Take an old shirt, cut sleeves/collar out and stretch it over everything.

This year I have been enjoying ragg wool sweaters from Cabelas and a tighter fleece vest over.

Turn it inside out and sew the seam to exactly custom fit your bow arm, armpit and side, works like a charm.  I also sew my pants in the calf and ankles to fit inside my knee high boots.

I think you will find solace in wearing good vests over wool or similar shirts.  Your arms don't get near as cold as your torso.  Wearing bulky clothing is not in an archers best interest.

ChuckC

Ray Hammond shared what I thought was a great idea when I was at Hog heaven. He advised cutting the end out of a tube sock and sliding it over your arm all the way to the pit. Have not tried it yet but I will. If that does not help I would go with opening up your stance.

I chest protector will do the job.  It does for me.

Parachute cord on you bow arm...

Buy another Bow lol.

I use velcro straps. I've also used another arm guard between my elbow and shoulder.

Chest protector and open up stance. Bend at the waist.

Chest protector and I even keep a role of black electrical tape in my pack for my bow arm. For me arm guards are a hindrance. Try one of those back braces like the ones you see the guys wearing at Home Depot. Just a thought. Don

Contributor 2008
Member # 338

 posted November 14, 2012 09:08 AM                      
Found out a long time ago that bulky arms don't work.
I start with good Merano wool under wear.
Using vest for the core helps keep the bulk down on the arms.
I like a medium weight wool shirt.
When it is really cold a,heavy wool coat.
Top everything off with an arm guard to flatten the bow arm.

Exactly what I do.

I have three different vests that are all at least one size too small for me.  I put them on over my winter jacket, and they compress the jacket in and out of the way.

Here's something else I made  a few years ago, to keep a leafy-suit out of the way of the bowstring.  



I made it out of a thin fleece jacket.  I cut the drawing arm off at the shoulder, and did the same with the bow hand, except that I left a strip from shoulder to wrist, to keep things out of the way.  With an armguard on, it stretches out the partial sleeve, pulling it tight at full draw.

Steve,

Since you have stated that your string was hitting your coat at the chest area, all the posts about cutting down on the bulk around your arm become pretty meaningless, although very well-intentioned. The best way to cut down on bulk but stay warm is to go with something like a PrimaLoft One insulated jacket or vest from companies like Kuiu (Spindrift), Sitka Gear (Kelvin), or Patagonia (Nano Puff), with a more fitted soft shell jacket (i.e., Guide Jacket from Kuiu or Stratus Jacket from Sitka Gear or Element Jacket from Core4Element) over the insulated garment. These keep you warm in most conditions but also keep bulk to a minimum. Of course, use a good base layer, like Merino wool. There is always the potential that the temperatures will drop low enough to make this clothing insufficient to keep you warm, but wearing a pair of Sitka Gear insulated bibs (Incinerator or Fanatic) or pants (Kelvin) will keep the lower parts of your body much warmer, which will allow your upper body to conserve lots more heat. The chest protector might work too, but not unless the material on your chest is compressible, which wool is generally not. There are, of course, other similar options besides the specific ones I mentioned.

The problem with compressing everything on your upper body like Archie suggests is that many kinds of insulation (down and synthetic down alternatives) retain body heat by providing loft to create dead air space. Compressing that air space eliminates the insulating ability of those materials. While a chest protector will cause that compression too, at least it does so on a limited area of your upper body, unlike a full vest. I suspect Archie was wearing a relatively non-compressible insulator, like wool, as opposed to compressible materials like down or PrimaLoft.

Allan

You might want to post a video of you shooting with the vest on and post on the FORMS forum. Maybe moebow can take a look at it. If there is a fault in your form that contributes to the string hitting your chest, he will find it.

Common problem.  

The bulk in my sleeves is unnecessary, to me.  So, I dress in layers. I wear more vests.  I wear thinner coats (or no coat at all - with enough layers).  And, I've cut the sleeves off expensive and really heavy long sleeve shirts to reduce the bulk in my lower arms. ...

I agree with Allen (amar911).  I also work at keeping my legs warm so I can minimize that which would be required in my chest.  It seems to me, also, that bibs work good because they cover your kidneys and lower back well.  I think I've learned that one doesn't need lots of warmth protection in the front chest area.  Finally, keeping the heat in your head and neck goes a long way to keeping your hands, arms, & front of chest warm, in really cold weather.

I wear a merino wool blend thermal shirt base layer and my longhunter wool shirt over that. I can easily wear my arm guard over that and I'm toasty on those 30 degree days!

p.s. I wear insulated bibs too. Between those and the long shirt covering your backside, it makes all the difference in the world!

according to heroditus (the greek historian) the amazon women used to cut off their left breast so that it wouldn't interfere with the bowstring.  Maybe you should look into that?

Sorry, that's really no help.  

Allan is right.  I did not compress anything that lost insulating quality, such as down.  My vest/gizmo works to keep errant folds of material, or flapping pockets out of the way.  My biggest problem is the shoulder area, where my particular shooting style causes the shoulder to poke out a bit and push my clothing into the path of the string.  

Just last week, though, I went out with a heavy, full-size Cabela's jacket, and wearing a wool vest over it.  I was much warmer than I remember being in the past, and the jacket was completely out of the way.  In past seasons I had avoided this jacket, as the string smacked it every time.

I didn't read through all responses so I apologize if someone already suggested this but I just cut the foot section out of a knee llength sock and pull that over my coat sleeve