Had my alarm set for 4 am this morning to go cow elk hunt.
Morning temp was -4 and snowing hard, I elected the snooze button.

I rallied at about 9 since it was up to zero. I have a two hour drive to my camper.
I elected to take a different route to avoid a steep hill that can be treacherous.

Driving to camp, the snow was blowing hard and dropped in temperature.

I did see elk on a point that I have hunted in the past, but I had not called ahead for permission this time, so they were just good to see.

Going further in it started to get deeper, drifts were getting harder and the radio was calling for 20 below tonight.
Never saw another sole. Was cutting fresh tracks.

I got to a spot that I really had to decide forward or back.

I called a retreat. Getting stuck at 20 below just felt a little risky.

I don't blame you

Smart man

I can't say I've ever turned around from an elk or any kind of hunt because it was too cold, but I pussed out from moose hunting today because of the amount of snow falling. It just hasn't let up and sharing the highway with a bunch of 18-20 year old soldiers from Texas who have never driven on ice before was too much for me. I turned around and came home.

16 inches or so and plows not running much, if at all. Even when they do get going, they berm up all the small side roads, so pulling off of the highway is really tough to do.

Oh well. At least I can play on the 'Fire. If this was my last chance I'd of done it but I still have time.

Rain can keep me in, but temps are never an issue.

Coldest I’ve ever elk hunted was an honest -32F. Yeah, can’t say cold has ever stopped me, but heavy wind and blizzards absolutely have.

Conversion Result: -4 Fahrenheit = -19.99 Celsius

Fuck me...screw that!

If I remember right it was about -25°F when I killed this cow. I can think of two others I have killed at -20°F or so. Honestly, the worst part of it is breaking the critters down in that cold. I don't like wearing insulating gloves when deboning and my god do my hands get cold when covered in blood in those temps, and trim meat starts freezing up fast. I have hunted in colder temps down to about -40°F for birds and checking traps. I honestly don't mind it if I am prepared for it, but throw wind into the mix and I'll normally bow out.




I have had several guns go "click" in those conditions due to the firing pin being too sluggish or straight up freeze solid, so a guy has to degrease and dry graphite lube the bolt or use some other low temp oil. I have however pretty much quit bowhunting in those temps because I am afraid the limbs on my bow would shatter from being brittle.

Good times with the beardcicles!

I’ll take cold anytime over rain… if a guy wants a real Blacktail or Roosevelt, though, better get used to rain.. 👍

Hah, I’ve done plenty of BG hunting down to -40 C/F, and my favourite part of hunting in that kind of weather is putting my hands in the warm carcass when field dressing/deboning. Surgical gloves are helpful to prevent wet blood from freezing to my skin when the work is done. Just pop the surgical gloves off and the insulated mittens back on.

My coldest hunt was outside of Tok, Alaska hunting on snow machines and 4 wheelers for caribou. -35*F

That was cold!!!

Very true, but that's like crawling back into a warm sleeping bag after getting out to take a leak. It feels good but I dread knowing I gotta crawl back out at some point. The surgical gloves help with the blood no doubt but I usually have one hand on the knife and away from the body heat, and I find the gloves usually break at some point, especially in that kind of cold.

I also enjoy a good Sunday afternoon but it is like trying to enjoy your last meal before the execution...Your point is well taken though, and very valid.

LOL, very true.

Look around for heavier high top gloves in cleaning supplies. They're much warmer than surgical type gloves and stronger, too.

Last year's Idaho bull tag was punched at -15*. The SUCK part was being 8 miles from camp on a wheeler and the shift indicator freeze up. The rig wouldn't go into 4wd and thwre was no way to get out without it. I had to hike to a mtntop to get a wiring diagram so i could rig up q jumper. Completely not awesome when it's cold.

I have found that a thin cotton liner worn inside a pair of gorilla gloves is perfect for cold work where dexterity is needed. For extended durations, place a sticky-backed toe warmer on the back of your hand on top of the liner before slipping the gorilla glove on.

-16 is as cold as I've hunted in here in Utah. I love hunting in snow/cold until it gets single digit, then I'm squirming. If its going to be awhile breaking them down I first of all build a fire real close. Tallow seems to build up faster than I can wipe it off my blade. I also use several knives too, just to hurry the process, but the fire helps!

I found my "too cold" back in '72 in West Germany as a soldier...a few storms were -40, drifts filled ditches that some tracked howitzers went out of sight in, ha....in Korean War Era wool and canvas clothes(no Gore-Tex or Thinsulate! )...brrr! My feet sweat bad, so I was wearing the Mickey Mouse boots for "one day" and my feet went numb...for 9 days! I fell back to one pair of wool socks and well daubed Jump Boots! whoa!! But I was raised 70 miles from Galveston, Tx too! ha Might say I was a bit thin skinned for that kind of cold!

Brrrrr you guys can keep that stuff. Makes me glad I live in the desert. Just got back from a cow elk hunt in NM and it was around zero F. Been a long time since I was in that kind of temp. My guide was in fingerless gloves and no hat. No thank you!

I'd say that's a good call. There will be other days.

Just to clarify, I didn’t make it to camp, I had about 25 more miles of rough county that may not have been passable. Likely would have required chains and probably shoveling snow.

I would have enjoyed a hunt and I did enjoy seeing elk, but I must be getting old and scared.

Killed a decent 4x5 whitetail at -27 a few years ago...It was zero when I went out. By the time I got back to the truck it was ten pm and the deer was frozen pretty solid the next morning...lol

Believe me, the high desert can get damned cold. The wind's always blowing.

It sounds as if you have a camp set up. If so, do you suspect you'll have to leave it until spring?
There was no place you could hunt without driving those 25 miles to camp?

I am hoping for a January thaw, or at least mild temps.
By mild it would be best to come out at around freezing. Anything above that makes for a soupy gumbo mess.

I have not stayed in camper at -20 but I don’t think electric heater and propane furnace would bring it up to comfortable.

Smart move to not push on. It is not the cold that bothers me , but having to do strenuous activity in it can be devastating. I never minded so much when the horses were doing the hard part, but getting one out on foot in that cold can be brutal! Good call, Dude!

The older I get the more mortal I become. I'm pretty sure I've used up the majority of my 9 lives......
You probably made the right decision.

Panting hard and sucking below 0 air can be very hard on old lungs.

#2 outside ain't too much fun either.

my end of the year annual bowhunt by the northern border of Minnesota is later this week suppose to be 20 something below zero i am still going i only hunt the last 3 hours of the day .

It is the strenuous activity at that temp that is so very dangerous. Getting stuck is high up on the very dangerous list. Good decision. Many cardiac events are triggered by just such things in people that have those issues.
There wasn't much we did not do when we, my brothers and hunting buddies, when we were young. In my 60's and having a physical problem or two, I am much more careful of what I do. Couple of years ago now, my son, son-in-law and grand daughter were on our Traditional NY day hunt, we opened the truck door to -8 F and 25 mph North winds. As the boy and I headed off for the Timber, he says "and why are we out here again?" "Tradition!" says I. We only hunted 1/2 day and did not kill anything. Glad of that because of not wanting to handle the meat in that Temp. I use Cleaning Supply gloves myself and they work fine. Yes you can slip a handwarmer down into the back of your hand as well should you want. Those gloves hold up to anything except the blade or a sharp Rib will poke a hole. Still WAY better than bare hands.
Looking forward to heading out on the New Years day hunt again this year! Temps are forecast to be 6-20 with strong North wind. Hunting with the son in law so will have good help. Probably shoot a doe for the pot should the chance arise. Taking my Jet Sled too which helps me greatly. I stage it at a sitting spot for sunrise so it is close when I need it.

Do any of you carry a PLB with you when you hunt in cold remote places?

No. IPhone lasts about 30 seconds if you pull it out of it's warm pocket when it's that cold so it's not much help either. Their are hand warmer strategies for that too but I hardly ever execute them.

Always, always for me. I have an InReach and the cold doesn’t affect the batteries on it, in comparison to my cell phone. Plus, a good chunk of the areas I hunt don’t have cell reception. I turn on tracking so my wife can see where I’m at throughout the day. She loves it, and I like knowing I have an emergency tether should the need arise.

I carry an InReach, yes.

T Inman;
Good morning to you T, I see your light is on so I hope the fire's lit and burning bright up there as it is here this frigid morning.

While it's a crisp -18° C here this morning, we've hunted whitetails in colder weather here in BC, but as our elk season is over in early October, never elk.

I've told this one previously, but my then brand new wife who had just taken up hunting killed her first Saskatchewan whitetail buck on a balmy -38° evening. That was after sitting out in an open "blind" we'd dubbed the crow's nest which we'd made up from uncombined canola straw.

Anyways T, she shot the buck, it was a clear hit and when it staggered off back into the brush at the edge of our field, she turned to me and said, "How about you go get the deer and I'll go see if the truck starts. I need the heater!"

The truck was an '80 Toyota 4x4 and they had marginal heaters on a good day T, but were never designed for northern conditions. It'd almost keep the front glass frost free, but we'd carry a scraper inside the pickup so we could see the rear view mirrors!

Honestly I'm not sure I could take that kind of cold anymore as even wandering back and forth to the garage to light the wood stove there made me chilled.

This whole aging thing isn't as fun as I'd hoped it'd be T....

All the best to you sir and Happy New Year.

Dwayne

BC, you have that aging thing right.. I was doing pretty fair till 2020. Slowed down a lot. Hopefully I can get moving again.. At least I feel like I can and want to do so.

If it gets to -10, I’m not leaving the wood stove. In cold weather, I wear a pair of Normark (?) filet gloves over nitrile gloves while field dressing game. I’m afraid if my hands get too cold, I’ll end up slicing off a numb finger….

For critter breakdown, Merino (and probably other) liner gloves under XXL Nitrile will keep a guy's fingers nimble and fully able even in very cold weather.

I've not bird hunted yesterday and today due to temps and blowing/drifting snow. Just plain too far to drive on sketchy roads w/very low visibility and too cold/plugged with snow to hunt if you do get where you want to go. Doggie only has 1-2 walks in him @ 0F and below. Sooner or later some snow sticks to him, then melts, then re-freezes, and he gets cold.

I've predator hunted @ -20F ambient. I've elk and deer hunted into the teens below zero but I don't really recall ever killing a big-game critter in the bitter cold.

Supposed to get above 0 here on Thursday. Probably take the truck for a ride somewhere if for no other reason than to run the straight #2 out and replace w/#1. I filled it 3wks ago and it's been sitting in the garage ever since. There's a healthy dose of anti-get in the tank but I'm not taking any chances of a gel-up in below-zero temps if I don't have to.

Found my cold hunting in Wyo. Gros Ventré. Late season backcountry Elk hunt that broke off the HighlineTrail if I remember correctly; the am radio forecast seemed reasonable or at least nothing noteworthy. Didn’t kill a darn thing but pushed timber all day just to stay warm. It was gorgeous bluebird weather but when an afternoon breeze kicked up it sure whipped me - My feet felt like I was walking on stumps - couldn’t feel them at all. Warming them up was even more painful but I really didn’t care - I just remember studying topos for the next day and was pissed that I hurt my feet like that.

Woke up once to -17 inside the tent. Loaded that stove and went back to bed. The elk are safe when its that cold. Some of you are monsters. I am not.

#2 is the #1 reason I don`t wear my Filson Mackinaw bibs as much as I would prefer to in deep snow and extreme cold. Ditto with all the other layers you have to take off, and gaiters make it even worse.

Taking a dump ends up being a...ahem...sh:tload of work.

Some of you guys are ALOT tougher than me! A few years back when we left camp in Maybell, CO the truck said -22F! We had about a 15 mile run in the nice warm truck and was hoping our hunting area was a little warmer. It was...-19F! After bundling up, we headed out for our usual glassing spot. I made it , but only could take about 2 hrs. and headed for the truck!

I've also hunted waterfowl in negative temps, but we have a heater in the pit. I draw the line for waterfowl at 30mph winds!

Elk Country

Used to go hunting jackrabbits around Maybell in those -20 Temperatures. Deep snow sage and lots of fun! Young and tough made everything easy.

Maybell is great. That little Central Park where some folks set up camp is always active. I hunted Cross Mtn ranch and even those Sage flats under the power line towers hold a lot of animals. Killed an elk one year on Escarpment Peak. Nice area.

Years ago I was deer hunting with my dad. We had a plywood camper that he'd built on the '49 Ford pickup. We didn't have a thermometer but that night a 5 gal bucket of water inside froze solid. Our pillows were frozen to the walls and our boots were frozen to the floor. We wanted to drive up the road a ways but the engine wouldn't even grunt. Dad took the Coleman stove and shoved it under the oil pan for a half hour to heat up the oil. Then it started right up. He shot a deer a coupe hours later. The meat was freezing before he finished dressing it.

If you tried that trick with the stove under the oil pan on a modern pickup, you'd better be darn sure there aren't any wires anywhere close.

As a coonass from South Louisiana, my too cold is 28°f unless I’m in a box stand with my lil buddy heater 😬. Any temps below 35°f, I consider “dangerous cold 🥶”.
peak98

At age 82 my cold weather hunts have passed. I was raised on an Adirondack subsistence farm that we worked with horses until 1954. Dad's rule was we came out of the woods, whether hunting, cutting wood, or whatever at -20F. Believing that to be a common sense rule it has been my "too cold" limit from then on. Today I'll stay at home if I see 0 degrees F. Turning 80 brought about some serious changes including the "too cold" bar.
Jim

We are not going to face the Hour drive to Public hunting as Ice has been added to the sleet, snow, very cold 9-10 F, plus 30 mph winds for that area. That makes for very bad driving so staying home.
If we don't get ice here at home, I will probably drift out to some woods locally and track around a bit and see what there is to see.

Fury and Pints,

We camped at the Central Park in Maybell and used to hunt north in 3/301 and also under those power lines in area 11. Used to be unbelievably good in 11 but the it changed in 2006 due to a bad winter kill and a pipeline installed north of Craig that jacked up the migration patterns.

Lots of good times there but that area isn’t worth the drive anymore!

Elk Country

II grew up in SW CO. Brother had a job in Craig late 70's - 85 or so. Wonderful country then for boys who liked to shoot. So Cold in Winter. They left the trucks idle a night instead of fighting starting them up in the morning. Hunted Montana Gray's, the large coyotes, for fur and jackrabbits for fun. Endless miles of sagebrush to hunt both in.
Great fun.