OK guys. For those of you that live where it is cold for 3 or 5 months out of the year, what do you do to keep yourself in bowhunting shape?
I fire up the wood stove in the garage get it good and warm about 80 degrees or so and open up the garage door shoot 6 arrows, shut the door and go retrieve arrows.
Honestly I am not a shoot like crazy kind of fella. Season done, I probably won't get my bow back out till spring green up...maybe as late as June if I don't decide to bow hunt turkeys this Spring.
I should have said that we are not the norm. We shoot 1. Because we love to. 2. Because we are always testing something. If we were just bowhunters we would do what a lot of guys do and pull out the bow a week or two before the season to dust off the webs and call it good enough.
I have been shooting a bow for years, to be honest time spent shooting the last few years has dwindled I will shoot if I feel like letting a few arrows go but I have other interests too. I could pull my bow out a week before I hunt get it tuned and shoot a few times over a couple days and be ready to hunt and shoot accurately.
Bow is hung in the basement on a nail in the floor joist. Out of the way but quick to get to. 11° F this morning with an East 10 mph wind. Going to work inside again. When it warms up this spring and before mowing and gardening will be out tossing a few arrows.
Well try Spring or Mid-Summer and a set regiment of practicing prior to the season....I would bet at least on this site most of us "just bowhunters" are not like what you described. I have always thought about getting more into target/competitive archery but too many hobbies.
I missed a doe late season this year as a result of being out of practice. I've got some great gloves from Rugged Wear that work perfectly for shooting in the cold. I tried to shoot a couple arrows in the morning a day or two per week. I got out of the habit later on though.
Well, since shooting in my yard is illegal here in Nassau county on Long Island, and the only archery range near to me is outside, I get to freeze all winter long!! Plus, I`m still bowhunting here on the Island, we go until January 31st!!
Traditionally don't shoot until the snow is gone. Might start shooting more if my daughter continues to show interest. If I do, there is a club I would join where I can shoot indoors any time I get the itch to make the drive.
I shoot once a week at my shop it's only a 15 yard shot but it's indoors. In march I will shoot 3 to 4 days a week.
Our home is on two acres and I simply have to step out the back garage door to be shooting. I am a year around recreational archer, so the day after season ended on New Years Day (and I filled another antlerless tag at 29 yards), I had the Prime Rival out in 8* weather. If I hunt in it, I can shoot in it. Obviously not as long of shooting sessions as I do in nice weather, but even a dozen to 20 arrows keeps the form tuned up and the flame burning. I have my own bow press, tuning tools, flecthing jig, arrow cutoff saw, etc and love the archery part nearly as much as chasing critters. Frankly....if I was missing shots at game due to being out of form, I would get out of the woods and spend time on the range instead.
