Cold-weather deer hunting

This is a good buck, quartering away and within easy bow range. Take him!

Yesterday was a bitter cold evening, and I was able to take it in stride because many years ago I learned how to dress for cold, bad weather.

It was cold tonight with a temperate in the 20s with a strong wind that bit through clothing and chilled a person to the bone. I once suffered with cold feet, clothing that let cold winds blow over my back and chest, but with age comes some common sense. Hunting every night means being able to handle whatever nature hands out, and that means dressing properly for the existing conditions.

I start with long underwear, light wool and heavy wool socks, and a heavy wool shirt and my jeans. Many hunters like bib overalls, and they work fine for many hunters but I prefer a heavy, soft and quiet suit of coveralls.

Scent-Lok camo is warm, dry and helps keep deer from getting your scent.

I'm also a big fan of scent control so this year picked up a great suit of Scent-Lok clothing that consists of heavy-duty (and quiet) bibs, coat, gloves and hat. I wear long underwear underneath, jeans and a wool shirt, and find that it's possible to set out in almost anykind of weather than Michigan can through at us during November and December.

Throw it into the dryer for 45 minutes to reactivate the garment's ability to prevent scent from forming, and I've had deer straight downwind of me, and they never caught my scent. I wear shin-high rubber books, and spray them with any scent-killing spray.

My Scent-Lok suit similar to a snowmobile suit in some respects but it is quiet and helps prevent human odor from drifting on the breeze. The hard shell finish on most snowmobile suits make them impossibly noisy for bow hunting. My suit is just getting broken in after almost two months of continual use.

Heat loss occurs through your head, and I wear a Scent-Lok hat, and a wool stocking cap that keeps my head warm and covers my ears. Insulated boots keep my feet warm, and it doesn't bother me to put hand-warners in each pocket, toe warmers in my boots, and I'm about ready to hunt.

I like a heavy wool scarf on my neck when conditions really get cold and nasty.

A heavy wool scarf is wrapped once or twice around my neck on really cold day to keep chilly drafts from blowing on my neck or down my back. That wool scarf is one of the handiest items of clothing a hunter can wear when cold December winds blow. I've found that when the winter chill factor is dropping near zero, I can wrap my nose and face in one layer of my scarf, and it stays warm.

I also carry a little tiny heater for those times when I hunt from a enclosed coop or ground blind. It runs off a small canister of bottled propane, and that heater can be a lifesaver. I use it to warm my fingers before shooting at a deer, and if hunting from an elevated coop, it can take the chill off a cold wood building.

This heater is small, compact and efficient. It doesn't bring the air temperature up very much, but it takes some of the winter bite of an icy wind out of my hunting coop. The deer can't hear if, apparently can't smell it although I am downwind of the deer, and it doesn't cast a bright red glow inside the coop that could attract the attention of an approaching buck.

I can certainly remember the many evenings spent in an open tree stand, waiting for a good buck to walk closer. It's easy to recall the numbed fingers and toes, and my questioning my personal sanity for being out on such nights.

The old days may have featured more deer but today’s clothing is far superior.

Dressing warmly, using a small heater when absolutely necessary, and knowing how to stay warm is one of the luxuries of attaining a bit of age and wisdom. We learn from our earlier mistakes, realize we no longer must prove how tough we are, and we can relax and be comfortable while hunting during nasty weather.

I'm not saying that I never get cold, but the number of bitter cold days I experienced over the years now are few. Hunting is supposed to be fun, and hunters who make themselves sick because they are poorly dressed, have no one to blame but themselves.

Dressing warmly is within the budget of anyone who can afford to be a bow hunter. Me, I prefer being cozy warm. My days of freezing ended many years ago, and I still wonder why I put up with icy fingers and toes for so long.

If I can change, so can you. Warm bow hunters are more efficient bow hunters, especially in December, and the Scent-Lok clothing certainly helps me control my human scent.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors