6°f "real feel" -8° due to wind chill. Lets see if I can last 5 hours.

Would be a waste of time around here. Even the deer don't move in weather that cold. And I've seen it below zero here in GA a few times. Single digits aren't terribly unusual.

 

I ended up seeing three dough but I was unable to get a shot. I'm going to go back but I'm not going to go to this area. It's pretty heavily hunted by all the human tracks I saw so I'm going to have to find an area that's not quite as heavily hunted.

 

With the cold Temps it might help out with people moving around.

How long is season?

 

I got very cold. After about two hours I went back to the car for some food took a nap in the warmth for about 45 minutes and then went back out.

It's the Tompkins county DMFA season from 8Jan to 31Jan (inclusive).

 

55 below as a Lab Rat.

 

Nope.

 

My pipes froze.

 

Hang in there.
We spent a night in a tent at -5 with no heat one season in Colorado. I slept in a Marine Down mummy bag with insulated coveralls and stocking cap. There was a 1 1/2 of frost on the ceiling of the tent from our breath. Now at 71 I would love to do it again.

 

I have a photos somewhere of a deer running past a game cam that was reading -22F. When it gets cold enough they move just to generate heat.

 

Around here, at this time of year, those are average temps. Around here, cold snaps bring deer out to feed, even in the middle of the day. Makes sense since the middle of the day is generally the warmest and warm sun on deer hair makes for a warmer deer than one bedded in the cold. 6 degrees for a daytime high means double digit below zero temps for a nightime low. Cold temps burn calories and by this time of year fat reserves, even on adult does is starting to wane. It's always amazes me to watch the bird feeder in the back yard. The activity there alone can tell me if there's a cold snap or snow coming. Like deer, as long as the wind is not howling, below average cold makes for heavy feeding. Many times a high pressure(sun and calm winds) cold snap follows snow and if the snow was heavy, deer will be out and feeding, regardless of the temps. Sunny hillsides, even of the sun is not shining, is a good spot for bedded deer when it's cold.

 

I have hunted in that kind of weather because I was young and gung ho. Now when it's below freezing with a strong wind, you can hear this at my place .. zzzzzzzzz.

 

2017 with a windchill around -10 to -20 my buddy wanted me to shoot a buck so bad so we woke up and headed to the farm. Treestand lifelines were frozen solid, I forgot my harness in the truck so running back to the truck and back to the stand it’s now daylight and several doe are 30yards from the stand. I climb up and around 10am a group of doe and small bucks about 15 deep come strolling in. Next thing I know this guy chases everything out of the oak flat and begins feeding. I got frost bite on my fingers from taking my glove off due to a 3lb trigger on the muzzleloader. Hit him at 50yards and found him about 100yards away. My first wall hanger. I’ve killed several deer and seen several big bucks during muzzleloader. It’s cold and they need to acorns to stay warm.

 

Around here the deer don't see enough snow. They won't move for several days. The cold doesn't seem to affect them but the snow sure will. I once made a 1/2 mile circle around a 10 acre alfalfa field with 10 inches of snow on the ground. This was three days after the snow. I cut 2 sets of tracks. Three days later the snow was nearly gone and there was 33 deer in the field. I have no idea where they came from.

 

I went hunting at Horse Creek WMA at 17 degrees ....ice hanging out the trees and off the bushes .....did that ONCE ..... that cured me ...

If I ever get hungry ....I may do it again ....

 

Shot a buck and doe one afternoon. It was -3 , with windchill of -15, when I left the house at 2:30. Quite a bit colder at 5:15 when i shot. Coldest field dressing job of my life. Blood was freezing on the knifes. I had two and had to keep swapping them out and putting one in my coat. The hides were freezing on when we brought them in 2 hours later. Was in my twenties at the time . At 58 I don’t think I would do it again.

 

I went out once in similar conditions just to see if I could and I learned three things.

1. I had enough clothes/gear that I didn't get overly cold in the 4hrs I was out so in that I was successful.
2. The amount of gear I had on would have made it difficult to properly shoulder and fire my rifle.
3. Thinking about field dressing a deer in those conditions was highly unpleasant and I'm rather happy I didn't see anything.

 

Been there, done that with that model helicopter. Also been there and done that at 120 above with that model helicopter.

 

I get cold below 70 degrees now. I don't do astronomy in the winter.

 

I hunted elk on the Colorado/Wyoming border in a blizzard once when I was young and fresh out of the Army. I have no idea how cold it was, but by god, there was a lot of snow. Hiking around in it certainly kept me warm. Didn't see anything of elk but tracks. Can't imagine doing that again. I have lost my sense of adventure.

 

A big Muley Buck watching me slogging through the snow in pursuit of Elk!!

 

Really special friends help move pianos and gun safes.

 

In that lab we started at 80 went down to -55 then back to 125 (160 on the blades to see if they would come apart) then back to 80. Took almost three months.

 

And bodies!