Coming to Eastern Montana to hunt deer? Bring snowshoes!

-22F (don’t get caught rounding down now) and 11” of snow. Ooofda.

I’ve spent a number of days on horseback when it was colder than that. It’s a wonder I survived.
 
Hunting Wife said:
Was thinking the same. A good number of days come to mind hunting ducks, pheasants, elk and coyotes where -20 would have been an improvement.
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The best 24 hours of hunting I’ve ever had was one of those days south of Malta. A mule deer buck in the evening, a mule deer buck in the morning, two limits of pheasants and a few grouse by early afternoon. -20 was about as warm as it got.
 
If I had a dog, we just put our old hunter down last week, I would be going up into "snowmagedon" to hunt roosters for sure.
 
Can't believe I didn't die all those times I was out feeding cattle and hauling in straw when it was in the -30's and windy or pheasant hunting in blizzards. Some of the best pheasant hunting I've had has been walking frozen sloughs in the -20's, the birds hold pretty tight in that weather.
 
sharpshooter97 said:
Can't believe I didn't die all those times I was out feeding cattle and hauling in straw when it was in the -30's and windy or pheasant hunting in blizzards. Some of the best pheasant hunting I've had has been walking frozen sloughs in the -20's, the birds hold pretty tight in that weather.
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Coldest I have ever been was feeding cattle. I can not remember the exact day but it was mid 80's around Christmas. The thermometer read -50 and the wind was blowing briskly. We were feeding small square bales off the bed of a 76 ford. Only thing we could get to start. One old bull had been doing what old bulls do, hiding out in the hills by himself and now he decided it was time to come home. He was maybe a 100 yards off the road and just standing taking the wind and cold. If he didn't get something in his belly there was a good chance he was going to die so I packed a 80lb bale out to him. We didn't dare risk driving out and getting stuck. That was the coldest two hundred yards of my life. I am not sure I would have wanted to try much more. The cold just sapped the energy out of you. It would have been real easy to die that day if you were not careful.
 
antlerradar said:
Coldest I have ever been was feeding cattle. I can not remember the exact day but it was mid 80's around Christmas. The thermometer read -50 and the wind was blowing briskly. We were feeding small square bales off the bed of a 76 ford. Only thing we could get to start. One old bull had been doing what old bulls do, hiding out in the hills by himself and now he decided it was time to come home. He was maybe a 100 yards off the road and just standing taking the wind and cold. If he didn't get something in his belly there was a good chance he was going to die so I packed a 80lb bale out to him. We didn't dare risk driving out and getting stuck. That was the coldest two hundred yards of my life. I am not sure I would have wanted to try much more. The cold just sapped the energy out of you. It would have been real easy to die that day if you were not careful.
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Might have been 1983. I remember one night working at the aluminum plant when it dropped to -44. Heard it got colder on the prairies.

One of the minus fifty days here we were out of milk and neither vehicle would start. The kids could have survived without it but I had to be superdad and provide for my family blah, blah, blah. So I bundled up and walked the half mile to the corner store. It was closed (frozen pipes) so I charged on to the grocery store about ten blocks away. Big mistake. Frostbite got a couple of fingertips and my exposed forehead. Thankfully someone at the store offered to drive me home. My ears got burned too ... by my wife. No cells in those days and she had no idea why I was gone so long. Not young and stupid either. Wes wasn't born till I was in my forties. Just stupid.
 
OntarioHunter said:
Might have been 1983. I remember one night working at the aluminum plant when it dropped to -44. Heard it got colder on the prairies.

One of the minus fifty days here we were out of milk and neither vehicle would start. The kids could have survived without it but I had to be superdad and provide for my family blah, blah, blah. So I bundled up and walked the half mile to the corner store. It was closed (frozen pipes) so I charged on to the grocery store about ten blocks away. Big mistake. Frostbite got a couple of fingertips and my exposed forehead. Thankfully someone at the store offered to drive me home. My ears got burned too ... by my wife. No cells in those days and she had no idea why I was gone so long. Not young and stupid either. Wes wasn't born till I was in my forties. Just stupid.
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The wind is no joke on the prairie in the winter time. I'll work outside all day in coveralls and a sweatshirt if it's -20 and calm. But you add in those 25-30mph winds and it's no fun
 
OntarioHunter said:
I enjoyed some suds at the Malta brewery last year. Not bad. But I stayed clear of all establishments this year. People there were way too careless for my comfort zone. Went into a coffee shop for a decaf and wifi. None of the staff were masked up and the owner coughed on me as I walked in the door. No kidding. She saw my back in a hurry. Albertson's across the street was no better. Staff unmasked handling everyone's groceries.

Havre has three breweries (or they did last year). The one in the ghost town mall has something to do with hunting dogs so I gave it a try. Once was enough.
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How dare business owners Not make employees wear masks on private property for a virus that has a 99.6% survival rate. It’s almost like they feel like they live in a free country.....
 
OntarioHunter said:
Might have been 1983. I remember one night working at the aluminum plant when it dropped to -44. Heard it got colder on the prairies
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It might have been, I was thinking I was out of HS , but it may have been my senior year.

I wonder if it wasn't Dec 22 1989. Both Miles City and Sheridan set all time records that day. I was thinking earlier but that was a long time ago.
 
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Lyfter1013 said:
How dare business owners Not make employees wear masks on private property for a virus that has a 99.6% survival rate. It’s almost like they feel like they live in a free country.....
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I see ... so what's the mortality rate from second hand tobacco smoke? I'm guessing much less than COVID. But smoking is banned in public places. The poor chain smoker who stocks the grocery store shelves has to put up with a nicotine fit until he can get a break and go outside. It's the law. He has no right to impose his filthy and potentially deadly habit on other people using the facility. Personal freedom is set aside for the benefit of general public welfare. But with COVID we're not talking about the major inconvenience of a nicotine fit ... simply wearing a mask and washing hands. But no, personal freedom is so much more important. The difference is cigarette smoke is visible ... the COVID virus is not. Somehow wearing a mask in a public facility becomes a matter of personal freedom ... while the same personal freedom is obliged to go out the window for dirty smokers. The difference is the idiot in the White House telling everyone COVID "isn't so bad." Almost as deadly as the vice-idiot telling people cigarette smoking doesn't cause cancer. A better example doubtless would have saved a lot of lives. Mixed messages were not in the country's best interest.

I sincerely hope your cavalier attitude doesn't put you on a ventilator for two weeks like my friend in C Falls. That was back in October. He's still off work and tied to an oxygen tank. No hunting season for him this year. Maybe not next year either. But hey, he's not dead. Not yet anyway. That's what's important, right? For a while he was wishing he was dead ... when he got his hospital bill.
 
OntarioHunter said:
I see ... so what's the mortality rate from second hand tobacco smoke? I'm guessing much less than COVID. But smoking is banned in public places. The poor chain smoker who stocks the grocery store shelves has to put up with a nicotine fit until he can get a break and go outside. It's the law. He has no right to impose his filthy and potentially deadly habit on other people using the facility. Personal freedom is set aside for the benefit of general public welfare. But with COVID we're not talking about the major inconvenience of a nicotine fit ... simply wearing a mask and washing hands. But no, personal freedom is so much more important. The difference is cigarette smoke is visible ... the COVID virus is not. Somehow wearing a mask in a public facility becomes a matter of personal freedom ... while the same personal freedom is obliged to go out the window for dirty smokers. The difference is the idiot in the White House telling everyone COVID "isn't so bad." Almost as deadly as the vice-idiot telling people cigarette smoking doesn't cause cancer. A better example doubtless would have saved a lot of lives. Mixed messages were not in the country's best interest.

I sincerely hope your cavalier attitude doesn't put you on a ventilator for two weeks like my friend in C Falls. That was back in October. He's still off work and tied to an oxygen tank. No hunting season for him this year. Maybe not next year either. But hey, he's not dead. Not yet anyway. That's what's important, right? For a while he was wishing he was dead ... when he got his hospital bill.
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So much to tackle on this one, well first off comparing covid to second hand smoke and smoking is laughable at best. Second do you really think these cotton masks people are wearing are really doing anything?? Do you honestly think they are stopping microscopic particles?? I live in California which was one of the first states to start pushing the mask mandate and the stay at home Order and guess what it’s still spreading!! Guess what the masks people are using aren’t doing a lot other than giving people a false sense of security. But if you think they work by all means use them
Srry to hear about your friend that’s terrible he had that type of reaction but here is what people are not understanding that is the exception not the norm. Most people get effected by this just like a normal cold. That’s why there is a 99.6% survival rate.
 
Lyfter1013 said:
So much to tackle on this one, well first off comparing covid to second hand smoke and smoking is laughable at best. Second do you really think these cotton masks people are wearing are really doing anything?? Do you honestly think they are stopping microscopic particles?? I live in California which was one of the first states to start pushing the mask mandate and the stay at home Order and guess what it’s still spreading!! Guess what the masks people are using aren’t doing a lot other than giving people a false sense of security. But if you think they work by all means use them
Srry to hear about your friend that’s terrible he had that type of reaction but here is what people are not understanding that is the exception not the norm. Most people get effected by this just like a normal cold. That’s why there is a 99.6% survival rate.
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Except, of course, that gross numbers indicate roughly 2x(+) as many Covid deaths as nearly any other bad flu year.

This thread is a weird one for HT. A lot more direct animosity than normal, at least to me. A lot of long timers getting each others panties in a twist. Geesh.
 
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