Even if the hunt is in the Illinois banana belt, it will still be much colder than in Bama.

Northern Illinois is just like Iowa so my posts were about what I would worry about if I invited a Southerner to hunt with me.

In reply to dumb bass,i live in so. illinois and you have obviosly not been to the shawnee national forest i would not call them mtns. but there are definetly some great big bluffs and hills,especially to someone from alabama.

Cold can be a relative term though. The coldest I have ever been while hunting was in a duck blind in Louisiana with the temperature in the 30s,high humidity, and a strong wind coming across the wetlands. I'll takea 10 degree dry coldup north over that anytime.And you don't have to worry about cottonmouths,hornets, and mosquitos in mid-November up here.[:-]

The coldest I have ever been was 10 degrees, pheasant hunting, on a windy day. It all has to do with the wind, humidity, how you are dressed, and temperature. I have had no trouble staying warm on zero degree days too. I got incredibly cold once as a teenager at 60 degrees, I was fishing and got wet from the dew before sunrise. We had to get on our bikes and head back home and that never happened any other time we were out. So I agree with you, Lanse_couche_couche.

Of course the coldest I have ever been while not hunting was walking down Iowa Avenue to school in Iowa City on amorning when it was something like 20 below zero. That was thetime back in 1991 or 1992when it never got above zero for a whole week. I was so cold that I had to duck into a bar for a shot of schnaps to help me make it the next two blocks to campus.

and if you come to Illinois you still wont see any

Depends on your point of view. When the family from south Louisiana go to Illinois to visit my parents some of themrefer to the Shawnee forest hills as mountains.

If you want to see mountains, go to one of the 3 states I lived and hunted in, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho, I have been standing on mountains early in the morning and the cloud cover was right below you, you could almost swear you could walk off the mountain onto this enormous white pillow. It is truely amazing how big the mountains are over there. I grew up on the west coast, so that was what i was use to, and then I moved to New york about 6 years ago and went where is the national forest with all the mountains. I miss it alot, some of the best hunting around.

Hey, lets all be fair here, after all I know nothing about Alabama. I have only been there once and only because I got turned around in Columbus, GA. I very well may have said that there were mountains in Northern Alabama but a quick look at my atlas says I would have been wrong.

The coldest temperatures I have ever experienced is -28 and that three different times. Those were probably later in January or early Febuary and that is not normal, every 20 years or so. I cannot remember the coldest I have ever been too well because I was a kid but I think it was probably above freezing and I was wet playing in the snow. At those super cold temperatures you should probably breath through a mask, while moving anyway, to keep from getting freezing air in your lungs.

I've never seen it so cold where I could not sit for a couple hours but I live here. I would go hunting even if it was -28 but I would not try to sit at that temperature. I would do drives or still hunt so that I was moving. It never gets nearly that cold in early December in Iowa so it is just a mental exercise anyway.

I think a few tips are in order-

1) Use anti persperant on your feet. Your feet seem to sweat even when they are cold and keeping them dry helps with the cold.

2) You can fidget a lot without spooking the deer. Wiggle your toes, tighten then relax your hands, chest legs and arms, this improves circulation to your hands and feet and generates some body heat.

3) If your hands and feet feel cold you are OK; if they feel numb then you are too cold and need to get warmed up.(now, not later)

4) If you skin shiver you are OK; if you body shudder shiver you need to get warmed up.(now, not later) Warming up from being too cold is quite painful even if you did not do any damage so don't let it happen.


It is funny which threads I find enjoyable, this is one of them. Are there any more tips for someone new to cold temperatures????

Bob

im surprised no one else has said anything about this besides me
30-06 in illinois.