Winter Hunting Protection

[RSB]

A couple of days ago, I hunted for two hours in 15 F degrees or -9 C for a test of my preparation for cold weather. I found that I need improvement on my hands, head and equipment. I was using a pair of heavy ski gloves and the hand that was holding the detector was cold to very cold most of the time. With the free hand I moved my fingers out of their place in the glove to the palm area and they would warm up. This tells me that I should be using mittens rather than gloves. My head was covered with a loose fitting wool cap that moved around with the hood on my coat and that was annoying. My face was cold most of the time. After an hour, my Pro Pointer would stay on for just seconds before it would give the low battery sounds. So, obviously, it needs to be kept warm. The only thing I noticed with the AT Pro was that the battery indicator dropped one notch soon after beginning the hunt. John and others, it would be helpful to read and see your protection methods to allow you to hunt for longer periods of time in colder weather.

 

[mudpuppy]

John uses those little chemical hand warmer heat bags and wraps them with a sock or ace bandage or somesuch on the AtPro brain box as well as in his gloves (mittens)...I have experienced what you have also, meaning my swing hand freezes quickly into 'hammer hand'..it is not fun at all..just hang in here on the Forum, more info about cold weather hunting will be coming along shortly...since we all have to deal with it this year...I suppose a fellow should try to keep the batteries warm for max efficiency, even if a guy has to pull them out and keep them in the house, then pop them in prior to a ransack...glad you posted, a lot of us are going to try to hunt right on through and any tidbit of cold weather info helps!
Mud

 

[John-Edmonton]

Put in a freshly charged set of batteries. As batteries get colder, they lose power. Here is one way to keep your Pro warm all day and save that power. If you get cold hands, slip a hot pac in your mitts. Learn to pinpoint using thee "X" method so you don't have to use the pin point button.

 

[WaterWalker]

Last year's winter gear as shown below.

[attachment 303332 wintergearL.JPG]


[attachment 303333 wintergear2L.JPG]


This year I am working on a Atlas Rem-Res 282 gloves glued onto a gauntlet sleeve...SEE:

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,2026554,2026583#msg-2026583

Video and lots of talk about the cold water gloves.

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice set up there WW!

Theres a few guys up here that are in the water all winter if we can...you should see the cuts blowing open here today! Big wind and waves taking everything off...if you want, theres a few webcams I watch...I google 'muskegon webcam', then I click on the NOAA station, that link allows me to watch real time wave action on the 'Pere Marquette surfcam' as well as the 'Grand Haven surfcam'...the guys that hunt all winter in the open water find some pretty great stuff before the ice floes jam everything up on shore, then, we find some open water creeks and whatnot to crawl down into...the right gear sure makes what can be an awful or even potentially deadly hunt work out...the most dangerous aspect is getting there on the slick roads..
Mud

 

[John-Edmonton]

n/t

 

[Orion42]

Mudpuppy, you another Michigan dirt fisher?

John

 

[RSB]

Thank you, John and Water Walker, for your pictures and explanation concerning the protection necessary for cold weather hunting. I am starting my preparation with confidence that following your advice, I will be heading in the right direction. I am going to dump my old charcoal hand warmers because of the odor they produce and go modern with the chemical heaters. I wear hearing aids and during warmer weather I use Bluetooth to communicate wireless with the detector. When the temperature gets down to about freezing, my Sony BT-10 transmitter stops doing what it should so I am back to being tethered by wire to the detector for audio streaming. The transmitter will be included in the heating package for the AT Pro. Also, John, do you use the same type heater in your head gear? Thanks again for your help in this process.

 

[WaterWalker]

Mudpuppy: today's water out there look calmer than here on Cape Cod. we are at 20F with windchill, but nice a blue sky.
Our ocean water does not freeze over, it might get slushy at times but the high 30s still let us detect for a couple of hours year round.

RSB: I forgot to mention the chemical hand warmers. I have used them but with the oxygen deprived area in my gloves then loose their effectiveness in less than two hours. I am also looking for a PFD (personal floatation devise) that will not interfere with detecting and will not auto inflate when wet.

The YouTube video link is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9qK_2BjmQE

 

[fongu]

I don't live where it's really cold like our members up north, but it gets cold enough for me. I wear under armor socks, tops & bottoms and a hoodie and water use gloves. They do let the water in, but are warmer. That's during the summer with my having anemia, I stay cold in the water. When I use the chest waders, I wear all of the above and a pair of jeans and long sleeve shirt and hooded jacket during the winter and early spring. I also wear underarmor under my wetsuit when I get out about chest deep or deeper. I don't put anything on my At/Pro in the cold water, but it probably doesn't get below 40-45 degrees in the south. It runs in the 60-67 range in the early spring and probably about 80 during the summer except where it's deeper. I also have a wetsuit hoodie I bought and it comes in handy. When I first started water hunting in 2012, I got a slight case of hypothermia and got all confused and didn't realize what was going on until later, but I take no chances now. I also need to buy a personal flotation device for safety. Stay safe out there especially in those colder climates, but don't take the warmer areas for granted either. I also use the anti-rash shirt with my wetsuit or chest waders.