Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Cold in the Stand

I deer hunt in central Maine stand hunting for deer. Sitting in a stand for 8 to 10 hours straight in 0 to 40 deg heat. I have spent a lot of money on clothing and boots to keep warm but yet I get cold. Planning on a hunt in Manitoba this fall also

With money not being an object what would you recommend for clothes, boots

I'd love to hear some answers on the warmest boots!

I just bought the cabelas 2000 gram ThinSulate boots and they suck! My feet froze even with a sock liner and wool!

I wear Mickey Mouse boots up here when I plan to sit. I also wear them icefishing.

I use one of the little butane heaters, I have glass windows in my stands. I leave one window open, close off most of the open window with felt and push pins. I stay plenty warm. I wear rubber boots, I can take them off, warm my feet-hands over heater.

Lot of times I won’t fire it up, just knowing I have it is helpful.

The heaters help for sure!

Bunny boots, LARGE so you have room for liner sock and thick heavy insulated sock and then could still almost just kick your boot off. IE my day to day fire boot is 10.5 and thats a hair loose the way I like it. Bunny boots are 12. I might even be better with 12.5 or 13...

Just bought Carolyn a De Walt heated jacket. Of course it doesn't get that cold here often so no real input yet on that.

What we wear boot wise here in TX hunting often makes your feet colder because they are to tight. The over boot things would be the thing... take boots off and just put mini sleeping bags on each foot. Obviously hand/foot/body warmers. And you can not insulate a body part warm... it has to be warm BEFORE being insulated....

Generally when its cold enough here to worry, we take our boots off in the stand and put on a thick pair of socks over our normal ones. There is a sleeping bag in the stand for Tiger to stay warm under and sometimes that bag gets put over our socks....

We have begun using large Mr. Heaters in our pop up blinds. Most of the cold feet problem is taken care of with chemical toe heaters and carpet on the ground.

The biggest thing that changed for me - foot wise was learning to leave my laces loose.

Allows my feet full blood circulation and thus - they stay warm.

IIRC - Stick pointed that out to me. I had been tying my boots tight - like shoes. Went to looser boots, looser socks etc - much warmer. It created pockets of dead air that insulates it seems.

LaCrosse Iceman pac boots, polypropylene sock and Merino heavy weight socks.

Circulation awareness more than anything. Like teal said, boots can't be too tight, same for everything else. Plus you have to be aware of how you sit, what angle are your feet and ankles in? Don't bind a pressure band across the tops of your feet by having your legs angled too sharply forward, ankles bent too sharply. Same for toes. Same idea goes for gloves/mitts. I like wool flip mitts with magnets. Get them big enough to wear a thin thermal glove inside them without being too tight. You can put little hand warmers in the mitt flippers.
Wool is great but you need a wind shell too. It's tough to find the right pants/coat, personal preference.
For boots I'm wearing danner Canadians which are only 600 grams. I don't like a big squishy marshmallow boot for the northern MN forest area I hunt. I'd be rolling ankle constantly.

Half assed decent socks and circulation awareness.

I sat in an open metal ladder stand this morning for about 3 hours in 5 to 8 degree temps. Had to get down and walk after 3 hours, I can only do my Lincoln memorial impression for so long.

A company called RavenWear specializes in extreme cold weather hunting clothes.

Head, hands and feet are more important than jackets and pants IMO. As stupid as these look, they will really help keep your feet warm in the stand. If it's cold enough that I need them, I will strap them to my fanny pack for the walk in. once in the stand I'll put them on and if its really cold I'll throw a hand warmer in each one.

boot blankets

A good hat is a must also. Duluth trading used to offer a beanie that was wool with a fleece liner. Warmest hat (other than fur) I've ever owned. So warm in fact I learned not to walk in wearing it or my hear would be sweaty by the time I got there. I bought 3 of them in case they ever stopped making them, which it looks like they did.

Bunny boots. Wore them in Alaska for many years, and they flat out work.

The artic shield boot blankets work pretty well. Best thing I’ve found is a camo sleeping bag that I can throw a heater packet in and pull up to just under my armpits.

Baffin Titan boots. Handmuff with hand warmer. Cabela's Berber fleece with Windshear. Layer with merino wool base layers. Pack it all in and don't sweat while walking.

Added: I have used Boot Suits in extreme cold too.

For keeping feet warm also use boot blankets.

Boot blankets in a small back pack. Walk in wearing tennis shoes if no snow. One large hand-warmer tucked into the laces near the toe of each shoe. put the boot blankets over them, stay toasty warm all day long. Tennis shoes actually work better than boots for me.

Also use a hand-warmer muff with two hand-warmers in it to keep hands warm. Wear light turkey hunting gloves.

Just curious, where do you live?

For cold hand I will put on a pair of surgical gloves for a barrier and then a pair of hunting gloves. Your hands will sweat but with a insulating layer over them they stay toasty.

Feet- stay dry, insulate, circulation.
For me, when stand hunting in really cold weather, that sometimes means antiperspirant spray, pac boots with felt liners, good wool socks with sock liners, and big enough boots to let the blood flow. Sorel Mavericks are my cold weather sit in a stand boots.

Clothes- heavy base later. I like the poly/wool blends. Then a wool sweater and maybe a fleece or puffy down jacket, then a shell to block wind. A good puffy jacket is stupid warm. My legs are usually gtg with just the base layer and hunting pants. If it’s really cold I put a pair of fleece long johns on over the base layer.

I have bought a couple boxes of the hot hands from Costco over the years. They’re nice to have.

I also have a wool scarf that is great when it’s really cold.

Any decent stocking hat makes my head sweat in short order.

For a jacket, Sitka Kelvin Down Hoody. I have one of those Zippo butane hand warmers. Haven't used it yet. My wool layers are Filson heavyweight top and bottoms with a wool hat (mine are Filson). Boots and socks I can't comment on as my feet naturally get cold easy.

I grew up in old town and milford, hunted all over penobscot county and t32md and t34md. Just gotta bundle up as best ya can, always gonna get some level of chilled and cold . What about those quick quiet opening full body sleeping bag like suit cacoon things they had or still make??

Well, you've been warned in the past about all the designer szchit.
Get yourself a Heater Body Suit and be done with the cold.

I bought an inexpensive sleeping bag from Walmart, took it to a seamstress and had it cut down so that it only comes to my waist. Put an elastic drawcord in it.

I've found it easy to pack into a small compression sack, easy to carry and very warm in the stand.

^^ could see that working for me, esp if I had hand slots below the draw cord so I could keep my hands inside too.

I keep my hands in my pants. There is always something warm in there....

Masters of pocket billiards.

Heavy weight Under Armor as a base layer, thermal henley shirt, fleece or sherpa vest and wool outer layer. Chemical toe warmers, merino wool socks and insulated boots. Chemical handwarmers and fingerless gloves with loose fitting outer gloves. Fleece balaclava and knit orange stocking cap. Work well for me unless the weather gets colder than the lower teens and I'm sitting out all day. I use a small propane heater if I am in a pop-up or box blind.

If you're sitting still in below 20 temps, with no heater. You will eventually be cold no matter what clothing you buy.
Best possible thing is layer layer layer.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This!

https://heaterbodysuit.com/

It really depends on how cold you think cold is. Us northerners chuckle at the southerners for what they think cold is. However, Canadians laugh at us for what we think cold is!

Lots of good info here so far. I will add a few tips. Gaiters help keep feet warm and putting one of those foam seat cushions under your feet helps a lot too. I used to go with a lot of wool, but have found that mostly down/down blend (like Primaloft) and a little wool is a better combination for me. as many have mentioned, nothing too tight. And like Northern Dave said, make sure you arent compressing your clothing and creating tight spots....Dave knows cold where he hunts! Lastly, neck gaiters and facemasks help a lot. Dont have anything except your eyeballs open to the cold.

This year it was a long sleeve merino tshirt and 2 layers of Primaloft with vest over the top. Temps were down to 9 degrees at the lowest, but the coldest day was about 28 with a stiff wind.

A lot of good info here.
My favorite time to bow hunt is the week between Christmas and New Years. The woods have calmed down from the long season of upland and deer hunters stomping around. It can get very cold during that time and just hitting 0 is a nice day.
A few things I do is stock up on the small hand warmers. My wife sewed little pockets into a couple thermal turtleneck pullovers. Two in the back over my kidneys, two over my belly and two over my upper chest. I put one under my hat, a couple in my mitts and in my boots. I use about a dozen a day. If you can keep your head,hands, feet and core warm you will stay warm. Jon-e warmers work but they stink.

This is very good and often overlooked - particularly when feet are in contact with the metal platform of a stand.

Yes, and yes, ...BT/DT

Didn't wanna go this Route, but finally did and ain't looking back...

https://www.klymit.com/ksb-0-synthetic-realtreer-xtra-sleeping-bag.html

...and read this as I'm 30' in a Climber.

Was Wonky the First Time, and feel naked after that ( then I start thinking about the Snuggie Infomercial )

Heat loss thru your head and your feet are major contributers to feeling cold. A good hat and a thermal barrier under your feet are especially important. For years I worked standing on my feet on cold concrete, standing on something other than concrete eased the fatigue. It did not need to be padded, a piece of plywood worked as well as an expensive rubber mat.

Wisconsin. Temps in teens this works well. Temps in single digits are more of a challenge, will go to insulated boots then but still put the boot blanket over them. Below zero and it is tough to sit for more than a couple hours. As other posters have mentioned, layers under jacket and insulated pants are also needed.



Years back I bought some type of foot powder and spice mixture that was supposed to help keep feet warm. I was pretty dubious of it so only bought one packet. Seemed to help, but can't remember what it was called. Anyone know of it?

Boots......Northern Outfitters. Worn them in below zero and in bare feet, which is how they recommend you wear them. Bulky and funny looking and not made for long walking but you'll sit all day in them. They don't show them on their website for some reason but I would call them.

I'm an all day in the stand kind of guy and years ago I decided that I would buy the best cold weather outfit that I could find. That was back in the days when Eddie Bauer sold mountaineering clothing so I bought an orange Kara Korm down parka and pant set which is the same stuff that they use on Mount Everest type climbs. Both pieces go into a stuff sack and that goes into a bigger pack along with my Ice Breaker over boots. I've got the Boot Blankets too, but I don't like those as well as the Ice Breakers because the Ice Breakers have quiet zippers instead of Velcro closures. For warm boots I'm wearing the Muck Arctic Pro boots with one pair of Smartwool socks. The watch out getting boots larger than normal for circulation is that they move around and rub a blister on the back of your foot if you need to walk very far. The key is not to dress so warmly walking in that you sweat because that evaporation will cool you down fast if you don't wear a wicking first layer. Cotton will kill you because it holds so much moisture against your skin. Wool has the same heat retention qualities wet or dry, so that should be your second layer.