I knew the forecast, and the winter blast punched me in the face every time I took our new puppy, Clara, out to do her business. I’ll add a full story about her later. The afternoon temperature was 17º, and combined with 15 to 20 m.p.h. wind gusts, calculated to a 0º wind chill factor. I knew I had the appropriate clothing to deal with it and my plan was to hunt the Gas Well Stand, which sits in a large pine tree and is typically protected, at least a little bit, from the wind.
Truth be told, it’s not an evening I would have hunted but I suddenly found myself in need of another deer in my freezer. Earlier this year I shot two does on one sit, but one of them was unhealthy and after discussing it with my meat processor, Jeff Fenton, we decided it was best to discard it. Then I didn’t get a deer in Delaware like I typically do and now I have a half empty freezer to show for it. With the season ending on Saturday and this being a Thursday, that meant I only had three days to accomplish the mission and I didn’t want to miss any of them.
The walk to the stand was fine because I was moving, and although the wind was certainly less than it was at the top of the hill, I quickly realized it was going to be more rambunctious in the bottom than I predicted. Once I got settled in I felt pretty good and had high spirits for good deer activity. That changed a bit when I realized my electronic hand warmer’s battery was dead. Having warm hands and feet is half the battle when it comes to sticking it out in the cold, and I just lost half of that equation. Still, I was reasonably comfortable until about 4 p.m., which is about when I saw my first deer.
I could see a few deer browsing in the direction of my Valley Road Stand and typically they would move up to the Gas Well Plot from there. As they worked their way closer, I could see the group included two small bucks, an adult doe, and two young deer. My hopes for a shot were dashed though when they circled below the plot and headed toward the dark woods. I’m not sure where they were going, possibly up the ridge, but they weren’t coming my direction anytime soon. It was about then when I started really feeling the cold.
My fingers were now numb from glassing the deer, and I didn’t have the hand warmer to help recover. My toes were numb for a while, but were now starting to feel warm. While that might sound nice, the reality is that’s a sign of early hypothermia and something one should pay attention to. Then I began to shiver and was starting to have trouble focusing. More signs of early hypothermia, and I wasn’t going to ignore them. Despite having another 30 minutes of daylight left, I made the decision to climb down and get back to the truck.
I purposely pushed the pace as I climbed out of the bottom and up the hill because I wanted to get my core temperature up as quickly as possible. When I got to the truck, my fingers were numb and caused me to fumble around getting my gear put away and my butt into the truck. If you ever wondered if a steering wheel heater is going a bit overboard for luxury, I sure was thankful for it. It took me a good 10 minutes before my hands were feeling comfortable, even with the added heat.
By the time I got home I was toasty and none the worse for wear. Having a lot of experience and a good outdoors and health education was key to keeping me out of real trouble. While this story might seem borderline scary, the reality is I was never in danger and I knew exactly how to deal with the situation. The only thing I could have done differently was not go hunting at all, and I can tell you that next year I’m going to fill the freezer as early as possible to avoid forcing myself out in dangerous and uncomfortable weather.