Summer Time Bow Tune Up

Summer is a great time to get out all of your archery gear and give it a go. The reason is because most of us are sitting in a tree during October and sweating our butts off. So if you can master the shot with sweaty palms in the summer you should be able to make the shot when it presents itself.

Lets start with the basics. Have your bow tuned by a professional. These guys have gotta eat too. Then you need to check his work. By this I mean get out and shoot.

Start by developing a routine practice schedule. It doesn't mean that you have to shoot everyday, just that when you do get to shoot, use your time wisely. More on this later.

Here it comes the same old same old. If you wear gloves and a face mask, practice with them on. Yea, I know it's hot but you need to know how these will affect your shot. I normally use camo cotton gloves on my hands and I practice with them. Two years ago I picked up some Under Amour gloves. Skin tight and the palms have these cool rubber type grips on them.

When I shot with them on I noticed that my point of impact was about 3 inches to the right at 30 yards. Hmmm...Obviously I am torquing a bit during the draw cycle and the cotton will let the bow rotate to the correct position. Now I practice with the new gloves on.

Here is a head net horror story. One very cold day in December I reached for my brand spanking new head net. One of those full face insulated babies from Cabelas. A few minutes after sliding it on here come 5 does and a 5 point buck sucking up acorns 25 yards away.

Six arrows later I was watching all of the deer stomping and blowing wildly. Never even cut a hair! After returning home and a little bit of practice with the head net on, I returned it to my backpack only to use during extreme temps. I will not ever attempt another shot in one. Yes, it was ugly. I barely hit the bag at 25 yards!

One more example. I had bought these super duper coveralls. You know the one's that are made for gun hunters. How can you tell? They have a breast pocket with a metal snap. Long story short, the entire flap was ripped off and neither I nor the buck had any idea what happened!

Do yourself a favor, test your apparel before hand.