COLD bowhunting

[gordydog]

Really cold in Wisconsin now, single digits makes for some cold hunting.  I've shot a couple deer in the past on some pushes during these cold days. Takes a bit of shooting adjustment to allow for being bundled up and bulky cloths.  Also makes getting out of tree stands after extended sits more difficult.
  Any really cold bowhunting success stories.

[ChuckC]

I remain alive with all of my digits intact.  So far... that is success to me !

Brrr....  Sitting on public land, in below-zero, during or just after our illustrious gun season, is not for the faint hearted.

ChuckC

[centaur]

I took this little guy a couple of years ago, and it was below zero. I have since wised up and don't hunt when it is that cold. I don't know how interior Alaskans and Canadians do it on a consistent basis. I did get some minor frostbite the year I shot this little deer.
 

[Ray Lyon]

Here's my recipe for success for the late season and Northwest lower MI can be cold just like Wisconsin.

1)  I use the disposable hand/toe/body warmers that are good for 4-6 hours. It costs me about $5 per hunt, but it does two things for me. First, I can sit still for longer periods of time and be comfortable and able to concentrate on deer instead of shivering. Second, it lets me get away with far less clothing to lower the chance of catching a string or affecting my draw if I've got to many clothes on.  I stick one of the toe warmers in the inside top of my hat (more on that below) and the other toe warmer goes inside a thin glove on the back of my hand.  I like to keep my hand on my bow across my lap so there's as little movement as possible (unless I'm inside one of my Double Bull blinds). Another pack of toe warmers is used inside of my boots.  Make sure you've got room inside your boots as the dead air space is as important as the toe warmer. I have a size 12 foot, but wear a size 13 Sorel boot for room. Finally, I use one (or two if it's less than 18-20 degrees out) of the stick on 'body heaters'. Put them over the first layer of your clothing, one by my heart and one in the lower back right side above my waistline.
 
2) If I'm inside a double bull blind, I wear a smartwool long underwear shirt. Wool shirt from Classic Bowman (body heaters stuck this) and then a dark fleece coat or a classic bowman double rover wool coat.  
If I'm outside of a blind in a pine tree or an open ground blind, I use a the same as above, but add a Gray Wolf Woolen windblock lined vest under the double rover coat.  This still leaves my sleeves free, but gives my torso protection from the warmth robbing wind.  

3) I use a Classic Bowman bowman's brim hat.  This has a quilted inside with fold down flap that goes over your ears and around the back of your neck.  I've also used a dark gray wool stocking style hat and a black fleece neck gator that I can pull down off my face to shoot.  Covering your neck and head is imperative to staying warm.  

Well, there you have it.  I love late season. It's hard with the cold and the deer are real spooky, but it's a unique and tranquil kind of hunting.  Here's my 2012 last week of December effort (our season closes January 1 each year)
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PS-drop down in bow weight and make sure your using heavy, quiet arrows so your bow is quiet. I'm using a 43 pound 1971 Super Kodiak in this picture and it's super comfortable to draw in cold weather.

[Roger Norris]

Listen to Ray....he can sit longer on stand than anyone I know, regardless of the weather.

[ChuckC]

Has anybody used the electric suits and socks used by many motorcylists ?  I wonder if they work at all.

Anybody use the old electric socks ? I think I have a pair somewhere.  Do they actually work ?

CHuckC

[KentuckyTJ]

I was in the tree the other day and the temp was 25 degrees. I have come to the conclusion that at or under 20 I am not going. I don't see how you guys in the colder climates do it.    

I am now forgoing the stands and going to the ground if I get back out.

[Orion]

I used to sit in 0 degrees or colder weather, but not much anymore, at least not for long.  An insulated coverall works pretty well under freezing conditions.  I also wear a muff with hand warmer inside, and a balaclava and heavy hat or hood to protect the face and reduce heat loss through the head. I'm considering getting a body suit.

Don't hunt on the ground as much as I used to, but a wool blanket over the lower half of the body helps, even inside a blind if one is using one.  Haven't tried a propane heater or other heat source under the blanket or in the blind, but I've heard of folks doing so.

Or, we can just wait until next year.  In these times of dramatic climate change, it just might be 60 degrees in December next year.  That's what it was in early-mid-December last year.

[Mojostick]

I posted this last year...

As the season wears on, good food sources close to bedding is key.

 The rut is winding down, so deer now are more apt to bed close to food, in heavy cover, and only get up to feed, then go back to the bedding. Deer often bed very close to the food source in late season, so you have to be careful to slip into the staging area between the bedding and the food, without bumping the deer from the bedding. Be extra mindful of the wind and the bedding area.

 I've also found that it's a good plan to stay out of my property for about 10 days after rifle season ends, to give the deer time to settle down.

 Another thing is, if it's really cold, deer are more apt to feed in the late afternoon and remain bedded in the coldest AM hours. If the late season weather is nice, in the 40's and warmer, deer may well feed more in the AM.

 Also, the woods are now wide open and unless you have great background cover, you're more apt to get busted. A ground hunting situation in thick pines/conifers is something you should consider.

 Other suggestions are, make sure you use unlined wool, since about everything else is noisy in the often dead calm late season woods. Fleece is quiet, but not very warm. All other materials make noise in the cold.

 Practice with the heavy gear on and wear a wrist guard. Bulking coats make for string slaps.

 Consider shooting a lower weight bow. That 50lbs may feel like 60lbs after 2 hours in the bitter cold.

 Be extra quiet getting to your stand. While many drive a truck or ATV close by in October, December deer may be far more spooky with that noise. Try to slip in with extra, extra quiet caution.

 A couple other observations are, if windy on a cold late season day, deer don't move. I recall a study where if the late season wind was like 15-20mph, deer movement basically stopped.

 Stay off field edges and instead think staging areas.

 Deer will often feed just before a snowstorm, when the barometer is falling. (Seems fishing can also be good right before a storm also).

 If you hunt a treestand, use either an open camo pattern like ASAT/Predator/Vertigo or (secret tip) use your camo blaze orange from gun season. Not solid orange, but camo'd orange. To a deer looking up, camo blaze orange looks like the winter gray sky with branches or leaves, depending on the camo pattern. Two of my best treestand bucks were in bitter cold weather, wearing blaze camo coveralls. I never once had a deer remotely notice me. It's a far better pattern than any "blobbing" Real Tree or Mossy Oak.

 If you hunt in a treestand or ladder, re-check every strap. Every creaking noise is worse in the cold.

[LB_hntr]

I love late season and every year try to save my last tag so that I can hunt it.

A zero or 20 degree rectangular sleeping bag and a rope or bungie cord is my favorite way to beat the cold.
Climb into stand. Climb into sleeping bag with zipper facing forward or almost forward. Put bunjee cord or rope around bag at you waist like a belt. Bring bag up and over shoulders. When hear a deer coming shimmy bag off shoulders and it will fall to your waist where the rope is and you can shoot.
 Don't use a mummy bag as they don't give your feet enough room to move and stay stable when you stand. Use a big roomy rectangular bag.

[huntnmuleys]

zero degrees means this guy stays home.  im a wuss maybe, but yikes!!

of course if I were on some far away hunting adventure id bend that rule a bit, but for a deer here?  nope...

[Ray Lyon]

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:
I was in the tree the other day and the temp was 25 degrees. I have come to the conclusion that at or under 20 I am not going. I don't see how you guys in the colder climates do it.      

I am now forgoing the stands and going to the ground if I get back out.

TJ, there's only 2 spots that I hunt in the trees in December and both are in protected spots in pine trees and if it's a calm wind. Up in a tree in cold wind is absolutely brutal in December around here and not even us tough northerner's (with artificial heater help stuck under our clothes   ), can handle cold winds in a tree for very long. Also, both of those pine tree stands are easy climbs- a must when you're stiff and cold and potentially slippery conditions.  One is a ladder stand that sneaks me up into the cover of the limbs and the other has a climbing stick and lifeline.  I'm very careful at all times of the year in trees, extra care and deliberate moves getting in and out of a tree at this time of year.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

Us Canadians often don't have a choice. I managed to kill my deer the last couple seasons when it was warm (right around freezing or a bit cooler) Most success comes with much colder temps. -40 lately after the wind chill is factored in. My buddy is heading out for the next few days, will likely still sit for 4 or 5 hours at a time. Great hunts when you know the food source!

[Birdbow]

A tip I learned in my mountaineering days - stay well hydrated, preferably with hot liquids. Goes a long way to staying warm. Good luck

On a minus 20 day once,just once. We went out, I took a small shovel a white canvas tarp and my ice shack heater. I dug into the snow in a filled
in creek, put my tarp across part of my dig and lit the heater. Could have taken a shot at a small doe, but my brother honked the car horn and busted it. I would have probably let the deer go anyway, I was alot warmer at the time than the little doe. Now, it is four layers of wool and Healthy Feet on my toes. That will take me down to zero for a few hours if the wind is not blowing. The more I move the better off I am when it gets that cold. I have gotten a couple of deer in low temps and snow cover, but it was a strain.

[TOEJAMMER]

Chuck, I can't speak personally but a longtime hunting buddy back east had polio when a kid.  As a result his feet are very susceptible to cold.  He has tried just about everything and every boot on the market.  The only thing that worked/works for him are the battery powered heated socks.

[Bowwild]

In the early 1980's I was hunting on the IN/MI state line one evening. It was VERY cold, I remember about how cold it was but I won't write it here because it is unbelievable -- well under zero.

I figured the more pain I endure the more likely I would encounter a large deer. I didn't see a deer that evening. I was in a Baker climber. It was so cold my hands felt like sticking to the climber as I came down the tree.

I remember when I arrived at my truck after dark I was so numb and so slow that I felt I could only manage one attempt at unlocking my truck door. I got it on the first try.

I will hunt when it is that cold, but not often and then only if it is an "exciting" stand.

[NBK]

My first trad kill was on a night that it dipped to -10 below.
My father in law is a logger here in northern Wisconsin and during late season the deer come running at the sound of his saw and Iron Mule skidder.  So I helped him deck wood for a couple of days and paid attention to what direction the deer would come from towards evening.
 
One night I had my climber stand ready and with it being that cold I didn't want to sit for super long so I had it arranged with my father in law that 1 hour before dark, he'd take the skidder to the other side of the property while I was getting up the tree.
I didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes before the does and fawns started coming in looking for those tops.  A big doe gave me a 15 yard broadside shot and I had my first longbow kill.
I don't think I was cold at all dragging her out of the spruce swamp she ran into, but it must've been because I remember my bloody knife freezing to the snow while I cleaned her up.

[todd smith]

If it's windy, I don't do it.  But when I do go out in let's say single digits, it's with layers of wool and a down vest under a fairly soft - quiet raincoat as an outer shell.  Keep the breeze out and the heat in.  I always wear a fleece removable hoodie that can be worn over my ears of just as a neck warmer.  Keeping the neck warm - way important.  I use a hood too.  One that does not billow excessively but will go over my hoodie and wool cap.

Jacket needs to be: windproof, have a good hood, have hand warmer pockets, zip or pullover, and a waist draw string is nice too.  

I shoot a lighter bow too.

[Orion]

Hey LB, I like that sleeping bag idea.  Would work on the ground, too, of course.  Maybe even better, and a lot cheaper than a body suit. I'm going to give it a go.