More times than I can count, I have been freezing to death while perched twenty feet in a tree waiting for a big buck to walk by my treestand in the middle of November or December. I know on several of those occasions my fingers and hands were so cold and my muscles so stiff after sitting for hours that if I had been so lucky to have a buck walk within bow range of my treestand, I wouldn’t have been able to get my bow to full draw I was so cold. If I would have been able to draw the bow, a few other factors would have prohibited me from harvesting the buck. The shivering would have prevented me from aiming accurately. I often looked like the Michelin Man because I wore so many layers of clothes to stay warm that the bow string would brush up against my clothes and greatly diminish my accuracy. Cold weather hunting has its challenges and staying warm is one of them.
One way to stay warm while deer hunting in cold weather is to wear the Warmbag. The Warmbag is a simple yet effective garment that will make hunting in cold weather as much fun as sitting in a tree in early October. Recent testing reveals that while it was -6 degrees outside, it was 68 degrees inside the Warmbag! The fact that it is warm inside the Warmbag allows hunters to hunt all day without getting cold.
The Warmbag was designed by bowhunters and is therefore very bowhunter-friendly. The Warmbag has no sleeves to get in the way while you are shooting. Your arms stay inside the Warmbag until you are ready to shoot. To shoot, simply unzip the arm holes on the Warmbag from the inside, pull your arms out, and you’ll be ready to shoot your bow. By keeping your arms inside the Warmbag, your body heat will keep your arms and hands warm so you can feel your fingers when you come to full draw. The sleeveless design means your bowstring won’t brush up against your sleeve as you shoot. The Warmbag isn’t bulky so you don’t have to worry about bowstring clearance.
The waterproof-windproof outer shell and fleece lining will keep you snug as a bug even on a cold day in November or December. If you hunt from the ground and want to go for a walk, you don’t have to remove the Warmbag to go for a stroll; simply unzip your feet from the bottom and pull the bottom half of the bag up around your waist, buckle the waist belt and go for a walk.
Large interior pockets keep your game calls, snacks, or books easy to get to while the outer pocket is the perfect size for a rangefinder.
Let’s face it. Most of us love hunting the rut but we also love our fingers and toes! Joe Light and Pat Rabideau, inventors of the Warmbag are diehard whitetail hunters who love sitting in a treestand waiting for big bucks. However, they often found themselves freezing and going home early. They say that necessity is the mother of all invention and I believe that’s why we have the Warmbag. Besides the Warmbag, there are few products that can singlehandedly keep you warm for hours on end. You can wear twelve layers of clothes and put on every pair of socks you own, but you will probably get cold. With the Warmbag, you can wear a few thin layers of clothes against your skin and then put the Warmbag on. No more sweating all the way to the treestand or wearing Mickey Mouse boots that make climbing into your stand impossible. Just slip your body into the Warmbag when you are in your stand and that’s it. You will be warm, dry and comfortable. You can easily wear a full body safety harness underneath the Warmbag so you will be safe as well.
I have a body that is full of metal. Many operations and muscle problems make hunting in the cold difficult, but the Warmbag makes hunting easier. Are you looking for a way to hunt the rut or the late season without turning into a human popsicle? Maybe it’s time to purchase a Warmbag. The first time you pull it out of the stuff sack and slip into it, you will wonder why you never thought of it.
- Tracy Breen
