rasp the way some cheaper waterproof fabrics do. When you are closing the last yards in cover, any sound tends to come from what you step on rather than from your shins rubbing together. It sounds like a small detail until the day noisy kit blows a stalk. Here, they simply do not draw attention to themselves.
That brings us to cost. On the shelf, Harkila Pro HWS gaiters are not cheap. If you judge them in isolation, at the till, they can feel like an indulgence. Over time the picture changes.
They have been used heavily, in some periods almost daily. They have protected trousers and boots from constant soaking and abrasion. They have stood up to weekly washing and reproofing. They have helped manage exposure to blood, muck and ticks. The YKK zip, plastic components and poppers are all still doing their job. The rubber strap has worn in line with the mileage rather than failing prematurely. If you divide the purchase price by the number of outings and by the clothing and boot life they have protected, the cost per day is now negligible.
If you stalk occasionally on dry, easy ground, you may not need this level of gaiter. A cheaper pair will probably do. If you earn your living outside in all weathers and across varied terrain, the calculation is different. In that context, the Harkila Pro HWS gaiters stop looking like a luxury and start looking like a sensible working tool.
My own conclusion, after a year of abuse, is straightforward. The Harkila Pro HWS gaiters have earned their place. They keep water, filth and a proportion of ticks off my legs and out of my boots. They have survived a level of use that has finished other gaiters. They still look and function like serious kit. For me, that justifies the cost. Whether they are worth it for you will depend on your ground, your mileage and your tolerance for wet, cold and parasites. Look at your own work, weigh this experience against your needs, and judge for yourself.
If you are interested in Harkila kit, you can click here which will take you to their Amazon store.
If you would like us to field test your equipment in real deer management conditions, please feel free to get in touch.
