How does everyone get through the winter?

[longbow fanatic 1]

As I finished my workout at the gym today and was preparing to head to the indoor archery range to shoot, I wondered how fellow TG'ers get through the winter months. Of course many of us have jobs, busy family lives, etcetera, but what I'm really asking is what do you like to do, when time allows, to pass the winter months? Do you shoot blank bale in your garage/basement to keep your muscles in tune? Maybe you build bows,arrows, strings, back quivers  or other leather archery gear or maybe you spend time fine tuning and bare shafting your hunting bow...

As for me, I have an archery club with both an indoor and outdoor range. Once you pay your yearly renewal, you can come and go as you please. I love going there and have tried to hit the indoor range daily this winter, even if just for an hour. This winter, I'm just working mostly on form. I'm shooting some blank bale, then indoor spots to try to really hone my form. In doing so, I've learned how far I have yet to go to truly improve. It's humbling!    

[jonsimoneau]

I scout and begin hanging stands for next season if I can. Most of my shooting now is close up form work in my basement.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Build a lot of bows.

[MnFn]

Great topic

1. Scheme about how I will pay for my next year's hunting trip.
2. Shoot my bows in the lower level/garage.
3. Mentally review the past year's hunts, thinking how I might have hunted better.
4. Go to as many of my grandkid's sports events as I can.
5. Build up credits with my better half by painting interior rooms, tiling backsplashes, new counter tops etc.
6. Every few years  head to someplace closer to the equator for a week or so.

7. Try to remember to daily thank God for the immense blessings He has literally heaped on me, and wonder why me?

[Pryor]

Ice fishing !!!!

[JMR]

I'm with Pryor. Ice fishing, its almost as addictive as tradbows!

[Pat B]

Building bows and walks in the woods.

[ron w]

Small projects, shooting when it's not like Siberia. Snowshoeing if there is snow, stumping if there isn't. A few weeks in Florida for Bike week and then there's the classifieds.......way to much time spent there........     I also go to the gym every day to keep tuned up and I'm also still rehabbing from a knee replacement. I can't wait to move to Georgia to be by my Daughter and her growing family. Then winter will not be an issue.

[Lordswarrior]

scouting, making new arrows to replace all the ones i lost last year, reading trad related books/ mags,
and right now in jersey still trying to move 3 feet of snow so i can find my grill!

[NY Yankee]

Build a dozen arrows or more if someone asks me to. Then I search the house and gather up all my hunting gear and get it re-organized and into its pack where it belongs, sharpen some broad heads and hunt some small game. Maybe fish a little if the weather is nice. Shoot some skeet. Like that.

[mlsthmpsn]

Shed hunting with the dog and scouting for good spots and terrain, trying to keep track of herd movements, etc. I haven't found any sheds this year yet (I know they have been falling off pretty fast based on the herd at work)...but last weekend she found a nice folding deer cart that had spent some time lost underneath a small spruce way back on some State land.

Went out with a buddy late last night, in the falling  snow, just to walk around in the woods and enjoy the peacefulness of a fresh 5" blanket of snow. We listened to 5-6 owls talking back and forth for about 20 minutes and ran into some turkeys trying their best to roost low and out of the snow.

[M60gunner]

I am the reverse here in Az. Seems our "winter" is over for awhile. It is summer here that drives you inside. Being retired can be as busy as I want. I make arrows, do wood working projects, make bamboo fly rods.

[Orion]

I shoot in my basement year around.  Try to find an outdoor 3-D shoot a week to attend.  Do a little cross country skiing and snowshoeing.  Buy and trade a few bows and other equipment.  Make some wood at my cabin. Some ice fishing, but not as much as I used to. Hunt bunnies a little bit, and sometimes squirrels.

Sometimes mill out some wood, make seats and thwarts for wood and canvas canoes that I build or restore.  Garage is too cold to work on boats in the winter though.

For me, winter isn't something to endure, but to be enjoyed.  As busy then as any other time of the year.

[VA Elite]

kids basketball games, shoot some, and prepare first bass tournaments starting in March. I will bass fish in Feb if the water temps are in mid 40's and it usually is, so I go and get the boat run it a bit and fish for a few hours every saturday.

[Soilarch]

What I use to do before life got "fast" on me.
Firearms (I know it's trad archery site, but I lie if I leave out reloading, pouring over ballistic charts, bullet constructions, wildcat cartridges, etc)
Play with my setup, (strings, arrows, different fletchings, cresting....basically just pittlin'.) I generally do not do any form of scouting until it warms up a bit, and I don't care for tree hunting so there are no stands for me to "maintain".

I'd really like to get a few good books this winter, but my reading list grows by the day.

[Bowwild]

I also have a basement range where I shoot on many days.

I also plan for out-of-state hunts (this year turkey in NE and antelope in WY).

I have a new passion that occupies my time a bit, it isn't archery. PCP air rifles. Basement range as well.

[bowhunter97]

I like to get out and scout for next year and kill a lot of stumps.

[tarponnut]

I fish, go to the beach, hunt pigs, work out, hunt pigs. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
(I could never again live in a state where you can't hunt pigs year round)

[Archie]

Hi, Dennis!

Let's see here... this winter I've been working, both at home, in the office, and in our church ministry.  That alone keeps me pretty busy.  

But when I'm not working, I spend a lot of time at the piano, or with a guitar or mandolin in my hands!  I'm hoping to get into some coyote calling within a few weeks, but I do that with a long, black, scoped thing.  Have been doing a bit of pistol shooting this season as well.  

But for archery... while I haven't shot much, I pull my 68# bow as part of my workout routine.  3 sets of 10, pulling and holding each time, both arms.  That, along with pushups, curls, triceps extensions, and 30 minutes on the exercise bike, gives me a good workout.  I like using the bow as a workout tool because of the obvious archery benefits, but also because it is a great workout for the biceps, triceps, shoulders, and back.

I do spend a fair bit of time piddling around with my archery stuff, making arrows, watching bowhunting DVDs and YouTube vids, reading bow & hunting literature, etc.  But I like to take a bit of time off of archery during the deep winter, and the absence makes my heart grow fonder!

[highlow]

Haven't had to think about it yet as I have until Sunday night to fill my winter bow tag. Have a hog hunt scheduled for late March and then turkey season. In the interim I have some bathroom rehab to finish. And start getting in shape for a fall moose hunt in Newfoundland. With chuck hunting in the summer. I know the thread is about subduing the winter doldrums but as far as I'm concerned, once we get to Feb. winter is on its way out.