Image: frigid_deer

Try not to breathe on your optics or rangefinders during cold hunts, or you’ll fog the eyepiece. Photo by Bill Konway.

The National Weather Service is forecasting periods of below-normal temperatures in December and January across the northern and central United States. If you’re still out there grinding to fill a buck tag, these tips will help you hunt comfortably and efficiently.

  • The colder it gets, the more you need to be out there. Does and bucks are run down from a month of chaotic rutting, and many of them will move actively and early to feed on frigid afternoons.

  • In some parts of the upper Midwest and Northeast, deer shift their movements to thermal covers. Studies show that evergreens can cut the wind’s velocity by 50%, Plus, it’s 10 to 15 degrees warmer inside than it is out in hardwood timber. Stands of pine, cedar or spruce some 10 to 25 feet tall, with closed canopies of 50 to 70 percent, provide optimum deer cover.

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  • A rifle zeroed during hot, humid August might shoot a few inches off in cold, dense air. Fire a shot or two at the range, and tweak your scope if necessary.

  • Try not to breathe on your scope or binocular, or you’ll fog the eyepiece. Check optics and wipe away moisture and condensation with a lens cleaner.

  • Wear an extra-long arm guard when archery hunting. Cinch it tight so a coat sleeve won’t bunch and grab the bowstring.

  • On stand, I look around once in a while to make sure no deer are coming, and then draw and let down my bow to loosen shoulder and back muscles. Be careful not to dry fire.

  • If you can block a cold northwest wind, you can hunt all day, even in single digits. Wear a light to mid-weight synthetic base (it wicks sweat), topped with fleece or wool outerwear with a wind-stopping fabric. Top with a shell of Gore-Tex in wet conditions.

  • Don’t sweat pre-hunt, or you’ll shiver for hours on stand and quit early. Strap outer layers on your pack for the hike into a stand. Often, I just wear a base layer for a long walk in.

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  • Cold feet are the big hunt killer. I’ve tried many versions of heated socks to no avail (they’re a hassle to keep charged, and, worse, feet sweat). A simple system of moisture-wicking liners topped with merino wool or alpaca socks work best for me.

  • My go-to boots for most late-season hunts are leather (waterproof liner, of course) with 400 grams Thinsulate. I find that to be just the right amount of insulation to keep my feet warm enough without sweating. I recommend heavier pac-boots only when hunting in a box blind on the ground in extreme cold. To me, pac boots are too bulky for safely climbing tree steps and into stands.

  • If you have fresh snow and have access to a property where nobody else is gun hunting, try a still-hunt. Walk until you cut a big, deep, smoking track and follow it. When you see by the buck’s stride that he is slowing down or veering to one side, stop behind a tree for 15 minutes and glass out front, and well off to each side of the trail since he might have fish-hooked.

  • Watch the fringes of briar and honeysuckle thickets in the timber and near staging areas around fields. Deer love to travel and browse green edges between bedding and feeding areas.

  • I never shoot with a glove on. I need to feel that trigger and touch the shot. I wear a glove on my left hand but keep my right shooting hand tucked in a warm pocket with a chemical hand-warmer.

  • Nothing keeps your head and ears warmer than an old-school stocking or skull cap. If you add a balaclava, make it a thin synthetic one.

  • In mud or snow, always cover the muzzle of your gun barrel with strips of electrical or duct tape.

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  • When the mercury plummets, we burn more calories to maintain our internal body temperature in a process called thermogenesis. Although you might lose a pound or two on a brutally cold hunt, you’ll also get and stay hungry. Carry a good supply of energy snacks (granola, nuts, peanut butter wraps). Hydrate with water.

  • If the terrain and cover give you the option of sitting in a tree or on the ground, go to ground. It’s warmer, and you’ll have more cover than posting 17 feet up in the barren, leafless treetops. Sit against a wide tree with a solid gun rest, or scratch together a small brush blind for bowhunting. The operative word is small. Do not build a huge stick blind or pop up a tent blind in a new spot. Every deer in the woods will see that out-of-place blob and blow up from 100 yards away. On the ground, think hidden but small.