doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why I like being Canadian

I know Keith, I had some of those old worn out Woolrich coats that got handed down to me when my brother got a new one.

Sitting on Mt. Davis in some of those deer seasons was brutal.

Some of the coldest winters I ever spent were up on the Mojave, at Ft. Irwin. Since it was the NTC, we were running 14 Brigade rotations a year, so as a member of the OPFOR we were almost always in the field, with one four day weekend off between rotations. When I was the recon commander we'd be out all night, riding in a Hummer made up to look like a BRDM, but always standing up in the weather. If we weren't moving, I was up on a mountaintop with a radio. The best thing I used was a German sleeping bag that was kind'a half parka, complete with hood and sleeves. Once you got your feet inside and zipped it up you could at least keep from freezing.

Regards
Ken

Here is some cold weather stuff:http://blog.skratchlabs.com/blog/hydration-for-cold-weather

Says humans can't handle cold well and not to sweat. I don't handle cold well and have always believed in staying a little cold cause sweat can freeze you. One of the things we hunters face is in duck hunting in cold weather is hard hauling of gear and blind building followed by having to sit very still in the blind. Fortunately when it gets really cold the water is iced over and the ducks are gone. Then you can stay home in a nice warm bed. I had a Mechanics professor who was a German that had fought on the Eastern front during WWII. Russia was really cold. My wife's friend's father was a Fin that had fought the Russians Finland during WWII. He said the Russians couldn't handle the cold weather. I guessed they learned by the time the Germans came.

Keith, you describe exactly the circumstances that get lots of people in serious trouble. Glad you made it.

Not me. It doesn't get really cold here, but when it goes into the teens for a few days all the ducks just go to moving water and leave all the frozen over ponds and lakes. That's what I wait for. I take this rig and drift those creeks and rivers and have fabulous shooting. Unreal numbers of ducks around every bend. You can see literally hundreds in shooting range in a 3-4 hour drift. It's a one man show, tho', and I've got the rivers and creeks all to myself. I've never seen another living soul on one of my drifts. I'm not anti-social, but I kinda like it alone.



SRH

Stan I've done similar kinds of hunting up in Manitoba. It's awesome. When the slow water freezes and the only open is moving.

Problem is, it only lasts a day or two up here, then it's ALL frozen. Haha.

It's the opposite here, James. The ice only lasts a day or two, then it's gone. There are nearly always enough ducks on my favorite creek to kill a limit, but those cold spells when you can literally pick your shots, because there are so many, are awesome.

SRH

Takes a bold man to go out alone to backwater locations, encumbered with heavy clothing on freezing water. If you ever lost that kayak and got soaked you could never make it back. Good adventure, but I don't hate ducks that much.

Pooch, a lot of the time the water is not over my head. I also often wear a water activated PFD. Staying alive is a reasonably high priority. Usually the biggest concern is being on "bigger" water and having the wind come up or shift directions to make waves worse than anticipated.

My brother and I were out in late October about a dozen years ago, in a canoe and following a serpentine creek in the marsh between open areas (gunsaholic may know it, it's called Crooked Creek) and somehow my brother flipped himself out of the bow and into the water. He went straight to the bottom, 12-15 feet with full gear and waders on. He was able to get back to the surface by pulling himself up the side of the riverbank, which was near vertical. It was a cool day but sunny with little wind. Got most of his gear off, gave him my jacket, gloves and hat and we paddled hard for the lodge. About 1.5 miles away and he was plenty warm by the time we got back.

Stan, your gear wouldn't work along bold shores. Properly dressed for cold and wet weather, where's space for gear, set of decoys and a dog, especially a dog when birds fall in cattails or the woods, scattering like devils?