How Cold Is It!?

[Jeff K.]

I was going to wait another day, but my new waders came in the mail so I decided to try them out. It was a balmy 14 degrees when I started walking ditches this afternoon.
Only three more days of duck season, so I had to attempt hunting. I jumped two groups of Mallards. I doubled on one group . Of course I dropped both of them in the water! Unlike my old waders, the new ones don't leak.

[TARNATION !!!]

“We’d be crazy to go if it’s minus 40”. So said my hunting partner of several decades. I replied “So we’re good to go up to minus 39 then”. Picked him up at 7:30 am for the hour and half drive to pheasant country. As it turned out the real temperature was minus 32 with light winds that dropped the wind chill to minus 39 so it never did hit minus 40, not that another degree would have meant anything other than that minus 40 is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. All that could be seen on the two of us were four eyeballs. Charlie is a good cold weather bird dog but she did take breaks in the vehicle and refused any more searching for birds by 2pm. Wish I had known about mushers secret but no mattter. By then we had four good roosters and decided to head home. Limit is 3 each. We removed the cold weather gear and even seeing a few feeding roosters did not tempt us to get it all back on. That is the coldest hunt I have ever undertaken and quite enjoyed it. No pics as never exposed fingers for any reason. Cheers, Jack

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Jack Cronkhite

“We’d be crazy to go if it’s minus 40”. So said my hunting partner of several decades. I replied “So we’re good to go up to minus 39 then”. Picked him up at 7:30 am for the hour and half drive to pheasant country. As it turned out the real temperature was minus 32 with light winds that dropped the wind chill to minus 39 so it never did hit minus 40, not that another degree would have meant anything other than that minus 40 is the same in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. All that could be seen on the two of us were four eyeballs. Charlie is a good cold weather bird dog but she did take breaks in the vehicle and refused any more searching for birds by 2pm. Wish I had known about mushers secret but no mattter. By then we had four good roosters and decided to head home. Limit is 3 each. We removed the cold weather gear and even seeing a few feeding roosters did not tempt us to get it all back on. That is the coldest hunt I have ever undertaken and quite enjoyed it. No pics as never exposed fingers for any reason. Cheers, Jack

Jack, this sounds a bit too cold for me, but when the wind doesn't blow (rare here on the prairie) it's always worth the chance. We don't hunt quail when it's really cold. It's far too hard on them to be separated for any length of time. However, pheasants are another issue. They are pretty darned tough, and able to take the cold.

As good as Musher's Secret is, it still has to be applied, and, gosh, one's hands can sure get cold putting it on the dog before each hunt. However, I won't even try to hunt in snowy cold without it.

Thanks for sharing your hunt. I once grouse hunted in minus 25 weather. The beeper collar froze...I froze...my wife froze...and the dogs loved it!