Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I went hunting on a heavily-armed nature hike this morning.
As is always the case, I crept around for several hours and saw squat…and then as I’m casually ambling back to the truck, with no effort at being quiet or stealthy, naturally, thats when I see a deer. Actually, I saw the ass end of it bouncing away. Ah well, its only the first week.

Couple things….

First, a three-point sling is utterly fabulous for wandering around in the cold. I had the rifle slung across my chest at the ready but I had my hands in the pockets of my wool pants. No cold hands. Very nice. Recommend highly. (Yes, gloves would keep my hands warm too but its rather restful to not have to carry the rifle in hand all day.)

Secondly, once I found a comfortable spot to sit and lurk for a while it gets pretty darn cold quickly. (It was about 30-35 degrees.) Reached into my bag and decided this was a good time to try out the Woobie I got for my birthday. Worked as advertised. An expensive product from the guys at Kifaru but it did exactly what I wanted – kept me warm in the cold outdoors while taking up minimal space in my bag.

The Woobie got me thinking about a throw/comforter the missus has. Its a fleece-type quilted blanket that has snaps and a zipper so you can, essentially, turn it into a sleeved coat/robe. However, if you dont use the snap/zippers it is simply a normal flat rectangular blanket-type textile. What would be nice is if I could take a poncho liner like the Woobie, add the zipper and the snaps, and make the same thing but more suited for outdoor use. It would be ideal for this sort of hunting. You could roll it up like a regular poncho liner and use it the same way, but if you were going to be sitting still and wanted optimal coverage while still having your hands free and not have the thing slide off your shoulders you would zip/snap it together and make a very nice warm cocoon for yourself. Its a simple design, any suitable material that can have a zipper and some snaps attached should work. I really need to investigate this.

All in all, although I didnt get a deer this trip it was fun, as always, to be outdoors with a gun and the wonderful Montana scenery.