Cold fingers alert, north central SD weekend of 1/18-1/19

My stupid phone conks out when it gets too cold. It shuts itself off. That happened last Sunday and has happened on other cold days like that. I then put a hand warmer at the top of the case I keep it in, and that seems to allow me to run it the rest of the hike. A little reminder to myself for this weekend is to start with that handwarmer in place.

Not sure if others have this issue, but thought I would mention it.
 
Limitless said:
Shake hand warmers in your gloves are your friend. The warmer you keep your core body (although I don't recommend sweating too much in the cold), the more blood your body will allow to go to your extremities too.

I'd watch your ears too, in that wind. I wear in ear hearing protection. I used to use over the ear devices. Sunday, I will be wearing the over the ear devices. Maybe even Saturday. They happen to insulate and keep my ears warm, even though that isn't their primary purpose. If you don't use hearing protection, some type of muff or hat that goes over your ears is a good idea. I use a baseball style cap, since that is what my camera mounts to. It doesn't provide much for heat retention of my head, but the hoody hood helps with that.

Heck, I have never worn a facemask when pheasant hunting, only deer hunting, but I might dig out one to bring for Sunday. It is a pain in the rear end for us eyeglass users. Can't have my mouth covered, because of the water vapor and condensation issues with my glasses too. I do have a warmer neck gaiter that has pockets for hand warmers too, along the sides, that stick up to warm cheeks and ears. Mine covers my mouth if I pull it up, so I can't get maximum benefit, but I will be using that too.

I wear a zip up fleece hoody over my tshirt. Down under 5 degrees, I also have a heated liner vest that I wear between the tshirt and hoody. However, the arms and hood on the hoody allow the wind to go through to bare skin. I will probably wear a hooded wind breaker on Saturday and Sunday over my hoody. If that is too warm, I will try it under the hoody. I'm pretty warm blooded, so it doesn't take much to get me too warm, and then I have to start untucking my shirt, unzipping my hoody/heated vest, exposing my stomach (call that my air conditioner), etc. I don't expect to run the air conditioner on Sunday!
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I've done more than my share of (very) cold weather bird hunting. I'm also 20 years older than I used to be...
 
Another recommendation... Eat and drink plenty before heading out, if you are planning a long hike. Hypothermia prefers low energy, dehydrated people for its victims.
 
They lowered the wind forecast for Saturday. Instead of 20 mph, now ranging from 12-15 throughout the day (not counting gusting). Sunday still looking pretty cold.

We are headed over today. It will be 42 degrees at 3 pm! Wind ranging from 13-18 throughout the day. Honey will be hunting in her birthday suit today.

Again, this is NC SD where we are hunting. Could be very different other places.
 
jmnhunter said:
We will be heading out this weekend; the first 10 min in the walk is the cold part, after that, it seems I start to get blood moving in my fingers
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That's my experience too. Riding in the truck for an hour and then going to bitter cold is when my fingers need time to adjust. An hour later its fine.
 
Gobbler said:
Good luck Limitless. I hope to arrive later next week forecast a little better. As far as dogs go. As long as they're hunting they are fine gps4. No coat for warmth needed. Now if you are sleeping and traveling them in one of the crates in an open pick-up in negative wind chill that's a different story. I often wonder about warmth in those aluminum diamond plate kennels in sub zero.
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I have said this before, and let me reiterate, you should keep your dogs inside your vehicle with the heater on, it's the right thing to do.
 
Goosemaster said:
Yeah that's way too cold. I would not put my dogs through that no
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My dog would do fine. She's from Canada and does much better in cold temps than warm temps.

The issue for me is the wind. As I stated, I'm much more tolerant of hunting in the cold than the warmth, but I have my own limits too. And that limit is with my fingers. Once I start walking, I often work up a sweat even in the bitter cold. But keeping your fingers warm is the real challenge, and you need one specific finger to make it work.
 
gimruis said:
My dog would do fine. She's from Canada and does much better in cold temps than warm temps.

The issue for me is the wind. As I stated, I'm much more tolerant of hunting in the cold than the warmth, but I have my own limits too. And that limit is with my fingers. Once I start walking, I often work up a sweat even in the bitter cold. But keeping your fingers warm is the real challenge, and you need one specific finger to make it work.
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We used to lay down in the snow in a wheat field in white suits and hunt geese. We didn't use dogs, so the dogs were not out there, but it was below zero before the sun came up usually, and boy those were fun times but but very cold and and you had to bring a thermos of coffee.
 
gimruis said:
My dog would do fine. She's from Canada and does much better in cold temps than warm temps.

The issue for me is the wind. As I stated, I'm much more tolerant of hunting in the cold than the warmth, but I have my own limits too. And that limit is with my fingers. Once I start walking, I often work up a sweat even in the bitter cold. But keeping your fingers warm is the real challenge, and you need one specific finger to make it work.
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There are some labs that have a weaker double coat than others, but I honestly don't think any lab that I've met would have an issue hunting in those temps. Sitting still for hours, maybe. Riding in a crate in the back of a pickup driving around, without any cover, yes, that's risky. Lotta windchill going on back there. But running around looking for birds, or even walking next to a hunter, it would take some serious negative real temps.

Then you go up a notch to a Chesapeake, and they wouldn't blink.

Go up to a newfoundland, and you can do water retrieves in spring fed ponds when you dump one in the water on a -15 day.

Never hunted with a husky or malamute, but I wouldn't want to be outside for more than a few minutes in whatever temp they'd start to complain about.
 
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A little info. On a -7 degree day (which is what it will be Sunday morning where I am hunting), if you were driving 60 mph, without any outside wind contributing, the windchill would be -43. That's why crate covers are important in open pickup beds.
 
Limitless said:
Riding in a crate in the back of a pickup driving around, without any cover, yes, that's risky.
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Agreed. I use a crate, but I move it into the cab when its necessary.

I know goose doesn't approve of a travel kennel, but he can go kick rocks. No dog is climbing around on the inside of my truck cab, ever. I trained my dog to ride in travel kennel and that's where she goes every time I open the door for it whether we're going hunting or anywhere else.
 
When I pulled in the driveway after work yesterday, I finally had the gumption to remove my hunting gear from the back seat of my truck. Pulled the vests out and dumped the feathers and cattails out of them. Dug through the door pockets and under the seats for loose shells, tossed a few dozen empties and old water jugs, and found all of my missing gloves. Crazy how many shells I'd stashed in there. Between a couple of gauges, I had over 150 rounds to sort back into their boxes. I put the guns away that have been sitting at the ready in my office. Then I felt sad and looked at the calendar.

Even though my weekends are booked, I made it work out to take a short final trip to SD on the 27th and 28th. I hope the weather holds.

All that is left is to tell my wife.
 
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