Kinda cold in my bag

[swanny]

Just a thought, but were you cold all night or just in the middle of the night when you most likely had to pee? Holding it in will actually lower your body temperature, so it's best to suck it up, get out, pee, and crawl back in. That or carry a gatorade bottle in the tent.

I didn't ready everything, but lots of good suggestions to add a liner or closed cell foam under your current mat. The EXPED DownMat's are also going to be the most efficient and warm backpackable mats on the market. If you aren't backpacking, check out the EXPED MegaMat series for ultimate comfort and warmth.

[Alchase]

Getting out of a nice warm bag because you have to pee sucks!

Also a good reason to not drink beer in camp and get some sophistication with some Irish!

 

[Bushcraft]

Some of the questions and responses make me wonder if people ever test their gear at home in the back yard or on pre-season scouting trips before committing to a particular sleeping system during a hunt.  Unless a guy is retired, all of us have limited vacation time that we can use for hunting. Why waste any of that precious time freezing your butt off and being physically and/or mentally diminished in the field?  Or worse, having to pull the plug and cut a trip short?

Just because a bag has a particular rating doesn't mean that the rating is going to be comfortable for you.  You need to figure out if it is in fact accurate not only your "normal" sleeping, but also if you're body is stressed. How is that bag going to perform if you are dehydrated, hungry, physically drained, damp clothes, high humidity level in the air, if your bag is exposed to a breeze or condensation, etc.  Lots of factors at play.

I use a closed cell foam pad, an inflatable pad with an R value appropriate for the conditions, a pillow and an appropriate sleeping bag for the range of conditions I can reasonably expect to encounter during the course of a particular hunt.  I deliberately go to bed with a full belly from a warm meal with a lot of quality fats.  Protein and carbs are of course essential components of the holy trinity of nutritional intake, but FATS are what keep your furnace burning at night.  Suck down some ghee or olive oil and I guarantee you'll have a better night's sleep in cold weather.

Your sleeping bag - regardless of it's temperature rating, is just insulation.

Your body needs to burn calories in order to generate enough heat to keep you warm.

The closed cell foam pad is for insulation insurance and to try and keep my inflatable from getting punctured. I use it all the time as a glassing pad or a pad to sit on around camp to keep my Me from getting cold. Every calorie I have to burn to stay warm is a calorie I have to pack with me into the field.

The inflatables I have range from UL synmats that are basically just baffled air, to thick and wide down filled beds.  You will sleep better on these than just a hard ground pad. Better sleep makes for a better hunter.  Just don't make the mistake of overfilling them. If you can't figure out how to keep your pad from slipping around, try putting 20-40 small silicon dots all over the top and bottom surfaces.

Bring a pillow.  You use one at home. You'll be uncomfortable in the field if you suddenly don't.  Inflatables are great in a pinch to elevate your head but I find them to be aggravatingly unstable and prefer the Thermarest travel pillow.  The latter is also a lot warmer.

I probably have 7-8 bags ranging from barely there UL summertime shells, to serious cold weather options. If you don't have a dedicated bag that can get down into the teens or single digits or even below zero, just double up with two bags.  My current favorite is a Kifaru 20 Degree Long/Wide Slick Bag.  I used it for about 30ish nights in the field thus far this hunting season and have nothing but great things to say about it. 

It shrugged off the insanely wet conditions of High Buck and kept me plenty warm during last week's successful elk hunt where it got down into the low single digits.  I used an old 3/4 Ridgerest closed cell foam pad that needs to be retired, an Exped Synmat UL7, a Thermarest travel pillow, and the Kifaru 20 degree Slick Bag.  I knew it was going to get cold so I wore some thick wool socks, KUIU zip-off bottoms with a KUIU vest draped over my legs inside the bag, my KUIU Attack Pants, a KUIU wool t-shirt, a KUIU wool long sleeve shirt, a NF micro-fleece full-zip and my Kifaru Lost Parka for my torso and a fleece beanie for my noggin. In addition to eating a super high calorie dinner that was heavy on added ghee and olive oil fats, I also...and here's the trick...filled my Nalgene bottles with boiling water and put them in OR's insulated water bottle holders. They are game changers for wintertime backcountry sleeping. One went down by my feet with my boots and the other sort of migrated around but usually resided in the groin/femoral artery area. I would have preferred to have had the superior R-value of one of my Exped Downmats since my back felt cooler in comparison to everything else towards the coldest hours just before daylight, but I was by no means cold or uncomfortable.  Due to an unfortunate mix-up and my packer getting lost, I ended up having to sleep out under the stars at a pre-determined meat pick-up site. Had a pretty good layer of frost on the bag in the morning but the synthetic insulation shrugged it off.

Bottom line: Don't wait until hunting season to test your gear.


 

[Magnum_Willys]

I knew it was going to get cold so I wore some thick wool socks, KUIU zip-off bottoms with a KUIU vest draped over my legs inside the bag, my KUIU Attack Pants, a KUIU wool t-shirt, a KUIU wool long sleeve shirt, a NF micro-fleece full-zip and my Kifaru Lost Parka for my torso and a fleece beanie for my noggin.

You musta been toasty !  Check out a Kuiu 6.4 oz super down puffy jacket for insulation - at one-third the weight you would be roasting in your sleeping bag.

[lamrith]

I tired something new this year, put a military wool blanket on my cot then then my pad then another military blanket with bag on that.

It helped quite a bit.👍

I'm pretty sure wool is the answer for everything.

   wool blankets, flannel sheet, and commando   

^^  I didn't see this mentioned previously in the thread.  I thought the key with a sleeping bag was to NOT wear much clothing?  Yet I see people here talking about bundling up in their bag?  I was always lead to believe that you wanted your body heat out of your clothing as that is what actually heats the bag? 

I did not believe it until I did it (mind you not super cold like some of you are dealing with, but my bag was temp range appropriate), but I had been cold wearing sweats in my bag.  I dropped down to skivies and a tshirt and was quickly comfortable and slept well the rest of the trip.

[Jason]

All manufacturers are different in their ratings. I know that Enlightened Equipment based their temp ratings off the individual wearing a base layer and socks..

[swanny]

I tired something new this year, put a military wool blanket on my cot then then my pad then another military blanket with bag on that.

It helped quite a bit.👍

I'm pretty sure wool is the answer for everything.

   wool blankets, flannel sheet, and commando   

^^  I didn't see this mentioned previously in the thread.  I thought the key with a sleeping bag was to NOT wear much clothing?  Yet I see people here talking about bundling up in their bag?  I was always lead to believe that you wanted your body heat out of your clothing as that is what actually heats the bag? 

I did not believe it until I did it (mind you not super cold like some of you are dealing with, but my bag was temp range appropriate), but I had been cold wearing sweats in my bag.  I dropped down to skivies and a tshirt and was quickly comfortable and slept well the rest of the trip.

Any bag with an EN or ISO rating (most any bag worth it's money will have on) assumes that the user will be wearing mid weight socks, long underwear top and bottom, beanie, and I believe gloves as well. The bags are then independently lab tested for their results to help assist you get a more quality to bag to more closely match the conditions you will use the bag in.

Quilts or bags without a hood are not tested or sold with these 3rd party ratings.

[ian_padron]

Bags are rated at survival temp not comfort rating..a zero bag will be good for low 30s Mid 20s for comfort level depending on the person.....if u want to be warm in the cold you need a negative bag..

If u want to warm up a little throw a hot hands in the bag it will increase your comfort level a few degrees...

That's incorrect information on the ratings.

EN rated bags (if high quality) will be comfortable down to the rated temperature. They are 3rd party tested to verify that fact.



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[branches]

If your bag is cold just get a fleece bag liner and that will help. Everybody is different when it comes to the cold that liner has helped out our family and our guests when we are backpacking.

[MADMAX]

I have a Cabela’s Alaska guide mummy bag rated to -20
Never been cold in it

[highside74]

What shelter were you sleeping in? Tarp? In a tent I think you would have been plenty warm

I found this out the hard way. I will never tarp again. Same bag same location used a tent the next weekend and was way more comfortable.

[Gobble Doc]

Kick start due to high compression.

Just don't drop the clutch to early... or to late   

Too funny


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[Ghost Hunter]

I have a Cabela’s Alaska guide mummy bag rated to -20
Never been cold in it

   Unless you stick your head out and brain freezes.

[Sneaky]

WIGGY. I have a double bag system and don't ever get cold.

[Cougartail]

Bivi sack..