• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Winter Shooting

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I feel that you get no Gold Stars for intentionally torturing yourself! If there is a good reason to go out in weather that can "kill" you without even trying hard, I have yet to come across it! When the temps drop below 40 degrees i need a good reason to go shooting. Afterall, it is supposed to be fun, not an endurance test! IMHO:dunno:
 
Years ago I was deer hunting In below freezing temps, maybe in the teens. I slept in the back of my pickup ( it had a cap) with a foam mattress and inside a good sleeping bag. My rifle was inside also but I didn’t have any heater.
The next morning I had a nice shot lined up for a doe and pulled the **** back, took aim, pulled the trigger and in the corner of my eye saw the **** slowly, ever-so slowly drop and rest against the frizzen.
Turns out the main spring cracked and broke.
I don’t know if it was the very cold conditions or that it was one of those early cast mainsprings on the L&R lock, or a combination of both, but that was it for that hunt. (Now I have spare mainsprings).
 
Last edited:
Just talked to my brother via text. He is going hunting in Northern Penna, McKean Cnty, Bradford, the "ice box" of Pennsylvania! The temps are sub zero, with snow etc. Rugged area. It is Muzzleloader season, and he never misses one. He is 76 yrs old! Current temp is 9 degrees with winds up to 21 mph! Been there done that. Now I say, no thanks!
 
It's been -3 to -11 last few days. Too cold for me. I can shoot when its 20F and above, that's about my limit now.
 
I probably won't do much shooting until spring, all of my shooting spots are snowed in. We'll see.
 
Living in eastern interior Alaska sub zero is a normal day, that being said -30 is my usual cutoff to be out and about other than just working around the cabin. Like others have mentioned at temps colder than -30 things start to break and things that might not be to big a deal at 0 can be fatal the colder it gets. I've gone through the ice a few times including sinking my snogo, at those temps my bibs were like a suit of armor within minutes and I could barely walk. Being able to start a fire quickly is a must and I carry a couple of small flares for just that purpose. One of the biggest reasons people get cold is by wearing the wrong clothing at the wrong time- sweat is your enemy. Tight socks and tight boots that don't breath make your feet cold. For hunting I wear beaver fur mitts with a harness and thin wool finger gloves so when I have to shoot I can throw off the mitts but my fingers are still protected from the cold metal. It's also important to wear something in front of your mouth and nose, this helps to pre heat the air before it goes in your lungs, I always carry a couple so as they get iced up I can switch them out. Happy hunting............
 

Attachments

  • DSCF0958.JPG
    DSCF0958.JPG
    1.7 MB
Yes beaver mitts, caribou parka, and lynx hat. Funny you should say that about the " Bullseye " one of the elders from arctic village was telling me that they quit wearing the traditional parkas because after they started using rifles a few people got shot on accident. I only plan on using the parka out on our trapline which is in a remote area so being a bullseye shouldn't be an issue.
 
Back
Top