Cold weather clothing and stickbows

[Rubbin_Is_Racin]

As the title implies, any cool tips on cleaning up the area between your arm pit and left chest, and your left forearm of thick clothing? With the compound this wasn't really an issue but with the stick everything is closer to my body.

 

[bushpilot]

I have struggled with this for years. I usually run an olive OR ferrosi bouldering jacket overtop of my other layers. It brings everything in without restricting movement. It also is extremely light, just a touch heavier than a leather arm guard. Also protects my puffy layer while bush bashing and is slightly water repellent.

 

[Wrench]

Open up your stance. I can shoot with a set of filson bibs and a wooltimate parka....as long as I open my stance.

 

[Rubbin_Is_Racin]

That jacket looks pretty cool, I may have a jacket that will do somewhat the same thing that I could try.

As far as opening the stance, are you talking about at my feet? If I cant a little more it seems to help.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

I wear a Sitka Gear Shacket.

 

[Tradit]

For that reason, I have chosen to stick with my long BH on my Balck Widow PFT (8.25-9"). Don't need an arm guard even with a coat on. Getting a couple nice bulls with it my first two years of trad helped solidify that decision too. Very very few bows have that long of BH. The Bear Super Kodiak is another one. Still have to be careful of large unzipped collars though.

 

[Rubbin_Is_Racin]

Yea I'm more concerned about the collar area than the arm. I have a Hoyt Satori that's 66 inches and it's like the brace height out around 8.75 so arm contact is typically minimal. For me to get correct form/alignment, my left shoulder area is pretty dang close to the string.

 

[LostArra]

I wear a Buff that I pull up as a face mask and it's long enough to cover any unzipped collar.

I was worried about the bow arm sleeve of my ASAT leafy suit so I cut the foot off an old hunting sock and slip the calf portion on as an arm/sleeve guard.

Sizing down on some of my top outer layers has eliminated any bunching in sleeves and chest without reducing warmth.

 

[GreenNDark Timber]

When it's really cold I use an archery chest protector (mine's made my Easton) to cinch down the bulk on my left chest. I use my normal arm guard for my forearm and I put another small arm guard up above it around my bicep area.

 

[GLB]

I have used a long tube part of a wool sock cut off to slide over my bow arm to compress the jacket sleeve. I also wear a vest over the jacket that will snug the torso in some. I layer all of my clothing for warmth and try to keep the bulk down.

 

[Newtosavage]

Oversized chest protector is the way to go. I had this issue when I hunted really cold weather in Illinois with my longbow 15 years ago. My Columbia wool coat was my outer layer, and with the collar and hood, it made it a challenge to shoot in. Chest protector and well-placed rubber bands go a long way. I also used a full-length leather armguard with lace up-loops to keep the arm clear.

 

[Beendare]

Some good suggestions^

I don't do a lot of really cold stick bow hunting....but do wear a long armguard when I have a few layers on.


_____

 

[Kevin Dill]

Thinking about compound vs recurve or longbow...and clothing:

If you had no problems with a compound but do with a stick bow, I'm willing to bet money it's because of how you hold the bow. Shooting canted with the bowstring traveling toward the chest/armpit on your bow arm side? Bingo. That'll do it every time with heavy clothes unless you have 40" arms and a 56" bow. It gets even worse when the animal is close and you're in a treestand.

I stopped canting the bow years ago and that really minimized issues with clothing contact. For close shots from the stand I simply spread my feet and put the lower bow tip between my knees....extend....lean....draw and shoot. This technique also improves clearance with the left arm, but I still wear a guard when heavier clothing is in use.

I'm not advising it necessarily, but giving up the whole 'shoot the bow canted' thing really cleaned up my shot technique and improved accuracy.

 

[ScottinPA]

IMO, higher end layers help minimize the bulk. I bought a Sitka Stratus jacket this year and even with a puffy under it I was warm in the teens and it didn't cause any issues shooting. In some coats I need to tuck in the bow arm corner at top of zipper to prevent it from catching on the bowstring on release. I always wear an armguard too.

 

[Rubbin_Is_Racin]

Im also thinking that a clicker may be beneficial with thick clothes to make sure that I'm getting to my full draw.

 

[Bountyhunter]

You can lighten up on bulky layers by slightly modifying a heavier wool shirt. Two pockets on front and two inside on the back at the kidneys. Hand warmers go in both sets of pockets. As long as your lighter outer layer is windproof, the handwarmer trick works wonders. I still wear the cutoff dark tube sock over my arm. Between these two, I have been able to bowhunt late season MO and Ohio.

 

[jasboj]

Heater body suit is awesome when its really cold. I dress light so when its time to shoot theres no added alyers to get in the way. I bought it for the warmth but not having all those heavy bulky layers to deal with was an added bonus.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[nrhoffman93]

I use an arm guard on my bow arm to compress the sleeve down. Also, use more wool and less fluffy layers/jackets. They both work when used properly, but wool is much takes up less space.

 

[oldgoat]

I like the QAD sleeve type armguard for all temperatures hunting, my leather one has caused a couple bad shots when string caught the back end of it. For the chest area, I've gone to tighter more athletic fitting jackets. I combat the fact that those jackets aren't super warm by wearing a battery powered heater vest. Also setting your body up before the shoot with the sternum tuck, at least that's what I think that's called, not sounding right in my head right now.