diff --git a/dcrec/secp256k1/field.go b/dcrec/secp256k1/field.go
index e8563891..9c72a4ce 100644
--- a/dcrec/secp256k1/field.go
+++ b/dcrec/secp256k1/field.go
@@ -500,6 +500,21 @@ func (f *FieldVal) IsOne() bool {
 	return bits == 0
 }
 
+// IsOddBit returns 1 when the field value is an odd number or 0 otherwise in
+// constant time.
+//
+// Note that a bool is not used here because it is not possible in Go to convert
+// from a bool to numeric value in constant time and many constant-time
+// operations require a numeric value.  See IsOdd for the version that returns a
+// bool.
+//
+// Preconditions:
+//   - The field value MUST be normalized
+func (f *FieldVal) IsOddBit() uint32 {
+	// Only odd numbers have the bottom bit set.
+	return f.n[0] & 1
+}
+
 // IsOdd returns whether or not the field value is an odd number in constant
 // time.
 //
diff --git a/dcrec/secp256k1/field_test.go b/dcrec/secp256k1/field_test.go
index fa77d5ce..cdb7d271 100644
--- a/dcrec/secp256k1/field_test.go
+++ b/dcrec/secp256k1/field_test.go
@@ -490,8 +490,8 @@ func TestFieldNormalize(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// TestFieldIsOdd ensures that checking if a field value IsOdd works as
-// expected.
+// TestFieldIsOdd ensures that checking if a field value is odd via IsOdd and
+// IsOddBit works as expected.
 func TestFieldIsOdd(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name     string // test description
@@ -528,12 +528,20 @@ func TestFieldIsOdd(t *testing.T) {
 	}}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
-		result := new(FieldVal).SetHex(test.in).IsOdd()
+		f := new(FieldVal).SetHex(test.in)
+		result := f.IsOdd()
 		if result != test.expected {
 			t.Errorf("%s: wrong result -- got: %v, want: %v", test.name,
 				result, test.expected)
 			continue
 		}
+
+		result2 := f.IsOddBit() == 1
+		if result2 != test.expected {
+			t.Errorf("%s: wrong result -- got: %v, want: %v", test.name,
+				result2, test.expected)
+			continue
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/dcrec/secp256k1/signature.go b/dcrec/secp256k1/signature.go
index 1217ac98..ac1754ee 100644
--- a/dcrec/secp256k1/signature.go
+++ b/dcrec/secp256k1/signature.go
@@ -881,7 +881,7 @@ func signRFC6979(privateKey *PrivateKey, hash []byte) (*Signature, byte) {
 		// points since that would require breaking the ECDLP, but, in practice
 		// this strongly implies with extremely high probability that there are
 		// only a few actual points for which this case is true.
-		pubKeyRecoveryCode := byte(overflow<<1) | byte(kG.y.n[0]&0x01)
+		pubKeyRecoveryCode := byte(overflow<<1) | byte(kG.y.IsOddBit())
 
 		// Step 4.
 		//