Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Seeking tips for surviving long sits on stand

Greetings, friends from the North,

I have a deer hunt booked for November in Northern SK. I’m from ND and used to be fairly cold-hardy back in the day before being wussified from living in TX. I hunt ND and/or MT nearly every November but I’m never still for hours on end.

I’m trying to upgrade my cold weather clothing this winter so I am ready this fall. What are your go-to items when layering up for a long day in the deep negative temps? I figured the guys who frequent this page would be best equipped with advice.

Thanks in advance,

Stros

I have lived in Northern Alberta since 1973, trapped, guided and hunted as well.
I use pretty old school gear as far as clothing goes

Wool pants , shirt and Jacket, downfilled vest, and Helly Hansen or Stanfield long underwear. Fur hat or Smithbuilt campaign hat on top, but I think Saskatchewan has an orange gear gear law, not sure.
Socks are wool, and for boots until it gets-20c, I use 800 gram Irish Setter Elk Trackers . Colder than that , Kennetrek pacs, other guys use Schnees or Baffins .
When it us really cold , I wear lined mitts with light shooting gloves inside them.
However, if you are hunting out of a blind, it most likely will be heated , so I would talk to the outfitter and find out what they use.
Saskatchewan is a great Province, you should have a fantastic hunt!
Cat

Change socks regularly, Darn Tough is a good way to go. Use antiperspirant on your feet to keep them drier.

Take niacin tablets if you start getting cold.

Do not bundle up from the beginning, Start with hat off and coat unzipped, gloves off. Then put stuff on as the body part gets cold, It works.

Basically similar gear as Cat. I like bibs over pants if really cold as they help keep my back area warmer. Good cushion for a bony butt. Some hard candies and a book to scan at times.

My hands get cold fast so I tend to wear a mitt on my non trigger finger hand (left) and put the right in a pocket with a hand warmer pad if really cold.

When traveling in the winter by snowmobile or the dogs, we always made sure we had extra socks, and would change them mid day.
It's amazing how much difference it makes when it is -35 out!
I still keep an extra pair of socks in my day pack even if only going out for a short walk in the morning.
Cat

^ ^ ^ yes
A few pieces of candy to have also helps
to keep the frog out of your throat.

Just me- I don't have books or game boys
or text or any of that while hunting. I don't
want to be distracted and miss seeing
anything at all. Not to mention the something
might see you diddling with your phone
or whatever and turn away and leave and
you never know it was there.
I can't say at the times I've been looking
hard one way or another only to turn
back around and see an old doe 20 yards
away staring right at me and there's no
way to get a bow or gun into position.

I don't get "bored" when hunting or fishing
or camping.

You need a Hudson's Bay Blanket ,pure wool. Wrap it around your shoulders and some beef jerkey from the local friendly indians .Seriously..you need a hooded parka and leather topped snow boots with rubber bottom double mitts and be careful ; you'll be surprised how cold it gets up there . Good Luck !

I dont like running the heat myself unless absolutely necessary.

In a ground blind, I bring a comfy and quiet chair. Layer up with snow pants. Take my boots off and jump into a sleeping bag. Throw a few hand warmers in the bottom and zip it up. Cheap and warm.

For entertainment, I usually just daydream and scan whats in front of me.

If you're hunting out of a box blind, just pack your sleeping bag and use that for the sit.

The sleeping bag is a good idea^^^^

673;
Good evening my friend, I hope the day went your way and you're all well.

While I've told this one before here, it's been awhile so hopefully I can be forgiven if I do again.

The first year we were married we bought my wife a little .308 Remington carbine that she picked out herself down in a shop south of us that was only open in the evenings because they were harvesting and/or hunting during the day.

Anyways we'd built a bit of a blind with Canola straw on the corner of an alfalfa field of ours where we'd see lots of tracks coming onto the field. We'd park the '80 Toyota about 500 yards back down in a slight hollow and hike up to the blind for morning and evening hunts.

There we were, sitting in what was dubbed "The Crow's Nest", it's -38° and we've got all of the winter gear on we owned, plus a goose down mummy bag as a blanket over top of us. Since it's Saskatchewan, the wind is blowing too.

After about an hour and a half, a buck comes out, she quickly leans across the side of the blind and shoots the buck.

I could tell it was a good hit and was pretty excited, but she just gets up and says, "You go get the buck, I'm going to get the truck, I'm frozen!"

So she did and I did and she had her first deer.

Honestly we both talk about it now and don't think we could take the cold out there like we used to.

Best to you all.

Dwayne

Saskatchewan is home for me, and yes, it can be darn cold. You've had some good advice so far. The following are my personal dress habits if hunting from a blind in very cold weather:

Wear good merino wool next to your skin. Socks, long underwear, and long sleeved undershirt. Nothing comes close to good merino for comfort, warmth and you won't start stinking for days ( instead of hours like synthetics). Smartwool, Icebreaker, And True North are brands I like and use.

Bib overalls are better than pants. Easier to move in, and combine better ventilation with less drafts up your back. Get the kind that have a side lower leg zipper so they are easier to get into and out of. Also, have a down vest in your pack that you can use to add a layer, or take it off if too warm . Vests take almost no space or weight and really help you regulate temperature.
Whatever coat you like, make sure it is quiet has a good insulated hood. Gore-tex or other membranes freeze, get brittle, and are way too noisy in extreme cold. And they make you sweat. Their water vapour passing qualities quit in extreme cold.

Hats by themselves just don't do the job. I prefer a tuque over other hat styles, they are more versatile. "watch cap", "beanie", for whose who don't know what that is. Be advised, those names don't apply in Saskatchewan. Your tuque must be orange, red or yellow to be legal in Sask. during rifle seasons while hunting big game. I often wear a thin synthetic or wool balaclava with a tuque on top. If the wind's really blowing you can flip up your hood over all that and your head will be warm no matter what the weather. You will need a safety vest over your coat of those bright colours or it may be white. I often hunt with a white over coat because it acts like camo in November and also meets the safety colour requirement. Avoid those glowing white u.v. brightener-enhanced polyester fabric over coats. Soft cotton washed in non-uv & non-scented detergent is far better.

Wear mittens not gloves. Fingers touching keeps each finger warmer. The mitts with "one finger" to use for small tasks or shooting are OK, but I prefer the ones with the slot that you can sneak a finger out for shooting. Leather cover, not noisy nylon. Removable wool liner mitts. Same materials with boots. Nylon-top snowmobile style boots are warm, but way too noisy. Baffin, Kamik, or Sorel style rubber bottom leather top boots with felt or synthetic REMOVEABLE liners are the best style of footwear. Bring a spare pair of boot liners. Change the liners every day. Hang your damp pair at the end of the day near the heater in camp, and use the spare dry pair the next morning. Boots with built in insulation are a big problem. There is nothing worse than sweaty boots with built in insulation that you can't dry. The only way to live with them is to wear antiperspirant on your feet as suggested previously.

A thin small piece of sleeping pad foam helps a lot to keep your butt warm if there is no heat in the blind. Keep it in your pack.
Another couple tips:
Take great care not to breathe on your scope or binoculars. And bring a lens cloth for when you do. Flip up lens covers look dorky, but they do help.
A few chemical hand warmers work wonders when you have to field dress a deer or some other bare handed cold task, and you need to get your hands quickly warm again. Keep a couple in your pack.
ALWAYS carry a couple ways to make a fire in any conditions. That might save your life.

If you dress properly, the cold really isn't a problem. And it's not always "cold" at least as we define it. That's when those layers come in handy. I hope you have fun, and shoot a BIG one!

I recently picked up a heated vest from ScentLok on a whim
It worked great on stands thru early December here in Vermont. It’s nice to have something besides my own body make a little heat. I kept one 18k AH battery pack in the pocket & an extra in my pack. Easily lasted the whole day.

https://www.scentlok.com/be-1-reactor-blackout-series-vest-plus

On the sleeping bag topic, I use a relatively light down bag, take boots off on stand. Another thing that’s always in my hunting day pack is a closed cell foam pad. It’s padding and insulation.

One thing I found great that a friend uses in his pop up blind is a piece of carpet that covers the floor .
Rolls up easily and makes a huge difference in the temperature near the ground .
Cat

I never realized how much heat you lose through your exposed ears. When my hearing got bad enough that I couldn't hear deer or hogs walking in the leaves I bought a set of sound amplifying ear muffs that would cancel the rifle shot noise. The difference in how much warmer I felt was exceptional and I could hear again.

I've often used a sleeping bag as suggested already. The key is to not sweat in any way before getting to the stand. Wear as little as practical while driving and walking in. Pack in your heavy cloths and possibly even boots and then put them on when you start getting cold on the stand.

You are very right about this. If you work up a sweat in freezing temps there will be hell to pay once you get stationary.

When I hunted in KS this year, it was 19 degrees, not really all that could by comparison but pretty chilly with the wind. I spent five days in Saskatchewan hunting dawn to dusk from a blind that we really just a pile of logs stitched together, got my deer at 1PM on last day, sat there until dark until the outfitter picked me up. Sitting is always much colder than moving about, my feet turn to blocks of ice no matter what I do, lack of circulation is the culprit when sitting for hours. I stand from time to time when I can to help circulation and these days, I never hunt without toe warmers, they are a life saver and the stick to your insoles and you forget they are there except for the warmth. An insulated hooded jacket is a must have, keeps you warm and really blocks the wind if you can turn your back to it. Also, make sure your layers allow for some air in between, don't go to tight. It never got above 8 degrees during that Sask hunt but one life saver was a fleece scarf I bought at the airport, I wrapped it around my neck and zipper my jacket up to it, really sealed off everything keeping my body heat inside.

strosfann;
Good morning to you sir, I hope that you're getting weather you can live with in your section of Texas and you're well.

There's been a whole bunch of good ideas thrown out here, hopefully some of them are useable and useful to you.

After reading the replies a few other thoughts have bumped into my head so here goes.

When I'm ice fishing I have a chunk of 2" Styrofoam SM to put my feet on. I've laminated both sides with that plastic waferboard from political signs. It's amazing how much warmer my feet stay when on that and not on the ice.

Scarfs and even balaclava type headgear is comparatively thin, easy to pack and goes on and off as needed easily.

As 257Bob says, don't have the layers too tight, like our houses it's the air between the insulation doing the job.

Taking all these clothes into account - you might need to shorten your length of pull on your rifle. Many purpose built Canadian prairie rifles have really short lengths of pull and the unknowing might think it's because they're all my size - 5'6" on a tall day - but that's not the case. Try shooting the rifle going with you while you have 5 or 6 layers of clothes on.

By the way, that's not an exaggeration - typically here in late season where it's only -15° to - 28°C on top I run a merino base layer, then my "lucky" cotton camo, then an ancient Rocky fleece shirt, next a light down vest, next a hoodie and last a heavy wool sweater. I'll have a heavy vest and if it's really cold a camo Gortex parka strapped to the pack some days too.

So for sure, the length of pull or perhaps placement of the ocular lens at very least is something to consider.

My fellow Canuck from the land of my birth and first 20 years castnblast is spot on regarding mitts. I run a heavy wool liner mitten under welding mitts. Disposable hand warmers last about 3 hours ice fishing for me - regardless of what the package says.

Lastly I use a 3/4" foam pad to sit on these days, the ones they sell in the sporting goods stores for hunting that are camo on one side usually. Honestly I just discovered them a couple seasons back and they've added hours to how long I can comfortably sit.

Hope that all made sense and was useful.

Best of luck on the hunt regardless and all the best until then as well.

Dwayne