I will try and answer a few of these questions. Thanks for all the kind words once again.
Blast- thanks bro, it’s been a while since I had a good brandy as I am a big scotch fan. After your reply I want a brandy now. Techno-magical!
Ha, I love that word. I can’t wait to use it in a sentence on some of my fat lazy co-workers.(they read this forum a lot but won’t ever join) These are the ones who I constantly slag about fitness on this forum. They were too afraid to come with me this weekend but have no problem giving me opinions on what I should have done better while I was out there alone. I don’t get it, gear is expensive. Getting in shape is free.
Hacksaw – the Mossberg 500 is an awesome gun for a lot of things. Mine is a combo gun so it comes with 2 barrels(a rifled slug barrel for large game, and a smooth barrel with choke tube set for flying critters and smaller ground critters) It retails for about 350 bucks. It breaks down somewhat as the barrel removes in seconds but it is far heavier than any .22 I used to own a springfield armoury M6 which you can check out at
http://www.oldjimbo.com I sold it because I didn’t like it. The Savage 24 C is an excellent little gun but hard to find these days. Break open actions work well in the cold. Sometimes the ejector will stick or freeze an you have to pull the spent casings out by hand(I think you have to anyway in most shotgun/rifle combos like the 24C) The biggest problem with the crack open action is using it in heavy snowfall where you need to load your rounds and close the action quickly before too much snow gets in.(but that’s a very small problem)
OBG – I often wonder how you guys down south put up with so much HEAT and HUMIDITY. I have been deployed overseas to places where it has been +60 deg cel so I guess I have a little experience with heat as well, but I like a cooler temp as opposed to a totally hot or cold one.(somewhere in the middle is nice) At times, I don’t know how YOU guys do it either.
KenK- yes, I always take my GPS(a Garmin E-trek) and I always back it up with a military issue Suunto compass because GPS will fail in these temps if you are not careful(sometimes even when you are) The first thing you will notice is that the screen becomes very dim, and button presses take several seconds to change screens etc. Eventually it will just go blank unless you warm it up. The cold kills batteries like crazy so I carry more spares than I normally would as well. The tripod is from my Bushnell spotting scope. And my camera is a simple Sony cyber-shot 4.1mp. It is not waterproof but has survived with me through 3 overseas deployments, combat, aid to civil ops here in Canada as well as about 5 years worth of hunting trips. For such an inexpensive little camera it sure as hell is tough.
CANOEDOGS – I strip all the oil from my guns at this time of year using HOPPs # 9 solvent and then use dry graphite as lubricant. You can actually buy extreme cold weather gun lube at most gun stores up here. I agree, it’s a total pain in the A$^ to dig under a jacket but for me there is no choice. It’s the only way to keep my GPS, Cell phone etc from freezing solid. Matches and other stuff will be fine if carried outside.
MDinana – My friends and family think I am nuts as well, so I guess I will take that as a compliment. A bolt action IMHO is one of the best actions in the cold but all actions require a little extra TLC. Yes, you get used to it by some degree but it still is really F^$#&** cold and I will not be upset when winter breaks. I am no where near being expert at cold weather survival but I try. I had the pleasure of working with the Canadian Rangers a few times. Our Rangers are not like U.S rangers. In Canada they are the ones who patrol the FAR north regions. A lot of them live and work in places where it seems unlikely that life can actually exist, but there they are. A lot of the ones I worked with are natives (most of Eskimo decent) who have lived and hunted up there all their lives. They get 6 months of darkness, compasses don’t work, and the temps drop sometimes to -70 deg cel. As bad as you think I may be nuts, I think THEY are nuts. Awesome, friendly people though.