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Montana is not suited for wusses ...

Its weather can be brutal and hunting grounds can be deadly as well. I hunted the north west corner of the state and that was some of the nastiest thickest darn near impassable blow downs I ever tried to traverse. A 100 yard walk seemed like a 1 mile adventure from all the over, under, back tracking and doing whatever it took to get around in there.
I live and hunt in the very NW corner, not to bad, I've been in a lot worse on the Oregon coast. At least hear your not part of a mud slide.
 
I live and hunt in the very NW corner, not to bad, I've been in a lot worse on the Oregon coast. At least hear your not part of a mud slide.
I don't know man…not everything was bad but we got into some really terrible blow downs. Didn't help I had Covid and didn't know it until after the fact. I felt dead every night
 
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I don't know man…not everything was bad but we got into some really terrible blow downs. Didn't help I had Covid and didn't know it until after the fact. I felt dead every night
Blow downs are tough, been through a lot of them myself. As a teen, I was in brush so thick you had to use bear and deer tunnels to get through it, salal, black berries and devils club mostly, as well as alders. Being sick and in the woods is the worst, probably just magnified the whole experience times 100
 
Yup it gets cold up there for sure. When I was a kid I was big into alpine ski racing. Coldest by far I've ever been was a downhill race near White Sulphur Springs. Showdown Mountain I believe they called it. The race itself was bad enough: 2 and a half minutes at 50-60 mph in a downhill racing suit (basically a skin tight leotard), but he worst part was the ride up the chairlift. I was one of the last racers of the day and the team forgot to bring down my warmups (outer layer). To this day I'm amazed I didn't get frostbite.
 
I just don't know how you guys maintain a positive attitude that live in areas where temperatures stay below zero for months. Adapting and preparing for this kind of weather is definitely not for wussies. We received 8" of snow and a couple of subzero nights this week. What was fun for a couple of days has now turned into a PITA. I should have cut more firewood and better prepared the house for subzero temperatures. Trying to keep pipes from freezing and bursting is a constant worry with rolling blackouts in the area.
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I just don't know how you guys maintain a positive attitude that live in areas where temperatures stay below zero for months. Adapting and preparing for this kind of weather is definitely not for wussies. We received 8" of snow and a couple of subzero nights this week. What was fun for a couple of days has now turned into a PITA. I should have cut more firewood and better prepared the house for subzero temperatures. Trying to keep pipes from freezing and bursting is a constant worry with rolling blackouts in the area.
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In a pinch I use kerosene heaters as a backup heating source. Our temps where I live aren't too bad but rolling blackouts is a constant worry. I had six cords of firewood cut each year. but if the fire dies out it takes a while to get going and heat the house. Kerosene heaters get to working good in 5-15 minutes. As far as keeping spirits up there are a ton of fun activities in the winter. Ice fishing or hunting keeps me going. Heck just snow wheeling is a great time. Just have to plan for emergencies. In a group is safer. I go out alone most of the time so I go only as far as I can hike out with my essentials.
 
I just don't know how you guys maintain a positive attitude that live in areas where temperatures stay below zero for months. Adapting and preparing for this kind of weather is definitely not for wussies. We received 8" of snow and a couple of subzero nights this week. What was fun for a couple of days has now turned into a PITA. I should have cut more firewood and better prepared the house for subzero temperatures. Trying to keep pipes from freezing and bursting is a constant worry with rolling blackouts in the area.
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For many of us, in some ways it's easier for us.

The houses are better designed for the extended cold, water lines are buried deep, frost-free faucets, any exposed piping is wrapped with heat tape - best having 2 sources of power a primary from the home utility power or have it capable of being powered by a backup generator! Some of us have backup heating in case of a power outage…..a generator, a free standing gas (or propane) stove that doesn't require power, or a wood burner/fireplace!

Wind however, is another story…..I could not endure the wind that many of these folks get. In that regard…..I definitely fulfill the qualifications to be a "Wussie"!

I've heard that some even have a large quantity of antifreeze for human consumption….which apparently improves the attitude! 😉 memtb
 
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You get used to it. Those that don't move back to warmer climes. Personally I find it much easier in the winter here than in WV. It's not a damp into your bones cold. Now when the wind blows? It can suck. My old neighbor from WV came out hunting for a couple weeks about 5 years ago. He asked "what kind of clothes do I bring/" I said "Everything". Sure enough we started in 60 deg temps, hunting along the CN border and then she rolled in and went to -5, wind and snow for a week. 4 of us in a 21ft Arctic Fox bumper pull. Brian (my neighbor from WV) came into the camper well after dark, cold and exclaimed "YOU LIED TO ME!! You said it was a dry cold... It's just firkin COLD!!!"

I do a lot of this in the winter-

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You get used to it. Those that don't move back to warmer climes. Personally I find it much easier in the winter here than in WV. It's not a damp into your bones cold. Now when the wind blows? It can suck. My old neighbor from WV came out hunting for a couple weeks about 5 years ago. He asked "what kind of clothes do I bring/" I said "Everything". Sure enough we started in 60 deg temps, hunting along the CN border and then she rolled in and went to -5, wind and snow for a week. 4 of us in a 21ft Arctic Fox bumper pull. Brian (my neighbor from WV) came into the camper well after dark, cold and exclaimed "YOU LIED TO ME!! You said it was a dry cold... It's just firkin COLD!!!"

I do a lot of this in the winter-

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Hahaha…yeah I get a kick out of that "dry cold" claim. Being from Saskatchewan we know all about dry cold but the thing is it's not possible to have "wet cold" at -40 because it's not possible for anything humid to stay that way haha.

That being said, one of the coldest things I've felt has been on the coast of the pacific in Vancouver in February. I thought I was on a balmy warm vacation, it's so warm there compared to here. But then, standing on the shore of the ocean in a sweater and blue jeans, the second the sun went down a nasty cold wind blew in off the sea and it started raining. Just a hair above freezing all of a sudden, windy, and getting rained on. That was wet cold!!! I will say even here the days when it's just in that -10 celcius range and still humid and overcast it's still definitely not DANGEROUS the way -30 is, but it gets into your bones it feels like in a way that dry cold doesn't. Makes my joints hurt and stiffen up and takes forever to warm up once you've been chilled.

Nonetheless, humid cold right around freezing is uncomfortable for the poorly dressed. "Dry cold" at -40 will kill the poorly dressed.
 
And yes, you get used to it or adapt. Being born here and having grown up with this being normal makes all the difference. And good grief the kids are tough! It doesn't seem to bother them like it does adults, I see that at the school picking my own boys up, the adults are clutching themselves and hunching up in their jackets as small as they can make themselves and visibly uncomfortable on those -30 type days typical of January in this province. The kids are running around on the playground unbothered, they couldn't care less! Every now and then i have to give them 💩 for not keeping their toque and mitts on!!! 🤣

A doctor in town here gave me heck for not wearing proper winter boots on time when I had an appointment, and I said it wasn't that cold yet. He laughed and said "ah yes, you were born here….my son is the same way!"

This doctor was originally from South Africa, so winter in Saskatchewan is something he has had a very hard time making peace with haha. But his son was born here and is no different than "the rest of us"
 

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