Cold weather bad for bows?

[Texoma]

Can leaving your bow strung in 20 degree temps for 24 hrs cause fiberglass damage?

I did just that and had a splinter come up on the belly of the lower limb, it is quite possible
it was already there and just a coincidence I noticed it during the cold spell.

[McDave]

20 degrees would be balmy in some of the places our members hunt.  -20 degrees?  I dunno, have to ask someone who has more cold weather experience than I do.  But I would be amazed if being left strung in 20 degree weather would hurt anything.

[Tim Finley]

I've hunted here in ND in -35 when I was young and dumb (I'm not young anymore ha) never had any problem with bows except antler tip overlays came off a couple of times, antler expands and contracts in cold or hot weather not a good overlay material. I have hunted this year in below zero weather already , Its early to be that cold . The cold should not affect your bow .

[Trenton G.]

I've hunted in negative temps quite a bit (I'm still in that young and dumb phase ). Never seemed to have a problem aside from numb fingers. Also if it's snowing hard and I bring my bow out of the warm car, the snow melts on the limbs and then freezes again forming ice. Just scrape that off occasionally and you're good to go.

[Asummerlin]

The only experience I have had with this situation is I went camping for a weekend in about late January with a friend of mine in the Uhwarrie NF. I carried my 1968 Fred Bear Kodiak Hunter recurve that I loved to go shoot stumps with because it only pulls about 43#, perfect for stump shooting because it doesnt break as many arrows as a 60# Black Widow PMA 3 will. Anyways, the temperature got down to about 4 or 5 degrees that night and I always leave my bow unstrung in the annex of my tent. After I crawled out of the sleeping bag at daylight and was waiting on the coffee to get hot on the fire, I decided to take a few shots at nice rotten pine stump we had been shooting at the day before. It took a little bit extra to get it strung but didn't think anything of it, but after I nocked an arrow and tried to draw back to anchor I felt like I was pulling my old 70 pound longbow I have hanging on the wall at home. That old 43# recurve was frozen to the point I had to leave it by the fire with me as the bow and myself warmed up so the both of us could shoot.

[Badlands]

Ditto what Tim said.  I never unstring my bows and usually have a bow or two laying on the back seat of my pickup from Sept. into Jan. or Feb. There are always at least a few cold snaps of 10 or 20 below during that time and I've never had a problem.  Heat seems to be way more dangerous to a bow than cold.

[Texoma]

Didn't figure cold would hurt em because I have never heard anyone talk about it, but thought I would ask. Just thought it
was weird I noticed the splinter on a cold day (for Oklahoma), my compass even froze solid that day.

[Tim Finley]

Your compass froze  ! John Mc Donald told me his teeth froze in the glass next to his bed in hunting camp !!

[Texoma]

Your compass froze  ! John Mc Donald told me his teeth froze in the glass next to his bed in hunting camp !!

LOL!  Hope he got them thawed out before everyone ate all the breakfast!

[Yooper-traveler]

It was -7 this morning.  I froze.  My dog declined to go out to pee.  I was stupid for drinking too much coffee before heading out.  The only thing that was fine was my bow 

[Sam McMichael]

Way back in 1959 when I first began archery, the man that got me started pointed out that a nasty scar over his eye was caused when an all wood laminated bow broke in a cold winter hunt in Canada. I had noticed that whenever he strung his bow, he would always flex it numerous times before coming to full draw. The broken bow was why he began this ritual. Here in Georgia, I don't have excessive cold to worry about, but I often flex the bow several times anyway.

[Msturm]

I bow hunt/ shoot  in well below freezing temps.  A couple times in the -30 -40 degree Fahrenheit range.  Never had a problem in sub zero temps with glass bows.  I blew up a really nice Yew self bow last year. My guava and vine maple self bows hold their own in really cold temps but gain draw weight rather dramatically. (like 10 lbs).

However, I have hunted coyote, grouse, lynx and wolf here in AK in really cold temps with many glass bows. I have occasionally pulled overnighters  where the bow was strung for 48+ hours and have seen no ill effects.   I hope that helps.

[Sawpilot 75]

I once hunted in Alberta in temps down to -15 below and never had a issue. I left my bow strung the entire week but I brought it inside the cabin at night. We routinely get temps below zero here in Ohio where I live and January and February are typically or coldest months. I have never had a issue and usually leave my longbow strung for a couple months at a time.


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