Well boys, what's your temperature like now?

[Vashper]

The reason we are having all the rain and heavy snows is because of global warming.
Or so I am told.
I have yet to understand the ice ages or the warm period of though. But I never claimed to be smart

The funny thing is that our chief forecaster managed to declare this fall that "we will no longer see winters with frosts and snowdrifts." I wonder what he'll say now. A week ago, I heard the trunks of oak trees bursting in the forest, with a sound like a shot. However, there have been warmer and colder years in recent centuries, a market worked on the ice of the Thames in 1814, as they write on the stands for tourists.

 

[Mort Hill]

11 in Nashville in prep for SCI. 7 inches of snow. Sitting at airport waiting on my son who flew in. Good time to catch up on some truck cigar smoking.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

"Update: -34 °C, -45 °C "
I came back from hunting a week ago. It was just -34 °C. When I was parking near the hunting lodge, I was told to stand close to the Hummer, "it's faulty." Some sensors froze on him, and due to the excess pressure of gases in the crankcase, some kind of oil seal was squeezed out. The owner has been waiting for a repair crew for a week to replace the oil seal, for this he will have to remove the engine and gearbox. And all this in a place 40 km from the paved road. I'm afraid to imagine how much the repair will cost.

"I have just returned from feeding cows, thawing and chipping ice from the drinkers. "
When there was a frosty apocalypse in Texas three years ago, many animals died in hunting parks there. Southern animals do not die from cold, but from thirst - they cannot eat snow and break ice on drinking bowls.

I remember hunting during a similar freak phenomenon in Montana, fourteen years ago I think. It had been a rather dry fall with no snow. Temperature suddenly fell through the floor subzero (F) overnight a day or two before Thanksgiving and stayed there. The poor deer were at every water tank and reservoir pawing at the ice. I had only just discovered I'd lived there long enough for a resident tag (returned in April to help care for my dying mother). Had an invite to go to my brother's for dinner feast. I asked if he wanted a deer. Sure! So I took a drive to a stock reservoir and picked out a buck. On the way out driving by the sign in box for pheasants my Lab pup put up a fuss. Why not. Shotgun was still in the car. Took about forty minutes to shoot a limit of roosters. Frostbite got the tip of my trigger finger. One of the roosters should have been wearing an eggshell helmet. If he hadn't squawked, I would have passed on him as a hen. Must have been hatched in September? Two Native guys (both also shot nice bucks) stopped and helped me put the deer on top of the Jimmy. It was pretty well frozen by the time I arrived at my brother's for dinner after driving five hours.

The dogs and I went for a stroll around the block last night. -23 C and windy. I should have put on wool pants but too lazy to dig them out. They were dying to finally get out and do something. By the time we were back around to the end of the street they were dying to get home!

I have hunted pheasants with them in those temps but they don't mind. Neither do I. Six years ago I went through the ice in -25 temp ... three times. Once with left leg and twice with right leg before I finally got smart, sprawled out, and crawled back to the shore. A spring underneath made the ice rotten. Then I shot my last two roosters for a limit on the long walk back to the car. Wait ... Black Pearl was alive then so more like ten years ago. Time flies. Game warden checked me down the road. Or almost checked me. He saw my ice encased pants when I got out to show him the birds. I told him what happened. "You are NUTS! Get outta here."

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Must have been very slippery in the DSC parking lot last night. Heard there was a flood of tears after the football game.

 

[Captain Jack]

Good looking mulie buck. What part of Wyoming? I used to travel all around there before I retired.

I'm up in Sheridan. Thanks! I actually got him in NW Colorado this past season. Best buck we saw after 5 hard days of hunting... last year's brutal winter did a number on the mulies out there.

 

[Firebird]

I’ve hunted turkeys in Sheridan-really a lovely place. Can’t remember exactly but I think it snowed on us then in May.. .

 

[Vashper]

Dogs retain their senses even at temperatures of -25 degrees Celsius. It was tested several years ago on hunting spaniels (Labradors are their relatives). That was the first time I felt the "lingering shot" from a shotgun. "Sh-sh-bang!" Moreover, I managed to keep the pheasant at gunpoint, as in the old days, with flintlocks. Pheasants are not very afraid of frost, but deep snow kills them, they feed on the ground.

 

[Woodcarver]

11 in Nashville in prep for SCI. 7 inches of snow. Sitting at airport waiting on my son who flew in. Good time to catch up on some truck cigar smoking.
View attachment 580708

7 inches of snow in Nashville will bring that region to a sliding halt. Hell, an inch of snow is too much for there, lol. We were out of school for the entire month of January in 1978, and I don't think there was ever more than 3-4" on the ground.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Dogs retain their senses even at temperatures of -25 degrees Celsius. It was tested several years ago on hunting spaniels (Labradors are their relatives). That was the first time I felt the "lingering shot" from a shotgun. "Sh-sh-bang!" Moreover, I managed to keep the pheasant at gunpoint, as in the old days, with flintlocks. Pheasants are not very afraid of frost, but deep snow kills them, they feed on the ground.

Not necessarily! I find pheasants feeding in Russian olive trees all the time, especially after the snow falls. It's great habitat for them. They love the fruit and it's a sort-of evergreen shrub/tree with leaves falling off very late and sometimes not at all. Thorns protect them from predators on the ground and in the air. Great cover. Even coyotes eat the fruit. Yet state agencies have declared war on the stuff. Somehow they manage to convince ranchers it makes more sense for black cows to get baked dry on a scorching bald prairie rather than stand in the shade of an evil exotic plant. Makes so much more sense to haul more water to the cows.

Curious thing about pheasants is though they feed in Russian olive trees, they never roost in them. They prefer to spend the night on the ground in heavy cover. I don't think they are designed for long term perching. Deep snow kills them because they shelter under the drifts and easy for predators to catch them. They can't hear (pheasants have very large ears) which is their primary defense mechanism (especially for neon roosters).

 

[Scott CWO]

High today has been 0F. Supposed to be -16F overnight!

 

[Vashper]

Very interesting, I didn't know. I realized what kind of tree it was, a funny name. We call it loh, or jida (in Central Asia). Although I heard that pheasants love these fruits, I thought they were picking them from the ground. But it is still more southerly, growing naturally closer to the south.
The Russian tsars arranged special shelters for overnight stays in their pheasantaries: they planted spruce trees thickly and cut off the tops and lower branches. But I didn't see it myself, alas.

 

[SvenHoek]

11°f, wind chill of 3°f here in Ohio. Driving back to NY tomorrow and expecting more of the same. New powder and primers arrived in my absence so I can get cracking on load development when I return.

 

[Philip Glass]

Low teens and water is frozen in places. I am tired from fighting water issues but Wednesday will be better.

 

[JimP]

Temperature isn't too bad but most of Colorado is closed due to snow

 

[freefall]

Got up to +2F here outside Wasilla today.

 

[flying sailor]

NE Ohio started off with 4 and some wind made it -11. Should have hunted more chipmunks last summer so I could have lined my jockey shorts with the fur!

 

[CoElkHunter]

0F, -10 windchill now. Working out in it AGAIN tonight. Sucks to be me! LOL

 

[JimP]

0F, -10 windchill now. Working out in it AGAIN tonight. Sucks to be me! LOL

I remember many days out in the cold and snow. The worse of it was when I worked in the oil fields. A -20 was the high temperature for 3 weeks.

 

[CoElkHunter]

My natural gas furnace is set at 64 degrees during the day and 60 at night. My gas fireplace with a strong blower on it is about 12 feet from the thermostat for the furnace. I've been running it during the day. Typically, the heat from the fireplace will shut off the furnace via the thermostat. But not for most of the last three days. The furnace has been running almost 24/7. Just some perspective for those living in more temperate winter climates.

 

[Neil Molendyk]

-19C (-2 F) currently, -10C (14F) tomorrow, then back to a few days -24 (-11F). A brief tropical interlude. But at least the cattle have thawed out.