Cold Weather Hunting
Hunting
in cold weather has many challenges. For example, one cold day when
it was only 10 degrees I had
a nice deer walk into my setup. It was very cold but there was no wind. The deer stopped broadside at 20
yards. I thought that it would be an easy shot. This is
a shot that I have taken hundreds of times. I drew back the bow, put the
pin on the vitals, and shot. To my horror the arrow went over
the deer. I couldn't believe it. The deer didn't seem to
know what happened. He walked off fast but didn't run. I ran though the shot in
my mind a million times and the shot felt good to me. I should have
killed that deer. I was so mad that I went to the archery range
to see if my site had been moved or bumped. I was dead on. I was talking to my friends about this
and they asked how the cold affects the bow.
I had my bow in the car and it was cold out so we tested it. I put
it on the scale and it
added 10 pounds.Hunting in cold weather has many problems. These include the kinds of clothing that you
need to wear. I know that everyone out there has read hundreds of
stories about hunting in cold weather and how to dress for the
weather. The other problem is how the cold saps your strength. The
most overlooked problem is how the cold affects
your archery equipment. When you are standing on your tree stand
it sounds like you are standing on packing peanuts.One thing that we have overlooked is how the weather will affect you bow and arrows.The most important piece of equipment is your bow. Today's' bows can hold up to cold weather better than bows of the past. I had a Bear Uniforce bow that would be 25 pounds heavier in the cold weather. This is a extreme example of what could happen, but just a few more pounds to your bow could mean a missed shot at a deer.
As the temperatures drop below freezing the bow weight can increase 5 to 10%. It could be even heavier if the temperature gets down to zero. This will be a 3 to 6 pounds increases or more with a 60 pound pull. This may not seam like a lot but as you stand in the tree stand and the cold weather saps you strength, six pounds can seem like a lot.
Bows are not the only thing that are affected by the cold weather. Carbon arrows can become stiffer in the cold weather. This could mean that the arrow is not the right spine for the pounds that you are shooting. The added pounds to your bow and the extra stiffness of your arrow will cause the arrow to hit in a different spot.
This may seem like a little thing but you have to try it out. What I do is put my bow and arrows in the car overnight. Then first thing in the morning before I go to work I shot a couple of arrow with all my hunting gear on. This will give you the confidence to shot in the very cold weather. This will also show you if there is a problem with your equipment.
The archers that will have the most problems are the ones that are shooting arrows that are on the light side. The lighter the arrow for the bow weight the more stiff the arrows will get in the cold weather. The other group of shooters that will have a problem are the ones who are shooting light bow weight. This would probably be women and children.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to shoot a heavier arrow. This will slow down the arrow speed but you will have less problems in the cold weather. Cold weather hunting is hard and I wouldn't want to waste my time in the woods only to miss a deer.
The key to getting ready for cold weather hunting is to shoot in the cold weather. Put on all the gear you think that you will be hunting with as you shoot. I have a pile of hats and masks that I can't use for deer hunting because they will not allow me to shoot my bow and still hit the target.
If you are having problems in cold weather hunting you will have make some changes. The first change will be to lower the poundage of your bow. The next thing you may want to consider is getting different arrows. You should pick an arrow that is in the middle of the arrow chart. You could also try lighter broad heads. The best way to proceed is to take one action at a time to see if that fixes your problem.
Now is the time to be in the back yard shooting with all you cold weather gear on.
Good Luck
