There is no way i could wear insulated boots in the spring, summer, or fall. No way, no way, no way. Ice fishing standing on the ice, i need lots and lots of insulation. When it is warm, i want thin socks, and zero insulation. Today, i hunted in ankle deep snow wearing uninsulated Danner boots. It was 22 degrees when i came back to the truck. I wore surplus USMC socks; my feet never spoke to me once, about being cold. When it gets colder, i will be wearing Danner boots with 200g of thinsulate. All my hunting shoes are gore-tex lined; my feet never get wet.
This thread has me thinking back to all those many many years before the invention of gore-tex, and how no matter what one used to 'waterproof' them boots, they never were. We tried just about everything possible to keep our feet dry, but nothing really really worked. Hooray for gore-tex.