# What Happens If You leave your Bow in your Car



## deerassassin22 (Jun 25, 2010)

Well I always hear people saying never to leave a bow locked up in your car it will destroy the limbs so lets see what we come up with here.  I'm 26 since I was 13 my bow would be housed in my shed or garage once i got old enough to drive it stayed in my truck with the windows cracked all day.  Never had a problem have owned high country, pse, recurve bows, mathews, bowtech, hoyt and never had a problem.  So my question is who has or who thinks this will cause a problem.

#2 Will a bow shoot faster when it's warmer outside?

#3 Bow shoot slower in the cold?


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## GOTTAHUNT83 (Jun 25, 2010)

I had a PSE several years ago that the limbs cracked on after I left it in my truck for a day.  I'm not saying they all will but this is how I look at it.  

If the sun and heat can crack a dashboard, I don't want to chance it with my bow.  

As far as speed hot vs. cold....I would think if there were a difference it would be faster in the cold because the limbs would be stiffer. Don't really have any idea though.


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## mattech (Jun 25, 2010)

GOTTAHUNT83 said:


> I had a PSE several years ago that the limbs cracked on after I left it in my truck for a day.  I'm not saying they all will but this is how I look at it.
> 
> If the sun and heat can crack a dashboard, I don't want to chance it with my bow.
> 
> As far as speed hot vs. cold....I would think if there were a difference it would be faster in the cold because the limbs would be stiffer. Don't really have any idea though.



I remember either reading an article or watching some show that talked about this, is was based in the midwest were the cold is extreme, and it stated that you do need to adjust pins for the time of the year since it would shoot faster in the cold since everything was stiffer.


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## killNgrill (Jun 25, 2010)

Prolonged periods of heat can cause delamination of the limbs.

I don't doubt it would have ill effects on the string also.


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## FLGobstopper (Jun 26, 2010)

The guy who runs our archery pro shop who has been in the industry for 20 years and was a PSE regional rep for 15 does it on purpose with all his new bows or anytime he puts on a new string. He said he'll usually leave them in there for 2 or 3 days to, "get everything set". 1st time he told me this I looked at him like he was crazy and he said, "man I traveled all over the country for years and left my bows locked in the truck in extreme temps all the time and never had one blow up or a limb come apart on me. I found out long ago the best way to fight the string stretch battle was to lock it up and let the heat stretch it out. After leaving it locked up in + 90 degree temps for several days, no more stretch and the string is set. I don't even attempt to tune my bows until I've stretched them" So, I've done it and gotta say it's worked out for me. It still makes me a little nervous doing it, but this guy really knows his stuff and is a great bow tech and tuner. 

So yesterday we're at the shop and I just put on some new (high dollar name brand) strings and cables and he looks at me and says, "go lock it in your truck for a couple days and on Monday morning after you get to work we'll start tuning." It's gonna be 94 and 95 here all weekend so it's gonna probably be 120 at least inside my truck. I have to say that honestly I'm still a little hesitant every time I do it, but I've only seen positive results so far. So, I'll keep ya'll updated if anything bad happens.


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## whitworth (Jun 26, 2010)

*When you get to 30 years of age*

Let us know if any thing bad happened.


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## SneekEE (Jun 26, 2010)

I left mine in the truck once, over the weekend. Didnt affect the bow itself, but where the arrow vanes were touching the seat, they got deformed a lil.


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## msds03 (Jun 26, 2010)

i had a mathews mq 1 and left it in my truck one day and went to go to the woods that afternoon and the top limb was split....a big no no to leave in vehicle when it is hot


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## FLGobstopper (Jun 26, 2010)

Ha Ha, I figured I'd get at least one moronic comment out of some know it all. If you have a time machine I can go back 5 years and update you from then. I'll be happy to post some bow and group pics after I get her all back in tune to put your concerns at rest. Id!


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## killNgrill (Jun 26, 2010)

so you leave your bow in a hot vehicle, pull it out and assume because you dont see cracks and it shoots good, that its good to go? delamination is not always visible from the outside. Unless you have a way to NDT it that we dont know about. Good luck with all that.


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## ericflowers (Jun 28, 2010)

I had two different set ups split from this.  First one I happened to notice my limb delaminated before I ever got the chance to get hurt.  The second was two years ago, had my bow hanging on limb hanger and heard a sharp "ting", kept trying to figure out what made the noise.  I thought something had hit my stick ladder and finally noticed my limb had popped a layer.  Had to leave camp for the weekend to get repaired.  Just glad I was aware before I pulled either back, coulda got nasty.  My bow no longer stays in my truck during season.


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## Rip Steele (Jun 28, 2010)

Leave my Hoyt in the truck all the time, and no problems   Thing about a hoyt is if my limb does happen to crack I get a new one ASAP


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## ALL4HUNTIN (Jun 28, 2010)

Cold vs Hot......

I was staying at a hotel one time and leaned by bow against that little under the window A/C unit.. Went out the next morning and took a 20 yd shot at a doe... Shot 10 feet over her back.. Went to the range that afternoon and shot dead on.. Same thing happened the next morning... and shot fine in the afternoon.  I am convinced that leaning up against the A/C unit all nite long and then hunting in the morning made the bow tighten up ALOT to cause that...


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## boothy (Jun 28, 2010)

I wouldn't leave my bow in my hot truck all day long or all weekend.  I have spent to much time and money on it and wouldn't want to take the risk.  

And from my experience cold weather has had very minimal effect on arrow flight.  I have been fortunate to be able to hunt the midwest a few times and on one hunt the temperature never got above 30 degrees for 5 straight days and the lows were in the teens.  I shot my bow on the 1st, 3rd and 5th day, when the riser was so cold it hurt your hand, and never once had an arrow go flying off course.


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## LUCKYLAMB912 (Jun 28, 2010)

I dont know about the rest of you guys but my rig is way to expensive to leave it in the truck in the middle of summer! Apparently some guys have more $$ than they have sense. Just my 2 cents.


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## Alan in GA (Jun 28, 2010)

*other reasons not to leave it in a vehicle....*

*theft
*get out of tune [cooking the string or at least the wax on it].
*my wife might recognize it as a new bow she hasn't seen or known about....................Yeow!


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## Larry Rooks (Jun 29, 2010)

I would not do it in hot weather, cold does not bother me any.  I do know that cold will stiffen the limbs and cause the poundage to increase a tad, and the bow should shoot faster.  I hunted in Ohio in 08, snow, wind, and cold, temp in teens.  I do not carry my bow in and out of cabin when hunting Ohio, but leave it in gold cart so there is no changes from coming our of warm cabin to cold temps.  When the time came, 32 yard shot, I used 25 yard pin and still hit a tad high and the draw weight had increased from
the bottomed out 62 lbs, and the speed had increased some too.  But leave it in vah, closed up in 90 plus degree days, NO.  I had one blow up on back seat one day (Browning) when I did


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## Armyhunter17 (Jul 12, 2010)

This was years ago....some guy from our local shop went out to his truck grabbed his bow (july or aug) to shoot with us as we were tuning our bows.  he pulled back, limb broke slammed into his knee and he went straight to emergency room for a broken knee cap and who knows what else.

Not going to keep mine in the heat at all, not even in garage or shed.  Mine get stored in the house.


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## JohnJohn (Jul 12, 2010)

Keeping it out of the heat probably applies to older bows more than new bows. The quality of limb construction is much higher now than it was 10 years ago. 

Keeping any of your equipment out of extreme temperatures is always a good idea, but in there are circumstances where it is unavoidable.

The hot/cold performance is another arguement.


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## backstrapboy#1 (Jul 12, 2010)

i think think tht its if its colder outside u shoot faster cuz the limbs are stiffer but iv also hear tht it shoots faster when its hotter cuz the arrow is thinner idk which is true wat do yall think


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## Son (Jul 12, 2010)

I've seen bow limbs come apart from being in a hot vehicle. Not worth the chance. Also seen some limbs twist on recurves.


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