winter shooting

[vanguard138]

Could use some glove suggestions for shooting in the cold and snow. Actually some good suggestions on full cold weather hunting gear would be appreciated. I retired back home to Northern Michigan after years in warm weather and it has a bit more affect on me than when I was a kid.......

[elkbow]

ha, i grew up in Wisconsin and can't imagine living up there now and probably would never shoot during the winter if I lived up there still. I complain when its 40 degrees during the day here and have to go shoot, but I have a 100 yard tunnel to shoot in, its outdoors, but no windchill to deal with....

as for cold weather shooting there are alot of thermal underwear that will help keep the heat in, but you still have to dress fairly bulky to keep warm....I wear Sorel Conquest boots during the winter if i'm outside and not moving around alot, seems if my feet are cold the rest of me is cold....as for gloves, I think you need some hand warmers and mits, keep your hands warm, then when getting ready to shoot, take the mitt off the right hand and shoot, then put the mitt back on, you can go with some thinner gloves, but not much trigger 'fee' with any glove on....

Cabela's is a good place to search out cold weather gear

[LRRPF52]

I use two gloves in extreme cold environments...maybe not the latest and greatest, but my hands stay warm. I spend my winters in two main places:

Utah and Finland. Utah is usually cold dry in high elevation with temps usually in the lower teens, with lots of brutal wind in the high desert.

Finland is cold wet/cold dry+ high humidity, and gets down to -30 C in some of the more northern areas, with -22 C common in Southern Finland.

I use my basic Nomex aviator's gloves while moving in most of the temps down to -15 C, and my hunter's mittens when static below that or when the wind kicks in. Larger hunter's mittens with good cuffs the go deep under your Gore-tex or parka work great for me.

[Whelenon]

Layer, layer, layer.
Feet; three pair of socks and good boots.
Pants; thermo underwear, flannel lined jeans, wool bib overalls.
Coat; long-sleeve thermo underwear, heavy weight short-sleeve tee shirt, Woolrich vest, cold weather hunting coat.
And don't forget a warm hat and scarf, keep your head and neck warm.

Takes me about 1/2 hour to suit-up but I can sit all day. Also, put on your top layers outside, do it inside and your sweating like a pig before you even go outside, and that will cause problems trying staying warm.

[vanguard138]

My main issue has been my hands. Nomex flight gloves under some other type glove sounds interesting. Should have brought mine back from Vietnam, lol. Did get some fairly good underwear (and expensive) from Cabelas. But I can not seem to find a decent pair of winter gloves for shooting. And then the hunting clothes I used to like from Cabelas are now made in Vietnam! Damn you would think some company on a right to work State could produce some gear for those who want to buy American. You would think that the sportsmen community would have enough influence on the market to get some quality gear manufactured in this country.... OK, rant over for the day.

[BDOW]

Depending on what kind of shooting your doing you could try a pair of leather/elk hide "Chopper" mittens that are meant to be worn with a liner in them. Instead of the liner wear a wool glove instead and put your hand back in the mitten when it gets cold. When I'm shooting off the bench I just pull my hand out of its mitten for the short time its at the trigger.

Where did you move to? I grew up in St. Ignace.

Brian

[StoneTower]

Not quite the same, but the issue of gloves came up in a duck hunting forum and some guys use black surgical cloves under heavier warm gloves. On the shooting hand, they cut off the trigger finger and with only the surgical glove between the trigger and the finger, you have good trigger feel.

For duck hunting, there can be a lot of shooting and there is little time to remove a glove or mitten. I cannot shoot well without good trigger feel, but if my hands get too cold, I can't shoot well either. I have yet to try this trick, but it seems that it would solve both the trigger feel problem and the waterproofing.

[sloan]

HAND WARMERS AT 54 my hands an feet really suffer.IN Vermont it gets cold,SLOAN.....

[Whelenon]

HAND WARMERS AT 54 my hands an feet really suffer.IN Vermont it gets cold,SLOAN.....

ditto on the hand warmers

[txgunner00]

I use gloves with attached flip over mitten covers when it does get cold enough down here. They keep my fingers really warm and are easy to flip the mitten part back when I need to shoot quick. Both pairs I have came with the trigger finger open already. You can also put small hand warmers in the mitten part if it gets really cold.

[usmc1371]

+1 for hand warmers.....i like fleece ski glove liners. light and warm.

[PaulB84]

Greetings and welcome back to MI. It's pretty much all been said but I've got a few tips

1. Under Armour
2. layer. base, insulation, gear carrying, outer, weather proof
3. for hunting or when you dont care what you look like, even a cheapo heavily insulated "one-sie" over normal winter cloths will have you sweating.
4. buy the best socks you can afford
5. ditto for boots.

also, a muff is better than any gloves. toss a handwarmer in and you're really good to go. I used this (mine was mossy oak) all this hunting season and only wore gloves when I felt like it, even in the coldest weather http://www.campmor.com/grabber-cozy-muff...rmer.shtml

[LR1955]

Could use some glove suggestions for shooting in the cold and snow. Actually some good suggestions on full cold weather hunting gear would be appreciated. I retired back home to Northern Michigan after years in warm weather and it has a bit more affect on me than when I was a kid.......

Paul:

Take a look at some of the Nordic ski stores such as http://www.nordicskisource.com/Nordic-Sk.../78484.htm. I use the Craft 'Elite' glove and have found them to be exceptional for shooting when you need some protection due to cold weather conditions. They are particularly good when you are exerting yourself as they wick the sweat from your hands very effectively. Made in Finland FWIW.

For your conditions in Northern Michigan, I would use these thin gloves until the temp was too cold and when too cold, put some Army Arctic Mittens over them. That has always been an excellent combination for me in extreme cold.

LR1955