What will be the best shooting hat for you? And why should you wear one?
Practical, stylish and warm. A shooting hat is the finishing touch to your outfit and here's why.
It is essential to track down the best shooting hat you can, whether you’re shooting clays, game or out on a stalk. (Read our advice on what to wear shooting here.)
- It will keep the sun out of your eyes
- It will stop your scalp getting sunburned
- It will keep you warm
- It will keep you dry
- If you’re clayshooting it’ll protect your head from falling shards
- You can match it to your shooting breeks or plus-fours.
- It’s a kind of shooting uniform
Read our list of the best caps for clayshooting.
A cap should fit snugly but not tightly
Read Giles Catchpole on choosing the right hats for shooting here.)
A tweed cap is classic headgear and can not only be worn in the field but on the riverbank, out walking the dog, digging the garden or meeting for a pint in the pub.
How to measure your best shooting hat.
Farlows says: “
A cap or hat should fit snugly but not tightly, so that it is secure when you are walking, shooting and climbing over fences.
The best shooting hat – our list
1.Hoggs Of Fife Helmsdale Waterproof Tweed Cap
Best for price
- Colour: Green
- Sizes: One size
- Fabric: 60% Lambswool 40% Technical Fibres
- Finish: Stitch down peak
+ Good value
+ Waterproof
– One size
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2. Heather Mens Kinloch Waterproof Tweed Cap
Best for versatility
- Colour: Light Olive Check & Olive / Red Check
- Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL
- Fabric: British tweed
- Finish: Teflon coated
+ Fully waterproof
+ Good value
This cap is excellent value and will see you right in all weathers, thanks to the waterproof interlining together with a deep back and a stitched down peak to keep the sun out of your eyes. It feels comfortable too, thanks to the satin lining.
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3. PASQUALE CUTARELLI Mens Wool Tweed Deerstalker Hat
Best for traditional stalking types
- Colour: Brown, light grey or dark grey
- Sizes: 6¾ – 7 5/8
- Fabric: 80% percent wool, 20% polyamide
- Finish: Linen interior
+ Price
+ Well made
– Not 100% wool
Keep the sun out of your eyes and the wind out of your ears when you’re up on the hills after the red deer. If you’re a dyed in the wool traditionalist then this is the best shooting hat for you.
Best for style and function
- Colour: Glendye, Cairngorm and Thornbury
- Sizes: 55cm, 56cm, 57cm, 58cm, 59cm, 60cm, 61cm, 62cm
- Fabric: Technical Scottish tweed
- Finish: Water repellent
+ Suitable for both men and women
+ Satin lining
Musto’s Technical Tweed Cap is a best-seller and is nothing but traditional. It is handcrafted in England and will look perfectly at home in the field, exuding the classic shooting looks combined with modern technical fabric.
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5. Rydale Unisex Fedora Mens & Womens Wool Felt Hat with Suede Band and Feather Decoration
Best for colour choice
- Colour: Brown, navy, olive, blue, burgundy, mustard, purple, red, beige
- Sizes: Small, Medium, Large
- Fabric: 100% wool
- Finish: Suede leather band and gamebird feathers
+ Good quality
+ Customer service
Designed with country style in mind, this hat is durable from malleable. You might not want to wear the red version out in the field, but it would definitely catch the eye at a racecourse.
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Best for tweed shades
- Colour: Lichen, Dark Moss, Forest, Linden
- Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, XL, XXL
- Fabric: Tweed
- Finish: Waterproof membrane
+ Fully waterproof
+ Fully breathable
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7. Schoffel Unisex Tweed Classic Cap
Best for men and women
- Colour: Arran Tweed, Buckingham Tweed or Loden Green Herringbone Tweed
- Sizes: 56cm, 57cm , 58cm, 59cm, 60cm, 61cm, 62cm
- Fabric: 100% pure lambswool tweed
- Finish: Teflon® moisture and stain resistant coating
+ Unisex
+ Choice of colours
– Price
Whether you’re shooting, fishing or just pottering around the countryside, this is the classic tweed cap. Don’t worry if a muddy labrador sits on it, the stain resistant coating means it will brush off to look good as new. It’ll also repel drizzly rain.
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8. Harkila Metso winter cap
Best for stalking in bitter winds
- Colour: Willow green
- Sizes: Large
- Fabric: Wool blend with fleece lining on inner ear flaps, brim waterproof imitation suede
- Finish: Bionic finish for dirt and water repellency
+ Unisex
+ Warm
-Robust
This hunting cap has good insulating qualities and will keep your heat, neck and ears warm and out of chill winds. The brim will stop you squinting into the sun and the cap will last the course, just brush it off after use no matter how muddy and wet it gets.
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9. Hicks & Brown Womens Suffolk Guinea Wrap Fedora
Best for elegance
- Colour: Brown, navy or black
- Sizes: XS, Small, Medium, Large and XLW
- Wool felt
- Finish: Water resistant
+ Guinea fowl feather
+ Warm
A jaunty fedora is just the thing for women shooters, adding an elegance to a shooting outfit as well as being useful and practical. Keep your hair dry and in place, the sun out of your eyes and your mind on your shooting.
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A Gun talks shooting headwear
John Sugden of Campbells of Beauly: “The bulk of the shooting that I do is from November onwards, so a cap is an essential for me to keep the head warm! Equally, on an August day on the hill, a slight dip of the head and the peak blocks the sun from the eyes. I always match my cap with the plus fours I’m wearing. A bit of a habit. The best hats for shooting? I’d feel lost without a good tweed cap on a shoot day, after all, nearly everyone is wearing one, from the guns right through to the wonderful team of beaters. ”
