During freezing rain, slushy snow I kept falling down in, just a complete mess from before sunrise until I crawled back into the tent. One of the days I spent on the mountain this past September came to mind as I'm still looking at getting a wisker biscuit rest.
So will freezing rain and slushy snow freeze the bristles?
APauls yes very concerned. I am using a limb driver rest and kept drawing through out the day to make sure it wasn't stuck. When thinking of that day I picture a biscuit froze solid if it absorbs water or are the bristles made out of a poly type material that dosen't absorb moisture?
I’m with JTV just run your finger through the biscuit and that should keep it loose and if not the silicone silicone lubricant is sure to help. Works for me every time. ;)
If all else fails you could get a sight cover. I know a few guys that shoot lenses and they keep it covered a lot. Wouldn’t be much different.
Here is a great super slo-mo vid of a WB vs a QAD posted 4 days ago on YT. A couple of the commenters noted, as you will see, the WB impacts the vanes and forces the arrow to spin faster - earlier than the QAD. That could be good, could be bad....I don't know for sure really. Maybe the spin drag starts earlier reducing your FPS's over the course of flight??? A chrono would tell ya. Aside from the snow/icing issue, the other concern was any damage the WB might cause to the vanes/fletching. Anyone ever notice that with their WB's?
Not sure what I am to take away from that video. It looked like both rests did fine and the whisker biscuit gave the arrow a jump start with its spin.
I think if a guy is going to start weighing the what could happens of either style the whisker biscuit could have the advantage. Both could freeze and I see more potential to fail in the field with a fall away. For the record I’ve shot both and am about to go back to a biscuit instead of my hamskea.
Go biscuit, go midwest, go somewhere. Somebody's wife needs a shave job.
The video proved nothing. Timing was the same for both arrows. The biscuit with it's max vane contact imparted an earlier spin which is good in my book.
Scrappy, for that day you talk about, it's really tough to be able to say yes it would or no it wouldn't fail. I wasn't there, and we didn't have a biscuit there to play with. What I can say, is that I've never ever worried about my biscuit. I've hunted in some freezing snow, but maybe not as nasty as the day in question.
The upside to the biscuit in that weather imo is that you could run an arrow through it or break it up and have confidence based on how that goes that your shot will be true. With a drop away, I just wouldn't feel that certain - in those conditions. I have absolutely no dog in the fight. But if you simply pull an arrow through the biscuit, you'd know how it felt if it was working or a problem, and could proceed from there. It's a basic, butch rest that simply works. It isn't sexy by any means.
I've hunted and practiced in freezing temps including snow, sleet and freezing rain in NM and hunted in frigid Ohio adverse weather and never had an issue with my biscuit. I bet I've put 30,000 arrows thru it by now too and still performing lights out. With this many arrows, it's pretty safe to say the rest flat out out performs any other rest on the market. This particular rest has been on my D350 since Thanksgiving weekend 2009.
The WB is about as fool proof as an arrow rest comes. It’s been around for something like 15-20 years now I still don’t get all the worry about them after all these years.
Scumfrog the worry was started by some company that was afraid they couldn't sell a drop away if they didn't slam a biscuit. I experience it at my local shop.
If there is a point where the WB becomes inoperable due to inclement weather I haven’t experienced it yet and I’ve hunted some pretty nasty winter weather here in Eastern Ontario. If it ever happens I would think the WB would be the least of your worries as the rest of your set up will be in trouble.
I have never had trouble with the drop away rest freezing or icing up the coldest conditions were in the Arctic at -40 but at those temperatures there’s no precipitation to complicate the issue
