Soft southerner .

The Singing Stalker

Well-Known Member
Ok have you seen how cold it is? Minus 8 this morning and tomorrow I will be up a highseat before dawn. Lovely girl she is too....... :D

Essential kit
Silly thick warm jumper. Bought it at the shooting show the other year. Very warm.
Thermals, lots of.
hot water bottle. I really don't like the cold.
heated electric jacket. Usually used on the motorbike best bit of kit I ever bought. Had it nearly 20 years and it has been all over Europe. Never leave home without it. but will be bringing small lamping batteries for when the hot water bottle runs out. Told you I don't like the cold.
one of those zippo hand warmer things so my hand doesn't freeze into a claw.

im sure that is bbq weather for a load of you lot specially them wot wear skirts up north.
Buti I don't like the cold

ohh and ski gloves
and lined snow boots.

wonder if I could transport a car battery to the high seat to keep myself plugged in. :D
 
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they are bostin warm ,till your scuddy student nephew "borrows" it:banghead: and leaves it somewhere in welsh wales but cant remember where:doh:
 
Poor old lad!! :D

Out yesterday morning 6.30am with 2 clients, -3. plenty of deer about but no shot. However 2 Fallow on the floor the evening before with the same 2 clients and one guy got his first deer with me.

Last week I was in Bedfordshire, 6am it was minus 5 and thick fog, and they hadn't gritted the roads either!!

Hope you are keeping well Declan, and with all those clothes on and the hot water bottle, if you fall out of the seat you will bounce like a beach ball :lol::lol:
 
My coldest experience was up in Scotland stalking wild boar with Colin solway.
it was -9 sat in the high seat from 4pm too 23:30. With a south breezer constantly in my face. All,I had on was a thermal layer, pants, hooded top, a light fleece, coat and hat and fingerless mIts.

I was alright to I moved then the cold really got to me.

What temp is it there...

I would rather be cold than hot, stalked goats early last summer with Colin and the swet was dripping off me and the midges nah. Cold stalking any time.
 
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My coldest experience was up in Scotland stalking wild boar with Colin solway.
it was -9 sat in the high seat from 4pm too 23:30. With a south breezer constantly in my face. All,I had on was a thermal layer, pants, hooded top, a light fleece, coat and hat and fingerless mIts.

I was alright to I moved then the cold really got to me.

What temp is it there...

I would rather be cold than hot, stalked goats early last summer with Colin and the swet was dripping off me and the midges nah. Cold stalking any time.

I was sat in Colins seat for boar and it was -16 .....to top it off I never realised I was sitting on a block of ice ...Colin ****ed himself laughing. Don't know how I never caught hypo thermia....
 
Coldest I've ever known was xmas 2013 in Alberta Canada -55 xmas day now that was an experiance :/ !
 
Well I survived the weekend. Sat in the wood out of the wind but Saturday was coooooooold. I don't like the cold, Sunday was like a lovely spring day.

observations,
1. Somebody recommended using an empty wine bag to keep your derreair off the uncomfortable seat. I had a bigger one we use for oil. Didn't like it. Fine if you are sitting still but if you have to slide about to get into position then I found it a bit noisy and not great. I was on a double seat though so I had to move a good bit to get the proper support, or is that just me.
2. Don't forget your thick socks. Nuff said.
3. A water bottle is great and will last almost 2 hours. Make sure you close the lid properly though. Bring a flask and refill it.
4. My hands got cold. I use neoprene gloves and if you are walking stalking they are fine, but just sitting there i didn't find them That good. In fact I think any moisture got stuck between the glove And my skin which contributed to me getting cold hands. may have to dig out my ski gloves, tk maxx specials and see if they are better or I will have a look for some Larry the lobster gloves.
seriously I do suffer from cold. I think it is slightly low blood pressure. If I'm walking then I will be toasty. I have come off the fields at 3 am in the morning walking around after bunnies no problem and ice forming on my sticks.
5. Find out where the highseat is in the day time, because you lose your sense of direction at night. Tripping over a wire at the pheasant pen, twice, didn't do my sense of direction or humour any good at all.

Phone friend, where the xxxx is this highseat. Answer, when you reach the log go off at 45 degrees.
I nearly said, we're in a xxxxing wood. Im surrounded by xxxxing logs........ I didn't think that would go down well and there wasn't much he could do as he was up a highseat 1/2 a mile away. :D

A grand weekend although pretty quiet. Not a lot of deer showing which I thought was strange as it is normally a good place and the weather was good.

6. Anybody who says a wood is a lovely quiet place has never been there at dawn when the birds all start kicking off. You need ear plugs sometimes.

Still I managed to bag an old roe at the end of the evening on the last day.

7. Find a good ammo that works well with your rifle and stick with it. So that you know trajectories out to whatever range you shoot. I was trying to remember where the bullet went at 80 yards, doh! I currently have 4 different bullet weights, going to shoot them out and just leave it to one size and use that for everything.

8. I love my rifle
9. I love my scope
10. Just thought I would mention that.

Oh oh and I did fall asleep for a minute on the seat but luckily didn't fall out. :cool: So didn't get to try my bouncing ball impression however I did get the , WHOO, WHAT HAPPENED, WHERE AM I. Oh, still here. Phew.

So friday, another location, another highseat and a pair of foxes that the farmer would like taken care of.
 
Sat up a seat on the edge of a bit of wetland on the shore of Stor-Bronken, a BFO lake in Norway, in November waiting for Elg to wander past... air temp was -9C but wind chill coming off the frozen lake added to that considerably! Managed 3 hours and was very pleased to get the call to come down.

Re something to sit on, try cutting a piece off one of those cheap roll up camping matresses - I fold mine so it fits in the rear pocket of my jacket, you then unfold it and place it on any cold wet seat/bit of ground you want to sit on. it keeps your backside warm, protects from thistles when wearing light summer trousers and doesn't make any noise when you need to move around for a shot.
 
Ok have you seen how cold it is? Minus 8 this morning and tomorrow I will be up a highseat before dawn. Lovely girl she is too....... :D

Essential kit
Silly thick warm jumper. Bought it at the shooting show the other year. Very warm.
Thermals, lots of.
hot water bottle. I really don't like the cold.
heated electric jacket. Usually used on the motorbike best bit of kit I ever bought. Had it nearly 20 years and it has been all over Europe. Never leave home without it. but will be bringing small lamping batteries for when the hot water bottle runs out. Told you I don't like the cold.
one of those zippo hand warmer things so my hand doesn't freeze into a claw.

im sure that is bbq weather for a load of you lot specially them wot wear skirts up north.
Buti I don't like the cold

ohh and ski gloves
and lined snow boots.

wonder if I could transport a car battery to the high seat to keep myself plugged in. :D


After reading that i am just glad it wasnt cold when we were in the seat after fallow lol
I hope you are keeping well mate all be it a bit cold
 
I was in Lesser slave lake Alberta Canada in November 2010 and was hunting Whitetail Bucks @ -34 Celcius for 8 hrs in the middle of a quarter section (160 acres) field, now that was cold, got to the point when I selected the cull buck as light fell, took the shot as I was shaking and couldn't even gralloch it as I couldn't hold the knife, I was at the start of Hypothermia I reckon!

We had to load it in the pickup, drive back and gralloch it in a garage after I warmed up for 20 minutes. Put the carcass in the shed for 2 hrs, went to move it and it was solid!

Had my Thermals on, running bottoms, sweatshirt and Harkila Pro hunters over that, now I have bought a set of Freezer bib overalls rated to minus 80 C to go on instead of the Harkila trousers, plus all the other stuff, -32 c in 2013 last trip, only froze my hands this time as i bought Dunlop - 60 C wellies aswell!

Pic on left is me at -32C with a whitaile doe behind me laughing I am sure!
 
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Southern pooftah ! Has your fanny defrosted yet.

Couple of weeks ago, i was soaked to the skin crawling prone 70m through snow, water and mud, for 40min to get a clear shot, having too much fun to realise how freezin it was :)

edit, my grandfather was a Hampshire lad. He smoked nazis in the Ardennes, Battle of the Bulge, now that was seriously cold, no hot water bottles or heated jackets for that farm lad. Hard as nails his generation.
 
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Try Montane Extreme Smock; they're the dogs whatsits. Found the same with neoprene gloves; uncomfortable and cold. Eventually settled on a pair of Jack pyke hunters mitts.

Was stalking in Czech Republic over Christmas; they know how to do things in style! Carpet-lined tower with Perspex windows all round which open by pulling a bit of string...comfortable at -16!
 
Well moving on a week or so. Remember I said I bought a great jumper? I found the website.
Heavyweight Crew Neck Country Jumper without Patches in Brown Mix - Lansdown Country - Makers of Fine Country Clothing
i can recommend them as being very good if your up a high seat. and no they are nothing to do with me. If your walking stalking then you would need to walk very slowly so you don't overheat.
mind you a merino thermal and a fleecy shirt under help as well. :D

Lower down I wear forth element artic kit, oooooh that's good, check out your local dive shop for that.

dont forget good quality socks that wick away sweat.
head wise I have a fleecy thing that goes over my neck and a fleece hat and then a fleece balaclava. Ohhh yeah, that works for me.
I also have the heated jacket working now. I'm not getting cold now.

oh oh I also bought some of those heated battery gloves from maplins. Don't bother. They are *****. I'm taking them back next week.
But I have no intention of going hunting in minus 35 unless it is from a heated room. :scared:

And i dont do wet, this is supposed to be a hobby ish

Just saying. That's all.

which reminded me. I was out on Friday chasing Bambi but that is another story which involves playing hide and seek and so far Bambi is winning but the point here, going off topic somewhat is that I was stood very still, not something I'm very good at and I felt a slap on the top of my head. Now taking into account there were no branches nearby I knew it had to be something live so I looked around slowly just in case it was something interesting. I just caught a glimpse of a buzzard flying over to the right so I think it was going to land on my head, it was last light, and realised at the final moment that I wasn't a tree, banked over and tapped me on the head as it made hast away. That was cool and made up for not managing to get to see anything.
 
After reading that i am just glad it wasnt cold when we were in the seat after fallow lol
I hope you are keeping well mate all be it a bit cold

Hi Rick,
All is good down here, um, or is that up here in relation to you? I'm DIYed out for a few months. Time for a break and have some fun. Seem to be running out of bunnies at the moment, but I have a freezer full of phesants. Was trying to make some pheasant sausage tonight and found out the bloody casings were too small for the nozzle. Arrrrgh. guess what I will be bringing with me next time we meet up. Lol.
 
If i get too warm and snuggy in a high seat i tend to go to sleep! Can't beat pain of frozen toes to keep you awake.
 
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