The HEAT in on!
 

Rick Hemmingway hosts a three day registered shoot every year at this time; it is appropriately called "The HEAT it on";96 degrees actual and 114 degrees heat index today. I have to tell y'all, this seperates the men from the boys. He holds it in July because it gets too hot in August!
David

Well, here in New Hampshire we are chilled out:)

How those Southern boys tolerate the heat is beyond me. Earlier this week my wife and I drove down from our home in Northcentral Wisconsin to St. Louis, MO. When we left in the morning the temps were in the mid-fifties, it was 104 when we reached our destination exit just west of St. Louis. I don't know what the heat index was, but it was to the point of being unbearable for us Northerners.

I shot yesterday; it was 97. My barrels got so hot I was able to fry an egg on them for lunch. Over easy.

I shot clays at Backwoods on Tuesday. It was indeed hot.

But I try to keep two things in mind:

1) You don't have to shovel heat
2) NOBODY goes North to retire.

mad dogs and Englishmen

Just back from the gun club. Was not bad today 91 and most of the time it hotter than that when dove season opens.I am not wild about hot weather, but living with that white mess covering the world ain't for me.

We shot today and it was in the 90s.

After thirty years living and working in the Washington, DC area, my Wife and I retired to Spokane County, Washington and Kodiak, Alaska. I much prefer a couple of hours in my parka blowing snow with my Troy-Bilt to another minute in DC area humidity!!

Retiring to heat, sitting under an awning sipping cold drinks is one thing, and working and everyday fuctions in heat is another. When it gets over 90 here, about ten days a year, it's "stay in the house til dark" time for me. We only received 3 snows all last winter, totaling 7 inches. You may not have to shovel heat, but I feel worse than if I shoveled snow, just from from being in it. My friends in Florida, which I made while trying to hunt turkey for a few years, in March, told me of their October archery hunts where it would be a 100 degrees and had to use Raid to half way combat the bugs. I couldn't even wear a dry shirt for more than a minute when I was there. I would look like a drowned rat, with the smell to go along with it. You can have all the oven temperatures, and I only wish everyone could experience a spring or fall hunt in the lower Northeast, before calling it the "arctic".
P.S. ... I did get a couple gobblers in Folrida, but the heat drove me back North, never to return. 90 degrees by 11 am is just crazy for March, or any month, for that matter!

Bill

I like the south.....in Dec,Jan,Feb, March. One nice thing about the Southern is it can still be crappy weather here in April and it's the first warm days I get.

All in all the winters here aren't that bad. You can add layers of clothing to keep warm but there is a limited amount that can come off:)

Rich, You can live in the South and still be comfortable if you are in the mountains, it is 62 as I write this at 9:00 AM Sunday morning, Will be around 80 today always a breeze and very little humidity here on top of the mountain, now down in the valleys, like Roanoke it will be 10 degrees warmer! I love where I live, fortunate to have found it, Gary

in mississippi all you gota do to keep cool dureing the summer months is to stay by the air conditioner....i woulder ruther have the heat than the cool my old bones feel better with the sun shining on them...charlie

Developed a dislike for the heat during my years as a mason. Those 140 degree attics and hot roof tops while hauling heavy loads did it. I would swap 90 and humid for 0 and snow any day....love being out in it reading the stories in the snow...no ticks and lyme disease to worry about for dogs or me either....I am sure I am in the minority though!

Bob I agree with you. Having been raised here in NH I like the cool and even the cold weather. I love to go to camp in Pittsburg in the fall to hunt, then back in January to snowmobile on and off until April. Hot weather just drains me. :)

We seem to be on about the same path as you Dave.

Me - born and raised in the DC area (Gaithersburg)

Better half - born and raised in Aberdeen South Dakota.

At about 21 or so, after my future wife and I met, we packed up and went to Santa Cruz CA w/a college friend. Major earthquake sent us running home to the safety of Moms (like a couple of wimps - 1989)

Returned to the west coast about a year later - Spokane area. Loved it and we happened upon one of the greatest loves of our lives while there - fields full of quail and German Shorthaired Pointers. Couldn't afford good guns. Business ambition brought us back to the DC area after about 2 yrs.

Virtually no winter in the DC area this past season and recently, the heat & humidity has been brutal. Dog hates it.

Have had Shorthairs since our time in WA and I've gotten fairly good at training them up. Guns are much better now. Cannot wait to return to NE WA (or Idaho) for good.

I did some running around today and pulled into a Subway for lunch right behind a pick up truck with Texas plates. We got out of our vehicles at the same time so I couldn't help saying to the guy from Texas "how do you like the weather up here (it was 78 degrees, mostly cloudy today, light breeze) He replied "God, just wonderful!" I replied "I'm not God, but I'll pass the message on to him." :)

Bill

NOBODY RETIRES IN D.C......George:bowdown:

If I think of it, I will revive this thread during the first week of January 2018. When some of you kind gentlemen are shoveling snow, sliding into the ditch on icy roads, and seeking medical attention for broken hips and frost bite.

I'll be at Backwoods Quail Club shooting a round of clays in 60-degree weather. And a sweatshirt.

BTW... "humidity" would not be on my Top Ten Reasons to leave the Washington DC area!

When to the store to pick up some ice. 93 at 5:30. Thinking about those winter afternoons when temp. is in the low 50's.

I like my four distinct seasons where I live.

Fall hunting (dove, geese, squirrels, deer)
Winter hunting (deer, rabbit, geese)
Spring hunting (turkeys)
Summer fishing (with a few groundhog hunts thrown in)

Whatever the weather is, I'll take it.

mississipi has 4 seasons also ja we hunt about the same game except for the ground hogs we donot have to many here...your right any season will do....charlie

I enjoy an icy hot beer on a decent day. Nothing like steam rising off an uncapped bottle from the inside beer fridge. I would likely melt away to nothing at 104 degrees.

http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/cpg1..._9999_8sgw.JPG

I think you have been in the beer already. An icy hot beer????

As it sits nestled in snow at 30 below and is also steaming, that's the only description that comes to mind. That said, I'm thinking it is time for a beer.

I have a place in far south South Carolina (Bluffton). I've been down there in the very high heat. (Mills can attest to that.) I used to travel to Guam & Saipan on business and learned to adjust to the heat with light clothing and the right attitude. I keep reminding myself of the quote in "Lawrence of Arabia". "The trick is in not minding that it's hot"! It works for me.

That's great, but what do I do about the sweat soaked hair and clothing? :cuss:

Bill

Looking to Yuma Arizona for the Dove Opener.
115-118 degree daytime highs.
Almost Argentina-like dove counts with endless Eurasians.
Think cool thoughts.

Bill
Acclimate ! I moved here from NH and anything over 80 was miserable . I am now completely comfortable into the mid 90's. Unfortunately now anything under 70 is cold.
David

Went to the gun club yesterday. Temp. 96 not much wind. All we can do is sweat and go on. Training for dove season.

That's what they told me when I arrived in Vietnam in 1967. When I finally left in 1972, I swear each year had been a little hotter. I am so glad, after hearing how much worse it would be for me elsewhere in the US, to live where the climate dosen't have such drastic moderations, hot or cold. I don't know though, it may not be bad hunting where it's over 115, the game would be partially cooked before I got home.
:)

Bill

Bobby, I've hunted Doves in the desert in far Southern California and in Arizona as well. In California the temperatures were 110; 112; and 113 over three days. It actually wasn't too bad. Dry climate does make a difference. Needed lot's of sunscreen and water. Drank about 3 gallons a day (that's with a "G") and never had to pea nor did we sweat. However, we really appreciated the pool at the hotel at the end of the day!

Currently reloading with rock salt and peppercorns.
Seasoned and cooked by the time they hit the ground.

Today, July 25, 72 degrees and 59% humidity with a light breeze, there is a God! :cool:

Bill

Sounds like Oct. in Mississippi.