Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Drewster on August 09, 2016, 09:46:00 PM
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Many of us, myself included, spend time and worry trying to quieten our bows for hunting......especially recurves. But does it really matter? I'm thinking a deer will hear your bow no matter if it's quiet or noisy......except perhaps on a breezy day.
You hunters with a lot of experience, how much difference does a really quiet bow make?
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I really don't know , but if you look at old pictures of Fred Bear , Howard Hill and others , they don't have silencers .
They also were successful hunters .
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It's as simple as having as many things as possible in your favor. Quiet bow is one of those things you want in your favor!
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Deer will react differently to different sounds. However, it's more a function of their "state of mind." If you shoot while one is looking and is on high alert - it'll be running 180 degrees and 10' away when the arrow goes where the deer was when you shot. But, if you shoot when it's calm and head down and unaware, I've had them not even flinch. In fact - in my compound days I had more than one never move, they just kept doing what they were doing for about 8 seconds and fell over.
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I like a quiet bow, but im doubtful as to the need of it. I personally think a quiet arrow is MUCH more important.
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I have always felt quieter is better. If you hear someone shoot a .22 rimfire at a couple hundred yards no biggie make it a 06 totally different. You can't make them totally silent but quieter certainly doesn't hurt anything.
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I don't shoot well if my bow isn't very quiet.
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I tend to think deer don't always hear the bow. If you have a friend shoot it and you can't hear it from 15-20 feet or so then it's hunting quiet. I know deer hear better than we do but I don't know how much. I have had deer react to bows at 10 yards and also at 30 but those weren't the most quiet bows. A quiet bow never hurt anyone's chances of being successful but a loud bow?
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Graps reminds me of a Fred Bear video that I watched and couldn't believe. It is the one where he is hunting the Grizzly and he misses it with his first shot and leaves and the bear comes back and after sneaking up for another shot, the Grizzly stands up and he puts one right in the boiler room.
I literally was stunned how noisy his bow was. That thing rattled like it had parts loose on it. I don't think a single hunter here would hunt with a bow that was as noisy as that one was. Didn't matter to him at all.....nor did it matter too much to the Grizzly.
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I quiet my bows, but am not obsessive about it. As has been mentioned, a stationary, alert deer will likely hear the bow go off, regardless. A buck doing its rutting walk through fallen leaves in the fall likely won't hear it. At least that's my experience.
I've seldom had deer jump the string. But that's my excuse when I miss. :goldtooth:
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Quiet matters.I was around when most of us did not use silencers and yes people killed game but it wasn't all wine and roses.As soon as we learned about string silencers,everyone started using them.I can't remember a single person that ever went back,if they were shooting recurves.
I've never seen a bear jump the string.I really don't think they do.Regarding the Bear movie,I believe those sounds were dubbed in later.I know the bear sounds weren't real bear sounds.
Of course the animals attitude factors in to it as well as how hard hunted they are in certain areas.Ask guys that hunt Texas.
Animals and people react faster to sounds than their other senses.Higher pitched tones will get more of a reaction than softer,lower pitched one.
Animals coming in to water can be much more high strung and likely to jump that one that just finished drinking.
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In a quiet woods setting (hunting deer and hogs), sound travels.
Sound travels at 1088 Ft./Sec. therefore, an arrow traveling at 200 FPS will arrive at a spot 15 yds. away roughly 5 times slower than the sound of the shot. Regardless of how quiet your bow is, a deer/hog has ample time to react to the shot, thus dropping their body to load their legs, in order to run. My theory is to focus at the lower part of the Brisket, which allows the animal to drop into the arrow's path. It has worked for me and I hope it helps you as well.
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The sound gets there 5 to 5 1/2 times faster than the arrow so I try for the least sound as possible.
The "old timers" used Dacron strings and wood arrows which I think helps.
I try to tune without string silences than add them when I have as little sound as I can get from the bare string.
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I want mine quiet. It might not always help, but it will never hurt.
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It depends on the level of alertness of the deer, but, I never wished I had a noisier bow.
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I think the noise level directly influences the animals reaction.
Less sound=less reaction. It may not influence how quickly an animal reacts, but will definetly affect how "violent" the reaction is.
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I have always been an advocate of a quiet bow over a fast bow, but my hunting partner who has killed more whitetails than I ever will did not use ANY silencers ... I'm sure I have gotten some second chances due to my quiet bow that my partner would not.
I guess he just shoots better the first time :biglaugh:
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I never knew about them adding in the sounds later to that video. I wonder why they would add sounds to make his bow sound loud? You'd think they'd want it to sound as quiet as possible to impress people how well their bows were made.
Oh well, I guess they didn't think that way back then and their emphasis was on other things.
I still love that video and especially the one where he is hunting Cape Buffalo. The guy narrating it is perfect. It's one of the coolest archery videos ever.
Sorry to go off topic.
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In agreement with those who feel it can't hurt. Another factor that just "might" help put that arrow where it belongs.
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Quiet is better in My opinion. It may not help but it certainly will not hurt.
Regarding archers in days of old, they often took looooong shots. I guess the deer wouldn't hear a compound at 80 yards either.
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I didn't mention in my first post that I use silencers . I have one bow that will " TWANG " bad without them and that same bow will shoot better with them .
I think the spine of the arrows are just on the edge of being to weak and the silencers slow it down just enough to get in the sweet spot .
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While silencers weren't often used back in the 50's and 60's, what about brush buttons. Did they help silence the recurves?
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Every time I've put brush buttons on a bow,they increased noise.
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One comment about no silencers quote back in the day......
back in the day animals weren't pressured to the Relentless Pursuit that they are today ....ie less woods and WAY more hunters flood during bow season causing them to be more alert and cautious and wary of sounds
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Alot of good info here of deer reaction.
How alert the deer are, etc.
I believe, deer are more sensitive to noises that are in close proximity to them. An alert deer won't do more than look towards the sorce of a rifle shot from 1000 yards away, but jump out of their skin if they hear a twig snap at 60 yards. We need to be in close proximity to take deer with our equipment, so the quieter it can be the better. Also the pitch I believe matters. A wouldn't think a lower pitch noise would necessarily sound as threatening as a higher pitched sound.
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Originally posted by Graps:
I really don't know , but if you look at old pictures of Fred Bear , Howard Hill and others , they don't have silencers .
They also were successful hunters .
They typically shot heavy arrows, the original bow silencer. They also were typically shooting non fast flight strings, if I'm not mistaken. I know a lot of people claim that fast flight isn't any louder if the string is made correctly, but all of the ones that I have tried have at least seemed louder to me. Not that all fast flight strings I have shot were loud, just not as quiet as a non fast flight string on the same bow. I personally will pick a quiet bow over a fast bow any day. As far as how much it actually affects the animals, I honestly can't say how much of a difference it makes.
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A quiet bow is paramount IMHO especially when using a grunt tube.
I have experienced this on 2 occasions where bucks came into my grunting. They were both on SUPER HIGH alert. Grunting certainly works during rutting periods but he is now looking for us and quite alert.
First buck reacted instantly to my release and the arrow had found his spine.
Second buck, same reaction but my arrow hit too far back. We jumped him 3 days later and never seen him again.
My vote is for a quiet bow over a fast bow.
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I strive to get my bows whisper quite .
What I have noticed in 31 years behind the stick and string is that when a quite bow is used , the recovery of the animal results in a shorter tracking job .
I remember years passed when a friend shot his buck the buck went over 150 yards before expiring on a good shot . The next morning we were shooting a few arrows and I noticed that his bow sounded like a screen door slamming !
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I have had many more follow on shots at game since switching from recurves to very quiet Hill style bows with no silencers. I believe that longbows are not only quieter in volume, but the pitch is something that really wires animals. The lower pitched hummm of a longbow seems to be not as much threat as a high pitched thwang. Of course the arrow makes noise also which may be more of a concern, but I have had them jump at the sound of the arrow going by and then clam down and return because the animal could not pinpoint where the sound originated from.
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Humans can hear lower tones better than deer apparently, and conversely they can hear high frequencies better. Higher frequencies are also more directional in nature (motion detectors use high frequency sound that deer can hear much like a dog whistle).
(http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/rr180/two4hooking/Trad%20Know%20How/Behavioral%20Audiogram%20of%20White-tailed%20Deer_zpspu9tcv1d.jpg) (http://s481.photobucket.com/user/two4hooking/media/Trad%20Know%20How/Behavioral%20Audiogram%20of%20White-tailed%20Deer_zpspu9tcv1d.jpg.html)
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Interesting stuff,two4hooking.I've always noticed that a lower sounding thump seemed fine but the higher pitched tones were a problem.People have been tested to react quicker to noise than visuals and I believe deer are that way too.If deer "jump",it's usually due to noise.I also agree that deer as a whole have become jumpier but can remember having this discussion with friends and installing silencers,on recurves back in the mid-60's.Silence is golden.