RE: Rubber vs Leather vs Cloth
I think it depends a lot on your hunting application. Where and what are you going to be hunting? What are the typical weather conditions? Dry ground, wet ground, snowey ground? Rubber boots are probably not preferred for hiking up snowey mountains in Colorado. Rubber boots may be preferred in some places. Are you rifle hunting or bow hunting? Bow hunting scent control matters more than in rifle hunting.
I have always used rather heavy leather boots. I like these because they provide a lot of ankle support when walking over uneven ground littered with occasional softball sized rocks in the dark and because they protect my toes when kicking such rocks in the dark. These kind of boots are typically waterproof, at least to the extent that you can walk through 4" of water crossing a stream and not worry about getting wet feet out of the deal. These boots have beefy, lug soles -- perhaps with a few of the round "bob sole" thingeys which are particularly good in snow -- which are good for providing traction.
But different hunting environments call for different boots. I guess the north east may have a lot of boggy conditions, based on the famous LL Bean innovation of rubber boot bottoms attached to leather boot uppers.
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