Coldest temps you have hunted?

[Jeff Cooper]

Feb. '99 Texas Bubba and myself were out all day calling fox and coyotes in -47F.(The dogs get quite desperate when the bottom drops out!). Bubba shot a HTM rubber blunt at a cluster of leaves, and just like Pac's moose, that thing shattered like glass. I have since had one do the same thing when I shot it at an excellsior bale at -50F.

[Jeff Cooper]

Forgto to mention. I was out calling yesterday in a balmy -30!

[Jock Whisky]

Cold??? Why I'll tell ya about cold. I remember one winter back in '65 when it was so cold that the words we spoke came out of our mouth froze solid. We had to thaw them out with a candle to hear what we were sayin' to each other. That worked ok for a day or so but then the dang candle flame froze up. After that and to this day we have no idea what we were talkin about.

JW

[Brian Krebs]

minus 30

[Jerry Wald]

We took a bison and when we left our camp it was minus 37 but no wind.....we shot this bison...small one thank god.....we had to build a fire and a lean to just to field dress it.

Coupled with amazingly thick hide and dirty hair can make for a miserable time. We had to sharpen knives constantly getting the hide off cause it was sooooo dirty.

We got the hide off and it was still steaming 45 minutes later...crazy.

We got the bison on the sled in under 2.5 hours, but I hope to never do that again. Doesn't make it a pleasant hunt at all.

Jer Bear

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

One morning when I was 13 and first started hunting I froze my tail off for a few hours in a treestand. When I got back to the cabin that morning the thermometer read -20F. It was slightly unpleasant.

[Hud]

Hunted out of Yakima in the early 1960's, it was exceptionally cold, we thought it might be -10 but the weather report for the day said -30. It was one of days, you had to keep moving, turned out to be a long walk in the snow.

[Barry Wensel]

You guys probably think Walt Francis is exaggerating but I think I might have hunted that same weekend. In fact, I wrote about it in my new book in a chapter on me being stupid (no offense Walt). I think it was the late '70s or maybe '80. I had a big non-typical located in the Ovando archery-only area in late November. The base temperature that day hovered right around 25 below but the winds also kept steady right around around 25 MPH. I have no idea what that wind chill works out to be but it was brutal. I was young, tough and determined. I lasted 3 1/2 hours in the treestand and could have stayed longer because I was dressed for it. But I left for two reasons. First, I was afraid if I drew/shot my bow (70 lbs. +)it might shatter. I was also concerned because my eyes were watering in the high winds and my eyelashes were instantly freezing together every time I blinked. I was worried my hard contact lens were going to pop out. I climbed down and walked back to the truck. Climbing in, I reached up to pull off my face mask, multiple wool hats layered under balaclavas when I about pulled my beard out by the roots. My moist breath was vaporizing for hours and had frozen everything to my beard. I'm talking an inch of solid ice. I felt like a real idiot looking in the truck mirror while trying to chip the ice from my face with the window scraper. Hardcore or crazy... you make the call. I found the above posts intersting in that I also was able to withstand the cold temps a lot easier when I was younger but had less insulation. BW

[Dale Sharp]

No one ever ever carried a thermometer so while growing up in SD I cannot say exactly how cold it may have been on some duck hunts and deer hunts. Sometimes below zero for sure... It was never an issue how cold; we just went. And clothing not being what it is today, sometimes it was almost unbearable...

But four years back, three friends and I started a new tradition of hunting NE Washington during the first week of December. One particular Friday morning as the rig rolled up to the turn-off where we parked, the thermometer on the truck read -4. Luckily one of my partners arrowed a nervous 4x4 within the first hour of daylight so we got to spend the rest of the daylight hours tracking the gut shot whitetail instead of on-stand. I think it warmed up to about ten degrees or so before the sun set on that particular day. [The dead buck was found the next morning just after daybreak.] So that is the documented coldest hunting day that I have enjoyed.

[String Cutter]

my room temp. bottle of soda froze solid in 30 minutes it took me to get to my stand.

[Blackhawk]

When I lived in Montana in the 1970's, I recall a late season hunt that saw the temp below zero (exact temp unknown). My water bottle and sandwich froze solid in my day pack.

We had several days in which the high was -10 and the low about -30.  I believe it was during this time that I learned the benefits of "road hunting".

[Don Stokes]

4 F. Killed a doe to get my hands warm!

[Charlie Lamb]

While Barry and Walt were freezing in Montana I was down in Wyoming doing the same. The 80's especially seemed to have brutal winters.

Very often I would head up into the mountains chasing snowshoe rabbits and the temps would be
 -10 to -20 degrees and sometimes colder.

Couldn't find the pic that showed my mustache iced over. That could get your attention when you took a shot.
   

[Arwin]

I sat in -10(windchill) for 6 hrs a few years back. I had to pull my thermal pants up to my armpits and tuck my hands in to keep warm.  
 Didn't see a deer the whole time!  

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

I've hunted in too much cold to remember the worst one but I can say the wind makes all the difference. I sat for 3 hours in -44 (it was all I could take) I remember one day it was -22 but the wind made it worse than the -44 day. I missed a spike buck with my Mamba that day at 10 yards and was actually happy I didn't have to deal with a dead deer in that weather. My father was in a stand 150 yards away and frost bit his nose so badly that it was a giant scab for 2 weeks. We still had fun though!

[JMartin]

+ 6 degrees F That's plenty cold enough for me!

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

Man you guys are brutal , anything below + 10 and I'm on the ground hunting.

Jack

[cacciatore]

I killed my lion in MT at -25/30  the next few days the temperatures were -55 I was the only crazy driver on I-80 driving to Cheyenne.

[Bonebuster]

I`ve been out in an honest -10 while in a treestand, but there was not a breath of wind.

As temps get that low, even a mild wind is hard to take.

[hawkeye n pa]

Arrowed a doe on a sunny  -8F day, had the hardest time field dressing it.  Couldn't maintain grip on knife nor let go of it.
    Have hunted down -15, but not tree stand hunting!