Cold weather hunting/ shooting

[John C Keith]

Tonight (about 11pm) I shot a few arrows during our first winter weather event of the year here in SW Michigan.  Freezing rain, 15-20 MPH winds about 25 air temp,unknown wind chill.  I found that using just my glove my hand got really cold, even using a fleece muff.  

I used to shoot my compound with a release and glove, and even a tab over glove with my longbow, but I just can not get the draw down with this Kodiak Magnum.  My shooting suffers severely.

What do you guys do/use when the mercury drops and old man winter comes knocking??

[30coupe]

I have a pair of lined leather gloves that I can shoot with, but usually I just wear my shooting glove and have a handwarmer in my coat pocket. I keep my hand in my pocket until I need to draw. That way my hand is warm and I don't have to adjust to a different glove. Practice might be difficult in this weather, but I don't get that many shots in the woods anyway.

[AkDan]

the heavy rag wool glmoits work quite well with a glove, not so good with a tab, however still better with a tab then everything else minus a full glove.

in the real cold add a thin brown poly pro liner, cut the 3 fingers out and wear both, no more exposed skin, no more cold hands/fingers

Just make sure you get the heavy rag wool glomits, they are harder to find then the lighter style that are not warm at all!  looser woven and no insulation.

[bowbert]

I use a thin wool glove liner, the kind you can get at the army surplus store.  I shoot with a tab, and try to keep my hand in a pocket (with a handwarmer) until it's nearly time to shoot.

Stay warm,
Bowbert

[The Night Stalker]

Because you can wear to many bulky clothes when it gets down to 10 or 15 degrees, I use a heater body suit and just keep my hands inside the suit in my pockets with a disposible hand warmer.
The suit is about 324.00. A good pale of bibs and a parka will cost that. I just ordered a second heater body suit since my old suit is 7-8 years old. They have made improvements since my first suit. I have arrowed many big bucks and the suit keeps me in the woods when everyone else is at home watching football.

[Dave Coalter]

I wear a pair of brown jersey gloves, and a pair of wool fingerless gloves pulled over them.

[centaur]

I keep my shooting hand in my pocket until the last minute. It's 5 degrees here this morning; I won't be chasing deer until it warms up a bit.

[GingivitisKahn]

I'm with centaur about keeping shooting hand in pocket until it's needed.  Also I convince myself that when it gets bitter cold, the deer are more likely to move at midday when it is warmest so that's when I hunt.  

Who says traditional archery isn't mostly mental?  :-D

[centaur]

Well, I was wrong. It is 5 below zero right now. Looks like a good day to watch the Outdoor Channel.

[tippit]

I wear a thin liner glove & tab on shooting hand plus a little warmer glove on bow hand.  What really works for me without hand warmers is a Wooly Buggar Muffler...sheep skin tube with thick hair on inside so no cold air gets in.  Good to even below zero.

I personally think that hand warmers heat up you hand to give off human odor especial when you pull your hand out for a shot.  JMO...Jeff

[numbfinger]

our weather hasnt been below about 30 on any day ive hunted this season, but with all the clothes i can wear without making me unable to shoot, and with 2 of those handwarmer bags in each pocket, i just barely can keep from shivering when there's much wind.

if it gets to minus anything, i'm stayin home  

[Shawn Leonard]

I use a regular warm thinsulate glove on my bow hand but just my tab on my string hand. I have hunted in temps down to -15 degrees this way. I put several of the chemical handwarmers in a couple of pockets and leave my hand in my pocket until time to shoot. Shawn

[owlbait]

My problem yeasterday in our winter storm advisory was with the bow hand. My new longbow has the shelf cut so close to the hand that my glove was actually lifting my arrow off the shelf. I finally put it away for this year and went back to my recurve for the evening hunt.

[Stone Knife]

I wear a wool glove on my bow hand and a wool fingerless glove over my glove. I keep chemical warmers in my pockets or if it is real cold i wear my hand muff with chemical warmers inside and hang my bow up.. The muff works good in a tree stand because my harness gets in the way of my pockets. If I'm in my ground blind i keep the warmers in my pockets and just set my bow on the ground. I have a pair of glommets but don't like them, there bulky and get in the way. But i will wear them if it is super cold out. Not much will work if your hands and gloves get wet, i try to keep my hands dry as possible if it is raining or there is snow i keep my gloves in my pockets till after I'm set up to insure they stay dry.

[Mark Baker]

Everbody's got to find their own solutions, and I am always struggling to find a better one.  Bottom line is practice with whatever you choose to use.   Don't wait until the weather turns ugly to try things out.  With practice, you will weed out the worse options and know what works best...for shooting.  For staying warm, I just keep my hands off the bow and arrow until I absolutely have to.  I hang my bow, with arrow ready.  Beyond that, it is simply knowing when to move and what you can get away with.

[hunt it]

I have a thinsulate and wind stopper muff from cabelas, one chemical handwarmer inside and hands stay toasty at ant temp. Only take hands out to shoot and it works fine.

[kadbow]

I buy the cheap wally world fleece gloves and cut the three fingers off so my shooting glove fits on my fingers.  I also use the chemical hand warmers.  The fleece glove adds some protection when your hand is on the string waiting for that last step into the shooting lane (and we all know how long that can take sometimes).

[GingivitisKahn]

I think the coldest I've ever been in my life was one morning when I went out an hour or so before first light in a crisp -10 (on the thermometer - no idea about wind chill) morning.

I sat there for two or three hours when I started noticing some early stage hypothermia symptoms.  Needless to say I made tracks back to the car, set the heater on 'nuclear' and spent the rest of the day drinking coffee and hot soup.

Brr - makes me chilly just thinking of it.

[guzzi2000]

I do the same as Hunt It, muff and chemical hand warmers. Works well for me.

[Billy]

There have been some good answers here.
One thing I find is keeping my core warm is a good start. The warmer the large body parts are the easier to keep the small ones warm.
Ground hunting is easiest for me to keep my toes warm. But, my fingers still complain.
I've thought of trying to sew a warmer glove back to the back of the fingerless wool glove... anybody tried that?