When the temperature drops, put on Muddy’s Nucleus Heated Gear, select your heat setting and stay warm and comfortable no matter how cold it gets.
by Jace Bauserman
I live in a mule deer mecca. It’s incredible, and I used to chase the wide-racked, chocolate-horned bucks that call the sage-sprinkled plains and cedar-dotted canyons near my home like there was no tomorrow. I don’t anymore.
No, we didn’t have a massive die-off. And, no, a tag isn’t overly challenging to draw. I got bit by the whitetail bug 12 years ago and haven’t looked back. That doesn’t mean I don’t love muleys. I chased them around the plains of Nevada this August with a good buddy and watched him drop the hammer on a 180-plus-inch monster. However, when November hits, I want to be 20 feet up a tree, in a ground blind, or using a bow-mounted decoy in tandem with a 3-D buck decoy. I can’t get enough of whitetails.
The sit-and-wait game was the most challenging part for me when I made the rut transition from mule deer to whitetails. I was used to glassing, finding bucks, and then taking the fight to them. Whitetail hunting, unless you’re using a bow-mounted decoy, is different. Hunters spend hours, sometimes dawn-to-dark, waiting for a buck to come to them.
I didn’t struggle with boredom, and I didn’t get frigidity. I find sit-and-wait hunting relaxing, and I enjoyed it from the get-go. What I struggled with was staying warm. When spot-and-stalk mule deer hunting, you’re constantly on the move. Even if you’re glassing for hours, you can walk around to warm the body. When you’re in a whitetail treestand or ground blind, you don’t move.
When the body isn’t moving, and the outside temperatures are frigid, it loses heat faster than it can generate it. The body is a fantastic thing. It knows it needs to keep its core warm. It does this by diverting blood from the extremities and directing it to the core.
I don’t know about you, but I hate being cold. Worse yet, I hate being cold and having no way to warm my body. November and December whitetail sits are miserable when your feet, hands, etc., get cold.
Like many of you, I own the warmest gear available. Still, I get cold, especially my feet, hands, and thighs. That all changed this year, though, and it can change for you, too.
Enter Muddy’s Nucleus Series
When the body gets cold, it shivers to generate warmth. Sensors in the skin feel the cold and shoot signals to your brain. Your brain then tells your muscles to move, which causes them to tighten and release. The energy created by your muscles moving produces heat. Shivering sucks, though. Yes, it’s the body’s way of trying to survive and keep warm, but it’s ultra-uncomfortable and mentally distracting. When the shivers start for most hunters, they head for the truck.
Sick of being unable to withstand Mother Nature’s worst moods, I dropped some coin on Muddy’s Nucleus Series. Though this was to be my first experience with rechargeable battery-heated clothing, I went all in. I got the Nucleus Heated Bottoms, Heated Hand Muff, Heated Socks, Heated Quarter Zip, and Heated Vest. It was an investment, and I took a risk.
Each garment in the Nucleus Series has three heat settings, so users can stay warm and comfortable no matter the outside temperature. The user can change the settings by pushing the single M-branded button on each garment. Red is the high setting, green is the medium, and blue is low. All garments come with rechargeable batteries and charging cords. Garments like the Quarter Zip, Vest, and Bottoms sport a 92 percent polyester and 8 percent spandex build.
Trial By Fire
On November 6, 2024, the Mercury fell in my neck of Colorado. Ice pellets dotted my outer layer, and heavy, wet snow fell by the hunt’s end.
The night before the hunt, I charged all my Nucleus Gear for the first time. Charging all garments took about four hours, and blue indicator lights on the batteries let me know when charging was complete.
All garments have dedicated battery pockets, which close up to prevent a heavy battery from coming out and causing discomfort. All activation ports in the clothing feature a rubber cap to cover the metal end of the cord. This protects the C charger, and because the gear is machine washable, the rubber cap keeps water out.
Dressing in the field, I pressed and held down each M-branded charging button and then made short presses to toggle through the heat settings. I opted for the green (medium heat) setting for the top and bottom layers and set the socks to high heat.
After two hours in the stand, I was warmer than ever, with temperatures in the low 20s. I had to turn down the heat on the Quarter Zip to blue (low). Access to the Quarter Zip M button is easy. Unzip your outer layer, and it’s right above your heart. Accessing the Heated Bottom is just as easy. Unzip your outer layer bottoms and locate the M button below the waistband. I kept the heat setting on the socks on high. I got frostbite when I was younger, and my feet froze.
Not only was the Nuclues Gear comfortable, but it worked like a charm. The Heated Quarter Zip with a pair of heated elements across the back powered by a single 10,000mAh battery kept my core warm. Set to medium heat, Muddy’s website told me I would have over 7 hours of heat. I got more than that.
The Heated Bottoms, which sport stirrup loops to keep them down over your socks and not ride up when you put your pants on, are a win. Heated elements in the thigh area boost heat, and I found the tuck-away battery compartment inside the waistband accessible and comfortable.
The Heated Socks are money. I admit I was skeptical at first. The socks feel thin, but when you power them on, WOW! The Heated Socks feature a Velcro-close pouch on the upper, which prevents the battery from falling out and dangling by the cord. A pair (one for each sock) of 3,500mAh batteries power an across-the-toes heating element in the socks. As mentioned, I ran the socks on the high heat setting, and the batteries died after 4 hours. Additional batteries for all Nucleus Gear are available for purchase.
Final Thoughts
Though I’ve yet to try the Heated Vest and Heated Hand Muff, I will soon. It’s November, and we’ve already received 37 inches of snow. While my whitetail tag is filled, there are plenty of coyotes to chase and geese to decoy.
What excites me the most about the Nucleus Gear is that these garments will serve all hunters. It doesn’t matter what game species you choose; if you want to stay warm, Nucleus Gear is what you need.
