bow shooting and low temperature

[bowfanatik]

Guys , tell me about your experience on low temperature -10℃/14℉ or lower . Fiberglas and wood laminates ....any problems .
Maybe someone from north countries like Norway :-)

[Daz]

I've shot down to -30℃ with no problem and i shoot outdoors all winter. Cast is a little slower, and i slowly "warm the bow up" with a couple of slow draw cycles.

When i was a kid i saw a mid 60's Bear Kodiak blow up at about -8℃. I've always wondered if it was due to the cold or would it have happened on a +20 day?

[M60gunner]

Only thing I heard was not taking the bow from a warm place and shoot it in cold right away. Let it get used to cold first.

[Trond]

Asked Bearpaw about this when I bought the Cayuga. No problem with taking the bow outside in the cold and shoot it right away. Temperature-variations wont hurt the bow.
The only real "bowkiller" is inside a car in the summersun.

[Blackhawk]

I also agree with Trond on shooting the fiberglass bows, however shooting the self bow can be a challenge in the cold.

[eidsvolling]

The current Bear Archery manual for traditional bows says:

"If you are hunting in cold weather, do not leave your bow outside overnight. If your bow has been exposed to extreme cold, give it a brisk rubdown before flexing."

I hunt and practice with my recurves and R/D longbow in what passes for cold weather here in SE New Hampshire, typically getting no lower than 0 ºF/-18 ºC in the daytime. The decades-old selfbows stay inside when the temperature drops below 25 ºF/-4 ºC.

I have an acquaintance who lives in Alaska and is a member of a trad club up there. I'll ask her what their experience has been and report back.

[slowbowjoe]

Couple hundred miles north of eidsvolling here, up in the mountains of northernmost Vermont. Shoot my wood/glass hybrid in single digits above or below zero when my hands can handle the cold, the bow seems to do just fine.
Couple of good thoughts here about a bit of extra care in those temps.

[damascusdave]

Or even like Canada eh

DDave

[Frank V]

I've shot in -20 F & didn't have any trouble with my bow HH Big 5, Bear K Hunter, Blacktail Elite.

I do flex my bow in that kind of temps. before shooting. I usually don't enjoy shooting in that kind of temperatures, but haven't had any trouble.

[Cootling]

I hunt in temps from -20 F to +100 F and often leave my bow in my car for days at a time in winter.  I've been doing it for 37 years now and have never had a bow problem in cold weather.  That's good enough for me to consider any adverse effect as an acceptable cost of doing what I love to do.

Performance doesn't seem to be affected much, either.  When I was in college, I shot an unlimited class target bow with wood laminate limbs.  I could leave the bow in my car trunk at -20 and shoot it cold without any evident change in point of impact at 20 yards.  Half an inch would have been obvious.  My shooting clearly isn't good enough to detect an effect on my traditional gear!

[Bobtulowiecki]

Great question and helpful answers

[meatCKR]

I ha've something different to add to this conversation.  I recently lightly sand my arrow nock to get a little better nock fit to my string. Got them to the point where they would come off the string with about two taps to the string. I had read that was about perfect. Went outside to shoot. Temp was about 20 degrees fahrenheit and guess what?  The arrows were just falling off the string on their own. Way to loose now.
moral of the story - be careful how you adjust your bow and be mindful of the conditions you will be hunting in when you do make adjustments.

Now I have to buy new nocks

[bowfanatik]

Very helpful answers!!
Definitely arrows have more problems

[sheepdogreno]

I shoot in cold temps a lot however usually not in the negatives because I'm a ninny! Haha however I always try to give the bow a moment to get used to the temp change if I'm bringing it from inside my warm house. Couple of slow draws...just because it makes me feel better.

[Hummer3T]

I shoot /hunting all the way down into the low -20'C's  and have even went into the -30'C's.  Never had any issues or concerns, bow creeks a little more.

Bow does not limit me but my old body is starting too.  Here if you don't hunt cold you miss most of the season.

[Trond]

Originally posted by sheepdogreno:
...just because it makes me feel better.

And that is what really counts. Well said!

[reddogge]

Originally posted by eidsvolling:
The current Bear Archery manual for traditional bows says:

"If you are hunting in cold weather, do not leave your bow outside overnight. If your bow has been exposed to extreme cold, give it a brisk rubdown before flexing."

Gee, and to think Fred Bear hunted polar bear in -56 degree temperatures and left his bow outside of the tent all night day after day.

[hawkeye n pa]

The only problem I've had at below zero temps is old nocks coming off aluminum shafts when shot.  I just put on new nocks before hunting season.