I was regretting my decision not to wear more clothes but I wasn’t about to tell Evander I was freezing. Before we left his house, he launched into a dissertation on dressing to suit what you’re doing and he’d simply shrugged when I ignored his suggestions. He’d forced me to wrap a camouflage wrap around my neck under the premise that it would help hide us from the geese we hoped would fly over. He looked snug and comfortable in wool pants, with chaps, heavy boots, a heavy felt hat, a sweater, and a big Filson wool coat. I had one layer of pants, bird hunting boots, and a fairly heavy coat I normally wore duck hunting. At least, I didn’t have a wet butt from sitting on the ground with my feet in the ditch that ran across Van Parkers corn field. He’d brought a waterproof ground cloth for us to sit on.
Wearing the right clothes in outdoor pursuits almost always means the difference between misery and comfort. If you have a reasonable selection of clothes, you can be comfortable in all but the most extreme weather our fair state can throw at you. Normally, being poorly prepared just means discomfort but if you get stuck somewhere for some reason the results can be more ominous.
What trips most of us up is that we dress for the weather but forget what we’re going to do. On my ill fated goose hunt, I was wearing the same clothes I wore normally in those same weather conditions; in fact, I was wearing a heavier coat than I normally did when bird hunting. What I failed to take into consideration was my lack of movement when waiting for a flock of Canada geese to make their way up Abbots Creek. When bird hunting, I walk. True, it’s usually a leisurely pace. But it’s still exercise.
Exercise circulates blood and circulation keeps you warm. Our bodies are like a forced air heating system in a house. The fan moves the warm air around and keeps all the rooms warm. As the warm air comes out of the vents, the return in the center of the house takes cooler air back to the furnace to reheat it and push it back around again once it’s warm. When we sit, our furnace slows down. Since the blood has to pass through our joints, sitting is like shutting the door to a room and not allowing the cold air to get back to the return vent. That’s why your feet get cold quicker when you sit.
Unlike a home heating system, your body has certain areas it has to keep warm. These are your organs and your head. Your body is perfectly content to let your hands and feet freeze to keep your brain and organs warm. Hands and feet are like poorly insulated rooms. They have no organs that you need to survive and your brain shuts down blood flow to them when your head and core temperatures lower. The warmer you keep your head and body, the more blood flow you’ll get to your feet and hands. Hence, if you feet get cold, wear a hat.
I suppose you can’t overdress in zero degree weather provided you aren’t moving but you certainly can if you’re doing any kind of physical activity. If you’re heavily dressed and exert yourself, you’ll sweat. Moisture is the biggest enemy of staying warm. If your feet sweat when you walk in to your deer stand, you will have cold feet no matter how good your boots are. If you know you’re going to exert yourself and then become idle, it’s best to carry your warm clothing in and put it on once you’re in position. When I hunted deer, I carried a big knapsack into the woods with my warm stuff inside and put them on just before I climbed up into the stand. Insulated coveralls are made just for this purpose and so are boot blankets. Wear light clothes in and then suit up.
If you’re going to be active and expect the weather conditions to change, wear layers you can remove. For these kinds of conditions, I like something lightweight to wear under my outer layer. For instance, when bird hunting on a cold morning that I know will warm up, I’ll wear a lightweight but warm coat under my bird vest and, when I start to warm up, I can roll it up and put it in my game pouch. I’ll wear boots that I know would be cold if I was stationary but, since I’ll be walking all day, my feet won’t sweat in them. Wool socks are a big bonus here since they still insulate if they’re damp.
The most important part of staying warm is being dry. No clothes will keep you warm if they are wet. Wet feet get cold faster than a girl friend who doesn’t get a Christmas present. If it’s cold and there’s a chance for precipitation, you’d better be prepared. About 30 years ago, I got a Stearns goose down jacket for Christmas. It was light and warm and served me perfectly until I wore it to a pistol match and we got unexpected rain. Once it was wet, it was about as effective as a light cotton shirt. The normally lofty insulation melted to me and I don’t remember ever being more miserable. A light, cheap raincoat would’ve saved the day but that was before I formulated my “never leave home without a slicker” motto.
Sitting in that frozen ditch with my jolly, toasty uncle, I considered that, perhaps, I should be more receptive when getting wardrobe advice from him even if he’s certainly no fashion icon. Not that I was about to admit I’d made a mistake, I just resolved to be more attentive next time.
After enduring what seemed like hours of misery but refusing to mention it, we finally heard the distant honking that would bring the birds up the creek where we could get a shot. I don’t remember whether we got any geese or not but I know how it went when we got back to the truck.
Evander would have said, “Did you stay warm enough?”
I would have said, “I was getting just a little chilly there at the last.”
Dick and Cherie Jones are outdoor writers living in High Point and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
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