Cold Weather Practice - Feb Issue BowAmerica

Here is the newest article in BowAmerica!

Don’t let weather control your practice schedule! In Sweden, they say there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. You can and should practice in all kinds of weather, as you never know what you might run into during a tournament, or a hunt for that matter. If you compete on outdoor ranges, you should be comfortable with wind and rain, and in some cases some wet snow. If you are prepared, it can be a lot of fun. Most of us don’t need to be out in sub-zero weather, unless you live in Alaska. Find a nice, friendly indoor range with hot coffee for those days. Preferably with some friends who tell good jokes. Or try Hawaii!

Stretch out. Unless you are Chuck Norris, cold muscles get hurt. Your old high-school coach agrees. Bonus, you will feel less old the next day.

Ouch!! That's not supposed to have a bend there.

Be nice to your equipment. Protect your bow limbs from temperature swings. If you have wood laminate limbs, as many of us do, don’t leave them in the freezing car all day and then go practice in a warm room. Give your equipment enough time to adjust before shooting. Older bows seem to have more poundage swings in the cold below freezing. Test yours if it’s been in the family for a while by leaving it in your car overnight and see what it does in the morning. You might need to adjust your sight accordingly to keep from shooting high. Check your arrow flight in the cold. Different shafts types flex differently if below freezing. Experiment ahead of time so you can anticipate and make changes when necessary.

Know how the cold temperature changes your form. Lots of people have trouble when cold coming to full draw, especially when hunting and pulling 60-70 lbs. If you hunch your shoulders because you are chilly, you will lose some of the strength and connection in your back. Also, wear enough warm layers to keep your core limber. When your core is cold, it’s hard to achieve proper alignment. If your metal grip is turning your bow hand into an icicle, you can wind a wrap or two of self-stick bandage around your grip to keep the cold directly off your hand. Your local feed store has it in the equine section in colors to match your bow, including hot pink.

Layer. Layer. Layer. Recurve people work up a sweat while shooting. Lots of info on outdoor wear has already been written. Wear high-tech fabrics and things that breathe. Cotton = wet and cold later on. Wool is great if you can find it in a close cut option. If you are like me and bolt for the outdoor range as soon as the snow melts, you will be shooting in the rain. You won’t melt, I promise. Rain pants and a well-fitting jacket that doesn’t get in the way of your bowstring are key. You might want to try a chest protector over your jacket to keep it from snagging. Some tall stomper rain boots are great for holding down tall wet grass when looking for lost arrows. It’s not a fashion show.

Finger shooters have cold fingers. I’ve tried glommets, but the feel is different, so I don’t use them much unless the temperature is around freezing. Mittens are not an option for me, as my bow needs to swing back on follow through. Make sure your pressure points (release fingers and palm of bow hand) don’t lose feeling. Try your release with your hunting gloves on. You won’t have time to take them off before that buck moves behind the tree.

Play Garage Band. If the weather is wet, you can still shoot if you have a garage or covered deck to shoot out of. I also shoot more arrows each end to limit all the trips back and forth to pull. I’ve even heard of a person that would shoot at distance from his window in the winter to a target outside to get in 70m or 90m practice. Hmmm, I wonder how far it is across the pond…

I Feel Lucky

 

"I Feel Lucky"- Mary Chapin Carpenter

I don't know how much magical goodness you are allowed in a single day. Most of those days are reserved for things like new babies and weddings and the like.  Thursday got pretty close, but without adding a new person to the world. Starting with the anticipation and leading up to the very well received BowAmerica (Blatant plug!) issue and ending with shooting a whopping new personal best at the end of the day.

Someone asked me what was the difference in how I was shooting that day. I am sure that the excitement of earlier translated into extra confidence and relaxation on the line. Even though physically I was pretty tired it didn't seem to have an effect on where the arrows were heading. Once in a while you see how your attitude makes all the difference.

How do you recreate this on a regular basis? If you've had a seriously above average day at the range, what was it that made the difference for you?

Bow Meets Girl Meets BowAmerica

Yes, that's snow and yes, I was freezing

Much thanks to BowAmerica for selecting this article to print in this brand new magazine! Whee! I am officially published! 

I am a target huntress. Not to be confused with those awesome women that are compelled to sit chilly in a tree or hike deep into the backcountry for their elk or deer.  I hunt paper x’s year round, usually 4-5 days a week in the summer with a recurve and occasionally I break out my compound just for fun. I also have been known to enjoy shooting in the pouring rain in our backyard in upstate NY.

Growing up in rural central Michigan as a kid in the camo culture, I fooled around with my Bear bow, but set it down to obsessively ride horses until I went off to college. The bug didn’t bite until I was in my thirties. Then it bit. Hard. My dad and I made the trek up to Jay’s in Clare on Christmas Eve to select my starter bow and a good sized compound target.  Somehow after the first season, I just never stopped. Would go out after work in the backyard and shoot arrows until it got too dark to see where they went. It takes your total concentration, lets you relax and when you are in the zone, you aren't really thinking about anything but aiming. 

Lots of girls get into this with a boyfriend who 3-Ds on the weekends and end up giving their SO a run for their money. Loving that archery companies are beginning to realize that the ladies are just as serious about this sport and making daintier, though no less rugged, bows for us girls with girly names like the Stiletto.  Just a few years ago, there was not so much to choose from. You either got a youth bow or a hand me down that didn’t fit so well. My release had to be cut way down, my pocket quiver made for me for smaller girl pockets. My sister has recently been converted into the archery clan and is the proud owner of her very own hunting set up. Plus, she looks great in head-to-toe camo and war paint.

The Lil' Ball o' Sass

Switching from compound where I was comfortable as a consistent 295+ shooter, to the recurve system developed by the current USA Archery Head Coach was, and continues to be, a huge challenge. Using a finger tab for the very first time, I couldn’t get my fingers to let go. Unlearning muscle memory that has served you well and replacing it with something that is not necessarily immediately as successful can be like banging your head against the wall. And getting lower scores sucks when you are used to hitting 9 out of 10 X’s.  I have been really fortunate to find super patient people to work with that put up with my occasional sassypants.  When I get really frustrated, the compound comes out of retirement and reminds me why I started down this road.  This is also a much more physical version of archery. In the summer I was shooting well over 100 arrows a session, 4-5 days week. You sweat and you get muscle sore and you get sick of the songs on your iPod.  Check out YouTube for World Archery, there is a reason the recurve people look fitter. It’s ‘cause they have to be.

One of the great things about archery is the people that we have meet along the way.  Both my husband and I have received an amazing amount of help, information and support from a quite a few folks since we started doing this. Need to borrow a set of arrows, a clicker, try a new quiver?  Someone has one in their case that’s not being used.  Here, just use it for a while.  I swapped my Hoyt Pro-Elite, code name Cricket, for an Olympic recurve system a little over a year ago and have met even more cool and interesting people. This sport seems to recruit similar-minded people. Lots of engineer-types, creatives, and control freaks determined to perfect their aim.  As a whole we are highly competitive, but surprisingly supportive of each other.  A lot of other sports can’t say that. Another thing most sports can’t say, you can spend a day on the same bale with an elite archer, chatting and watching up close what they do. When is the last time you spent an hour in the batting cage with Derek Jeter? Yeah, I thought so.

And now a quick word about hunting. I am not opposed to the responsible hunting of anything you plan on putting in the freezer. I’ve dabbled a bit with hunting wiley Michigan turkeys but am not a hard-core hunter. You can read about it in a back post of Bow Meets Girl, my online rambling of my relearning to shoot. 

“In life, you only hit what you aim at,” Ralph Waldo Emerson
So put ‘em in the middle.