Went out this AM
I arose in the early morning hours and the temperature was hovering around 17 F With a bit of wind the wind chill was around 4 F.
Needless to say it was cold to sit in a metal treestand. I discovered that when it is really cold no matter how well your boots are the metal conducts heat from you quite fast.
It was around 8:00 AM when I heard the crunching of deer through the frozen swamp and the laurel patch towards my stand area. Bear in mind it is thick so that I will not see a clear target until it is within 45 yards of me or less. It seems the buggers know I am up there like a big fat orange owl waiting for the "mice".
After an hour I noticed the noise of milling about went away. My feet were more or less numb so I climbed down and walked maybe ten yards towards the laurel patch to check something out.
Then I heard the explosion of deer running through the heavy brush. One could not see a thing due to the thickness of the woodlands and swamp.
Oh. Well. This PM may prove to be more fruitful.