Have you ever thought, “Hey, that bow I haven’t used for a while, how about I get it out of its case and give it a little workout?”
Then, you open the aforementioned case and you find bow hair all over the place, and it looks like someone slit right across the hair with a knife.
That happened to me recently, and I was surprised to learn what had actually happened when I went to get the bow re-haired. It turns out that some tiny insects decided that my bow hair would make a great meal. These little creatures are so small they can’t be seen by the naked eye, but they definitely leave their mark.
The good news is, there are ways to prevent these invisible beasts from wreaking havoc in the first place.
Get a little spray bottle of an all-purpose insecticide and give the inside of your bow case a good spray, then leave it open to dry. Do the same with the bow hair, assuming it hasn’t already been devoured – that will make sure there aren’t any leftover insects ready to chow down again. You shouldn’t have to do the spray thing more than once a year at most.
But there is something way easier and very effective – once again, sunlight is the best disinfectant, and these little pests are anything but immune.
The easiest thing to do to protect any kind of bow is to hang it on a nail in a wall, on a hook, or any other place where it can get daylight, and if possible, leave your bow case open. It shouldn’t be in direct sunlight – we don’t want anything getting warped – but the brighter, the better! Just don’t keep your bow in a closed bow case for months on end, and you should always be good to go.
Written and added on July 1, 2025