!44: How to Stay Warm While Tree Stand Hunting

!±8± How to Stay Warm While Tree Stand Hunting

It's 8:30 in the morning, and you have been in your tree stand since six. It's clear and 20 degrees out with a slight breeze. Your feet have been cold for the better part of an hour, you hands are numb and you are starting to shake from the cold and you can't stop it. You finally give in and have got to get out of that stand and walk around to warm up.

As your foot hits the ground you hear that old familiar snort of big buck that's just been startled. He's only 75 yards off but your gun is still hanging from your stand rope and he's looking right at you. A few moments pass and the buck figures it's about time to get out of dodge before that idiot climbing down the tree starts shooting at him.

If this sounds familiar to you it's because it happens to most of us. Seems like the older I get, I just can't handle the cold like I did 25 years ago. Yes, I have hi-tech thermal underwear, plenty of layers of thin clothes and have a nice thick hunting jacket and wear a real good hat. I have a nice set of Sorel boots and a layer of sock liners and wool socks on my feet. No matter, I still start to freeze my chops off after about an hour and half or so in the typical 20 degree temperatures and breezy conditions we hunt in in the North East.

Thing is the deer move pretty good from sun up to about 10:00 or so. Bailing from the stand too early really puts a damper on my odds of connecting with a buck. I'll still hunt for a while and warm up then get back in the stand, but as we all know the odds go way in the favor of the deer when we're moving around.

What can you do? External heat sources! Modern technology comes to the rescue again. You ever use those little chemical hand warmers? They work great don't they? There are little packs like that are meant to work in your boots, but I don't find them to be too effective. They sell these chemical heater boot liner pads that look like those foam shoe inserts, and they really keep the old dogs warm a good long time. Matter of fact I normally take them out of my boots to still hunt because my feet get too hot.

But the best one is those chemical heat pads used to treat people with sore backs. I put on my high tech thermal underwear then strap on one of those back heating belts. Put the rest of my clothes on over it and it takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes for it to heat up. Let me tell you, this set up gives me at least another couple of hours in the stand and gets me to 10:00 without turning into a solid block of ice.

The back heating pad, the hand warmers and the boot liners cost about .00 for a day. My local grocery store sells these items. I think that's a bargain for increasing the enjoyment of my hunting time.