Suggestions on WARM clothing
10-16-2007, 05:01 PM
#22
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: queens,new york!!
Posts: 186
RE: Suggestions on WARM clothing
the best thing to do is to wear layers of cloths, because even if your warm you can just take it off, rather than not having that piece of cloths and frezzing your butt off !!!! thats what i always do and personally thats the best thing to do!!
10-17-2007, 01:38 PM
#23
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
RE: Suggestions on WARM clothing
I won't read the long thread that has developed here, so someone likely will have already addressed the points I will raise.
#1: Keep your head warm. Most body heat is lost through your head, so I've read. I like to wear a balaclava, sort of a ski mask that covers the whole head leaving the nose and eyes exposed.
#2: Keep your core warm or your extremities -- fingers and toes -- will never be warm, no matter how much you work on them with gloves and boots.
#3: Wear an inner moisture wicking layer to keep your skin dry. This will contribute to feeling warm as opposed to having body heat robbed by driving state change by evaporating sweat. Polypropolene works well for this, but there are also other good wicking fabrics. Cotton is about worst for this issue.
#4: If exposed to wind, wear an outer wind shedding shell.
The items 1-4 are fundamental. If you have these addressed properly, then you want to address wearing ENOUGH clothing or having heavy ENOUGH insulation. You may consider resorting to supplemental heating from handwarmers and/or drinking hot liquids. There are cheap, one-time-use chemical handwarmer/thermal packs which can be purchased. I haven't used these, but I assume they work well. You could activate a few of these at your feet and wrap your feet and these packs in a blanket on your stand. I have read of others carrying a sleeping bag and snuggling their legs and torso in the sleeping bag on stand to keep warm. Goose down is very warm. Wool and pile insulation are warm while wet. Wool seems to be comfortable over a broad temperature range as does goose down. I can't say whether pile insulation has a wide temperature comfort range.
Avoid alcohol while outdoors in the cold. Alcohol may induce the perception of warmth but in fact it causes blood vessels to expand and accelerates heat loss. Of course, you don't want to drink and operate a dangerous weapon, but even if you weren't hunting but might be outdoors for other purposes (ice fishing, bird watching), be aware of these effects of alcohol.
#1: Keep your head warm. Most body heat is lost through your head, so I've read. I like to wear a balaclava, sort of a ski mask that covers the whole head leaving the nose and eyes exposed.
#2: Keep your core warm or your extremities -- fingers and toes -- will never be warm, no matter how much you work on them with gloves and boots.
#3: Wear an inner moisture wicking layer to keep your skin dry. This will contribute to feeling warm as opposed to having body heat robbed by driving state change by evaporating sweat. Polypropolene works well for this, but there are also other good wicking fabrics. Cotton is about worst for this issue.
#4: If exposed to wind, wear an outer wind shedding shell.
The items 1-4 are fundamental. If you have these addressed properly, then you want to address wearing ENOUGH clothing or having heavy ENOUGH insulation. You may consider resorting to supplemental heating from handwarmers and/or drinking hot liquids. There are cheap, one-time-use chemical handwarmer/thermal packs which can be purchased. I haven't used these, but I assume they work well. You could activate a few of these at your feet and wrap your feet and these packs in a blanket on your stand. I have read of others carrying a sleeping bag and snuggling their legs and torso in the sleeping bag on stand to keep warm. Goose down is very warm. Wool and pile insulation are warm while wet. Wool seems to be comfortable over a broad temperature range as does goose down. I can't say whether pile insulation has a wide temperature comfort range.
Avoid alcohol while outdoors in the cold. Alcohol may induce the perception of warmth but in fact it causes blood vessels to expand and accelerates heat loss. Of course, you don't want to drink and operate a dangerous weapon, but even if you weren't hunting but might be outdoors for other purposes (ice fishing, bird watching), be aware of these effects of alcohol.
