Cold Hands

[Danny Klee]

#4333

It’s getting quite cold here in Michigan and I don’t use a muzzleloader, so I use my longbow to hunt with. My problem is that my draw hand gets very cold, almost numb. Do any of you have some advice for me on this? Thanks.

Dan

[Ricklep]

#29683

😀 Good day, I used to live and hunt in the Soo, and what we did for the draw hand is wear a light gortex glove and a shooting tab. As we walked around or standing in a tree stand, I kept that hand in jacket pocket. Cheer

[Bert]

#29691

Dan-I’m with you on this topic! Working as a carpenter it seems like I work inside during the summer and outside in winter- go figure. My hands get very cold, numbingly so, and necessity being the mother of invention here are some possible solutions that work for me whether in carpentry or bowhunting.
First make sure your toes are warm- Sorels work great.
Next warm head and neck- polarfleece hoody is my present choice.
I bowshoot with a glove and have found a thin liner glove will fit into the stalls either silk or nylon then over that a wool hunter’s mitten- the one where the front opens up and you can flip it back to the velcro tab on the back of the mitten. Also handy for wiping that annoying snot and moisture from mustache and beard!
If it’s really cold one of those cheap heat packets in each glove will warm you up.
If you shoot with a tab, you might try what the winter steelhead fishermen here in the PNW wear which is basically a neoprene wetsuit glove.
And if it’s really, really cold- stay inside by the woodstove with a hot toddy and make some arrows and read a good book!
StandingBear lives above the 60th parallel-BRRRR!- maybe he’ll post some methods that work for him, such as 1st kill a caribou then………..!!!!!
Stay Warm& Good Hunting- Bert

[Daniel]

#29703

Moosehide mitts with a 70%wool/30%latex glove liner, works like a charm, never get cold hands anymore 🙂

SB

[Danny Klee]

#29778

StandingBear wrote: Moosehide mitts with a 70%wool/30%latex glove liner, works like a charm, never get cold hands anymore 🙂

SB

Where do you find Moosehide mitts like you described?

Dan

[Daniel]

#29779

We have a few elders that still make them here, if you want a pair, I can send you their address and they can send direct to you.

SB

[Bert]

#29802

Sorry StandingBear- It’s first kill a MOOSE not a caribou as I posted earlier- mea culpa!- Bert

[William Warren]

#29835

Danny,

I know it gets alot colder where you are but I have used my wool mittens in freezing Illinois weather and I would not go out without them in winter. They are a tight woven wool with a very fine wool liner and a leather and velcro slot in the palm. They used to be very common in department stores that had a sporting section but have become harder to find in the South these days. However if you ever find them they will last a lifetime. They used to come in green or orange, but more recently I have seen them in camo.
I use a finger tab and just keep it inside the mit until ready to shoot. The velcro on my string hand is worn and does not hinder my fingers from coming out. When it was new I would just fold it under so the velcro would not engage.

OK, I finally remembered the brand name of these wool shooting mits – Duxbak – Maybe they still offer them.

[Chris Shelton]

#30541

Im with snuffornot when he says it doesnt get as cold down below this masion dixion line, but it is still cold. Last year I was hunting wabbits in 15 degree temps with 30 mph winds:shock:! The shots were close range and the rabbits seemed to like it more when it was colder?? I had a old pair of heavy gloves that I had torn the fingertips off of while using them back in my skateboarding days. So conviniently it was just my three fingers. I have a elk hide shooting glove and amazingly it pretty much stays warm but only where the hand is covered. We have that wind that cuts through to the bone all winter. So basically you just need to keep covered effeciently and you will stay warm. But I just slipped my shooting glove on first and then the bigger heavy glove on overtop. It worked duirng that late feburary wabbit season where the highs for that month seemed to be below 20:wink:. Best of luck!

[LimbLover]

#30726

As a fellow Michigan hunter…I hear you!

My Dad and I were having the same problem. On Black Friday we found a set of Mossy Oak gloves – the flip top fleece ones. The mitten part flips open to expose half-finger gloves and uses magnets to keep the mitten out of your way when folded down.

The thumb tips also flip in this manner. They were $14.00 and you can fit a glove through them if you shoot with a glove.

I shot for 3 days with these gloves and they are the best solution I have found. Super soft on your face.

If you don’t like that, I would buy a muff.

[Patrick]

#31597

When it’s really cold, I where a mitten on the left hand and a thin glove on my right hand. I have a big pouch that attaches to my belt that I stuff my right hand in while waiting. Only my left hand ever gets cold, seriously. To prevent confusion, I’m right-handed.

[Chris Shelton]

#31645

Hmm alot of you like those flip top mittens!?!? I used them once, back when I first started hunting, and had the coldest hands of my life. Probably the most painful cold ever. HAvent touched them since. BUT in those pictures from snuffornot, they looked a little thicker than mine? So I might have to get some. Might help me to operate the camera better in thsoe freezing cold days. Seems we are in a period of warming though, when I had that terrible experience the highs were in the teens that day, and dad took us to the coldest place in our area.

When it is too warm for my thick glove with the three fingers cut out, I do what patrick does but I dont have that muff thing that goes on your belt. I just have either a hoody or a pocket that I stick my glove hand in.

[William Warren]

#32200

Greatreearcher wrote: Hmm alot of you like those flip top mittens!?!? I used them once, back when I first started hunting, and had the coldest hands of my life. Probably the most painful cold ever. HAvent touched them since. BUT in those pictures from snuffornot, they looked a little thicker than mine? So I might have to get some. Might help me to operate the camera better in thsoe freezing cold days. Seems we are in a period of warming though, when I had that terrible experience the highs were in the teens that day, and dad took us to the coldest place in our area.

When it is too warm for my thick glove with the three fingers cut out, I do what patrick does but I dont have that muff thing that goes on your belt. I just have either a hoody or a pocket that I stick my glove hand in.

GTA,
My mitts are tight woven wool with a second inner wool lining. If there is any doubt, I used the green ones on a duck hunt where the daytime high was 5 degrees Farenheit. Needless to say the duck pond was freezing all around us but the mitts kept my hands toasty. The green ones are probably 25+ years old.
Duncan

[Danny Klee]

#35696

StandingBear,

Yes please do send the address of the makers of the moose hide mitts to me. You can email me directly at bigmagic@modempool.com

Thanks

Dan

[Bigbearclaw]

#36871

I would like the address too if I could

[crash87]

#50620

I’m with Ricklep on this one. Hunting northern Wisconsin has taught me alot about hunting in the cold, so I thought it permissible to add a few thoughts to the matter.
Usually nothing on my shooting hand but my shooting glove, keeping it in my pocket for warmth, “when” it gets cold. I have also wore a Light cotton glove or a ragg wool glove (it’s a little heavier which equals=warmer) with the three fingers cut off for my shooting glove. If it is realy cold I have some of those shearling wool mitts that Screamin’ eagle sold all those years ago. Basically a pouch sewn so the wool is inside. I usaully take one and clip it to my belt and use it “when” in stand, be it ground or tree. If it is really, really cold i’ll add a heater pack or 4, you can also add them to your pockets if you wish.
Last evening I was out for about 4 hours with just a 3 fingerless glove on my shooting hand, east wind off lake Michigan at about 20mph with temps in the single digits, “without” wind chill. Never really noticed cold hands until right at quitting time. So another method is to just put it out of your mind, cold is just another mild obtacle of the hunt and should not be worried, about as you have more important things to do, HUNT. 😉 CRASH87

[rayborbon]

#50662

I don’t live in Michigan but when I hunt where it’s cold I will always consider taking mittens where you can fold back the area around the fingers. As long as when I do this action it does not make any noise and as long as they are warm enough then I consider them good enough.

[Reg Darling]

#50963

Silk glove liners are a tremendous help. They have so little bulk you don’t have to remove them for tasks that require removing your outer glove.

[Fletcher]

#52279

I wear a wool glove on my string had and just put my tab on over it. Helps to practice with it a bit but it will only take a few shots to get used to it. I have a heavy trigger finger glove for my bow hand. When it gets cold, my string hand will spend most of its time in my pocket, but the glove lets me use it to hold my bow and give the other hand a break once in a while. I like to keep my bow in my hand while on stand. Those flip top mitten things work pretty good, too and you can keep a handwarmer packet in the mitt part.

[BMejia]

#55360

A trick I learned is to buy wrist bands (like pro sport players wear) and put “hot hand” packs under them. You will be surprised how much warmer your hands will be by keeping the blood flowing to them warm. Apparently your body loses a lot of heat at the wrists due to a high concentration of veins near the surface of your skin.

[David Petersen]

#55526

I’m with BMejia — chemical hand warmers in pockets, and when sitting on stand I rotate one from hand to hand. Being skinny and old with low blood pressure, cold knocks me out in a hurry so I have to find “introduced” warmth. A thermos of hot tea works wonders but isn’t conducive to being invisible.

Patrick — you give great quotes! “Mankind’s greatest problem is a perfection of means and a confusion of ends.”
-Albert Einstein

Einstein’s scientific genius overshadows deserved attention to his philosophical brilliance. In this case “perfection of means” = “cleverness” of the variety to allows us to send folks to the moon and bring them home stil breathing. “Confusion of ends” = mankind’s general lack of wisdom. Wisdom = cleverness with self-restraint and altruism for future generations.

Good ole’ Al! Damn shame they put his brain in a jar. 😀

[Author]

Posts