Trad Gang

The cold threads made me wonder??

The coldest temps I've ever bowhunted were -2 degrees with a gusty NW wind.  I made it just under three hours.

How cold and how long could you last in it?

John III

Not bow hunting, but I went out with a friend and our dogs chasing pheasant at -4o something with a reported wind chill of -73 F.  That   was stupid, but we do silly things when we are younger.  Birds got up in front of my buddy and he was too cold to shoot.  Dogs couldn't smel the birds, had to track them in the snow to the clump they were hiding in and boot them up.

Brrrr
When I bow hunt in the cold, like yesterday, I prefer to be on the ground.
ChuckC

Around 5 degrees with wind chill, hunt close to the truck and try and make it about 2 1/2 hours between coffee breaks. Never seen much until the temps climb up in the teens or better, I see most of my deer between 10 and 2 when it is really cold.

As I recollect it was -8F when we got to the 1st annual Wisconsin bunny hunt last year. I think we let it warm a few degrees before venturing out.

This is not going to compare to some of the temperatures you guys up North hunt in, but in Texas....

Back in the mid 80's we had several days in a row with single digit temps--maybe 7 or 8 degrees. Two of those mornings I was up a tree. Made it about two hours. It helped to be young, but man was that stupid.

Back in the 80's when I was Young and dumb I did -5 a couple times. That was up in a portable tree stand.I always said if you can make it to 9:00 you can make it to 12:00. That's provided the sun is shining and there's no wind. I was a little heavier back then too.  Last year the Tri State Trad Gangers did our usual January Winter Bow  Deer drives. One Saturday Morning we had a State Trooper stop and ask Mikey Bamboo "Hey what are you guys doing?" Mikey said said we're Bow Hunting. The Trooper said "You Guys Are XXXXin NUTS!" It's 5 below zero." That was putting drives on though. Tuffer  for the standers.

About -15 F in a tree stand. Three hours and I was ready to leave for warmer suroundings.

JW

I cant say I was hunting but I was in a cold weather battalion in the Marine Corps and we had to swim a mountain river in the mountains of (middle of winter and Ice on the rocks of the river) Bridgeport Cali.in our skivies.At that point if I could have stopped shaking long enough to load my rifle I would have hunted my lieutenant...LOL   :scared:    :mad:

Mid Dec this year I spent an evening in a tree stand and it was 3 degrees. The next morning it was clear up to 9.  I think mornings are a lot harder to tolerate than cold evenings... Joe

QuoteOriginally posted by Jock Whisky:
About -15 F in a tree stand. Three hours and I was ready to leave for warmer suroundings.

JW

Now that, to me, is impressive in a tree stand. Heck, 3 hours at +15 F is good for me, much less -15 F. Of course it depends on what you're wearing compared to others. Also, it depends on how many deer you're seeing while hunting out of a tree in extreme cold too. If I'm seeing deer like every half hour or so, I can stay there much longer than when I'm not seeing any deer at all. Also, i can stay in a pop-up blind much longer than I can stay up in a tree.

I've hunted a tree stand in which I got too cold to draw my bow and was barely able to climb down. That's too cold. Wait for nice days of at least +30 to bow hunt in a tree. Now a Dbbl bull with a Mr Heater, that's different.

Today was a cold hunt at 16 degrees.

I've hunted at -10 to -15, but in Kansas we always seem to have some serious wind issues. I hunted a couple of times this season with windchills below -20. If I can find a protected area, I can last a couple of hours. When I was younger I could take the cold for longer.

Yesterday it was 5 when I headed out.

More times than I'd care to think when its like this to about 10 degrees colder.  Always moving though.
(http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh271/chinook907/rszdthermo.jpg)

Years ago-about -4 if I remember right.
Hap

Killed a buck one morning back in the 90's and the therometer on my pack zipper said 11 degrees at 9;15 when I shot him . Can't take the cold as well as I used to  

I was out today and the temps were around 4 above. Only a slight wind and light snow. I was looking for bunny sign but they all seemed to be hold up. No fresh tracks. I spent 45-60 minutes and could have walked longer but the hot chocolate was only 5-10 min walk away. Any activity and I could have stayed out another hour or more.

I deer hunted in -10 below with a wind chill more that -40 below.  My Dad was suppose to go out with me that day, but he said it was way to cold and tried to talk me out of going, but I when out alone anyways.  Walked back busting through drifts nearly waist deep till I got to the timber and tip toed about 100 yards into the woods.  Was standing between two draws trying to decide which way to move and as I looked around I started to spot deer.  First one and then more ended up close to twenty deer bedded there in one draw out of the wind and they didn't want to move.  I edged a little close and shot the closest one, filling my antlerless tag.  Took me longer to get the deer out the I actually spent hunting.  My wife and Dad, both thought I was crazy for even going out, but you just got to go with that gut feeling and my gut was telling me I would be lucky.

I have a sleeping bag I turn inside out (the inside is off white) and I spent morning till evening Tuesday and Weds in the woods in the low single digits.  I was still focused on staying warm but a sleeping bag goes a long way to extending your hunt. Both days I had deer moving past me each hour.  When its this cold I think the deer will move to food even during the afternoon. Its a fun way to get out when everyone else stays home...

While stationed in Fairbanks I once hunted moose when the temp was -54*.   I had a bull come into range and when I shot him he shattered like glass  :eek:  I tried to scoop most of him up but no luck.

I have since learned to hunt in warmer weather.  No need to waste another game animal like that poor moose.

I have been deer hunting at -5 temps w/o windchill quite a few times.  Walking in the Adirondacks with a rifle in these temps isn't so bad, but stand hunting can be brutal.

I do remember hunting at -20 w/o windchill with the shotgun once. It wasn't too bad in the woods, but when I cut across the field to get to my cabin at the time ... it cut me in half.  There is nothing like a hot coffee and a wood stove when coming in from the cold.

About 8 or 9 years ago my brother and hunted with our bows and it was -17 degrees with a windchill of 38 below. We both made it about 2 hours, saw plenty of deer movement too! Shawn

I went one time years ago in muzzleloading season when it was -20 degrees.  Got to shoot at a doe but due to the 4 second hang fire, I missed.  The snow was knee deep and I looked like the Michelen(sp??) man running around the woods!!!

5 degrees in Iowa not counting the wind,5 hours on stand.My nose was running like a fawcett !!
 It beats workin.

last year was the coldest i've hunted in, there was a one week were me and my buddy hunted for a few days straight in -25 below a few times in a tree and it's so cold you think you may never get down, every second of every minute is a battle to keep going and we were filming so when a deer came by whoever was the poor camera guy that day would have some really cold hands   :scared:
not to mention the camera doesn't work that great in those conditions. But looking back I loved it and memories are worth the hardship.

Several years back I killed a doe on Christmas Eve morning. The temperature was in the single digits. Hung it in the neighbors barn and with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season it took me a few days to get to it. That was a learning experience  :(   Had to skin it with a torch and a couple of pair of vise grips.

QuoteOriginally posted by chinook907:
More times than I'd care to think when its like this to about 10 degrees colder.  Always moving though.
 (http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh271/chinook907/rszdthermo.jpg)

Ditto and expecting more of the same this year. Add in 75mph winds coming off the arctic ocean and you'll have the conditions for my March caribou hunt.

If I talk myself into going out in severe cold, I can usually last two or three hours. It takes a commitment just to buy the right clothes, but that's OK. The last couple days here have had windchills below zero, but it IS the end of the season. And a long wait 'til next September. My personal coldest hunt was at -30. I went in a bit later than usual, getting on stand right at pink light. Within an hour, I'd rattled in and killed a small buck. When I saw the hit, I immediately got down and went to locate the buck. The blood-trail was already frozen over and pink,instead of red. Field dressing with bare hands wasn't alot of fun,though.
  My coldest 3-D shoot was in central Wisconsin a number of years ago. As the sun started to come up,the temp bottomed out at -42! The targets were out overnight, and guys were breaking off cedar arrows trying to get them out of the foam. There was a huge bon fire half way though the course. We had a blast.

I've been out with my bow down to about -15 or so but I'm a sissy and don't relish the notion of doing that again.  First time I hunted in weather that cold, I was a bowhunting noob and was dressed stupidly.  I hunkered under a tree (no thermal seat pad or anything) in a pair of camo cotton BDU pants (maybe with some cheap cotton long johns underneath).  Up top, I was wearing a cotton sweatshirt under an M-65 field jacket (at least I had a liner in it).

Think I lasted a couple of hours before I chattered my way back to the car, shivering like there was no tomorrow. I was lucky to be just a bit hypothermic - man that was dumb.

A little community I used to drive through on the way to my hunting area had a bank with a clock and thermometer on it so I could always check the temperature on my way out.  About 25 years ago, I hunted at -20 degrees F with a 20 plus mph wind, from a tree no less.  That's the only time I ever quit hunting because I was too cold.  Made it just a little more than two hours.  My hands were so cold, numb and immobile by the time I got back to my truck that I had a very difficult time getting the keys out of my pocket.

I don't hunt in that kind of weather anymore.  If I'm going to sit in a tree, 0 degrees and a wind less than 15mph is the limit.  Will hunt in colder, windier weather if I'm going to be stillhunting/moving.  Don't think I'd go out in 20 below anymore.

I hunted in -20 and lasted about 3hr sitting on a log. I had to cradle my bow in my arms to walk out, my fingers would not work. That was 20 years ago when I was pretty stupid.

Today it was 15 degrees with snow and wind. I stoked up the coal stove and watched golf on TV. Much smarter now.  :)

Spent a couple hours in a tree stand at -18 degrees.  Pulling the treestand from public land that morning might have been one of the more painful thins I have ever done.

I killed a nice little fat forky at fort wood a few years back at -7*. The blood trail froze before I got down to trail him. Now on days like that I pop my blind and turn on the heater.

During the late 50's and early 60's I rifle hunted up by Int'l Falls as a kid.  No money in the family and I used tenni's with wool socks over them and put rubber galoshes on top.

We did mostly drives and with temps sometimes hitting the minus 30's, standing was no treat.

Bow hunting in Dec in Idaho I have hunted to about -20.  Don't do much sitting and thank god for hand warmers.

I hunted NE back in the spring of 97 for turkeys with a wind chill of -25 the turkeys thought it was just fine, they were going crazy. My buddy and me filled our tags the first day of our hunt. We rebooked our flight home to get out of the blizzard and flew out of the only airport open in ND which at the time I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. After we left it really got bad, dumping several inches of snow. Our guide Jason Lambley hunted for himself and took a bird after we left.
Mike

One year I had a good buck patterned and finally saw him Thanksgiving morning, with only three days left in the season, I spent the last three days in a tree stand from before light to after dark.  Low temperature one day was -42 and the highest it got on any of those three days was -10, the wind varied from 10-30 mph.  From the ground I hunted numerous times when it was colder then -40 (I have a thermometer that hangs from my back pack and that is the lowest it goes) on general/gun and late season archery elk hunts.

My coldest hunt of any sort was a duck hunt many moons ago (I was a teenager). The temp was -8 with a -25 or so windchill if memory serves.

Coldest deer hunt the temp was 5 above with a windchill a hair below zero.

Both hunts were in Illinois. You far north guys are made of stouter stuff than I am :-)

I hunted one year in college with night temps varying between -5 and 0 with daytime temps all the way up to 18 degrees some days.  Better yet I was camping that weekend.  Young and dumb.  I slept in a - 20 bag with two pads under me and four blankets above me.  I built a rock reflector and pit base and had a big stack of wood I could reach from the tent.  I woke up every two to three hours to throw more wood on the fire.  Upside, there was not wind over the four days I hunted.  I shot a mule deer doe the last day of the hunt on a sunny ridge face where she was bedded.  

I wouldn't even try and hunt like that now.  It is really rare to get that cold of weather here in Washington and it was Eastern Washington where it gets a lot colder than western Washington.  I only hunted between 9:00 and 3:00 each day.

WOW!  You guys are studs!  My coldest is 3 with the wind chill.  I made it about 3 and a half hours.

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.

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

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

minus 30

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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".

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

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.
  (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/Snowbunny2A.jpg)

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!  :biglaugh:

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!

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

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

Jack

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.

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.

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!

That's a far cry from "sunny Italy"!
I have camped and hunted to -15F, heard the trees popping in the cold, overnight. I still hunt until I get tired, or find a windless nook in the sun. I have gotten a bit hypothermic in milder temps, in a tree during a snowstorm, and felt lucky to get down in one piece. I stay on the ground these days. My clothing is a little better now than it was, for which I am grateful.

In camp, I split firewood to keep from sitting inside and burning my finite supply of propane. Stored water had to be thawed before using it to cook or drink, and food was kept in coolers to help keep it from freezing. I would not give up that experience for the world on a platter, but I think very carefully about exposing myself to those discomforts and hardships again. There is something to be said for a "comfortable old age".

Killdeer

I remember (not fondly) hunting elk in late season in western Wyoming where it was probably 20 below with about a 30mph wind. It wasn't fun, and I didn't last long.
Not as cold, but I have been snowed in twice in a basin where we used to base from for elk in September. Woke one morning to three feet ( I am not exaggerating) of fresh snow that socked us in for a week, and this was the 17th of September. We couldn't move, we watched as the elk left the country, and we ran out of beer. It was brutal.

cold enough for my mustache to grow a 4 " icicle on it.

Muskox at minus 30/35.

The last few days have probably been the coldest temps I've stand hunted.  It was -4 when I got back to the truck last night.  Not sure what the wind chill would have been.

When I took off my wool sweaters they looked like they'd been snowed on.  The sweat I worked up on the walk in froze in the wool as it evaporated.  Stayed warm though.

Military Mickey Mouse boots are priceless in this weather.

About ten years ago, abuddy and me headed to north MO for a late Dec hunt. We were camping in a tent and that night and the nextmorning the wind chill was -50. The farmer came by and threatened to call the guys in white suits to come take us away. The next morning it was clear, no wind and 0 degrees. I sat a stand for over 4 hrs. We thought that day was a heat wave after the first morning.

A few years ago we were tree stand hunting whitetails and it was -33 deg.C. It froze the diesel in my truck. We can stay out for about 3 hrs.

It's not cold to most people, but here in Arkansas it was.

The coldest I hunted in was around 5 degrees.  I was riding across the farm on my ATV and I could feel my eyelids wanting to freeze together everytime I blinked and water from the creek froze on my pants almost instantly.  

It felt like I was walking around with cardboard thermal pants since they froze up.

QuoteOriginally posted by Steve H.:
Muskox at minus 30/35.

Ya HAVE to want a fine mount and some qiviut to tolerate those temps!!!!!

I just went out coyote hunting this morning, it was -22 when I left my truck.  I've stand hunted in -16 in the past.  If you want to recreate in the winter in ND you have to deal with cold.

22 below 10 hours a day and i killed out on the 6th day. This was a Canadan hunt and was my 3rd year to go.

Im going to hunt the states for the next few years because that was some tuff hunting.

Yesterday was the coldest for me.  It was an HONEST -36 in the morning and the high for the day was -15.  That's actual temperature not wind chill.  We made pushes all day so we weren't in a tree.  The longest the posters had to stand was 30 minutes.  It was a great day to be out and we killed two deer.  Chad

Taken 15 minutes after we got out of the truck.
(http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m433/HolmMadeBows/DSCN6101.jpg)

Buddies deer.

(http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m433/HolmMadeBows/DSCN6103.jpg)

Mine

(http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m433/HolmMadeBows/DSCN6108.jpg)