Uh oh, Old man winter is going to mess up Muzzleloader opener

[Bassthumb]

Friday, Nov 30
High: 35 °F RealFeel®: 30 °F
Mostly sunny and colder
Friday Night, Nov 30
Low: 23 °F RealFeel®: 14 °F
Sleet and freezing rain late; until then, partly cloudy this evening, breezy late

Saturday, Dec 1
High: 41 °F RealFeel®: 25 °F
Windy with ice changing to rain
Saturday Night, Dec 1
Low: 25 °F RealFeel®: 8 °F
Partly cloudy, windy and cold

[bassin_man]

It wasn't the prettiest out there this morning.  I decided to stay in bed as I have a whole month to get my deer and didn't feel like going out with the conditions this morning.  Looks like its warm enough now that the roads should be better.  Might go out for an afternoon hunt.

[Skipper (ripnlips)]

Yep, I didnt go out this morning either. Will definitely get out tuesday and wed. Got 8 days of vacation this month just for hunting so I can wait if I have too

[bassin_man]

This is kind of off topic but do either of you belong to the Omaha Bass Club (Federation Nation affiliated) club that meets at the Base Lake?

[Bassthumb]

No. Don't belong.

Son-in-law went out Dec 1 and had a pair of bucks push a does past him, and since he was sitting all hunkered down trying to stay dry, missed (as in wasn't quick enough to get into shooting position) the bigger of the pair.  But he did get a nice sized fork horn.  I am heading in this afternoon to stalk a bit, then sit and wait for the big eightpoint he didn't shoot at...

[Bassthumb]

Stalked all the way to the ladder stand, and 14 minutes after I get set, had a pair of does walk out of the grass to the south right in front of me.  Then about three hours of trying to keep my toes warm, I had a very young spike work out of the grass to get behind me and then disappear.  At 5:10, had a pair of really big does walk from the west right under the ladder.  While I was trying not to get whiffed or seen, I heard yet another deer out in front, but the darkness won and I had to climb down.  Was hard to walk out with my two numb big toes (not smart), but was a good night.

Started in 27 Degrees and 30 MPH winds from the NNW.
At the truck upon leaving, 23° and the wind just up and died at 5:00.

Won't be able to hunt until the 14th, so the search continues.

[Skipper (ripnlips)]

This is kind of off topic but do either of you belong to the Omaha Bass Club (Federation Nation affiliated) club that meets at the Base Lake?

I used to but not anymore but I know all of the guys in their club. Plus I run the base lake so Im who they get the key from for there meeting

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Oh puleeeeze, compared to what we just went through for Wisconsin's Muzzleloader season, you had it absolutely balmy and almost tropical. 

My son, one of my good friends and I spent four days, Thursday through Sunday in a wilderness area in northeastern Wisconsin.  We stayed in a 12x15 wall tent and hunted each day.  It dropped to -10 on Thursday night and was still below zero on Friday morning.  According to our thermometer, it never got above 23 degrees until Sunday afternoon when we were tearing down camp.

Oh, and it snowed 10 inches on Saturday.......

The worst part of it was that we only had buck tags, yet saw does almost every day.  One of the days, I had four good size does less than 50 yards away but couldn't grow antlers on any of them....     

Steve

[Bassthumb]

The cold never was a factor until the last year or so.  This year I lost the diabetes contest, and it seams like even 40° is brutally cold (especially on the feet).

I have some really good clothes and accessories, its the boots I think.  I fugure thay are 13 years old now, and all the gortex is most likely clogged with sweat and gunk and and they just dont breathe and/or insulate like they used to.

I feel a trip to Cabela's coming on (soon too) to get a new pair of stand-sitting boots that have at least 2000 grams of thinsulate in them, and a heated sole insert...

The coldest I have ever hunted in was -9°F.  The coldest I ever changed a battery in was -31...and the wind was blowing... 

[OutdoorFrontiers]

Yeah, I can relate to that.  Since my heart attack cold has been a problem for me as well.  I was more miserable this season than I ever remember and I've hunted in temps down to -18. 

The worst air temp I've ever experienced was an actual -48, and that was without factoring in wind chill!   

Steve

[Bassthumb]

Update:

I hunted Fri 12/14, Sat 15th, and Sun 16th and seen 2, 9, and ~40 respectively.  On Sun, about 5:00 PM, that buck my son-in-law "missed" just happened to meander out in front of my ground blind where I promptly missed him! (he was at such a sharp angle [downward] in front our my blind when I got the tru-glo sights on him and pulled the trigger, I actually ended up shooting through a piece of the blind and ended up missing him completely); so he ran about 30 steps and just stood there.  I reloaded and got off a second shot and that one was not a miss.  I trailed him up over a rise and across about 50 yards of semi open terrain.  By now it was just about totally dark, when i saw a large brown lump under a tree.  Relaxing, I stepped toward him, and (you guessed it) he staggered to his feet (where I shot him again) this time for good.  I use the Hornady .44 240 XTP behind 2 Tripple 7 50 gr. pellets.  This is the first deer that neither bullets exited, in fact, there was a double entry hole about the size of a small volkswagen but no exit channel.  So now I am baffled  :help:as to the non-typical terminal performance of that bullet, but glad I decided to take him.  OBTW, he turned out to be a 9 point (5X4) (and my S-I-L confirmed via picture it was the same deer he didnt get).

Somewhere during the drag out, I ended up breaking the front sight off my Optima.  Darned things are made of plastic, and at 9°F, they don't stand up to much....I think it might be time for a red dot...

At this time I would like to thank my sponsors...oh wait...LoL

[bassin_man]

Haven't seen no shooters yet.  I have Friday-Sunday off in which I'm going to spend those days trying to fill my last two season choice does with my bow.