msarcher wrote: …although we are deep south, it still gets cold.

🙂 😀 😆 😀 🙂

How bad are we talkin’? Mid 60s? 😉

If you tried the basics (and it appears you have) take a look at some other things, i.e. clothing (not shoes), fitness, etc.

As far as clothing, I tell my kids this all the time in the fall. If your hands are getting cold outside, put on a sweater. They look at me weird, but if you are keeping your core warm, the extremities are much easier to regulate and respond much better. Also, don’t forget a hat appropriate for the weather.

For fitness, have you had a physical in a while? I am not a Dr, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Select, but there are issues that can limit circulation and thereby make you feel colder than usual.

For the “etc” part, remember not to be a statue. You don’t have to do jumping-jacks in the stand, but remember to wiggle your toes, or maybe half-stand just to get the blood in your legs moving and don’t ignore your arms (unless you shoot the bow with your toes). This helps quite a bit when stationary for a long time. I am sure others will have more (and probably better) advice. Good luck. Be well.

Alex

😀

Wool socks and every thing dried really well after each outing helps tremendously. If liners can be taken out of boots, take them out as well for this drying process. Right now, boots with a heavy removable felt liner would be the norm here, for any outside activity.

Bruce

What Lya and Bruc say … plus you might try commercial hand and foot warmers. They are salt and iron shavings that react to exposure to oxygen and “fast rust” corrosive reaction, non-toxic, to create a remarkable amount of heat that lasts a long time. I am skinny, old, low blood pressure and my extremities have always gotten cold easily, esp. on long sits or in cold wind. When I have on all my clothing and am still getting cold, to a point it distracts me from concentrating on the hunt or drawing my bow smoothly, I sip hot tea from a thermos to stoke the interal core fires, and break out the Hot Hands warmers. They make them for wearing inside boots but not suitable for a lot of walking around. Odor-free.

I’m from Ga.

I use regular cotton socks. I think when you cram your foot with thick socks into a boot, there isn’t any room for air circulation. No air circulation means sweaty feet, the sweat won’t evaporate, and your feet will freeze.

The key is to keep the moisture off your feet. Socks that wick moisture like wool are great, but make sure you up your boot size a 1/2 or so your foot will fit comfortably not tightly. I also use some cold gear lightweight socks made by Under Armour that are well worth the $10 a pair.

I also use foot warmers too.

Coldest weather I hunted in was in Illinois. It was 0 one morning and I sat till noon bowhunting that day. The high was 9.

I had on my pair of Muck Woody Max Boots, lightweight wool socks, and some toasty toe foot warmers.

My feet never got chilled.

My cold weather boots are a size too big. Normally just 1 pair of quality wool socks. I put anti perspirent on my feet. If they get damp you have lost already. Here is the important part….nothing binding your legs, an LACES NOT TOO TIGHT. Don’t constrict your bloodflow.

Great advice here. I do agree with not binding your legs or feet. You’ll never keep warm if the blood’s not flowing.

My wife has always said “cold feet.warm heart”Get a pair of Schnees pac boots and say goodbye to cold feet forever…

Roger Norris wrote: My cold weather boots are a size too big. Normally just 1 pair of quality wool socks. I put anti perspirent on my feet. If they get damp you have lost already. Here is the important part….nothing binding your legs, an LACES NOT TOO TIGHT. Don’t constrict your bloodflow.

Roger is spot on with his suggestions.

Being from the south (born and raised in AL) I can tell you too many hunters forget what it takes to properly keep warm.

Now that I’m in OH the things I learned in the south makes it’s easier to keep warm.

Loose fitting boots, and quailty wool socks (I use Alpaca wool socks). Anti perspirent is a big plus at keeping the feet dry. Dry feet are easier to keep warm than damp ones.

Troy

Of course keeping core Warm – loose fit for circulation -wear a good wool hat AND Wool scarf —as already stated by other members.

I used Ragg Wool socks for yrs and they work well –

I switched to Merino Wool a few yrs ago and they are even better { more expensive} but last a long time.

Pac Boots [ like sorels etc] and/or the Military Mickey Mouse boots {best} but tough to work mtns in

Scout

2 pairs of smartwool socks, one light, one heavy, toe warmers stickers, and 400gr thinsulate boots. 800 gr thinsulate are too bulky for me to hunt with, since I sneak around a lot, but would be fine on treestands.

Second those Smartwool socks!! Twenty dollars a pair in Canada but worth every penny !!

Bruce

They make heavy duty plastic boot bags for farmers to wear into chicken coops. They slip over your boot and stay open at the top. You wouldn’t believe how much heat they hold into your foot. It’s like having your own greenhouse. I’ve never worn them in a stand, but I imagine if you didn’t have to stand up and move around too much, they would work perfectly.

Ditto on the Alpha Burlys, I have the 1000grm thinsulate one, I have them one size bigger than I wear (10D) I got a size 11 I wear a sock liner wicking type with Merino wool sock, with this combo my feet never get cold, with all my other boots they do!

Please forgive this latest public indescretion, but the best solution I’ve ever found to winter cold feet is a long vacation to a Caribbean island. 😀 Unfortunately, since I’ve traded income for hunting time all my life, I’ve only ever enjoyed one such of those. 🙄 If only I could get my lovely warm wife to come along on winter hunts to keep me comfy … well, sorry, never mind. I’m thinking that way tonight since it’s snowing hard and quite cold and She is in California on a family visit and I’m having Patron Plata for dinner and the dogs, well, it’s just not the same, though sure better with than without. 🙁 –COM

Dave

According to the weather report here –

The Mtns around Durango Co got 9″ of snow

so you will need to be Fortified to dig out tomorow —

Scout

I fished the Frying Pan river yesterday, starting at 0630. coldcoldcold. I tried one a Thermacare heater wrap that you wrap around your midsection, with heating pads on your kidneys. The theory is that if you warm the kidneys, warm blood will be sent to the legs. Just like what Lyagooshka said.

I have to say that I was warmer than I expected to be. I was wearing smart wool, fleece, and multiple layers, but there is still only so much you can do while standing in water that cold.

BTW:

TJ Maxx carries Smartwool and other Merino wool socks at a good discount. Like $7. They have them off & on so you kinda have to hunt for them….

One question I have is what is the best amount of thinsulate for elk season? None? 400? 1200?

Thanks for any feedback.

jfelkins wrote: One question I have is what is the best amount of thinsulate for elk season? None? 400? 1200?

Thanks for any feedback.

When and where, exactly? For archery elk season in most Rocky Mtn. states (typically Sept) I wouldn’t say any insulated boot is necessary at all, unless you have serious circulation problems. If you hunt later during general season, its still really going to depend – temps may be in the 60’s or you could be hiking through several feet of snow. New Mexico will be different than Montana. I know that’s not all that helpful, but the question is a really broad one.

The one thing I can tell you is that elk hunting often involves a mixture of sitting and moving. And when you are moving, you may be moving in steep, tough terrain that will warm you up fast (which means your feet will sweat, and get colder when you stop moving, as a result) Personally, 1200gr. Thinsulate would be more than I would ever need for chasing elk, but a lot of that also comes down to personal factors. For later season elk, 400-600gr. is a good way to split the difference.

Thanks! I’ll be hunting in CO & maybe UT. Archery season only. I’m thinking I need to go with either uninsulated or something really light. I plan to hike in a ways so sweaty feet is a big issue. Thanks again.

Ok boys, being born and bread in extreme northern North Dakota and having lived for years in Norway, here is my two cents on cold weather gear. As the Norskies always said, there isn’t any bad weather, only bad clothing:)

I always go with layers of wool. Wool, wool, then some more wool. It is just darn hard to beat for warmth and durability. It is also the only material which actually gives off some small amount of heat when it gets wet. Keep the core warm first, then the feet (bean or schnees pack boots, extra wool liners under the feet, then the neck with a gator, then the head with a good, I mean good hat, then the hands. After that, it’s all about calories in the body. The body can’t stay warm without calories. High calorie food will heat you up like a wood stove when in cold weather. There is a reason the Inuits lived on a diet of meat and fat way way up north, and do alot with no gloves on!

Good luck

J

One more option I forgot to mention: Military style Bunny boots. If those don’t keep your feet warm, nothing will!

I hunt from the ground up here in Minnesota I have a thin pair of waterproof shoes and I wear wool socks. Once the cold weather arrived my feet would get so cold and honestly the only thing I do differently now is I stand on my backpack that I bring in just to get my feet up off the ground and I have had zero issues.

I have some big honkin Sorells that STILL don’t keep my feet warm enough. My best solution to date has been boots a size or two bigger than my normal shoe-size, two pairs of wool socks with handwarmers (not toe warmers) in between on top of my toes and I just recently picked up some heat packs that are 3/4 insoles that I am wearing with the wool socks in 400gr Thinsulate boots. I am in Mini-Soda and the last 3-4 weeks have been 25 degrees or less…uh, mostly LESS and I have been up in the trees ALOT. I have shortened my pre-prime time to minimize total amount of time in the woods and exposure to the cold. Never have tried them ‘lectric socks though. I do spend a whole lotta money on handwarmers, bodywarmers but it has been the best option. I also layer up with polypro and wool under my camo. Anything to keep the bulk down and the warmth in. Good luck!

“Mississippi?? ‘n you think it’s cold?? Come on up! I’ll show you what cold is!!!

Cheers and good luck!!

Been in Mn. all my life, work and play outdoors year round.

Loose fitting pac boots and wool socks work the best for me, have extra liners and socks. Rotate liners and dry boots out every night.

Light wool underwear, Duofold makes nice Merino wool underwear in various weights, good stuff.

Loose fitting shirts and pants, along with layering will help tremendously. Traps air around the body and helps keep you warm. Layering cloths allows one to take off and put on as conditions dictate. Like walking to your stand,put outer layers on ONLY when you get to your stand and have allowed moisture to escape your body before putting outerwear back on.

DO NOT overlook your head and neck, keep’em covered as well as well your midsection, especially around your back torso.

None of your clothing has to cost you a forture either, just middle of the road quality will do nicely.

I use alot of cotton, t-shirts shirts, jeans, etc, but I know wool performs better. i use the wool underwear, cottom middle and when it’s really cold, wool outerwear and when it gets really, really, cold I stay by the fire.

Talk about a tougher breed! Or prehistoric hunter ancestors had nothing to wear in those long Pleistocene winters but skins and can you imagine what, say, a bison hide with hair on would weigh? And for winter boots it was oversized mocs stuffed with grass for insulation, a la Otzi. I am about as romantic about those pre-agricultural “good old days” as anyone I know, but in my present body and mind and diet I doubt I’d survive the first winter.

Among the most ridiculous ads I’ve ever seen was one with a spring turkey hunter sitting next to a tree with his shotgun and camo on, and a big white 20-pound propane tank right beside him with a heater on it. Those things are loud. That’s right up there with the “anti-scent aura” machine.

Back to shoveling snow …

Schnees extreme pac boots and a good pair of wool socks, my feet stayed nice and cosy snowshoeing for late season deer and pheasants. I’ve been out in 15 below with those boots and they were great.