I'm planning ahead for late season this year. I get cold feet in the super cold. I wear 400gm insulated boots but still get cold after an hour. I don't want to go higher on boot insulation as I will sweat on the way in. Anyone use boot blankets from a saddle with a platform? I'm mostly curious about maneuvering around the platform the them on.
I never wear insulated boots. I wear Lacrosse Alpha lites, and depending on the temps socks to match the weather. If it gets below 40 I wear 1 pair of wool socks. If I wear insulated boots my feet sweat and get cold. If I wear wool socks they still sweat but don’t get as cold. I spent alot of time over the past couple of decades hunting waterfowl in NE AR and the more insulation my boots had the colder I was. I changed out to uninsulated breathable waders, wool socks, and wool base layers. After I made the change I was much more comfortable. Last yr I floated my hat before daylight while busting ice, and I was able to hunt until we got our limits. Prior to switching to wool that never would have happened.
Think about this, how many times have you got setup to hunt, and had to strip out of all your clothes because you were so hot? If you get to that point, you have been sweating profusely all over your under garments. When you cool down, and aren’t wearing wool your wet clothes suck all of your body heat out. Even synthetics do this. It’s like walking into air conditioning while wearing a wet bathing suit.
Wet wool retains up to 80% of your body heat as opposed to other textiles which can be 1/2 that or less. If it were me I’d invest in several sets of wool socks, and use an uninsulated pair of boots. Wear your initial pair of wool socks for your for your hike in. Carry an extra pair in your bag, and when your feet get cold change them. I’ve hunted in some COLD conditions, and this was always more beneficial then having a super heavy pair of boots that got wet, and not be able to get my feet dry.
Also keep a wool beanie in your back pack. Don’t wear it until you become sedentary, and start cooling off. You loose 5% or more body heat through the top of your head, and wearing a wool beanie will keep a lot of that heat from escaping. I wear a SnapBack mesh ball cap until I get sedentary. It helps release heat to keep from sweating. I then put on a Radar Cap if the environment justifies it.
Last yr, a few days before Christmas, where I live in GA (just south of Atl) hit 5 degrees with a -22 windshield. It was so cold my diesel wouldn’t crank. Like an idiot I hunted all 3-4 days we had these temps. I wasn’t successful in killing a deer, but while wearing my Fanatic Suit, and my 1 pair of wool socks and boots I was warm enough to bake biscuits on my titties. I did change socks every few hours.
Sorry for the very long post.
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