Aglet— very few people know what this word means… with the possible exception of Doc Martin and Tom McCann despite the fact that most of us touch them every day; and many swear at them quite often. An Aglet is that little plastic or metal tip on the end of your boot laces. When they stay ‘pointy’ they make lacing up easy. But, when they are frayed and twice their normal diameter– you can’t get the damned end into the hole so you can tighten up your laces. And when they come undone during a hunt these tips get trod upon and ‘fuzzed out’, leading to a whole list of problems beyond getting the end back into the hole… and these problems can ruin everything for you…that little Aglet can be a JERK!
Hunters have a unique situation in that the stresses on laced footwear are far more formidable than almost all other sports. Notwithstanding the ambient conditions of wet, mud, dust, rain and snow; the angles of hiking up and down steep hills, over rocks and timber blow-down and thick brush place constant flex and strain upon the ankle quarter where it bends and the shaft and tongue bellows that hold above. And everything is supposed to be held firmly in place: but quite often it is NOT.
Loosened or untied laces force calves, ankles and feet to work logarithmically harder and in this unstable environment the best you can expect is chaffing and blisters and the worst; a strained or broken ankle of foot. “And there goes your hunting season!” Some boot or shoe laces hold a knot well…but in my experience those are few and far between. Over the past 60 years of hunting I have hiked tens of thousands of miles in rough country and the consistency of having to relace boots numerous times each day was not just an actuality…it was a necessity.
Recently I have been posted a most simple product that has solved this dilemma. LaceLocker is really nothing more than a nicely designed cut piece of folded durable material with strategically placed ‘hook and loop’ (Velcro) fasteners. A simple design which works to stop what can end up a very serious problem. One tab on the LaceLocker is slid behind your loose boot or shoe laces and it holds itself in place with hook and loop fastener when folded closed. You then tighten up your laces and tie a single knot and lay the loose ends down the middle and fold the two flaps over them. These flaps firmly fasten tightly together with the hook and loop fastener and maintain your laces in place: keeping the knot tight and your foot and ankle held securely. This fix is simple and really effective. The only time you may find a need to retie your laces during the day may be if foot moisture allows the material of the boot to stretch—but science has yet to come up with a correction for that human condition.
LaceLocker.com has more than two dozen styles of product to fit every person’s fashion sense for $7.95. The black with reflected lettering for a couple bucks more can make it easier for a tired hunter with his small flashlight to locate his boots in the dark of an early morning tent. These LaceLockers are small but do a big job well.
For more please go to: LaceLocker
For more please go to: Frank Medicine Wolf Springer
