staying comfortable sitting, in cold looking for game

grumpyvette

Administrator
Staff member
look this is maybe not common but its not totally unknown info either
sitting on a good location where natural terain features tend to concentrate deer and elk trails in some area is a fairly successful; way to hunt in some areas, but you need to remain motionless for long periods of time and in sub freezing temps that can be challenging.
obviously you need to find cover so your not easy to see, something like under the branches of a large conifer or aspen blow-down may be ideal.
once you find a decent place to shoot game from you need to be comfortable to sit long enough to actually see game pass thru the area while your NOT giving away your location with movement.
first you need a decent comfortable insulated seat, to keep your butt off the cold ground,something made of close cell foam, with a firm backer support on one side,foam, thats water proof that fits in a day/back back/pack or the bucket is useful.
youll need a 5-6 gallon steel, or galvanized bucket you drill a couple dozen 1/2" holes in,, lets say randomly arranged, over its buckets surface.
next you need a decent hat with a good wide brim to keep the sun out of your eyes
next you obviously need to dress in layers and wear a good deal less insulation while walking into an area than you do once you reach the area your to look over, sop you don,t start sweating , as that will give you a chill later, so staying dry but a bit cool on the walk in is advised.
find an insulated poncho ,youll need an old one lb tuna can to modify with a few holes drilled 9look at picture)and a bunch of trioxane fuel tabs,(they burn with zero smoke or odor), then you find a comfortable place to place the seat where you want to hunt, sit the modified tuna can on bare dirt,place a trioxane tablet in the tuna can, and light it, place the steel bucket over it , with the mouth centered over the chicken tin, bucket face down, place the seat on the now upper surface of the inverted bucket, with the poncho draped loosely over you and the seat
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a few tips
you want to remain safe comfortable and dry, you want to find game and easily transport it once its down,
a decent wide brim hat treated with water repel-ant spray, to keep rain and snow out of your eyes or running down the back of your neck and sun out of your eyes sure helps
(one of the most over-looked clothing items)
as does having a comfortable light weight back-pack to transport game meat, and a poncho to keep you drier in heavy rain or snow.
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comfortable insulated boots with good ankle support and an aggressive tread are nearly mandatory
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this is a darn good value in a skinning and dressing game knife
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a jacket and or vest that can be stored in your back pack for sudden temp swings helps a great deal
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a decent rifle bi-pod aids accuracy


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https://www.killerhats.com/stetson-gallatin-sage-crushable-wool-felt-hat-swgltn813242/

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it may not sound like much heat but youll fine the constant flow of heated air swirling up under the poncho does an amazing job of keeping you from freezing and a tablet lasts at least 30 minutes

good camo and lack of movement in a good area can be a very effective combination
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https://www.duluthtrading.com/mens-...MI3JG22I366AIVaQiICR3AygE7EAQYASABEgJ7W_D_BwE
btw adding a vest under a parka goes a long way toward keeping you significantly warmer
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a decent down vest and polar fleece hoodie under a parka sure helps on sub zero mornings
 
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Well Grumpy it's 58 degrees here today (been that for weeks now) Opening day for Bow hunting, Guns start the first Monday after Thanksgiving. Somebody got a Buck this morning. I was by chance looking out the upstairs window when I saw a nice size Buck running across my back field and suddenly go down. I waited for somebody to come and claim the deer(someone came 30 minutes later). I got a phone call my neighbor friend bagged it, an 8 point with a 39 inch spread. I asked him to have his wife send me a photo through email (he's not remotely interested in computers). He said he barely got setup when this deer walked past him.
 
BTW if you go to pick a sleeping bag and intend to pack it into the back country,
Ive back-pack hunted for elk in Colorado for decades, temps range from the 80F down to -20F on very rare occasions.
youll find early season archery ,far warmer than third rifle season up at 10,000 plus feet elevation.
now you should obviously consider what you NEED to stay reasonably comfortable under the likely conditions you'll see.
one of the most miserable nights I ever spent was the first night I camped in the California Warner wilderness, temps dropped to -5F
I had a SEARS sleeping bag rated for 10F and even wearing a parka and sweater inside the bag I felt like I was freezing to death,sleeping in the tent.
light weights great, but the object of having a sleeping bag is to allow you to stay at least semi-warm while you sleep.
now having a good insulating pad under the bag helps and having a pull over face mask to restrict heat loss from your head and face helps,but think thru your choices based on the likely conditions and don,t get mesmerized by light weight or low price alone, your life could depend on staying warm and dry.
down in the 600-800 loft range is effective and light weight, but if it gets soaked with water its nearly useless a roomy gortex outer bags helpful.
get a bag thats a bit too heavy or bulky its a P.I.T.A. to carry and pack, but you might prefer that over FREEZING TO DEATH with a soaking wet, useless 2 lb down bag if your forced, to use it because you got soaked , accidentally falling in some creek covered with ice, where a good synthetic bag might provide far more warmth.

http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews ... ng%20Bags/

http://www.outdoorgearlab.com/Backpacki ... ag-Reviews


yeah Im sure Ill get flack over this but I found this bag and pad, and gore tex outer bag a decent choice, yeah, I generally use these only if I,m sure to see sub zero temps and the bag alone over a tarp works fine on most hunts but I keep the other two components in the truck along with a good pack frame and two man tent.

http://www.rei.com/product/828210/the-n ... g#specsTab

http://www.mpgear.com/item/astroinsulat ... Pad/1.html

http://www.amazon.com/Military-Surplus- ... B00276IGM4


this is hardly ideal for back packing but its a good choice if you set up camp near your truck, and need a good 4 person all season tent, keep in mind a tent rated for X number of people has rarely got room for more than X number of people in sleeping bags , so reduce, the number of people by one to leave room for packs etc. inside the tent, example a 4 person rated tent will most likely work for 3 hunters
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas- ... BIK-580519
 
thats a pretty damn genius system right there grumpy... i know a thing or two about being out in the freezing cold. usually not just plopped down in one spot long enough to use that setup tho.

i did use the bejesus out of this tho... i think smoking so much or bad circulation always made my hands feel like they were about to fall off in korea so i got me one of these:

http://www.eflasks.com/zihawa.html?cmp= ... 7Aod_iAAmg

although alot of people bought those hot hands things like this and put em in their gloves and in their socks:

http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-1 ... lsrc=aw.ds
 
having to walk long distances (10, 20 and once almost 30 miles) in the cold i can tell you that ounces add up to pounds when you are packing a load. i try to keep the heaviest part of my pack very high on my back to keep my spine straight as putting it low makes you arch your back like a worn out exotic dancer and can cause alot of discomfort. i also make sure whatever snacks i am gonna munch on or sip on while walking (to include the tube from my camelbak) are all within arms reach without removing my gear. once my pack is on and cinched down i dont like taking it off, if i have to rest i sit on the ground and prop the pack up on a rock or against a tree and take the weight off my shoulders. i dont tke it off untill i know its gonna be off for a good long while, reason being i see guys get exhausted carrying a hump and drop their gear to take a break, rest for five minutes and go try to swing that pack up on their back again and blow their back out from the strain. seen that happen twice and both times it was a relatively light (45lb) load... but 45 lbs feels like 450 lbs after a few miles believe me
 
also about sleeping bags, in the army we generally had a three layer sleep system with a goretex outer bag, a thick "extreme cold weather" bag (my ass shivered in anything below 20 with this bag) and a light bag for summer time. when it was really cold (and korea was the coldest suck ive ever had to deal with) we would use all three bags at once and usually be comfortable. the one trick that was unanimously used was not to wear clothes in your sleeping bag. some science behind the lack of your dirty clothes breathing and wicking moisture will throughout the night prove to lower your body tems compared to just sleeping in your bag with your underoos or in the buff. granted, having to get up and go pee in the middle of the night required some planning but generally you were warmer with the less stuff you had on in the bag... as counter intuitive as that sounds. also i realize you should probably have a bag suited for the temperature youre in before you go experimenting with that theory.
 
making a few basic choices in your choice of cold weather clothing selections.
and accessories make a big difference in how you'll handle cold weather,
if your hunting, weather conditions,
Id strongly suggest a good selection of camo, on all clothes while you hunt, as your not going to be having only one covering outer surface, showing.
colors like
black, white and tan should be avoided as some total idiot might mistake those for game
and temps can and frequently will vary a great deal over a days time, as will your rate of exercise

youll want to start with some moisture wicking under clothes , keep in mind trapped dead air space retains body heat, but trapped moisture will result in far lower comfort.
a long waist ed synthetic down insulated vest is a light weight and useful accessory, the last thing you want to do is get soaked with perspiration then try to stay warm.
if your experienced with cooler weather you know you want to avoid sweating when your forced to exercise , so you remove extra insulation, and only re, insulate once you stop and remain fairly motionless while glassing the area or resting.
more than a few guys I've hunted with throw on a heavy parks in the pre-dawn cold and by noon they have a choice of sweating or freezing , with few options as they can either wear the parka or stuff it in the day-pack, with several layers you can much better regulate personal comfort as temps and rates of exercise change

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a one or two size too larger than required synthetic sweater is a good option
you want it loose so it traps more air around the body
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a good rain proof parka with a hood is very useful and a decent day pack large enough to stuff the parka and sweater or vest in along with your basic hunt day pack supplys like a skinning knife and a couple canteens tp paper etc.when not in use is a darn good idea

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