les1cam

I have a friend who is getting ready to go on a Caribou hunt and he was told to prepare for 40 Below temperatures. He's taking a rifle for fear that his Mathews Z-Max couldn't perform in that temp. I e-mailed Mathews for info on this but haven't yet got a reply. Has anyone had any experience using a bow in such temperature. I remember seeing someone take a Musk-Ox with a bow in some really bad, icy situation but 40 Below is serious. What do you think?

slicendice

I would say that at 40 below zero your rifle has as much chance of freezing and failing as your bow does. I would be concerned about the arrows though. I would guess they would perform much differently at 40 below zero than they would at normal temperatures. I would be afraid they'd fly different and also maybe not penetrate as well. Another factor to consider is if you are wearing enough clothes to stay warm at that temp, can you pull back your bow?????

ArcticBowMan

Your bow will shoot a little different at 40 below. We have practiced out in that temperature, and I have gone hunting in temperatures colder than that. Heck, we are at 60 below chills right now!

The rubber on the bow will harden, so a couple things will be affected there. If he is shooting with harmonic dampners (not sure on the Z-Max) they will harden up and become nearly useless. He might want to try shooting without them. Also, if he is using a quiver with rubber on it, he will have a very hard time extracting the arrow from the quiver. I could barely get mine off last month when I was trying to get a shot on a fox after a hour long stalk on the little bugger.

He will want to practice in the clothes that he is going to be wearing, and it would probably be best to shoot a few arrows after the bow has time to acclimate to the weather. At 40 below that should only take a couple of minutes, but he should try and practice in as real life conditions as he will have when he gets on a bou.

I've never done rifles at those temps, so I couldn't give my 2 cents on that.

It doesn't take long to die in those temps, and skin can freeze in a minute, literally, so he should take everything as serious as possible.
ArcticBowMan's Hunting Photo's

davidmil

40 BELOW is the perfect time to hunt. Hunt the remote, hunt the wife under the blanket, hunt for the TV guide unless you have digital and have all the on screen goodies, hunt for the hot chocolate, hunt for the bean soup etc..... It's not a good time to be out in Caribou land.<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle> I'd say if there is any wind at all he's got to cover every square inch of skin with about 2 layers of R30 and keep moving.

pdq 5oh

I've been out in -30 temps. Nothing works right. Your brain has one thought, get inside. The cold will go through you in a hurry if you aren't constantly moving. Get a little wet, and you're done. Just to go from my car to the front door (30 ft) I had to bundle up. Breathing is no fun in such cold air, either. The only thing I've ever seen enjoy those temps is my Rottweiler, when she was a puppy. That dog never has been right.<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Phil.
&quot;Could you guys be quiet, my dad's trying to shoot.&quot;<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

Shaggy2

In cold weather I worrry more about my ability to be able to draw a bow when I am that cold. I have actually let deer pass me because I was not able to move and get my bow drawn because I was half frozen.