Top_Heavy's World

The heavy gray cloud cover kept the coming morning at bay, as I decided to pull into the last convenience store before my hunting property. The tiny green numbers on my truck mirror read 6... my body ached already, knowing full well the punishment of temps that low while sitting in a bow stand. There wasn't even a breath of a wind, knowing motion would be my down fall, I grabbed a cup of French Vanilla to "stoke the fire". I hurried the last couple of miles to the old metal barn where I park, and stepped out of the truck. It took a second or two, but the bitter sweet temps found their way to my skin through my UnderArmor shirt. The armpit area of these garments is like silk, thin and smooth, so the cooling effect that is needed during activity is really noticed without other layers and while standing still! I am a layers guy, each layer is strategically drawn on, to provide for the most weather-seal type fit. I am able to sit for long durations of time in extreme temps and I am constantly searching for better layers... this is how I prepare.

I shower in very hot water, I get my core temp up. Some believe this starts the sweat, but I disagree. I put on my first layer, UnderArmor thermal pants, the heaviest weight you can find. SmartWool socks are next, careful to leave the boot cut socks a touch loose against the toes, then straight on the foot, over the heal carefully to not wear the material thin here, then gently up the leg of the long pants to creat a seal against air leaks or chills. I then slide a pair of waterproof ski pants on. They cut the wind, have a couple of layers to them, look fine when going into a gas station (went in with only long underwear bottoms once and got laughed at too much to repeat!) and they are loose fitting. I then put on my UA thermal top, long sleeved with heavy fleece like material against my skin. I am careful to roll the body of the shirt up to the sleeves before I put it on, pulling this material into place stretches it and leave less air in locations that will cool too fast. I move the material into place and work the arms to get the seam down the center of my forearm. I walk the shortest distance possible to my boots and slip them on. NEVER let your socks get moist, simple drops on the floor from you shower will shorten your hunt by hours. I heat the cab of the truck to the point of "too hot to breath" and then back it off about 2 degrees. I look at this sort of like filling your thermos with really hot water to temper it before finally filling it with coffee. The coffee stays hot longer, and so do I. I step out of the truck and open the back door with the heater still blasting. Hunters Specialties bags hold all of my additional layers, so they get unzipped and I put on the layers as I took them off last time.
Robinson Labs Wind Stopper pants, the type with the really high body, go on next. I have to take one boot off and carefully lean against a door to slip a foot into the pants. My thin cotton outer layer is still on the camo pants, so there are 2 layers in one move. I am very carefull again to keep the off side leg out of the snow as this will bring moisture into the ankle area. I slip the boot back on and repeat with the left leg. I always do the right leg first to lean against the door which is on my left as I face the truck. Now both legs are in and I pull the body up but leave it buttoned or zipped. I lean and roll the legs up over the tops of the boots so I can carefully get the ski pants into the felt liner of my IceKing felt pac boots. If you leave any layers bunched you will prevent proper blood flow and heat movement inside your mini ecosystem. With the inner 2 layers in place, I lace the boots and tie them so they don't slide, which pulls the socks from their perfect location. I unroll the camo wind pants next and zip them and button the cuff into place over the boot, this also acts as a gaitor to prevent snow from getting inside. The cotton snow camo is unrolled next and the other leg is repeated. I usually have to jump up and down a couple of times to get everything set just perfect, but that is done here, not in the stand later! I am a fan of turtle necks, white is my favorite, but they stain with blood so easily when pulling deer from the truck at the end of the hunt! I carefully roll the true turtle neck as I did the mock thermal and hold the sleeve of the under layer to prevent sleeve slippage up my rather thin arms. Now is the time to get both sleeves together so one doesn't pull against the other or bind at the elbos or armpit. The next layer is a vest, I love a good down vest for heat retention when under other waterproof layers. The vest also has a longer tail in the back so it can seal the kidney area. A hooded sweatshirt is a crucial part of the long term temp control system, I wear one with a black inside to the hood, but I would much rather have one with a lighter color. When my hood is down I have to roll it into itself to hide it and if the wind is high enough that I have to have the hood up, it seems to outline my face and deer look at me more often. If you can get a white hood liner, do it. With the hoody on I slip on the Robinson Labs Rain blocker/Wind Blocker top. The sleeves have velcro straps to hold the cuffs tight so they must be released, and care must be taken due to the built in armguard. I love this feature, especially when the arms are built up with so many layers. My cotton snow camo coat is longer than the camo coat, big enough to fit over the many layers, and also has a hood. I pull all of these layer on, zip the white coat and shake and move until everything moves as one layer. The inner hood comes on, then the hood from the camo coat, then the hood from the white camo. Once all the hoods meld into one, I carefull pull them back from the head, leaving them against my neck. I put my face mask into my outer pockets with my mitten gloves, and I work on buttoning my pants. This is important, you have raised you arms so much that anything you would have tucked in is no longer there, and if you don't let the body layer move by pulling the waist too tight, your comfort level is diminished. I now pull the tail of the turtle neck and the down vest, and tuck them into my pants. With the vest to my butt, and the long body of the pants pulled up completely, I button them and tighten my belt only to the point of holding the pants up. The outer 2 coats and final white layer are then unzipped and hung in place, then rezipped. I am now ready to put my release in my pocket with my gloves and my range finder in the pocket with my face mask. I use a bow hanger when I hunt, but I set it much lower when winter hunting, so I don't pull layers apart when reaching for the bow. I also screw the hanger into place before the trees freeze and reuse the hole, putting these hangers into an undrilled tree creates too much sweat and again shifts the layers. Preparation before you hunt makes all the difference! I carefully put my facemask/thermal stocking cap on at the stand, this prevents additional heat build up while moving and lets me get the turtleneck all the way to my jaw and overlapped by the long hat. Care must be taken at this juncture to prevent dropping my range finder or my release... 4 pockets would be great!

I slowly walked from the truck to prevent over heating on the way in, I had to hug the S fence as the motion light would be activated. I couldn't believe the numbers of tracks in the fresh snow, all blending into 3 heavy trails. I have stands on the outside 2 trails and I use a climber when the weather isn't as cold on the middle. I got into the stand, knocked an arrow and hung it on the already in-place bow hanger. I sat in the silent dawn, thinking about the 9 does I have already taken off this property. The stand, so cold it "Pinged" when I moved, had no pad on it any more, that was removed long ago as the ice it collects makes lots of noise at single digit temps. I sat almost motionless for the first hour, the only movement I believe was visible to the world, was my breath rising around me.
Deer were finally visible way to my S. A doe was running and a smaller deer was walking behind it... Minutes later the doe, a huge horse like beast, moved into view followed by 3 young bucks. The hive of activity raced in circles, back and forth and all the while moved my way. The doe was obviously in estrus and I spent several minutes looking for a mature deer following the activity. The circus act was now inside 20 yards and I couldn't locate another buck, I gathered my bow and carefully turned to my left. I can shoot with a mitten on my bow hand, but I hate anything between my skin and the trigger of my release. I slid my hand out of my mitten glove and picked up my release, frozen in the bottom of my pocket! The doe stopped at 12 yards behind a thick honeysuckle bush and I drew carefully to prevent any noise. I took extra time to align the peep with the sight bracket and rolled my elbow out to avoid hitting my now thick arm. She stepped out and I was already there. She stopped at the kiss sound I made. I only had to move the bow a few inches for perfect placement. The 2 blade Rage head does what it was designed to do... when I choose to harvest, I want it clean and quick. In mere moments the beautiful grey deer was still. I slowly turned and rehung my bow, not even knocking another arrow. I could feel the morning was done. I sat for another hour watching the frantic young bucks try to find the lost doe, but in the end the world was silent again. Jody, my friend of many years, hunts and excursions, brought me another hot coffee and a drag rope. I shed the outer layers and restacked them into my HS bags for the next hunt. The coffee melted the ice on the edges of my nostrils and the shivers soon subsided. We had only a short drag, then a huge task of lifting such a large deer into my truck. Time was spent covering the trail we left, afterall, the pristine white landscape should be left that way for the next person... no one likes a red line on a white canvas.

A doe of this age and beauty deserved a special hunt like this one, everything must be done right to harvest deer in conditions such as experienced on this hunt.