Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

For the first time ever I had to depart from my stand due to being too cold on the Tennessee opener. It was about 13 degrees on top of the mountain I hunt and I was on the east slope. my usual set up includes underarmor cold gear base layer, thermal bottoms, heavy jeans, then some big bulky bibs and fleece jacket and extra heavy coat. That's not including my heavy orange vest and hunter safety systems vest. I have always sat right through it and never been abit cold, usually I leave some stuff unzipped to breath be it raining, snowing, etc. I sat about an hour then couldn't feel my toes through my 800gram Irish Setters with liner and heavy wool socks so I stuck a hothands pack in the toe of each boot and sat about another 2 hours till I had to climb down and head to the truck I was shivering so bad. Moved stands toa much lower elevation where I've taken 3 deer during archery this season and was fine till about 3 when it got really overcast and chilled and had to leave about an hour after that. This ever happened to you all of a sudden like? I'm in good health and if anything probably 15-20 lbs heavier than last season but I just can't take this cold.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

I hear ya. I was in ETN this morning and it was 10 degrees. The deer were moving after about 9:00 am.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

I know how that feels, getting ready to head out to South Dakota next month where it will probably be -15 degrees, but I have been waiting for this trip since I was 12 years old and am not missing it!

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

It was 18 degreees this morning where my husband and I hunt. Our plan was to stay on stand all day. By 10:30 I took all I could and we left for the house to warm up. I really did not think about the cold while I was seeing deer, passed on 5 different Bucks only because we have a management program on our hunting land, has to be an 8 point or bigger.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

yep... its gunna be a coldseason thats for sure, i know il be putting on every piece of clothing i own tomorrow lol.

oh and TNGal thats a great managment program, i wish they had something like that around here. my hunting group does that. the problem is keeping all the other hunters off our land who shoot at anything.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

Jayman the other farm that borders our deer lease land observes the same practice and one property allows no hunting that is the only way we are able to do this. We have been doing this for 5 years know and it is just starting to pay off.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

Good to hear of another area in TN doing a management program. The private land I hunt by the lake is free from any other hunting pressure aside from my own. I've tried to be a doe slayer during archery and thin the smaller spikes out for meat. I've got a small frame 8pnt that's only about a year and a half old and I've got high hopes for him on down the road along with a few other 6pnts. I've only saw one mature 4-5y/o on the property in two years though and unfortunately he was way beyond range of the Hoyt earlier this season so I'm hopin he'll decide to stroll past the business end of my AR. Most of the locals here though just shoot any and everything that has something on its head. Around here if you get a deer over 50-60 inches your in the minority.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

Yeah I'm in E TN and this morning I had brought along a friend of mine for his first deer hunt. At about 9:30 I looked over at him and he was shiverin' and his nose looked like a cherry, so I took him on a little hike to get warm. I grew up huntin' in the single didits during rifle season so it didn't bother me. When it gets in the negatives then I can't stay out too long.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

i was on stand for about 31/2 hours and i could not stop shaking so i went home for a few min to warm up and then i shot my doe. i think with the windchill this morning it had be close 0 degrees. the wind was coming stright out of the east. and that is the way my stand faces. i think i need to build a tower stand and then i wont have that problem. :)

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

we are starting to push it on to anyone who want to hunt our land, as there are very few bucks around and a tone of doe. the problem is people are too trigger happy around here, and then spend there time complaining about how there is a lack of bucks. on the up side there are very few hunters this year so it should give us a chance to get the herd back up (i hope).

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

It could be multiple factors that made you cold that day.

Clothing wasn't clean, or they were wet.

Don't wear jeans on top of thermals. The heavy cotton traps moisture preventing the thermals from expelling anymore moisture. This includes cotton clothing on the upper torso also.

Poor diet the day of and prior to hunting. Have you eaten less that day and before? What about warm liquids that you can take with you? Coffee, hot cocoaand hot soup is the best. Hyrdation the day before and during is critical. Stay away from caffein and carbonated drinks.

Had that happen to me last year. I was wearing clothing rated for -15 F, and the temp was 6 F, walked the 50 yds to my tree stand, and I was cold in 20 minutes.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

All my clothes had just been washed a couple days prior. thanks for the not of that on the thermals. I've never been cold before wearing thembut I'll keep that in mind.I'm getting apear of the fleece type heavyscentlok pants from GanderMt in a few weeks sohopefully that will help as well. Diet wise I didn't have anything hot but I hardly ever carry any warm liquids. I was in a hurry and just ate a big bowl of cheerios instead of my usual biscuit, gravy, bacon, etc so that might have made a difference. And I don't drink any kind of soda, energy drinks, etc. Justjuice, milk, water. I may have to take me some hot chocolate next weekend though if itdon't warm up.

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

i froze to death saturday mornin my self

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

i live in canada so this happens a lot lol

RE: Wow I must have turn cold blooded. I about froze to death
 

Think like your quarry.....Do I want to be on the cold side of the mountain or do I want to be on the sunny side of the mountain???