I get a lot of rain up here in the Pacific Northwest. Even now while practicing outside I am having to shoot a lot in the rain. I will be bear and turkey hunting come April in the rain. Come Oct through Dec I will be hunting it frequently. What precautions or preventative maintance do you guys take in regards to hunting/shooting with your trad equipment in the rain? As of now, I am simply wiping my bow down as soon as I finish up a practice session and I have Bohnings fletch powder on my feathers. I keep my string waxed. Bout it..
I pretty much don't/won't use my trad stuff in the rain, not because I worry about the gear itself, but more so because of my confidence (or lack there of) of perfect shot placement in a hunting situation and the ensuing trail in the rain. I've practiced in a light rain and have had my feathers soaked from wet grass and didn't have any issues.
It sounds like you have it covered pretty good. If you are using a takedown, you may need to greese the bolts, I have had them rust after a heavy rain. I would devise a plan to keep my feathers completely covered. The powder does work, but my feathers have gotten completely soaked on more that one occasion. You also probably should be using rubber silencers or something that will not hold water. I've shot a deer in pouring rain with a trad bow, water flies everywhere off the string! Keep that baby waxed good!
Thanks for the input guys, Double very good points, my silencers on my longbow are rubber, beaver on the recurve... I'll have my wife sow a quiver cover for my arrows/fletchings out of some waterproof camo material.. thanks again, I start hunting in about 20 days.
Good point and something we all have to consider with rainy days. There are different levels of rain forsure. Some can really hamper a blood trail quickly. Other degrees of rain not so badly.
If It's just a mist or a slight sprinkle I'll go out and hunt In It. Anything more and my but Is parked on the couch or In the tent no matter how much confidence I have In my shooting. I do not like getting my fletchings wet, some of them powders seem to work but after a while I think the stuff wears out (with my experiences anyway). The more water on them fletchings the heavier them arrows get. The added weight to the arrow (soaked fletchings) Is what worrys me when they get soaked. As far as my recurve getting wet, not a care In the world If It gets wet. My recurve has been soaked for 3 days straight while bear hunting on many occasions. It'll get dry just like anything else In time.
Steve from your experiences with bears in general have you noticed a difference in the volume of blood expelled on a double lung shot versus say a deer double lung blood trail?
As I'm sure you know yourself bear don't always bleed decent even with a good double lung heart shot. A guy could throw a hatchet at them and sometimes they still wouldn't bleed very well because of the fat plugging the wholes up. In your case It could be different though being It's spring and most likely there Isn't much fat left on them. To answer your question on double lung shots, every once In a while we'll have an excellent blood trail but for the most part nothing big when It comes to bear. Deer takes the cake there by a long shot.
Yeah Steve I asked because I know you've killed a lot more fall bears than myself. Most of mine come in the spring and even in the spring, I find that the bears just dont spill blood like a deer or elk does. Anyway thats what I have experienced.
You dang bear hunters are giving me an itch to kill a bear. I got a cousin who is an outfitter out west, I might have to call him.
If you're using a modern recurve(with a decent finish) rain won't hurt it. Wood arrows can be a different story. Have to baby some of them. A bunch of folks I know use recurves for bowfishing. The bows get wet, slimy, beat up and still perform. They're tougher than most people give them credit for. (tho' they will get ugly if you use them seriously for bowfishing) I recommend unstringing a recurve not so much when it's wet... but if it's going to get hot. Don't leave a strung trad bow in a hot car. I also believe if you suck at stringing/unstringing a bow, it's better to just leave it strung than to risk limb twist. (that's my excuse for almost never unstringing mine... and I'm sticking to it.)
The finish on these bows are great, I don't do anything to mine except wipe it down when I put it away for the day! My POC wood arrows are tough as nails as well, I have left them in my target, buried in a snow bank and accidently overnight in the rain and never had a problem with them! From my experience if you seal them proper you'll have nothing to worry about! Just keep em' straight! Feathers I use the powder to keep em dry. I might even try the spray on camp dry!
Surprisingly yes, Steve they still have a decent layer of fat on them ... in the spring.. Nothing like the fall though, nothing close, chit the big bears here will gain an extra 100+lbs or more over the course of a summer. I have a bear I call FAT ALBERT that lives and hangs around my house.. That sucker gets so fat he lays under my apple trees at night in my oat field all stretched out like a house cat..he acts like he cant even get up.. its comical.. very nocturnal though, the smart old bastard.. LOL we've shined him a few times out in our field well after dark he tears the chit out of my trees too!.. I did catch him on tape one day while archery elk hunting, if he would have been close enough I would have stuck him..
I'd definately be giving that cousin a phone call Zach , Bear is on my list but comes after Elk , Whitetail , Mule Deer and Turkey .
