Hunting clothing for the cold

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TheCarpenter

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Hey folks,

What do you find is the best hunting clothing to keep warm? My torso isn't usually cold, legs somewhat but I can throw in base layers. It's my extremities that get cold fast. I have bad circulation so even mild seeming days where i'm walking around I can turn blue and purple pretty quick. Kind of sucks.

My wife got me a pair of handmade Indian Mukluks, and they are fantastic! I use them for small game where I'm not pulling anything heavy. They're silent and 3x warmer than anything else I've used. I pretty live in them in winter if they won't see rough use.

Are there any good gloves I can still shoot with that keep fingertips warm? I know mittens are best but impractical for hunting of course but I'll use mittens for trapping.

What about toques, socks etc,

Any advice helps out!

Thanks Gun nuts
 
Investing in several pairs of high quality comfortable socks is never a bad thing.
Change them twice a day.
I've known myself to take a dozen pairs for 4 days.

Investing in high quality well fitting gloves is also money well spent.

My favorite is a good set of high waisted pants that come up and keep your kidneys warm.
It also stops a cold blast of air hitting your waist area when you bend or reach and your coat rides up a bit.
A little harder to find but we'll worth the effort.
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I mostly wear fleece long-johns, pants, sweaters, coats and gloves, along with wool socks and one wool coat. I usually hunt the last two weeks of November in northern Alberta. Temperatures are generally fridget during the later part of the season.
 
Wooly underwear is key, Stanfields or merino for comfort. Woolen socks. Then a warm layer and then a windproof layer with a hood. Trigger gloves or mitts, and a good old Canadian toque, which should ideally be wool as well. If blaze orange is required by law, this is when a vest comes into its own. It is of course possible to buy one or two piece insulated winter hunting suits now, their problem is that they can't be adjusted for thickness and therefore warmth- overheating is a bad idea because you sweat.
 
check out NEOS overshoes - wear it over your favourite shoes/mukluks - come in non insulated waterproof flavour or insulated (still waterproof) ones for extreme cold. Some models with ice cleats. I got insulated Navigators and wear them over regular sneakers once I get out of the car and into the woods. Absolutely great. Make sure to size them appropriately bigger to fit whatever shoes you want to wear inside. The only downside may be price, but I find them worthy. Look up Millbrook - that's where I got'em at fair discount abt 2 yrs ago, think they still sell them.
 
They have all kinds of battery operated glove and vest heaters out there now. I'll see if I can find them again.
Yup just search a mazon for heated gloves
 
I dress in layers. Wool and puffies.

I walk a lot while I hunt, I wear the bare minimum as I move from spot to spot, and put on puffy pants and jacket when I park my butt somewhere. I wear mukluks too when the temps drop below zero, unless I'm hiking a lot.

It's not uncommon for temps to drop below -20C on those late November hunts, I'll usually move more or hunt from blinds then and I'll pack a sleeping bag and sit in it. I wear wool/leather mitts with glove liners inside, I'd rather take a couple extra seconds to take off a mitt to shoot, than have frozen fingers hinder my ability to do just about anything else.
 
This is all good for us people with regular blood circulation.
If you have Raynaud syndrome, it doesn’t matter what you put on, the only way to alleviate the symptoms is to use electric gloves and socks or hands and feet warmers.
Over the years I became more sensitive to cold to my extremities, I used to be good to -15-20C bear hands, and with just regular winter boots and now I have to be more careful! So for my feet at below minus 25c I have my Steiger mukluks or a pair of my home made moccasins and a pair of insulated Neoss on top and stay warm easily down to below 40c. As for my hands I feel like if my body is nice and warm they usually are ok but I do small gloves under big mitts for really cold weather that way when I take my mitts to do stuff requiring more dexterity my fingers are not exposed right away to the cold weather! If you keep your over mitts inside your jacket when not in use they will stay warm and that way you don’t need to warm them back up using your cold hands!
 
rrnash said:
check out NEOS overshoes - wear it over your favourite shoes/mukluks - come in non insulated waterproof flavour or insulated (still waterproof) ones for extreme cold. Some models with ice cleats. I got insulated Navigators and wear them over regular sneakers once I get out of the car and into the woods. Absolutely great. Make sure to size them appropriately bigger to fit whatever shoes you want to wear inside. The only downside may be price, but I find them worthy. Look up Millbrook - that's where I got'em at fair discount abt 2 yrs ago, think they still sell them.
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I have a large bag for when going to sit in a stand or blind and it has Neos in for sure. They fit over my Schnees so going to and from i'm warm but the extra layer for longer sits is mandatory. Used to just use a wrap around the foot to keep frost out but the mobility with Neos is so much better

Good tip with the over-mits and liner gloves too. 2 or 4 pair of liners are easy to pack and switchout as needed

chemical warmers are the next best to full on electric, but Milwaukee m12 jacket or vest can be a life-saver
 
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Flip top mitts with gloves underneath are the answer to your hands question.

My cold-weather gear would look like 20yo Elk Trackers and heavy woollies on my feet, merino base layer top and bottom to suit the conditions, heavy wool pants, mid layer might be a sweater, and there may be anything from a fleece or vestup to my biggest down puffy jacket, depending on the weather, And my oil skin deer hunter jacket on top.

Headgear to suit obviously.
 
windproof and waterproof make a big difference for external layers, zippered vents for letting the moisture out helps when you need to do some physical exertion. Outseam zippers and armpit zippers are my preference. overalls and jacket or coverall style snowsuit keeps the most heat in. keeping your feet out of the snow when standing makes a big difference, toss some cedar bows on the ground and stand on it quietly. baffin boots rated to -80 or -100 are my preference.
 
Tough duck overalls, wool thermal under shirts and long johns, carhart pants, wool long sleeve t shirt, wool vest, swazi hunter wool socks and my big bill wool coat or if it's really cold my canadian army parka. I usually wear my can army snowboots too.
Covers everything to about -40
 
I’m mostly a sitter when I hunt. I bade a “heater suit” a couple of them actually. I wear lightweight clothes that I can hike in until I find my spot to sit and then crawl into my bag. I can hang out in relative comfort to about -20 without moving. After that I start cracking hand warmers and sticking them everywhere.
 
Suther said:
My biggest issue is cold feet. If I'm active my feet sweat, so once I stop they get cold. I'm going to try heated socks this year.
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Bama socks, try them they pull the moisture away from you socks! I use them in rubber boots and your feet stay dry all day! If you have two pairs you can change them over while the first pair dry!
 
I use the Arctic Shield boot covers. I thought it was quite ridiculous but boy do they work. But sometimes, cold in my extremities is a symptom of a lower than ideal core temperature. If I'm toasty warm, my hands, feet, and head follow suit.
 
DGY said:
Bama socks, try them they pull the moisture away from you socks! I use them in rubber boots and your feet stay dry all day! If you have two pairs you can change them over while the first pair dry!
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Bama bootees are the only answer if you’re wearing non-breathable boots like Dunlops or similar. Exactly so long as you carry two pairs so you can swap at lunch.

Wool felt liners and reflective insoles work well also.

The best hack I can offer to anyone anywhere ever, is sheepskin insoles in your winter footwear. They are sublime.
 
I have some very warm oversized gauntlet mitts that I wear over top of thin fleece gloves that I can shoot or do other fine motor tasks with. That combo seems decent to me. If it's really cold, I throw one of those heat generating packs in each mitt.
 
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