About Bog & Briar

Who writes this

Bog & Briar is written and edited by Mike M., the hands-on owner behind Iron Mako Media. Every page carries his byline, and the Person markup in the page source names the same author - the visible page and the machine-readable page agree about who wrote it.

We are going to be unusually plain about what that byline does and does not mean. Mike is not a certified guide, a wildlife biologist, a bootmaker or a materials engineer, and we will never imply otherwise. Those credentials are easy to claim on the internet and trivially falsifiable, and a site that invents them has told you something important about itself on page one.

What he is: someone who has spent his own money on boots that did not solve the problem, which is the reason this site is organized the way it is.

What we actually do

• Read specifications carefully and cite them. Insulation grams against temperature and activity level, shaft height against the water you actually walk through, snake-guard coverage against where bites occur. Most of the value on this site is in taking published figures seriously and saying whose figures they are.
• Pull live prices. Every price comes from a live Amazon data feed with the date it was verified, and it expires on its own if the feed stops.
• Apply one published rubric across 93 products, so scores are comparable rather than vibes. See our methodology.
• Say when a figure is missing. A surprising number of boot listings omit the insulation rating, the shaft height or the coverage claim. Our tables say “Not published by manufacturer” rather than carrying an estimate.
• Tell you to buy less. Several pages here conclude that you should buy gaiters instead of boots, socks instead of a warmer boot, or nothing at all. We earn a commission either way, which is exactly why we can.

What we never claim

This list matters more than the one above, because nearly every item on it is something a competitor in this niche actually claims:

• No testing we did not do. No thermal chamber, no measured insulation performance, no snake-bite penetration testing, no “three months in the field.”
• No first-hand product anecdotes we cannot stand behind. We will not tell you a specific boot failed on us in Iowa if it did not.
• No team. There is one person. No “our panel of testers,” no “our gear lab.”
• No credentials, awards or press mentions. None are claimed because none exist.
• No reviews or testimonials. We have no first-party reviews, so there is no testimonials section anywhere on this site and no star ratings in our structured data.
• No boot is bite-proof. On every snake-boot page, the protection claim is the manufacturer’s and we say so each time.

What the site covers

96 pages across 8 sections, each one a problem rather than a product category:

• Cold Weather Boots — your feet went numb and you climbed down early
• Rubber Boots — you flooded your boots walking into the timber
• Snake Boots — you hunt where the rattlesnakes are
• Boot Fit & Sizing — they hurt, or you do not know what size to order
• Hunting Socks — good boots, still cold or sweaty feet
• Dryers & Boot Care — your boots are still wet tomorrow morning
• Brands — you want to know whether this maker is right for you
• Gifts — you are buying for a hunter and you are not one

Who publishes it

Bog & Briar is published by Iron Mako Media, an independent publisher of outdoor and gear sites. An independent, reader-funded publisher run by Mike M. under Iron Mako Media.

How it makes money, in one sentence: we earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through our links, at no extra cost to you, and commission does not affect what we recommend - full disclosure here.

Contact and corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and date the change. Email contact@bogandbriar.com or use the contact form. Our editorial policy sets out how corrections are handled.

Written by Mike M., owner of Iron Mako Media. We explain exactly how we choose what we recommend - and what we have not tested - on our methodology page.