Whether you are hunting local or hunt down south, up north or out west, now is a great time to go on the Web and do that research. I am! Request brochures only from places that peak your interest. If you are like me and on a budget, it is important to add all the costs of the hunt.

As an example:

Air and Ground Transport, Gas, Hotel

License Fees

Outfitter cost

Butcher and Freeze

Cost to get meat home

Trophy Fees & Tips

Extra Items to purchase for the hunt like specialty camo or a rain suit.

Taxidermy – estimate taxidermy cost.

Total expected

Ask yourself, do I have the right weapon for this hunt?

A 12 gauge on the prairie is good for birds but not for long range big game.

A 30-30 Winchester is not ideal for Pronghorn or Mule Deer. A .270 Winchester, 308 Win,30-06 Springfield, 243 Win, 6mm or 7mm Rem is ideal.

A 50 lb pull bow is marginal for elk. Great for deer.

Be sure to check references so that you know what to expect from your outfitter.

My Firearms/archery list for big game:

Deer – 6mm and up. If I had to choose? .270 or .308 best. 40lb bow minimum best at 55 lb and above

Black Bear – 6mm and up. If I had to choose? .308/30-06 min 40lb bow minimum. Best at 55 lb and above.

Moose – .270 and up. If I had to choose? 338 or .375 best. 60 lb for bow

Elk  – .270 and up. If I had to choose? 338 or 375. 60 lb minimum

Brown Bear –  300 Win and up. If I had to choose? 338 or 375. 70lb minimum.

Africa? –  .270 and up for plains game. If I had to choose? 375 with a backup on dangerous game. With Bow, 60 lb pull minimum on all but dangerous game.

Bowhunting – I am an advocate for fixed blade broad-heads only.

Rifle hunting – I own three rifle calibers, a .22 LR, a .243 Winchester and .375 Ruger. The .243 and .375 are hand loaded by me and span all game on the planet from varmints to Cape Buffalo. Remember to use state of the art recoil pads on all rifles. Pads like Simms SVL and Pachmayr Decelerator are a must as they reduce recoil nearly 50% thus decreasing your sensitivity to felt recoil and make a better shot.

If I could not hand load I would own calibers that are purchased regularly over the counter such as a .22 LR, .270 Win, and .300 Win Mag, and a .375 H&H for all game on the planet with state of the art recoil pads which cut felt recoil in half. © 2014

Duck Dynasties Phil Robertson controversies did nothing but make him a household name even in houses that don’t hunt. Belief in God and the Bible are packed into this Duck Hunting Family. You may agree or disagree with Phil on his recent statements but the hook up with Mossberg under the banner Duck Commander is set to explode in  a way that I believe we’ve never seen before…and it is refreshing!!!

http://mossberg.com/itsduckseason

I do like to Duck hunt and these guys are set to get under your skin in more ways than one. Arising is a massive following by those hunters that believe strongly in God, Guts and Guns, Hunting and strong pride in America, the land of the free and home of the brave.

It is a stand in a time where the far left is trying to turn Americans in to sheep by trying to ban guns,freedom and destroy the constitution.

Folks like Senator Feinstein are now trying to say that if you are former Military then you may be “overly stressed” and should not own an Assault Weapon.

What the hell is she talking about, America has been fighting for Freedom since the Revolution, and Americans have owned semi-auto firearms since World War I. There are no Assault weapons on the streets or in sporting goods stores. Another lie to the Low information voters.

It isn’t just Duck hunting and Guns being sold by Duck Dynasty.

What is being sold is hunting, manhood, family and Patriotic American freedom under God that underlies the overall theme. I  like it! Way thumbs up!

There were three shots from muzzle loaders heard high on a hill in Southern NH a few weeks back, and not far from me on opening day of Muzzle Loader season. As I hunted my way toward the shots, I found no hunters, and no deer on the ground. two more shots rang out from smoke poles in the distance. Two hunters at least, I mused.  An hour later, I ran into a hunter that had friends in the woods in a different area who were after a big whiley Buck living in the swamp, swale-grass, and brush and brambles so thick you could not see 5 yards. Good luck to them, I thought.  We talked a bit as hunters often do when we meet while on stand. Shhh, my new hunting friend said, “Did you hear that” Yes, I could distinctly hear a Coyote howl in the far distance, perhaps on the trail of a wounded deer.  Hey, I said, “from those shots up on the hill”. You bet! Coyotes eat mice and voles and turkeys, and pets, when they can’t kill a deer, their preferred food.

I first published this article almost every year in New Hampshire and expanded it here for NH Rifleman readers. Recent genetic DNA evidence proves the Northeast Coyote is not coyote at all but part coyote and part wolf.  Yes you heard that right part Wolf, try 1/3 wolf or more and increasing. “Eastern coyotes typically weigh 30-50 pounds and are 48-60 inches long, approximately twice the size of their close relative, the western coyote. Eastern coyotes have long legs, thick fur, a pointy snout, a drooping bushy black-tipped tail and range in color from a silvery gray to a grizzled, brownish red. The average life span of a wild coyote is four years. (Less, if I have the opportunity) Though coyotes are often mistaken for a domestic dog hybrid, recent genetic research has attributed the eastern coyote’s larger size and unique behavioral characteristics to interbreeding with Canadian gray wolves. Unlike the wolf or domestic dog, coyotes run with their tail pointing down.”

As part of my research I learned that there are basically two species of wolf in the world, the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) and the Red Wolf (Canis rufus) and both can mate and produce offspring hybrids (mixes) of wolf.  Furthermore they can mate and produce offspring with the eastern Coyote (Canis latrans var) as you will see later.  For Scientists, this new DNA data is throwing a curveball at them.  Example: was the eastern Coyote really Canis latrans and later to become Canis latrans var. a hybrid Coywolf instead. Var. is for Variation.

New studies demonstrate that the Coyote is in the midst of an “adaptive evolution” according to a fully released February 2010 article published by Royal Society Publishing in a format called “Biology Letters” and entitled “Rapid adaptive evolution of northeastern coyotes via hybridization with wolves” by Roland Kays, Abigail Curtis, and Jeremy Kirchman see web site http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org . I quote under the header Discussion in the article:

 “The ecological differences between western and northeastern coyotes, on average, are that northeastern animals eat more deer (Odocoileus sp.) but fewer small mammals (Parker 1995), and show no avoidance of forested habitats (Kays et al. 2008). The larger body size of northeastern coyotes is widely accepted as advantageous for hunting large prey, but there has been debate about the origin of this variation through hybridization versus phenotypic plasticity (Lariviere & Crete 1993; Peterson & Thurber 1993). Our results show that northeastern coyote populations are a hybrid swarm resulting from the widespread introgression of GLW (Great Lakes Wolf) genes. This suggests that hybridization introduced genetic variation for the rapid adaptation of more efficient predation on deer, including larger predator body size and skull dimensions. This is further supported by our finding that northeastern coyotes were larger than those from Ohio, which are living in similar eastern forests, but have not hybridized with wolves. Mitochondrial genes are surely not responsible for the large body size, so the observed associations of particular haplotypes with skull morphology suggest that this hybrid swarm is young.”

Further quotes: “Northeastern coyote skulls are not simply larger versions of their western relatives, but show additional craniodental characteristics similar to wolves, supporting the hypothesis of the introgression of genetic variation; northeastern skulls are proportionally broader, with greater areas of attachment for masticatory musculature. In large-prey hunters, such as wolves, these traits are associated with strong bite forces and resistance to the mechanical stresses imposed by large, struggling prey (Slater et al. 2009). Furthermore, the sexual dimorphism we found in northeastern coyotes is absent in western coyotes, but similar to that reported for wolves (Gittleman & Van Valkenburgh 1997). We suggest that these traits confer similar adaptive advantages in northeastern coyotes and allow them to be more proficient in the capture of deer than western and Ohio coyotes. These adaptations presumably allowed the rapid movement of coyote-wolves through Ontario, in comparison with the slower colonization rate of the smaller non-hybridized coyotes across Ohio.”

So what does this information mean to me as a hunter?  It means this Coywolf is a highly adaptive aggressive Canid is on a continuing evolutionary path that places it in direct competition for deer meat in my freezer and whatever else it wants to eat.  If you did not hunt coywolves this year then don’t cry and whine that you didn’t see any deer to shoot this fall.  Get off your duff and go hunt some coywolves. If you want to continue to call them yotes then fine, just remember your “yote” is part wolf and if your deer is down this fall don’t be surprised to see “yotes” devouring it if you don’t find it right away. It has happened to me and I was not a happy hunter that day. All that was left after a nine hour overnight was the spine.

I am not a regular predator hunter but it is increasingly important to hunt these Coyotes with wolf genetics as they have made a highly significant impact in the reduction of spring fawn crops of the eastern whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus ). But you can’t relax one bit because they adapt by having more litters.

So, it is not just fun to hunt these adaptive critters, but that we compete for the same venison. In larger packs or by themselves these wild candid’s will kill domestic pets even while the pet owner takes the dog or cat for a potty call even while on a leash.

Given the fact that they eat my freezer meat, I want to introduce them to a fast rifle bullet along the way and plan to winter hunt these critters.  Rifles and cartridges that can kill a coyote cleanly are plentiful, in fact any deer rifle will do, but there has always been a following for really fast stuff like a 100 grain .270 shooting 3200 fps down to the .22 Long Rifle. I have a .257 Roberts (now own a .243 Winchester) that I have garnered for such an occasion.  It shoots sub-sub moa groups consistently at 100 yards and at about 3000 fps at the muzzle a 100 grain pills maximum point blank range is 290 yards when zeroed at around 250 yards. That means that any yote out to almost 300 yards is a gonner when struck by a pill still whooping along at 2300 fps and 1100 ft-lbs of energy at that distance.  Perhaps the best Coyote rifle is an AR platform in say a .223 that will take down more than one yote at a time with no discernible recoil between shots. Many traditional hunters stay with traditional rifles. Today I own a .243 that does the deer and Coyote too!  Coyote pelts can be frozen if prepared properly, and then sent out for tanning. I have used pickling alum on some deer hides and would work well here, aside of professional tanning. Good Hunting! Ed  ©

Perhaps not as fast as we would like but it is returning. Hi velocity 22 LR is what I shoot when Coyote hunting.

You are limited to one package of 50 or 100 by many on line retailers.  Time is right to get a box of ammo that you have been waiting so long for.

Prices have not gone up much.

Yes Christmas is just a few days away, what to do?

Stocking Stuffer Items to care for your Rifle and Scope.

A carbon cleaning rod full length about $35 dollars.

Patches and Solvents and tips $30

Digital Trigger Pull Gage $63 dollars

A Wheeler FAT Boy Torque Rifle screwdriver. $50 dollars

Flip up Scope Covers from Butler Creek $10-20 dollars

Hi Score Safety Glasses $10+

Digital hear protect $45+

Adjustable bore saver $25

Limbsaver Slip on recoil pad $25-35

On the cover is a very beautiful Red Deer taken a while back up in Maine at Lemon Stream Game Lands. I was testing out a reduced load for my .375 Ruger  in the Ruger M77 African and at the same time putting venison in the freezer.  Her coat was simply gorgeous and the meat was terrific. Lemon stream has lots of Red Stag too but I was not after trophies. I simply wanted good eating meat.  The several deer were scattered through the 400 acres in timber and this fat doe showed up at the end of the day. I shot her through the heart at 50 yards. I was shooting hand loads of 225 grain Hornady flat points at around 1700 fps as I recall, similar to the .375 Winchester in speed. The recoil with a winter jacket was less than my 50 cal muzzle loader.  The bullet went completely through her and she dropped after a few short steps. She dressed out at about 150 pounds. Because the Temperature was in the teens we got her back to the cabin and skinned and quartered her right then. I brought a big fishing cooler with me and loaded the quarters in my SUV and headed home the next day. During that next week my kitchen became the butcher shop and I personally cut vacuum sealed all that meat.

I have hand loaded that .375 Ruger up to Cape Buffalo loads with 300 grain solids and shot them within a few inches of 300 grain round nose soft points at 100 yards.

I took a Bull Moose with 260 grain Nosler AccuBonds 4 years ago with a Buffalo Load. If you look you can find that article in my Archives here. And the Buffalo/Bison Hunt too. I can’t say enough good about my .375 Ruger from a hand loader perspective. However, if you don’t hand load there is no reduced loading shells in the commercial market for it.

I have shot the .375 Ruger with Cape Buff loads with 260 grain Nosler AccuBonds out to 600 yards with 4000 ft lb at the Muzzle, look in the Archive section. I was shooting prone position and groups were astoundingly tight. Say 3 1/4 inches vertically at 600 yard unleashing 1500 ft lbs at that distance. In my hands, this Rifle can shoot. This year, the local deer population heard I was carrying the .375 with reduced loads of 230 grain round noses at 2100 fps and honestly they did not hang around. To bad I really want to show it to them. I’m sure they would’ve gotten a real eyeful. ®

I am Alan Mikoloski, 52 and my friend and hunting partner of 17 years, is David Deluca, 56 and we are neighbors in Nottingham NH.  This story starts 11 years ago in 2002 when David’s wife Margaret  drew an either sex tag in zone G ( her first year hunting ) after hunting everyday of the season and driving the 4 hour round trip every day, they had a couple close calls with a big Cow on the first day and a big Bull on the last day, but sadly ended without taking a moose.

In 2003 I put in for the same zone as my first choice since they had scouted many spots and to our surprise I was rewarded with an either sex tag for zone G.

David and I made a couple preseason scouting trips a few weeks before the season and saw a 2-3 years old bull on the first trip and a very large bull on the second and David was able to get it on video.  We went to same that spot opening day 2003 and at 7:00am spotted a couple moose about a half mile up a clear cut ridge and after hours of stalking and calling finally caught up to what turned out to be a 4.5 year old bull in front of a smaller one about 2.5 years old at noon time.  They were 150-200 yards away at the edge of an over grown clear cut and on the bottom of a ridge and we were afraid they were headed up the ridge.

Moose Number 1 2003 – Alan

I opened fired with my Marlin .444 lever action and hit the large bull in the upper leg and hurriedly fired a few more rapids shots and since he didn’t go down right away, David who was filming, put down his camera and dropped it with his Winchester .270.

After confirming it was down for good, we were lucky enough to find cell phone coverage to call his brother Dana who was bow hunting across the state ( he was the video man the year before ) and he dropped everything to drive the 2 hours to meet us in the woods thanks to the miracle of GPS and two way radios as cell coverage was sporadic.  Before he arrived, we made our first hike a mile and half out to the trucks for more supplies to cape and cut it up to pack out on our backs.

At the trucks, luck shined on us again when we meet a bear hunter named Dave just about to enter the woods and hired him on to help us pack it out.  With the four of us going back and forth, it took us 12 hours to finally get the last of the moose in the truck.

Many thanks to Dana and Dave from Dorchester without who’s help would have made this a much longer ordeal!

A 2 hour ride back home and up early in the morning to take it to the Durham Moose check station and then dropping the meat off to the meat cutter who estimated the dressed weight of the animal at 1000 pounds by the amount of meat we had.  Then a 1.5 hour ride to Dave’s Taxidermy  in Weare NH to get it shoulder mounted as my wife Deborah loved the idea of hanging it in our new addition cathedral ceiling living room next to my 8 point 176 lb buck on the wall.

About eight months later we picked up the mount at Dave’s Taxidermy and what a beautiful job he and his wife did on it.

After helping my wife and I hang it on the wall, I told David that if I drew another tag (after the mandatory 3 year waiting period to enter again) before he did, I would let it be his chance to get a trophy for his wall. (Editor’s Note: And he did!)

The Second Moose 2013 – Dave’s Moose on the Magazine Cover with Alan

Well, lady luck came back this year, 10 years later as I (Alan) drew another tag for zone G and for either sex.    After a couple scouting trips without seeing any moose and our original clear cut area chocked full of 16 foot high saplings we needed some local help.

Thanks to a story written by Dana 10 years ago that I just read for the first time a couple weeks ago, I was able to get the full name of the bear hunter that had helped us out and I was able to get in touch with him.  After meeting him only once and now ten years later it was like talking to an old friend again.  Dave was happy to hear of us coming back and gave us some tips on areas to check out and to my surprise told me that he had a camp in the area and offered for us to use it.

There’s that luck thing again!

David and I made one more scouting trip and also checked out the beautiful steam side camp and we made a call to Dave to tell him we would be up the evening before opening day and were ready to stay as long as it took to get the job done.  After not seeing any moose on our scouting trips along with our first day hunting, David and I made the decision that with the moose population being way down this year, we would take the first mature animal we got a good shot at being a bull or a cow.  The second afternoon we were walking some old logging roads and spotted a dark spot about 50 yards up a ridge that was think with 4-6 inch dia. beech trees.  After checking it out in our binoculars we determined that it was a mature cow but she was facing away and we had no shot at her forward of her hind quarters.  After about 10 long minutes of waiting, she slowly started to move away and I could see her nose then her long face through the scope on my .308 Remington bolt action and had the safety off and David did as well.  We decided not to take the chancy shot due to the thicket of tress and branches and she slipped away and we could not catch up to her before she moved into another thicket even higher up the ridge.  We came so close to going home early again with a lot of tasty meat for our families.

The next day we spent the entire day stalking up and down ridges and low lands and did not see a Moose and only spotty fresh sign.  Day four Oct. 22, 2013, I was feeling like this would not be a good  year to take a moose and was kicking myself for not taking a head shot at the cow two days earlier.

We drove further up the mountain logging rode and found some fresh tracks from several moose by the road.  We bailed out and headed up the over grown skidder road and hunted it carefully for about 3 hours. We saw lots of fresh sign, but could not spot a Moose even after David’s cow calling that he had been practicing every since I drew the tag in June.  We regrouped at the vehicle for lunch at noon as a light rain started.  Rather than go back to camp and wait out the rain we moved down about a quarter mile and headed up another skidder road and zig-zagged our way up to the top of the ridge seeing ever more fresh tracks and droppings than in the morning.  Still no Moose to be found!

That missed chance on day two was nagging at me again as we headed back down the ridge on another skidder road making plans to hunt closer to the road for the last couple of hours of the day. 

Half way down the ridge, looking over a briar and grass covered wash bar across the trail to prevent erosion, I spotted a moose antler about 70 yards below in a clearing!

“IT’S A BULL..IT’S A BULL…IT’S A BULL” I whispered to David.

We quickly determined that he was bedded down with his head up facing to the left as the wind was coming up the ridge and he had no idea we were there.  David turned on his HD camera he had mounted on top of his scoped Winchester .270 bolt action and I told him not to take any chances and to shot him while bedded down and I would back him up if a follow up shot was needed. 

David only had the upper part of his lung area to shot at and fired and hit his mark, but the bull immediately started to get up and I fired and hit him at the base of the neck and he dropped like a rock! 

As David continued to film, we started to slowly move down the ridge, it was then that we realized that there were two more bulls about the same size standing behind him about 20 yards away!  Dave continued filming the other two big bulls and the downed bull too.

As we walked closer the other two bulls finally moved on after about 10 minutes.

After studying the beautiful animal with his black coat and dark mahogany 17 point rack, David took more video with his with HD camera along with a many still photo’s.  Finally, after four long hard days of hunting and a bit of that old luck, the hard part was just starting.  We field dressed it and then placed an orange vest on the antlers and we started to make our way back to the truck for more supplies as the sun was now setting.  David had brought about 10 red reflectors and marked the trail every 50-75 yards back to the road about 800 yards away through low brush and some alders.  We had lined up a Guide we had meet the day before to drag it out with a chain saw winch, but he bailed out on us after spending longer than anticipated pulling out another Moose a half hour away.  After a rest at the truck we loaded up my 2 wheel deer cart in the dark with extra supplies including; a rolled up plastic deer sled, frame pack, bone saw, extra knives, knife sharpener, game meat bags, tarp, lantern, rope, bungee cords, food and water.  We made it back to the Moose to find that frost was already forming on the ground as the temperature dipped below 35 degrees.

We could not budge the animal and had to cut it in half at the 3rd rib to remove the back half.  We then began to cape one side of the shoulder and then removed that shoulder.  This allowed us with much effort to turn him over and to do the same to the other side with many breaks to rest and have a snack and water to stay hydrated ( a lesson learned from the 2003 Moose hunt where exhaustion and muscle cramps set in towards the end ) .

Caping and Packing the Meat Out -Taking our time to cape all the way to the base of the skull,  it took 3 – 4 hours due to the weight and bulky antlers even with just half the animal.  After finishing the cape, I boned out the back straps and the rest of the meat as we used about 10 game bags to protect all the meat .

The first trip out was with a hind quarter strapped to the plastic sled that I pulled and David loaded his frame pack to the top with meat.  It took about a 45 minutes with flash lights to follow the reflectors back to the truck.

After loading the meat into the back of my truck, we warmed up in his truck and drank more water and iced tea along with some food ( pop tarts never taste so good! ).

A half hour later we made our way back up the dark ridge for another trip.  This time we loaded the deer cart and the pack and half way down to the road a wheel came off the cart as the pin holding it on the axle had a finger loop in it for breaking down the cart,  but the loop caught on the brush and pulled out.  Anticipating such a problem, the day before we left home,  I had grabbed a couple regular cotter pins and taped them to the frame of the cart and cut them off and we managed to get the wheel secured back on the loaded cart.  Every trip we repeated our routine of warming up in the truck and eating anything we could find including candy bars, apples and chips.  The next trip was just like the last with the other wheel coming off halfway down and we used our last spare pin managing not to drop it in the brush in the dark.  Without those spare pins our night would have been much, much longer.  As we headed up for the last load the sun was coming up and after packing up all our supplies and cleaning up any trash, we both grabbed an antler and loaded the head and cape onto the cart and David secured it down with rope.  Half way down we stopped and David set up his camera on a log to video our final decent out of the northern woods for his son Daveo to use when he would edit the footage David had taken over the last four days and the preseason scouting trips.

Finally at the road for the last time, we placed the handle of the cart on the tailgate of my truck and climbed up and we both grabbed an antler and with one last burst of energy, we pulled the massive head into the bed of the truck and closed the tailgate.  After David tied it down to protect the antlers from hitting the sides of the bed, I looked at my watch and it was 8:40am Wednesday morning, 17 hours after those two rifle shots Tuesday afternoon that completed out quest to get a second trophy Bull Moose.  We now had a 2 hour ride home not including a 1 hour stop over at the New Hampton Moose check station were the NH Fish and game Biologist determined the Moose to be 7 1/2 years old by pulling and analyzing a tooth.  We also were met and interviewed by Ed Hale of the New Hampshire Rifleman on-line Magazine.

Editors Note: This was a story not just of the great Moose Hunt’s but of the terrific friendship these two hunters have.  It was very gracious of Alan to give Dave the kill shot  for Dave’s Mount. As I understand it from Alan, he has a doe already and another tag to fill too. Guess these guys aren’t buying much beef at the grocery store!

NH Hunters

Do you have a story to tell about your hunt? If so send the story to the Editor at  erhale@comcast.net . Or just send me an email that you have a story and we will help you put it together.

Ed Hale – Editor

There is nothing more irritating while on “stand” when a bushy tailed investigative squirrel has identified you as danger. I can recount dozens of times over the years that my position to all the local wildlife was given away by the incessant warning growls of a red or grey squirrel. The barks of a grey squirrel are so loud that deer, turkeys or any other game 200 or more yards away can hear and avoid you. Your Busted! The squirrel shouts; “I am gonna tell the world about you!”

Today I avoid such encounters by wearing a full face spandex camo mask whenever I am stationary in particular. A must for turkey hunters! I killed 2 turkeys this year and the facial and hand camo made all the difference. A few weeks back when I got my fall turkey, group of 8 hens were no  more than 20 feet away and they never recognized me as danger even though they were staring directly at me.

But it works great in the deer woods too especially when in areas where shots are likely in the 40 to 50 yard range, which for me is most of the time. Orange does not appear to alarm wildlife, so even an orange camo face mask can work to your advantage.

I was on my deer stand and in a great spot with my muzzleloader yesterday when two big fat fuzzball grey squirrels were working their way toward me. I sat still with my face mask on only my eyes showed and they came within 10 feet of me and never broke stride as they passed by on their journey for food. I will be testing a new camo face, head and neck product shortly so you will read more about it.

The other thing that has created an alarm is my white hands against my camo clothing. Lifting my hand to swat a mosquito is like lifting a whitetail tail to signal danger. So I try to keep my hands in camo as well.

I recall a time years ago when there were 2 deer running my way as my brother pushed them and they spotted me right away and veered off before I could get a shot. It was my face that gave me away. A face mask would have likely given me the shot I was hoping for but I was unable to put that scenario together where it was just my face that gave me away. I am telling you this so that you too will learn from mistakes that I have made in the woods.

Soon the temperature will fall below freezing and a fleece face mask will keep you warm as well. You will lose most of your heat out of your head so keeping it covered is essential.

The dollars you spend at a sporting goods store for clothing, face masks and gloves will make a huge difference as the season progresses.

Look for more on this subject soon © 2013