Off the shelf works just fine with tuning once you get the ups and downs and rights and lefts adjusted out.

One of the things I have never understood is why does raising the brace height make a bow shoot better with a stiffer arrow? I have heard this before; though I have never tried this myself.

In my way of thinking, the longer an arrow accelerates on the string... the arrow should become 'weaker' acting due the longer powerstroke and changes in the dynamic spine.

Regardless, I know that you want to get all that worked out before the big hunt!

 

Yep! Share your bow and arrow specs. A pic or video of you shooting would help too. It has been my experience that some shooters (including myself), over estimate their draw length. In our group of shooters we took pics of each other on the range. All but 2 (out of 10) were not drawing as far as they thought they were. That can make a difference in arrow spine, length, point weight. Rest/shelf material. I use soft sided Velcro and many custom bowyers do as well. You have folks here that will help you out!

I thought i'd share a little adventure i'm having trying to hit draw weight on a carbon backed hybrid long bow. I think think is a record for me. after 18 years of building these things i've had my share of missed draw weights on custom bows, but its rare that i miss one 15# low... My biggest boo boo's are usually coming in way to heavy on glass limbs. i've learned i can deal with about a 12# reduction Max on glass backed limbs depending on draw weight required, by narrowing the width profile, trapping, and sanding glass.   But carbon backed limbs you only have width profile, trapping, and sanding belly glass. ( i don't ever use carbon on the belly side of my limbs.)

Well this particular long bow has a 19" riser with long carbon backed limbs at 64" length, and i have very few entries in my bowyers log for carbon backed limbs at the  40 @ 30" draw weight range. and the entries i do have was for a matrix carbon i no longer stock So i was pretty much guessing at my stack height and i failed miserably coming in at 25 @ 30" at rough profile  tiller check. I always leave a wee bit of extra width in my rough profile for weight and balancing adjustments. On this one i used the .015 Twill carbon over stable core for my backing. I had excellent results with light draw weight RC limbs doing this, and get excellent torsional stability. So i thought i'd give it a go on my hybrid limbs.  WRONG!  Way to light... 

Considering i always check my draw weight before doing my tip overlays, i decided to put the limbs back in the form and add another layer of carbon. it's a tricky procedure, but i've pulled it off before.

After getting that done i got her back on the tiller tree and am now 18# heavy at
 58 @ 30".        go figure. So now i'm eyeballing these limbs thinking i have got a serious carbon matrix backing on this baby, and am going to narrow this set of limbs skinny as a whip and see if i can shave 18# off.    

I know...i know... This sounds crazy. But if i can pull this off i might have a serious set of hot rod limbs here. I might have to blow the dust off the chronograph and see if i can ring the bell with these limbs....   

I thought you guys might find this story entertaining.... i'll come back and let you know how it comes out.... Time to do a little thrill seeking here. 

I started shooting this year and bought a cheap OMP Smokey Mountain Hunter from a local shop.  Fell in love with shooting trad again and went today to another local shop to look at longbows and looked at a Striker Classic. 

Does anyone have any experience with the Striker Classic?

Someone got a helluva deal considering those hardly ever come up for sale let alone at that price 

 

Changing the recommended brace height to get a better hole through paper isn't the way to go. By raising the brace height that much you are killing your performance.

 Actually paper tuning using trad gear with fingers isn't going to be very consistent anyway. That method is primarily used for rest adjustment using a center shot rest and a release aid. You get more movement using a tab or fingers, and depending on how far past center your rest is cut, those arrows need to flex more than a center shot set up.

First thing to do is get your bow back down to 7.25" brace, and get rid of the paper tuning set up for now.  Start with basics and let us know what draw weight, draw length, length of arrows, and what spine arrows you are using. That will get you better advice on arrow selection. .02 cents worth

This is Henry's first ShrewHaven deer. I put him in my favorite treestand, and helped with the trail and drag (a short drag, he is a superb bow shooter). Since this day in November of 2018, we have become great friends. Henry is possibly the most enthusiastic traditional bowshooter I have ever met....I am forever envious of his energy! It was a natural to partner with Henry on the Asbell Legacy Bighorn and Traditional Woodsman Longbow.

I have no problem getting perfect (what looks like perfect) arrow flight off of the shelf.

My release is certainly not perfect, no one's is. As I go to lighter bows I am focusing more on release....heavy bows absolutely can mask a bad release.

Are you shooting a glove or a tab?