Those of you who do a lot of hunting in cold weather probably already have this figured out, but I hunted last year in January in New Mexico for mule deer, and plan to do the same thing this year. Last year my fingers froze and got numb and didn't thaw out until about noon. So I've done some thinking about how to avoid that happening again, and this is what I've come up with. The glove underneath is Cabelas kangaroo goretex thinsulate insulated shooting glove #91S-950434. The glove on top is Neet calf's hair #FG-2H.
The Neet glove is very thin, too thin for my tender pinkies when worn by itself, but the calf's hair is very slick and the string comes off it well. The added padding of the kangaroo glove underneath makes the whole thing feel about right, and I seem to be able to shoot without any significant loss of accuracy. The Neet glove is relatively inexpensive, and I like the idea that I can replace it as needed without wearing out the more expensive kangaroo glove underneath.
I don't have large hands, and wear a size medium shooting glove. The kangaroo glove is size medium, and the Neet glove is extra large. Everything fits very snugly, and if someone had larger hands than I do, they might not be able to make it work, as I believe extra large is the largest size Neet makes in the calf's hair glove.
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Alaska Bow Hunting supply has some nice cold weather gloves for shooting also. I have a pair and shoot well with them. They won't get you down to -20f but they sure help a bunch.
http://www.alaskabowhunting.com/Skookum-Yeti-Gloves-P180C11.aspx
I second the ABS gloves. I bought a pair of the original stock last year from Nocking Point, wish I bought 2!
Myself and some others I know use a tab over a wool glove. Hunting in IL, we have many opportunities to try different things to keep our shooting hands warm and this works well for us. As it gets colder, our string hands will spend more time in a pocket or we will wear a large fingerless glove over the base glove. I have a favorite trigger finger mitten for my bow hand. Those glo-mitt things work pretty good, too.
I put on my shooting glove then I got some of those mittens with the flip top my hands are warm and toasty and when its time to shoot flip the top and you got your old shooting glove your used to I really like it works for me.
I use polypropylene liners I get at a fishing tackle store $8.00 they are made for Glacier gloves and put them on under any glove that I wear and they work great.
Luckily, it doesn't usually get nasty cold here in middle Georgia. I use a pair of fleece gloves with a tab. Works great. In warmer weather, I use the cotton camo gloves for the concealment. That's the main reason I use a tab. I used to use an archery glove, and it never really occurred to me to try your method, but it sure looks like it ought to work. I tried wearing the heavy glove over the archery glove, but the movement was too noticeable when taking it off to shoot. Does the snugness of the fit reduce the circulation in your hands? I am diabetic and restricted circulation would certainly be an issue in cold weather.
I am going to try insulated golf gloves this year. The palms are usually thin enough to retain feel in both the bow hand as well as the shooting hand. I am a tab shooter and have had issues in the past with gloves just being too bulky and/or being slippery in the bow hand. I have also gone to a hand warmer muff with chemical hand warmers. Those things are great.
Sam: "Does the snugness of the fit reduce the circulation in your hands?"
That's the $64 question. I don't have diabetes, but apparently have poor circulation in my hands anyway, because once my fingers get cold and numb, they stay cold and numb until I can warm them up somehow. Putting gloves, even well insulated loose fitting gloves, over my numb fingers doesn't help unless I can warm my fingers up first.
I hope the glove combination I've illustrated is a good compromise between snugness for good shooting control and yet not so tight that it cuts off circulation, but I haven't really tested it yet under extreme cold conditions, since it doesn't get that cold in Sacramento either.
I'm going to keep shooting with the gloves on until they're broken in, which will hopefully relieve any tight spots and also help me get used to shooting with them on. So far, I'm pleased with my accuracy in shooting with the gloves on, but I won't really know about shooting with them in extreme cold until I try it.
The secret for me is to keep my fingers from getting numb in the first place, which I hope to do by keeping my gloved fingers in my pockets with chemical hand warmers most of the time. However it turns out, I'm sure it will be an improvement over last year.
QuoteOriginally posted by Longbow Jake:
I put on my shooting glove then I got some of those mittens with the flip top my hands are warm and toasty and when its time to shoot flip the top and you got your old shooting glove your used to I really like it works for me.
I do the same thing. Also, when I am just sitting on a stand I sometimes use only my shooting glove and keep my hands in one of those handwarmers you wear around your waist.
I just use fleece or wool gloves and stick a couple of handwarmers in my pockets. My bow carrying hand is the one that will feel the cold first. So I just switch off and stick that hand in my pocket for awhile.