Cold Weather and Shooting Comfort!

[Kentucky Jeff]

Well, I have recently learned something that wasn't readily obvious when I seriously got back into trad archery.  I have found that shooting in cold weather REALLY highlights the comfort of shooting a longer bow vs. a shorter bow.  When your fingers are cold and they get squeezed together when shooting a shorter bow its much more intense and uncomfortable!

What had been a fairly comfortable short bow (for me) has become somewhat painful to shoot now that morning temps are in the 40's.  Yowza!  

Guess I can call that my "fair weather bow"...from now on...

[lpcjon2]

Or a prospect for the classifieds.  

[Stumpkiller]

40°'s is cold weather?  Nah.  20°'s is cold weather.  40's is fall weather.      

When you draw your bow and the cracks you hear you hope are your joints or the ice on the limbs and not the laminates - that's cold.

Best cold weather tip I have is a pouch I wear on my right side.  It is a shearling (synthetic) pocket with the fleece inside that Bob Fratzke (Winona Camo) used to sell.  I can keep my tab hand in that until I'm ready to shoot . . . a 62" recurve.  

 

[Jeff Roark]

man there must be deer running all over the place for you to be drawing that much! I've only got to draw once, and that was the deer I killed Saturday and I don't remember feeling a thing.

[Kentucky Jeff]

40 is cold weather when you are still wearing the clothes you wore in September when it was 70!  

I still haven't cracked open my winter stuff yet.  I packed it in the big chest with all my duck hunting stuff and the thought of having to drag all that crap out to get to my gloves, jackets etc just bums me out.  

Gotta kill a deer before it gets really cold...

I spent 8 years of my early life in Buffalo.  You don't have to explain to me what cold (or snow) is...I get it.

[KentuckyTJ]

Also Jeff, if someone is over bowed in weight it will show after sitting for a long spell in the cold. I remember a few years ago while sitting with a 56lb bow most all day in a 20 degrees driving snow storm a doe came by and when I stood up to draw I couldn't get the bow back to shoot her. That's when I knew I was over bowed.

[Kentucky Jeff]

Originally posted by Jeff Roark:
man there must be deer running all over the place for you to be drawing that much! I've only got to draw once, and that was the deer I killed Saturday and I don't remember feeling a thing.

No...but I still practice every day and always make a few stump shots from my stand.

[Kentucky Jeff]

quote:Originally posted by lpcjon2:
Or a prospect for the classifieds.  

[centaur]

Cold is relative. What is cold in Kentucky might not be in Wyoming. Yesterday it was 20 when I went out, which is about normal for this time of year, and this morning it was 25. I use the chemical warming packets this time of year, and they will keep me comfy until it gets to around zero, and when that happens, I don't like to hunt. I may go out later in the day when it is that cold; no wind days and bright sun are pretty nice even when it is 10 degrees or so.
I'm shooting a 56" bow this season, and I don't notice any discomfort when shooting in cooler weather, but that's just me.

[joekeith]

When it gets colder than "fair weather", break out the Heater Body Suit.  You don't need to be the Michilen Man, use the suit......Try it, you'll like it.  

[Stumpkiller]

I spent 8 years of my early life in Buffalo.  You don't have to explain to me what cold (or snow) is...I get it.

Yep.  That's payin yer dues fer certain!      

Congratulations on being smart enough to bug out!

[KodiakMag]

Northern Indiana winters are cold too. When you pull your hands out of a deer cavity and the blood starts to freeze instantly you know you're in cold weather. Keep hand warmers in your pockets always helped me. But, I'm only looking for one shot the concern I have is my muscels getting tight when sitting for periods of time.

 

[Kentucky Jeff]

Look, you guys can talk smack about cold weather hunting all you want.  I'm a duck hunter and NOBODY has it over duck hunters.  Come with me sometime at 5 AM to set blocks in a flooded rice field wading in water halfway up your torso and having to break a half acre hole in 1/2" thick ice so the ducks will come in to open water.   Duck hunters is crazy!  But I love it...

[Tom Leemans]

Yeah, Jeff, then you go to your heated blind and start cooking up breakfast right?     (Just kiddin' buddy)

[Doc Nock]

What Centaur said:

Met a chap in MT that moved up from AZ... we were helping him unload his U-haul...he had this giant puffy ski jacket...

I laughed asking what the dickens you needed THAT for in AZ...his reply was simple...when it's 80 during the day and drops to 40 at night, you're danged cold with a 40* difference in 8 hrs!

Good point! In a group this past week, we all talked about having to drop draw weight for long sits as temps cool to not knot up muscles and have extreme movement to get the bow drawn.

[Kituwa]

Cold in the deep south is worse than cold up north in many ways. When its cold down here it is usually wet and windy at the same time.I have a friend that comes down for the winter every year and he says this is much worse other than we dont have the snow to shovel.To keep our shooting hand warm,,we use what is called a redneck handwarmer,you cut the bottom out of one pants pocket,lol.

[PaddyMac]

It was 22° this morning here. I've never hunted the late season on this side of the mountains before. I've been experimenting with finger gloves with my shooting glove and I'm numb after only a few arrows and flinging them all over.

This morning I got a nutty idea and just put on a pair of warm wool gloves with leather palms and shot just fine, no archery glove at all.

So this Saturday, elk and ice.

 

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

I don't want to be "that guy" (you know the "one upper" type)but, no-one has mentioned a temperature that is even close to cold!

Regardless...like mentioned earlier, the heater body suit is the solution. Best product I may have ever bought bowhunting wise!

[centaur]

Stickfinger,
I hear you. You guys from the truly frozen north know a little bit about cold weather. After deer season here, I have a one word solution to the frigid winter weather....Arizona!
And then, back in time for spring turkeys.

When it stays way below freezing, like one year I had a doe tag to fill for the late season. i went out when it was below zero for three days straight. I dug a snow blind, sat on a heat pad on a chair and inside of a large sleeping bag.  I started a big stick fire where my deer went down to keep from dieing while I field dressed it. Motivation to get my tags filled, I better go hunting and hunt hard for the next two weeks.