Did you get out? I made it out tonight just after I got home from work. I switched over to the cold weather camo, strapped on my safety vest, grabbed my bow and release and was out the door. I had a walk about 300 yards down our gravel driveway to one of my stands about 40 yards into our woods which borders a township road and nice soybean field on the other side. The snow flakes were light but coming down like crazy and nice and wet. Climbed into stand about an hour before dark and battled the snow and very cold intermittent wind gusts for the next 45 minutes with no action in sight. The windchill was actually in the low 20s, cold even for Minnesota this time of year.
I started to think being out in this wind and cold is nuts when the first doe came out of the woods kitty corner from our's. Then another and another until about a dozen made their way out. My second thoughts were replaced by the realization it would take a lot to shake these deer out of their nightly feeding routine. If I could be out here in a tree, why couldn't they get out of their beds to have supper.
Anyway, they skirted the edge of the bean field near the road and our woods as I strategized the possible shots. They never did come in, though, and just kept feeding in the bean field about 50 yards away. I let it get very dark before I decided I needed to get down. I spent about five minutes lowering my bow and literally crawling down the tree at a snail's pace. Not sure they saw me coming down the tree because it was so dark, I was moving so slow and in the woods aways back. But they took off when I started moving on the ground. Could see their outlines bound away without blowing, which is good.
I walked back to the house and could barely feel my fingers which had gotten wet and cold in my gloves which I realized were the warm weather ones. Not smart. Got back to the house and recapped the night with my wife and kids, helping her put them to bed. No deer tonight but a great hunt and warm house and wonderful family to come home to. Doesn't get much better than that.