A wonderful and mighty topic. The weather can play a huge effect in your outdoor time. If you’ve spent a fair amount of time outside, then you’ll definitely agree with me that the weather affects archery. I’m not really going to teach you something that you don’t already know, but it is good to go over some basic ideas so that you’re aware how things will affect your gear and shooting performance.
How the weather affects your equipment
Most people who are going to have an issue with the weather and their equipment are going to be those using traditional bows. Wood and most other natural compounds will react with the weather. That’s not saying that some parts of the bow will react different on compounds as well. The most notable for both will be the bow string. You want to be sure and keep your bow string waxed to prevent any moisture getting on it.
If you have a traditional bow, and you’re in a different weather condition than normal, then you want to slowly warm up the bow and see if you think it will handle the weather. If you don’t think it will, then just don’t shoot that day. That can be a small downside to bad weather for traditional bows.
Your arrow will be affected very strongly by wind and water. These two things will do the most to your arrow and can really knock it off course. The only other thing that will do that a lot is if you hit something like a branch, but that’s not really weather now is it? It might be worth doing some warming up and test shooting to see how your stuff is affected that day. The weight of your arrow and how it’s set up will also affect how things turn out as well.
Weather affects you too
You are the other part of the shooting ensemble, so don’t forget that you need to pay attention to what you’re wearing and the condition that it puts you in.
Being dry and warm is nice, but that’s not always the case and being prepared and having the right gear can really help you perform at your best when you need to.
Being still in icy conditions for a long time like you might experience while hunting can also seriously impact your ability so you can either not shoot or practice these skills at another time and place, but in similar circumstances to help you practice so you can do the best when you need to.
Weather is an inevitable part of being outside and being prepared for it is the best thing you can do. You can’t change the weather, but you can change how you deal with it.
Shoot straight