Cold weather and lighter draw weights

[bear1336]

Just wondering has many of us drop down in draw weights when the weather towards cold. I use about a 5 pound lighter set of limbs when cold weather starts.

[joevan125]

I ordered all my bows at a weight that i can handle with no problem and shoot for hours at a time.

When the weather turns cold it doesnt affect my shooting abilities at all. All my bows are around 50@30 and as far as i know they will kill anything that walks in North America.  

[smokin joe]

If you normally use a bow that is very close to the maximum weight you can shoot after you have warmed up your muscles and joints it is very possible that the draw weight is too high to shoot well without a warm up -- and shooting well without warming up is necessary.
I agree with Joevan. I use bows drawing around 50 pounds. I can shoot a 60 pound bow if I warm up and stretch first, but the dang critters I hunt won't wait around once I start warming up. So I have settled on using 50 pounds year round and I know I can shoot well even if I am cold.
Joe

[SpankyNeal]

I also drop 5-10 pounds when it get's cold, depending on what weight bow I was shooting in the early season. I normally shoot 58-62 well without warming up, but when i'm really cold after sitting for a while, i'm more confident of the shot with the lighter weight.

Ken

[Pat B]

I agree with JoeVan, When crunch time comes I want everything to be the same whether it be cold or hot. I have spent years training my brain and body to shoot effectively and a weight change during hunting season could make a difference when the time comes to make the shot. By the way, I'm 59 years old. If we shoot all year long like we should even us old timers can still shoot our hunting weight bows no matter what the temp or conditions.

[Gordon martiniuk]

Most people I see and myself do not draw the Bow as far with cold weather clothing on so I Do not change poundage but often go with  less stiff arrows,, Stump shooting in the cold is good pratice and will tell you if you have too high a draw weight!  

[Guru]

Some of you southern boys should try hunting up north when it gets single digits and you have to wear way more clothes than when the temps are in the 20-30's......How often do you hunt in temps like that(single digits) with a trad bow?

That said, I've come to the conclusion the last couple years that is makes it a little easier to make an accurate shot with a little less weight.

I mean several layers of clothing simply makes it a little harder to bend one's drawing arm by itself with cloths binding up in the fold of the elbow. A little harder to bend at the waist. Add in somewhat cold/stiff muscles, and few less pounds simply makes it easier to get to a true full draw.

I like to shoot as much poundage as I can and until it gets VERY cold my 63# bow is just fine. But the last few years I've dropped to my 58# Kwyk Styk(same exact grip,quiver,everything the same....same gpp arrow,so the same trajectory)when the weather turns consistently cold like in December.

But we're all different, and have different levels of experience with cold weather. Just what I've found works for me as I age   :(  

From the sound of it what I consider my light set-up, might be heavy for others.....

[Ragnarok Forge]

I shoot 55lbs all year long. I can shoot 65 lbs fairly easily but went lighter.  I can shoot the bow for hours, figure I won't have shoulder problems later in life, and can shoot it the same in a t shirt or heavy clothes.

[joevan125]

I have hunted in a lot of the northern states and 4 times in Canada. I have found that it get just as cold in Alabama as is does in the Northern states. Because of our high humidity when it gets down in the teens which it will during the late season it feels colder to me than some of the nothern states that have a low humidity.

I wear the same clothes down here in the south as i did on my Canadian hunt and i stayed warm in both places and could tell no difference when it came time to draw my bow because i hunt with a bow that i can easily draw when its crunch time.

[lpcjon2]

I shoot every day as much as I can when it gets colder. If you can find clothes that are not to bulky and are warm this will help with extension.you can also use a push pull method of drawing the bow-push the bow out as you pull back it will divide the draw weight between both arms and shoulders.

[Rick P]

Guru and Joevan125

Thanks for the laugh! I LOVE hearing about the "extreme cold and harsh conditions of your hunts"! Give it up guys cold is cold and relative. What is cold to a guy used to temps in the 100 degree range isn't to a guy used to the 70's Doesn't make that poor bastard shivering to death any less a man, you'd fry dealing with his summer temps....trust me landed in the hospital with dehydration my one and only time south of Monterey California. Everyone was amazed I got so badly dehydrated in 80 degree weather.

Guru I've hunted hundreds if not thousands of times, with a stick bow, in single digits and colder, your not the abominable snowman!

Joevan125
Humidity? Really Humidity? Sorry my friend the only thing that counts is the thermometer. And there is no way I could function at 95+.

[Rick P]

I try to keep with bows in draw weights I can shoot under all conditions. However since most of our cold weather hunts are limited to smaller game I do find myself carrying a lighter bow more often in the cold.

[Guru]

If you think the Northern US (like where I live in NY)doesn't have high humidity, cold weather...you're wrong!     :rolleyes:

So Joe, you've hunted with a trad bow in Canada and the N. US?

Sorry, Holding 20# at full draw with a c-bow is alot different than getting to full draw with a trad bow.....

[Don Stokes]

Rick P, humidity DOES make a difference in how cold (or hot) you feel. You may know cold, but us Southern boys know humidity!!

Just this Mississippian's opinion.

[Guru]

Sorry Rick, but maybe it's you that's not the abominable snowman...if you don't think humidity makes a difference when it's cold....then maybe it's you that doesn't know cold.....

 My bud Pete lives in Montana and the average winter temps are way lower than here in the NE. But when he comes home to NJ to visit he finds it "way colder" here....humidity DOES make a difference!

Wasn't this thread about dropping bow weight in the cold?

[pdk25]

I think that I am less tolerant of cold weather than most.  I can handle draw weights in the low 70's pretty well without a warm up as long as I am warm.  If I am still hunting or spot-n-stalk hunting I can usually deal with draws in the mid 60's pretty easily, regardless of the temp.  When I am sitting for hours at a time with temps as high as the 30's, my max is upper 50's to 60.  I'm even thinking of using a bow that I got for bowfishing that is only 48# at my draw length for when it gets to be what I consider really cold.  

I think different people handle the cold differently, but I think the method of hunting plays into it quite a bit.  I've hunted in upstate NY with a rifle and don't think that I would want to sit for too long then draw a stickbow.  Humidity may play a role, but I doubt it can account for the difference between areas that have low temps that on average don't get below freezing and areas with high temps that on average don't get above freezing.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

I shoot the same draw weight year round, whether I'm after 3Ds when it's 90 degrees, or whitetails when it's -20. I like being able to use one bow for everything.

[pdk25]

Definitely an advantage to being able to use only one bow.  Maybe some day.

[amar911]

I'm like the guys who hunt most of the year with a bow weight that can be drawn normally regardless of the temperature and my clothing. The bows I usually hunt with are low to upper 50#s. When I went to Zimbabwe in June/July, I took my 68# bow because I hoped to shoot very heavy game with it. I shot some of my bows that are over 70# to get myself used to that weight, and all my shooting in Africa was in temperatures from 45 to 80 degrees, so I never wore very heavy clothing or had to deal with cold temperatures. I would not want to sit in a tree stand on a cold December morning for 3 hours here in Oklahoma or farther north and then have to draw my 68# bow to shoot a deer from an awkward position. That's why I stick with 55#, more or less, for most of my year around hunting, but I do shoot the heavier bows some to stay in shape and shoot them a lot more if I am going to hunt with them. So, I definitely agree with those who do not want to shoot their maximum draw weights in cold weather.

On the weather aspect, I agree that it is a lot colder up north (especially interior Alaska and Canada) than it is down here in the southern states, but I disagree that humidity does not affect the perceived level of cold or hot. Granted, Fairbanks at minus 40 degrees F is incredibly cold and Phoenix at 115 degrees F is incredibly hot regardless of the humidity. But Oklahoma at 20 degrees F with 90% humidity and a 40 mph wind will chill you to the bone too, especially when a few days before the daily high temperatures were 65 to 70 degrees F. The big difference between Oklahoma cold and Alaska cold is that in Oklahoma you might be uncomfortable, but in Alaska you might die.

Allan

[joevan125]

Yea i have hunted in Canada and a Northern state this year with a stickbow so i wasnt talking about a compound. I may be new to trad archery but that doesnt mean i havent had some experience hunting in cold weather with a stick bow.

If it wasnt for my divorce i would be going on 2 more hunts in the near future, but hey life sometimes doesnt work out the way we plan it to.

And yes this post was about bow weights and cold weather hunting and wasnt set up to question some ones integrity. I see that happen a lot on this site and i think its a shame that some people think that they always have to think they are right and that other people are clueless.