Managing sweat on long hikes to the stand

[WanderingFarmer]

I’d swap out the furnace as a base layer and pack in the solitude bibs.

There’s a thread on here about fishnet/ mesh base layers, give that a look. I tried some in the wool variety this year and was super impressed with the moisture management aspect.

…Properly setup clothing will then bake the base layers dry once static. …

This, right here. The first lite furnace layers take forever to dry and, once wet, physics requires a lot of energy to turn it into vapor and drive it out. I find I’m better off with either synthetics that don’t absorb moisture or the wool mesh that just has less material and thus less carrying capacity for sweat.

My hikes to the stand this year were typically 1-2 miles, and I sweat just thinking about them. This year, for 25-50 degrees I wore.

- Mesh base layers
- First lite corrugate guide pants
- Corrugate guide jacket or a grid fleece, but not both unless it was cold and windy
- appropriate hat and gloves to further moderate temperature

Once at my stand, I’d throw on an insulated top and bottom that were appropriate for being static in the days temps, and the remaining moisture would essentially cook out of my innermost layers and I’d be warm enough.

On days that I chose to still hunt, I’d swap to a fleece lined soft shell and consider an additional mid layer so that I could just creep along slowly in the woods.

 

[DINforlife]

As others have said, its going to vary a lot from person to person. I tend to get hot very quickly when moving and be very cold quickly when not moving. It was about a mile and a half to most of my sets (upstate South Carolina). I sweat like crazy so I had all of my layers in my pack and went in wearing only some generic cotton socks, midway usa softshell pants, and a Sitka...Core?.. hoodie. And a boonie hat. I wore this in temps ranging from 60ish to mid 20s on my walks in. Once at the set I completely removed my Sitka (soaked with the exception of the mid 20s walk in) and threw on my heavier FL baselayers and whatever else the forecast dictated and changed into thicker wool socks. The few minutes spent changing allowed my body to stop sweating. It has taken me several years to fully "get" the general how/when of layering, with this year being my most confident so far. I've still got more to learn, but what I had was serviceable.