c-c-c-cold

Another thing you should check on is your boots. If you are staying warm everywhere except your feet, it could be because you are losing circulation to your feet. Try wearing boots that don't fit so tight. Also, it could be the way you are sitting or standing. If you are sitting on something that digs into your butt or the back of your thigh, it will make your feet cold. If you are standing with your knees locked back, it will make your feet cold.

Click to expand...

One other thing on that note - is do NOT wear two pairs of socks. It's too tight around your feet, and restricts circulation.

Sinixstar, many people choose a size larger for winter use. The inner sock to wick moisture away from your foot, and the outer sock for added warmth.

Sinixstar, many people choose a size larger for winter use. The inner sock to wick moisture away from your foot, and the outer sock for added warmth

Click to expand...

There's thin under-layer socks you can use for that too.
That's slightly different then just grabbing two pairs of socks outta the sock drawer and throwin 'em on thinking "2 is better then 1" - which is what I was getting at.

I have the same problem with my hands and feet. IO got a pair of gloves and a pair of booties from Pro Bass. These are made by Arctic Shield. The gloves have a liner and they work great. The booties fit over your boots and are not made for walking. You put them on when you get into your stand. both of these have worked well for me an keep me warm.

Try to stay as cool as possible (minimize sweating) while walking and moving to your hunting area. Carry your outer layers in the game pouch of your vest if you have one. Also, ThermaCare wraps for the lower back are just like the little hand/foot warmers, but they wrap around your waist and sit right on top of your kidneys to warm your lower back. Use a second one on the back of your neck if you need to. Finally the toe warmers are best on the bottom of your sock under your toes. Bring extras if you are going to be out more than 5-6 hours.

I don't know the brand of them, but both my dad (he hunts in N. WI) and I use the same setup. It's a combo glove. The inner liner is wool and the outer layer is insulated Gore Tex. They can be used with or without eachother. Never have had cold hands with these.

I've tried every glove/mitt/chopper conceived by mankind. Keep your gloved hands in your pockets. Nothing works better for me.

For gloves, try either ice climbing gloves (Cloudveil makes some good ones) or snowboarding gloves. For some reason "hunting" gloves don't seem to compare to either of those options.
Anything from the Burton AK line (snowboarding) will definitely keep your hands toasty, especially the mitts. If you look around, you can even find 'em in Camo prints. Something about being designed to spend the entire day in sub-freezing, often times sub-zero temps - makes 'em design gear really well...

a few options:
http://www.burton.com/gear/Default....l/mens/gloves/mens-ak-gloves/10788/206646455/

http://www.burton.com/gear/Default....l/mens/gloves/mens-ak-gloves/10787/207444036/

These are just utterly insane in terms of dry/warm:
http://www.burton.com/gear/Default....l/mens/gloves/mens-ak-gloves/10783/206643353/

Might not be tacticool enough for some people - but they work better then anything else i've ever seen. If you don't like 'em - there's tons of broke college kids that'll buy 'em off of craigslist

Boy, do I hear ya on that. I was laying in a pine tree the other day with my rifle freezing my glove-less hands off (forgot to take them out of the truck, d'oh!). I actually fell asleep because I sat there so long and didn't move, I woke up face in the dirt, rifle in hand. Don't know how I didn't see any deer that day!

Boy, I hear ya on that one. I was laying underneath a pine tree over the weekend freezing my glove-less hands off (left em in the truck, d'oh!). I actually sat there so long without movie that I fell asleep and woke up, face in dirt, rifle in hand. Don't know how I didn't see any deer that day

Boy, I hear ya on that one. I was laying underneath a pine tree over the weekend freezing my glove-less hands off (left em in the truck, d'oh!). I actually sat there so long without movie that I fell asleep and woke up, face in dirt, rifle in hand. Don't know how I didn't see any deer that day!

as far as gloves go the best pair i've ever used are the Underarmour cold gear gloves with the Underarmour liner glove inside. Expensive, but it works. The index fingers fold back to expose your trigger finger when needed.
On a bit of a side note. I stubbled across a great way to keep your body warm while sitting last winter.
I hurt my back at work last year and the wife got me one those light velcro wrap around heat patches for my back. Their large and stay in place well, they just wrap around your abdomen. I had it on while I was out ice fishing. It was damn cold, windy and I had no shelter except what I was wearing. Those things kept me toasty and warm all day and were still giving off heat when I got home and took them off. I think there made by Sunbeam, you can get them at wallmart where they have the knee braces. Dont remember how much it cost but you can get the replacement heat pouches there too.

Heated tower blind....

Get some REALLY good boots, they are one of the most important parts of your gear. I would recommend these;

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...parentType=index&indexId=cat601929&hasJS=true - boots

and these

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...parentType=index&indexId=cat600967&hasJS=true - socks

Get some good gloves - I would recommend getting the below and some of the wool mil-spec type style liner gloves. Between the two, your hands should be toasty. Cabela's might have some good choices too.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=110998 - Goretex insulated mil surp cold weather gloves.

Top it all off with a good thermal, sweater, coat, gore-tex shell and you are set. Layering is the cheapest option. More expensive is buying an ALL in ONE jacket from Cabela's or the like.

Sportsmansguide.com and armysurplusworld.com have good prices on MIL-Surp stuff. I don't know how cold it gets where you are, but I am pretty certain that they have surplus you can pickup cheap that will work in it fine.

I purchased this the other day - http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=59123 I wouldn't wear it on a date, as it looks bulky and long, but in the field, I don't imagine you would get cold. In combo with a poncho, doubt you would get wet either. You might want to try it or something else. ONE FREE HINT about buying cold weather stuff from sportsmansguide, if you purchase say a German Parka - you might want to call or read the comments or carefully read the description as they do not all come with liners and you basically end up with a canvas type jacket with a liner that is MIA and not easy to find. You can of course use a fleece or something else under it, but I like to have it configured the way it was designed to be.

Good luck.

EDIT:

Liner socks also...

Forgot to mention that. Put a pair of liner socks on, then wool socks, then the big boots and you are set. Some boots come a little large others you need to order 1/2 size larger to compensate for your feet swelling and the added bulk of the sock. That is one reason to stick with order the boots from Cabela's as they have really snappy return policies and YOU DO NOT want to skimp on your feet.

As for hands, a lot of the flop-top mittens you can buy have a specific little zip open pouch in the back of them, for placing the chemical warmers. Use that combined with winter golf gloves underneath and this works well.

Got a pair of long underwear, wool socks, some Bob Allen gloves that are almost too warm, a balaclava, and a jacket with a collar.

Always worked well for me when it's cold.

If Short amount of time outside. Neoprene socks and gloves are really warm. They strectch and neoprene is designed to keep the warmth when wet. Check out a scuba diving shop for really flexible gloves. Scuba is one of my passions and I love using my old gloves when working outside where some dexterity is needed but too cold for thin gloves.

Often when my hands and feet are cold it's because I'm loosing heat from the other parts of my body. Concentrate on that. I usually wear the thickest poly pro long underwear I can find, then a pair of ski pants and put wool pants over that. I wear a down vest under my hunting coat.

I seem to loose most of my heat from my butt when sitting, therefore, a "heat seat" is critical. At $5 it's well worth it. Also, even with a good hat, putting you're hood up makes a big difference.

A face mask probably makes as big a difference as a hat to me. You'll be amazed at the difference a thin neoprene mask makes.

As for boots, pick up a pair of Baffin boots. Baffin makes several models but you want the one rated to -100C or - 148F. Don't know if they are good to that low but at around 0F my feet stay warm even without chemical heat packs. They go for around $170 at REI. If I don't properly dress the rest of my body my feet still get cold though.

For gloves Black Diamond makes a good mitten for around $80. The nice thing about it is that you can pull the water proof shell off to expose the insoluted liner. The liner is like a mitten for 3 fingers with the trigger finger being separate. They aren't designed for hunting, but they work great for that application. They also sell at REI.

So basically, first dress everything else as warm as you can and use a heat seat. If you're feet and hands are still cold, pick up the warmest boots you can afford. In my experience, most hunting boots aren't nearly as warm as what you can find elsewhere. Look specifically for boots made for arctic use. Not marketed as arctic, but the real deal. To decide what you want, try two on in the store for 20 mins and see which makes you're feet sweat the most. If you're feet are uncomfortably hot in the store, they will be just right when you're sitting in a treestand.

Finally, get some mittens with a separate trigger finger for you're shooting hand. Get them big enough to wear a thin liner glove underneath. I leave the liners off If I need to take the mittens off to do anything with my hands that requires use of all my fingers.