Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cold feet - anyone try these?

Cold feet are the one thing that can keep me from enjoying the outdoors more than anything else. I just saw THESE from Thermocell and wondered if anyone has tried them?

I've tried the battery operated socks 20 years ago but they were almost worthless. With technological improvements I'm wondering if these are worth a try.

I have not seen those but they look very interesting. I couldn't use them because I wear orthotics in my hunting boots. I have been trying to fight off cold feet by keeping my core warmer. Seems to work. I used one of these this season and it really helped.

LLBean

jfc you see the price? 130.00 yikes

I wear good socks and military surplus "mickey mouse" boots if I have to be out in the cold for long periods of time. The boots will make my feet hurt if I have to be on my feet for several hours (shoveling snow), but my feet never get cold in them.

+1 Mickey Mouse boots

The main thing is: Keeps lot's of room for your feet to move around in the boot.

I have a pair of MM boots too. They are warm but I hate to walk any distance in them and they suck for trying to climb trees in.

These heaters seem pretty new. Even Cabelas doesn't carry them yet. Maybe next year.

I may well buy a pair for my wife. Hers get crazy cold, even with right socks, bunny boots and the like. Just no circulation down there for some reason, that plus an athletes metabolism RE the really low blood pressure, the point there is if you put cold into a cooler it stays cold, there is no way for it to get warmed up.

Thanks for the link. My pocket book hates you but my wife may love me...

There are a couple of electric options starting to surface. As they seem a pricy I am going wait until there is a concensus they work till I jump in.

Like the OP said I tried the electra socks years ago without luck, and now I use the chemical warmers, they work well but if you have a ways to go to get to your sit they are not convienent.

While these insoles look interesting, they have limited room for a battery pack. I have seen solutions used by downhill skiers that use an external battery pack, seems that would be preferable.

Good advice in this thread.
Warm core, quality socks and liner,effective headgear and roomy boots.

I don't have any experience with the Thermocell units, but have used HotHands in my LaCrosse Iceman's when hunting from a stand a lot.


I first put on a pair of moisture wicking, thin socks. Then I put a HotHands pack in my Smartwool sock, and put it on making sure the HotHands lays flat under my toes. It'll form fit, and is comfortable enough to walk on. Keeps the toes (and feet) plenty warm.

HotHands work for 8 hours straight, and a few extra packs are easy to take along. Don't bother with the version made for feet. In my experience, they're not as warm.

The Grand Poobah sent me a pair of these for my birthday.



My feets have been toasty warm ever since.

This year, for the first time in my life I hunted deer from a treestand.
Last week of Nov thru first week of Dec in Southern Oregon.

I got to hand it to you guys that hunt this way, it twern't easy.
As a western hunter used to hunting on my feet, the heart beats and circulates the warmth, and to tell the truth I never thought much of sitting in a tree.

I was wrong.
Sitting in that damn tree, I thought I was going to lose toes to frostbite.
I spent several days sun up to sun down in that torture chamber and holy crap, I was cold.
After the first day, I went to Sportsmen's Warehouse and bought the best socks I could find and put two pairs on.
I was wearing my Danner hiking boots as I left the Sorrell Pacs at home (silly me).
I look forward to sticking a nice buck from a tree sometime, it just didn't happen this year.

Good topic!

best advice in this thread so far is the one about making sure you have boots large enough to let your feet wiggle and not restrict blood flow. i buy all my cold weather boots a full one size larger than normal. and after walking to my stand i loosen the laces up to where i could slip my foot out of the boot without much effort if i wanted to. now the blood is not restricted in circulating and you will stay warmer. if your feet do start to get a bit cold, just a min or two of toe wiggles and standing on your toes will get them warm again. now my cold winter boots will not be the most sure footed boots to walk in even when fully laced tight but i'm not setting up to hike mountains, i just want to get to my stand and stay warm all day long. just be sure to relace your boots tight before trying to walk back at the end of the day. trust me on that one!

I don't spend much time sitting in a stand or every ice fished , BUT , as a side effect of chemo and colapsed viens 25 years ago , I had clear symptoms of " Raynaud's " . I went to a dr apointment ( mayby 6 -7 years ago) and the outside temps were in the mid 30's , she saw most all of my fingers were white from no blood flow . Perscribed something and it really helped open up the blood vesseles <sp> . Took a few winters of use ( when planning on being in the cold ) but I have not needed it since. Raynaud's is typicaly associated with the thyroid , but in my case it wasn't. My feet are finally warm without wearing the heavy sorel felt bootie boots and now with a chem hand warmer packet on my right wrist I can keep my bare trigger / hammer / lever operating hand functional well down into the teens and twentys .
So , to sum up , check with a dr for thyroid problems . Cold feet and hands should be along the same lines and I had both , it just showed clearly with the white fingers.

I wonder how long a charge lasts on the two heat settings?

FWIW, I never have cold feet or hands if I have enough covering on my head before they start to get cold. I had a savvy northerner (doctor) explain to me as to what was happening and it made sense to me. Plus it works!

He said that your body acts as a radiator for heat by sending blood flow to your extremities. When your body temp starts to drop then they body restricts this blood flow and brings it back to your core to keep you alive longer.

He said that since so much heat is lost through the top of the head that it begins to restrict blood flow which makes your hands and feet colder than normal. He felt the most effective way to keep them "feeling" warm to to get the blood flow back to them and warm them inside out.

It only works if you cover your head with a stocking cap or the sort somewhere about 30 minutes before you go out into the cold. If your hands and feet are already a little cold before you go out then the blood flow cannot effectively catch up.

He was dead nutz right! I could cover my head before I would go running or walking in really cold weather without any gloves. In fact, my hands would sweat like crazy if I wore gloves.