I remember those days but they started in the late 70's for me !! My cousins and I used to be the only diehards bowhunting/trapping in December in high school. January found us fox hunting. Then we moved on to rabbits ( jack rabbits ) until spring. The clothing/boots sucked back then but those were the good old days. Lots of great memories. Tim
I sat some mornings where it was around 10 above. Not bad when its calm. If the winds blowing more the about 10 I cut it off at 15. I guess some of you guys don't have a choice but to go when it's negative temps but that just sounds crazy to me. This year I only hunted 2 morning that were below freezing. Didn't even break my heavy camo out. In fact one day during rifle season the high was in the 70s. Absolutely ridiculous.
I'm a complete whimp I think my coldest mornin this year was in the lower to mid 20's. Sat in the satnd till bout noon an was over it. Not a fan of anythin below freezin an where I'm from you'd be an idiot wastin time on a late season bow hunt. The deer are pressured so bad they won't stop for the world.
A 3 years ago I had a giant that I was chasing and I hunted hard no matter the weather. We had gotten around 2' of snow in early December and once the roads were opened back up I was out sitting in a stand again until one afternoon I went when the temps were hovering around zero. The wind was a variable 5-15, by the time I got to the farm the temp was -3 but I was committed. I sat until after dark fairly comfortably because of proper layering and some hand warmers in my boots and pockets. The problem arose when I went to walk out, by this time the temps had slipped considerably and the wind had picked up. Walking through snow up to waist high and fighting the wind back to my truck about did me in. I had to stop several times on the way back to my truck, maybe a quarter mile away, it took well over 30 minutes to get there. When I got to the truck the temp read -16, I swore I would never even begin to attempt that again. Not sure I've ever feared for my life as much as I did that night. I'll never sit in a stand again when it is below zero. The things we do for a stupid deer...
I can't remember exactly, but it was my first season and it was around 5 degrees outside. There was a wicked north wind though around 30 mph.
Around 3 degrees is the coldest I've ever hunted. For around here, thats cold. Another time when I was in high school, I was hunting in a box blind when it was about 10 degrees. I had trouble getting the little cheap propane heater to light. Somehow, the propane tank started leaking and got on my hands. I've never been so cold as I was on that walk back to the truck, thought I was going to loose some fingers. Now I'm a wuss, if its under 20 I find a way to talk myself into staying home
-15 with the wind blowing 30+. Not sure how cold that is with the wind chill but it was so cold that the deer did not move..........LOL
