One thing I just have to interject here is the concept of hypothermia. I had danced that number a couple of years before I got into deer hunting, so I knew what I was up against.

Cold, wet, tired, and alone turns into dead amazingly fast. A sudden 5 degree drop in temperature, or an extra 5MPH jump in the wind is all it takes. An unplanned exertion can also bring it on. If you get your adrenaline pumping, and then sit back and relax for a moment to recover, hypothermia can be on you nearly instantly. When I came closest, that was how it hit me. I never shivered or felt cold. Luckily, I had a buddy close by and when I didn’t respond to him, he knew what to do.

If you are alone and suddenly find you are too far gone to get down from the stand and make it to the truck, that’s it. The creepy part of it is that chances are you won’t ever notice you are too far gone. You will just start to feel warm and sleepy and drift off.

Rain gear is not expensive. I’ve got $8 Austrian army surplus alpineflage ponchos, and they work great. You need something to keep a layer of dry clothing between you and the elements. That poncho and the addition of a wool sweater is probably all you need in sub-40F rain.

When it gets dicey, I carry a garbage bag in my kit– a leftover from my caving days. In a pinch, I’ve stripped off, cut holes for my head and arms and worn it next to my skin. It acts like a vapor barrier. It can also act as an emergency poncho. I’m an ex-caver and 50 F and 100% humidity was my standard operating temperature. In those conditions I’ve seen hypothermia set in very quickly. I’ve also seen emergency situations were guys had to crawl into their garbage bags with a stub of candle and wait for rescue. In an above-ground test, I passed out garbage bags to everyone on a backpack trip in the Big South Fork. We’d gotten caught in a horrific thunderstorm that dropped the temperature 25F in two hours, drenched us and the gear and brought down the tents with 50 MPH winds. It was snowing as we left. We wore the bags next to our skin under our sweaters. The wind dried our sweaters as we hiked out. We weren’t comfortable, but we weren’t cold.

Remember this: the only one that cares about you paying your dues is you. The deer and the woods do not care. The forest floor is always beckoning. Should you show the slightest inclination to become mulch, it will accept you without the slightest hesitation.

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