Question for you guys way up in the frigid north

T

tgentry

Well-known member
I have a question for you guys that hunt in the real cold. First my story. Back in 2000, I broke two of my vertebrea in my neck in a mountain bike wreck. As a result, I have a pinched nerve that affects my left forefinger and thumb in the cold. When it is not cold out, it is not real bad except that I am left handed - i.e. my trigger finger. When the temps drop to 40F and lower, it goes numb and/or hurts! Especially when I'm motoring in the dark and holding a light. I have tried every glove out there and have not had any sucess finding one that blocks the windchill and will keep my finger warm. I've tried rubber with inserts, goretex, windstoper, etc. I'm thinking I need to try a mitt as opposed to a glove. I have thought about snowmobile gloves/mitts or something like that, but I thought I would ask the experts on here first. I don't have access to snowmobile gloves here in Arkansas and wouldn't know what is good. Any thoughts? Anyone with spares they don't use and want to throw my way for a try? I'm real tired of the pain. My finger would thank you!!!!! Trip.
 
Trip,
Do you have an Army-Navy Surplus type store near you? My son and I have some mittens that do a great job when it gets really cold. They are Army or Air Force surplus, big mittens with a wool liner and a canvas outer shell. One pair has a trigger finger and one is just the mittens, not the easiest thing to shoot with but they come off pretty easy when you are ready to shoot. We also put small hand warmers in them if the temps really drop.
 
Trip,
Find a thin glove, something that you can still "work" with on, and a nice thick mitten to wear over the top. This way when you need to do something that needs a little more control you just take off the mitten but you'll still have the glove on so your hand wont be exposed. You can toss some of the chemical hand warmers in the mittens too. I also like to use the hand muffs and toss some hand warmers in there. Ususally I do that while deer hunting since my hands don't get wet.
 
Thanks guys. I have tried liner gloves inside of larger gloves, but have not used them with mittens. I'm wondering what are the best windproof mittens for the boat ride. I've thought about putting the handwarmers in mittens with liner gloves, but you would have to get pretty big mittens to fit them, wouldn't you? The reason I thought about snowmobile mittens is that it is friggin cold up where you guys do that and they probably provide a break from the windchill. Trip.
 
Trip, I've never found any gloves that keep me dry and warm through a day of setting decoys and dealing with wet rope in a boat. My best advice would be to keep a lot of the chemical handwarmers on hand. As noted above, you can slip them inside a loose glove or mitten.

I've had good luck recently with some gloves marketed for ice fishermen called "Glacier Gloves". They are neoprene and are the best waterproof gloves I've tried, but they are relatively thin and if you get cold hands starting at 40 F, they won't be warm enough for you.

I think your idea of looking into what snowmobilers use a good one. You might also want to look at what's sold in specialty bicycle shops. I see some folks around here riding their bikes all winter, and they have big bulky gloves on. A bikers catalog may offer some suggestions.
 
Thanks Jeff. I've got some of the bicycle gloves as I am still an avid rider. They don't work either so it limits my cold weather riding. I don't think they block the windchill part well. As far as when I am in the blind or setting decoys, it is not too bad. I spend a lot of time burning little camp fires and run a Mr. Buddy heater when I get set up, but the boat ride in is a killer. Sometimes on the river, I have a 20 min trip to the hole. Being in Arkansas, you would think I could find one of those cushy walk-in timber holes, but I love to run the boats. Trip.
 
T-
I've found that whichever hand is holding something for an extended period gets cold - ie left hand when running a tiller. The big mittens are a good way to go. A big chopper style mitten is hard to beat, especially with a handwarmer. Couple options:
- Have someone else drive the boat
- Have someone else hold the light, so you only need one hand?
- Try to use the light intermittently. If your eyes are good enough, there are some places that I hunt where I don't use a light at all most mornings (10-20+ min runs).
- Get a light that locks on so you don't have to keep holding the trigger on the spot (and you can just use a big mitten). Rest your arm in your lap when you don't need the light.
 
I have used this glove for winter alpine climbing and have never had cold hands. Worn them in sub-zero temps with high winds and still able to use my fingers to tie knots and place gear. Keep in mind I am not dunking them into water but for cold boat driving them should work great. My climbing partner has the mitt version as he has cold hand problems and seems to like them. If you dont like these, try bentgate.com they have some other brands that will work well.

http://www.outdoorresearch.com/site/alti_gloves.html
 
We are under about 4 feet of snow right now and it is cold. When I head out in the boat at this time of year, (yup, still getting out) I usually wear a nice pair of gloves from The North Face. Under them I wear a thin pair of baseball gloves. (golf gloves would work) When it is time to shoot I pull off the outer glove. I wear the same baseball gloves when I go trap shooting in the winter. It is nice to have something between me and the cold gun that doesn't have a big impact on the feel of the trigger and where I can still load shells. You can see the outer gloves at the link below. They are waterproof and breathable although I do wear neoprene gloves when picking up decoys. Anything like this will work.

I do take care to keep the black gloves out of sight when birds are working.

http://www.sportchek.ca/...sp?productId=3798489
 
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I do things a bit different. I buy cheap ragwool wool gloves that also have thinsulate for added insulation. Some have goretex as well but I have found those to not work well when wet. The ragwool gloves, if you keep them dry, are the absolute best for keeping your hands warm. Get them wet and they won't be as warm.

When it gets colder (below zero), I'll wear some silk inserts inside the ragwool gloves. Never had a problem with cold hands with this set up. The other benefit is that these gloves do not interfere in any way with the trigger finger. Thicker gloves, where you can't feel the trigger, scare me. I've seen guns go off unintentionally when the shooter was wearing real thick gloves.

Mark W
 
I generally were neoprene gloves when setting out and picking up in cold weather. I also tuck my hands in to fleece lined hand warmers during the duckless times...but if the ducks are flying I have no trouble keep my hands warm.
 
Especially when I'm motoring in the dark and holding a light.
Click to expand...

When holding your light, is your hand above (higher) than your heart? If so, there will be less blood flow to your hand during those times. If you have ever worked for an extended amount of time (over 10 or 15 minutes) with your hands above your head you will know what I mean.

If that is the case, then another option might be to fabricate an extended handle for your light so that your hand position can be lower in relation to your body. That should increase the blood flow to your hand when holding your light.

Just a thought.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot about another option. My son is an avid snowboarder. You want to talk about extremes in temperature and wetness, snowboarders see it all. We bought him Burton snowboard mittens and his hands sweat. He used to have problems with cold hands and gloves that would never keep his hands dry - not anymore. These mittens are not cheap but they work for him.

Mark W
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. Just to clarify, the only time I really have a problem is in running the boat when it is cold. When I'm in the blind, I'm using heaters and other methods to get my finger warm. When I put out decoys, I use the rubber gloves with an inner liner glove and that helps.

Dave, I did think of the extension for the light, but for a different purpose. I built the extension for my Q-beam from an extension painting pole so I could adjust the height and then duck taped the light to the pole. I built it because we have a lot of barges on the river and they always had their lights mounted high up for visibility. It is amazing the difference in what running your light up on a pole does. I set the base of the pole on the floor of the boat with the extension about 6' up. Now that I think about it, I usually still hold my hand up higher than my shoulder to direct the light. I'll lower it tomorrow and see how that works.

I appreciate everyones suggestions, I think I am going to try some mittens with a heating pad in the left one. My right hand has no problems. Now to find the right mitten. I saw the Outdoor Research web page and boy are they proud of those mittens. I think I saw a picture the other day that someone on here that was wearing some red ones in the blind. I don't care about color, because it will be at night and hopefully the ducks won't see me at that point.

Anyway, any other suggestions short of a Swedish blonde boat captain/gun porter/finger warmer would be welcome.
 
Hi Trip,
The one suggestion I could toss into the mix would be to get a good muff or two.
When it gets really cold you can slip one side over the tiller handle and put your hand into the other side - or do pretty much the same thing with a light. We use Icebreaker muffs - not the most expensive but seem to be the warmest. Does not hurt to have a couple of heat packs in one either.
 
I have just what you need.I have 2 special snowmobile mittens that are new ,never used ,both lefts.
You're welcome to them . Just let me know your address and I'll mail them out to you,probably Monday.
I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go blackpowder hunting,be back Sunday,otherwise I'd do it sooner.
Chris
 
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