I start off with a liner. Wigwam makes good liners, but you can substitute a Walmart white dress sock.
Next comes a RedHead wool blend hunting sock. It has a thick pile.
After that comes my Browning hunting boots. They’re an all-leather boot sealed with beeswax. They have Thinsulate insulation. I forget how much. KYHillChick calls them my Herman Munster boots. If there’s snow on the ground, I switch to a waterproof pac boot with a thick felt liner.
After I get on the stand I slip on boot blankets:
This gets me down into the low 20’s comfortably. If it gets colder than that, I’d dump a chemical heat pack in each boot blanket.
One thing that also helps is isolating your feet from the platform of the stand. My stand is made of expanded steel mesh. It makes a great heat sink. When it gets cold I take a second butt-pad– one to sit on, and one to stand on.
Warning: Be very careful. I had the mishap several years ago of accidentally tying my laces too tight. I was using a different mix of sock, and I guess I got carried away. After 4 hours on the stand, I realized I’d lost all feeling in my feet. I’d started to freeze my feet before, but never up in a tree. Down on the ground, the answer is simple– build a fire. Up in a stand? Hmmmm. If you can’t feel your feet, how are you going to get down? If you take your boots off in the stand, how are you going to get your feet warm? What I ended up doing was loosening my laces, pulling off the over-sock, dumping a heat pack into the boot and then lacing back up. There was enough room for me to wiggle my toes and get the circulation going again. Down on the ground I was able to walk it off. This incident convinced me to buy the boot blankets.
Hints: If your have chronically cold feet and hands, look at a warmer hat. Those chemical handwarmer packs? Don’t use them on your hands, put them in your coat as close to your heart as possible. I stick mine in the front pocket of my bibs. It warms the blood circulating through your heart and then that warms your extremities. If one is not enough, put a second under your hat. If your hands get cold, put them between your legs– bare skin to bare skin. The best way to have warm feet is to keep your core and your head warm.
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