Layering for Cold

[LA Trapper]

For those that use it, do you layer with silk first or merino wool?  Do you use silk?  Why not?

What is your layering routine for cool, cold, and dang cold?

How do you address the wind?  Does your layering routine account for the wind or do you do something different on the days you know it will be windy?

Also, do you hike in usually?  Do you carry in clothes to prevent sweating?

I have a lot of interest in this area.  This should yield some interesting comparisons.

Thanks;

Billy

[screamin]

I hunt out west from 7k to 12k ft mostly alone. I have experienced anywhere from 90 degrees to snow on the ground in August and September. That snow doesn't stay long but it will get down into the 30's. At that time of year it does rain and sometimes very very hard. Because I hunt alone and elk are a lot of work to get out, I won't go back in more than a couple miles from a road of some sort. Occasionally I will bivy but its planned in advance.

You can wake up to blue skies and by the afternoon you are in a monsoon so raingear is always in the pack. I'll wear kuiu or sitka pants with the merino base layer bottoms in my pack. I will have the merino top on with either a wool sweater over that or a Kelvin jacket and if its really cold both. As it warms up off come the layers, gets cold they go back on. If its windy on comes the raingear which blocks the wind. This system keeps me comfy from 20 to 90 degrees.

[olddogrib]

LA,
I'll confess NC has very little "real" cold so I'll let those from the non-wussie upper peninsula advise. I have shot in some God-awful 3-D tournaments here in Jan.-Feb.  Bitter cold is one thing, bitter cold with wind is another. If you don't want to "slap leather" for the latest Uber Wind Killer Plus clothing lines, you can find nice golf wind shirt/vests in the off season for less than 1/2 off to use as a mid-layer.(Some are quieter than others)

[BAK]

On a cold "sit", which is without wind, first layer is silk, second is light wool, third is down, all covered by an insulated coverall.  That will usually keep me warm for two hours of being motionless down to 10 degrees.  When the wind is included all bets are off unless I can find a coverall or parka/bib combo with a wind barrier.  In those conditions I have had some success with a double layer of down, mainly because the tight weave of the nylon acts as it's own wind barrier.

[Rob W.]

I start with a wool base layer and add sleevless wool layers and a fleece vest as it gets colder. Usually even at single digits there are no more than three thin layers at my arms and knees so I can move and shoot. I top off with cargos and leafy suit. At my feet I use silk liner socks then up to 2 pair of wool. If it gets colder than that I go with chemical warmers.

I just wear thin unisulated gloves on my hands with my shooting glove and put them in a hand muff. I got one of Teresa's hand warmers to try this year.

I walk a long way to most spots so I carry in one or both sock layers and my outer layers with my vest unzipped. My average weekend sit is 6-8 hours in the mornings.

Olddogrib thats a good idea using the golf shirts. I have been using a light rain jacket for windy days under my leafy layer but might have to try that.


Rob

[Orion]

For stand hunting, I start with silk, covered with mid or heavy weight merino wool.  Wool pants and shirt over that.  Wool jacket over that.  

If it gets really cold -- zero or a little below, I add a wool vest and another layer of wool long johns.  Anymore, colder than 10 below and or a wind of more then 20 mph in 10-20 degree weather and I get out of my tree.  Hunt ground blinds then, or still hunt.  Either way I tend to move around a little to keep warm.  

Those conditions are rare when and where I hunt, except for the wind.  Occasionally, I'll just pack it in and suffer the extreme temps/wind in front of the Franklin wood stove in my cabin.

[awbowman]

Trapper, we went to CO this past September.  It was in lower 30's to about 55, but rained, snowed, or sleeted everyday we were there.  An under armor scent reducing shirt, a fleece vest with windstopper technology and a good goretex rain jacket was all I needed. I think I would have been perfectly fine in the mid 20s.  Colder than that I would have zipped in the fleece liner on the rain jacket.

I will however have some wool this year.

[wooddamon1]

Merino wool or silk base layer for me, followed by more layers of wool flannel on top. Fleece long johns and either wool or cotton cargo pants on the bottom, depending on temps. Merino and regular wool on my feet after an application the night before of anti-persprirant. This trick is awesome as it keeps your feet from sweating, then getting cold...

Glove liners with rag wool or military surplus wool liner gloves over those with my string fingers cut off them with shooting glove between. Been out in some coooold stuff and fingers didn't get too cold. If they did I just slipped them in my pockets for a few minutes.

I can use this layering system anywhere in MI or CO where I hunt and be comfy in a wide range of temps. Gotta love wool.

[Dan Adair]

From the start of bow season until the weekend after Thanksgiving I have the same clothes in my pack all the time (only summer fishing trips will it vary)

My first layer is mid a mid weight Smartwool Henley (like a 180 thread count.)  My second layer is a Smartwool mid weight TML  http://www.smartwool.com/mens/midlayer/mens-tml-light-sportknit-half-zip-8818.html   Then for an insulation layer I keep a Western Mountaineering GWS downie in the pack (it's stored in a Sea to Summit dry sack when I'm not wearing it, no way will it get wet)  http://www.westernmountaineering.com/index.cfm?section=products&page=Down%20Garments&cat=Jackets%20and%20Vests&ContentId=64   Also in my pack is a Montane wind shirt, sized to fit over the TML.  You'd be stupid to not have something like this in your kit. I wouldn't bank on it's claims to be waterproof.  It DOES keep wind from carrying heat out of your mid layer, and it will keep you pretty dry in a drizzle for a while.  http://www.montane.co.uk/products/men/windproof/featherlite-smock/40   Then, depending on time of year and historic weather patterns in my area.  There may be rain gear in my kit.  I use the cheap pants that Red Ledge makes, because I destroy pants every other season.  For a top, I'm going to have something eVent in there this year.  When I DO pack raingear, the windshirt stays home.

Pants are easy...  I've got an old pair of Filson Whipcords that I wear anytime I'm hunting.  I'll use a heavier base layer later in the year as it cools.  Your friends will give you crap for hunting in dress slacks, but you'll get over it.

It's also worth noting that all my tents have a wood stove, so drying gear at the end of the day is a non-issue.  But I feel that wet synthetics aren't any better than wet wool.  I've ran a clothing system like this for the last 2 years in NW Montana and I'm good to go from 20 degrees to 90 degrees.  I spend a lot of time in the field, and the choices I've made on gear (although not cheap) have never let me down.

[VTer]

A couple of things I've learned along the way that don't include clothing. Get a nice 1/2" piece of closed cell sleeping pad type foam that fits the deck of your treestand. Keeps your feet much warmer. Also a tree umbrella set up helps hold a little heat underneath it for your head and seems to keep a little downdraft away. Clothing is purely subjective to the individual and how your feeling that day. Here in VT...sometimes you just stay home.

[Tree Rat]

It's prety much been covered, so I will only add this. I used to use silk as my base layer. It works well BUT it is expensive and not very durable. I have since gone to good wool underlayer. Slightly more cost but much more durable. Silks last a season. I've got five years on my first set of good wool so far with no signs of age.

[swampthing]

Dang Cold, expedition weight poly's, under wool outerwear.
Cold, light to med weight poly's, under wool outerwear.
Either condition, with "minimal" movement, med. to med.-heavy wool, under wool outerwear.

[LA Trapper]

Thanks guys.  
Any best deals on base layers?

[Michigan Mark]

http://www.filson.com/mens/long-johns/-1011/

[BUCKY]

Minus 33 merino wool underwear,$45 for a mock turtleneck shirt and $45 for pants.

[John Scifres]

I find silk and nice merino wool sweaters at Goodwill for $2-4.  This is a good time to look.

[nampook93]

I just started getting into traditional bow hunting a year ago and Im slowly getting everything to be all out traditional. So right now I have no wool clothing other than wool socks and a pair of gloves. So when I go out hunting I just throw on the warmest clothes I have. Usually I start with a plain white t-shirt. Then i put a long sleeve underarmor, and to follow that up I put on a long under wear shirt. Then its my extra cold temp rockey shirt that is fleese on the insided. My como shirt goes on after all of that. For a jacket I put on a red flanel jacket with fleese on the inside. For my lower half I put on long underwear and then my arm grade hunting pants. i usually put on two pairs of wool socks.

[wooddamon1]

Originally posted by John Scifres:
I find silk and nice merino wool sweaters at Goodwill for $2-4.  This is a good time to look.

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