Bows in extremely cold weather ....

[BOWHUNTER45]

If you are hunting in this cold weather and come home and put your bow inside you may want to think twice about it ..I had my bow dialed in pretty sweet during the early season ..and shot it a few times about a week ago when it was not freezing ..Then this morning I decided before I head out I best let a couple fly ..I walk back to thirty yards and hit about 8 inches low and a little right ..   O.K Its me I think ! I take out another arrow and let fly ..Same spot ...WTH is up ? I back up to 40 and same exact spot as 30  Do not bring your bow into your warm house and head out into the cold ..Unless you check and see if it has made any difference or not ..I never really thought about it until today but then again I have not hunted in below freezing weather in many years ...When I came home today I shot it again ...did not change ..But she is laying on a blanket in my truck tonight  I want to see what happens when it gets above freezing again ..I will check it about Thursday when it warms up and see if she is high !

[actionshooter]

That's interesting, I had never given it a thought.

[Reidus]

Yes, I think this kind of stuff happens a lot more than people realize. It seemed to me that my arrows had less drop at higher elevations due to the thinner air. I think it's a good idea to shoot your bow in the conditions you'll be hunting in and especially if you take it from your warm house to extreme weather conditions.

[hughjorgan]

Are you wearing an arm guard to keep your heavy layers from contacting your string upon release?

[BoomWhop]

Are you wearing an arm guard to keep your heavy layers from contacting your string upon release?

that cost my buddy a nice buck last week!!!

[RadSav]

Modern materials are not effected by temperature the way they were back in the days Bowhunter45 and I started bowhunting.  But, it does have some effect.  Some bows more than others. 

A couple things to consider...

Clean and replace grease in the pivot pocket.  Only need an extremely small amount of grease.  And if a shop does it ask to see what grease they are using.  Make sure it is a good lithium grease.  That stuff rarely gets stiff in cold weather.  I've experienced some real bad results with silicone greases.

Heat from the car can get rather high.  So try to keep your bow clear of heater vents.  Doesn't effect limbs like it used to, but it can really play heck with your strings.  Especially when your strings are wet!!  Single cam bows seem to be the worst offenders with this.  As are the single material strings like 8125.  Still dang hard to beat 452X or XCel for all weather consistency.  Might not be as pretty as the bright 8125 or 8190 materials, but nobody looks at your bow strings when you post a trophy animal picture.

Rest silence material!!  I see guys all the time with huge amounts of fleece on their arrow rests.  In nice dry weather the arrow settles in nicely and you get a good silent draw.  But get that stuff full of water and things change.  Freeze that water and you aren't going to get consistent arrow flight no matter what you do!!!  Very thin moleskin (shave it if you have to), cloth BandAide, fingernail polish or 3M waterproof white labels (a personal favorite) will keep things quiet while giving little if any change in wet and/or freezing weather.

Mark your peep sight location.  As string material shrinks, things get cold and stiff, and as you hit the brush hard peep sights do get bumped.  I use two different methods to double check my peep location regularly.  First I use a Sharpie  to mark the location of the peep on the bow string itself.  Some string materials require you to reapply often to make sure it stays visible.  Next I measure the distance from the arrow nock to the center of the peep aperture.  I then write that distance somewhere on the bow using the Sharpie.  With a little alcohol you can usually remove that mark if you need to change distance later on.  It should go without saying that you also want to mark the D-Loop to arrow rest "Up" position as well.  Any cheap bow square will allow you to do this.

Finally, as mentioned above...shoot with an arm guard and/or your heavy cold weather clothing before you get in the field.  String contact with the collar, sleeve, armguard, zipper...all have an effect on POI.  No bow, now release, no fantastic shooting theory will overcome string impact.  Doesn't take much!!!  Even if you have no string contact the heavy clothes can effect your anchor point / head position too.  And don't just stand at the shooting line and shoot like a California high wrister   Get on your knees, sit on your buttox (maybe even in a chair), and shoot back over a shoulder, up, down any way you can think that you may end up needing to shoot in the field.  Hunters rule...your shot opportunity will most likely come where you least expect it.

[RadSav]

One additional point - Draw length!!  If you have been shooting a longer draw length than you should be for the sake of speed...you are probably going to be looking at trouble right between the eyes in cold weather.  In cold weather it is better to shoot too short of draw length than too long.

[BOWHUNTER45]

All great tips radsav  Like I said I never worried about it or checked to see what happens ..Usually I shoot my bow in and it has always stayed that way ...I left it in my truck one night and then the next night I brought it in the house .. That right there was the problem ..either way its good to go now ...Been hunting hard but not much movement until after 10 am and into early afternoon ..Sat on a good rub line for 7 hours yesterday and did not move an inch ..Doing everything I can but it is a tough show right now ..

[huntnnw]

Ive shot my bow in 100 deg heat to below 0 with no changes

[sakoshooter]

Ive shot my bow in 100 deg heat to below 0 with no changes

Same here. No problems. Maybe we're just lucky.

[RadSav]

Maybe we're just lucky.

Or you don't shoot good enough to be able to tell a difference


I have three Bear bows that never seem to change with temperatures.  All three have the molded limbs, single cams and sport XCel strings that stay well clear of my bulky clothing.  If I ever do a Muskox hunt one of those bows will definitely be on the trip with me!

[BOWHUNTER45]

It is hard to tell why ? Maybe it is me ... but since I have adjusted it the other day it has not moved ..and neither have the bucks  I am getting tired ..especially after today ... I really want to bury one of those Savora's into some hide 

[clindsayrun]

Great info and replies RadSav!
Learn something new every day. I've never thought I had an issue with my PSE, certainly not with coming in from the cold, but now you've got me thinking about the 8125. I had a little string twist develop a year ago, but the peep still always draws true. Not that I'm thinking about it, I was out for a couple weeks of pretty wet hunting just before it started...

[earlmarne]

I got a string set made out of fury recently.After shooting this summer it stretched at the buss cable and threw a wrench in things for a minute.Maybe string stretch from temp changes was the issue?

[earlmarne]

I am of the belief that the 452x is well worth the fuzzing for the stability