Any opinions on what quietest feather cuts are.
I read taht banana cuts were or that the higher the back part is the noiser.
From my limited experience i think it is a combination of feather cut and how you choose to fletch,straight, offset, or helical.
I shoot shield cut but straight fletch and I don't hear a thing. But I also have some with a tight helical and they do make an extra whoosh sound. Nothing to be worried about but I can hear it.
Just might want to add that to the mix to help make your decision more difficult and confusing... glad i could help. haha
Yea, that cleared it up nightowl. I appreciate it i might just shoot bare shaft and not worry about it. It wont hurt my grouping anyway.Ha ha.
Long read, but you can catch the jist scanning through it...
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=057257;p=9
Parabolic.
lots of factors other then shape as mentioned above
iv found banana and parabolic to be the quietest as far as shape
but more importantly i think it the height of the feather. After reading what JC, Rob DiStefano and others found, was that if the Highest part of the feather is .5 " or less it makes for a much quieter feather.
also amount of Helical will give more noise.
play around with it and find a balance between acceptable noise and good control over the arrow even on a poor release
then go for what brings you the most confidence.
I've found the ones covered with blood after a passthrough sound the best to me. :D
Dave's got it, that thread will tell you possibly more than you want to know. For me, 4" low profile banana in 4x90 configuration.
How ya been Doc? Long time no hear from!
The higher the fletch, the more noise. THe feather gets progressively weaker the farther from the quill you go. Higher cuts vibrate more, which means more noise.
Having said that, is fletch noise a problem?
I like three 4" hand cut nanners with very slight helical.
I certainly may be wrong but it seems that the less degree of angles that are in the shape of feather the quieter it is.
Perhaps other than the Adcock fletch which is a continous taper and straight down perpendicular back with turbulator. Supposedly pretty quiet. I just don't like it stickin in the corner of my mouth.
Yes I would say noise is a big problem.
I've read a few of these type of threads now and had a quick question. Mods, please delete or modify if needed-don't want to hijack...
Have any of you had negative results while hunting because of the noise from fletching? I've heard of jumping the string, do critters also jump the arrow?
Jeremy
I think that they just instinctively react to noise. Normally their reaction involves going down kind of like chambering to be able to spring away.
M2Cents
That was what I was getting at. Maybe I'm missing something, but sound made by an arrow that's only travelling 20ish yards would seem to be a pretty minor issue.
I agree Jeff, about to fletch some and wanted to see what everyone thought about quietest type. Need every advantage i can get.
Quotesound made by an arrow that's only travelling 20ish yards would seem to be a pretty minor issue.
On several occasions I have shot at does at 10-12 yards with a 650ish gr. arrow traveling 175fps. They dropped before the arrow got there.
It does matter.
I think we all have. I'm not convinced that's because of arrow noise, though. I've never seen a bow quieter than an arrow in flight.
Don't I remember reading of someone setting up range tests for this? Standing behind a plate or somethign halfway down a target range? Seems I recall reading that they never heard the arrow before they saw it. Of course, that's human reaction and processing time instead of a whitetail...
Had a chance to shoot inside a large vacant retail building one time. Acoustics greatly amplified fletch sound. Three friends & I shot several different type fletching. All agreed that low profile was much quieter than high profile. Fletch length made some difference but not as significant as height. Helical was noisier than slight offset. To are surprise we found that shield cut was quieter than parabolic. (Always herd the opposite.) Did not try banana cut. Don't know what this means, but if you hunt deer in vacant retail buildings and they hear like 50+ year old humans, than I go with low cut shields with slight offset.
From my experiences,Parabolic would be first followed by Nanners.
Also,I use secondaries and primaries from wild birds,and found secondaries to be a little quiter than primaries.And they stabilized my BH's fine.
The only time I have had them jump was when they either heard an overly loud bow or they saw me drop the string.Gary
Parabolic cut is the quietest by far. Banana and raptor cut sounds cool if you're not worried about noise
My own tests of every cut and every length I could get my hands on at the time showed that 2" Rayars were the quietest in flight.
Banana's came a close second.
All fletched helical where louder than if fletched either straight or with a slight off set.
If a person can hear an arrow in coming,then a deer with much better hearing plus the ability to pin point sound is certainly going to hear it coming,,,is that important ??.
To me it is,but I guess it depends on weather you just missed due to an animal not being there when your arrow arrived I guess.
Jeff, I did that same test myself and I heard "every" arrow coming in.
I really think we need to take those types of test with a grain of salt,and I did those tests due to being given the chance to hunt some very high pressured deer with a well proven record for string jumping.
On that trip 3 of us bought meat home,but there were 2 animals clean missed due to string jumping.
Both those animals were missed by guys shooting very quite longbows but big heavy helical feathers on their arrows.
I was shooting my Dorado "not the quietest bow" but I was using straight fletched Rayzar feathers on my arrows.
Of course,it could of simply been luck on my side on the day,,,but we'll never really know huh.
When I started hunting I was told by an older hunter that if I could hear something at 5 yards,a deer would hear it at 20.
That's proven to be pretty much correct,and I can hear the arrow in flight.
I personaly belive string jumping is a reaction to both bow and arrow flight noise,so I try to keep them both down as much as I can.
Cheers.
So me with my 4" shields, just screwed?
Get close ..... and hold low!
4 inch shields are almost as perfect as 5's! Maybe a 3 blade does something to offset some fletch noise?
4" sheilds have worked well for a lot of people for a real long time,,,most of this stuff is just interesting theory,,,a bit like reloading,,no matter what I think is perfect,,there's always somebody else that can prove their ways better.
The internet an camp fires,,,worlds apart but both real good for this thing huh.
the slower the arrow the less noise it is likely to make but i shoot bannana cut its not as loud as some but mine r like 4.5 inch as low as my chopper will adjust. some a quieter than others depends on how well they fletch up . i can make a dozen and all the same and some will be louder than others. find the least noisiest and pull it out to hunt with. p.s i shoot fast.190fps.cause i like a flatter tradjectery.
QuoteOriginally posted by Northwest_Bowhunter:
So me with my 4" shields, just screwed?
:archer:
Adcock fletch for me, then 4x4"x.5" nanners. but as you can tell from the replies YMMV.
Guys, deer and other animals hear the sound of feathers swooping and swishing all the time. Don't you hear it too when hunting? Your shot is just another bird flying past. :thumbsup:
And they quickly react if a bird flys close by them as well..just like an arrow.
Has anyone ever tried a 3 in shield cut?This to me is the quietest fetching i have ever used,it flies better then my 4 parabolic and 5's with no noise what so ever.
Eric,your 3" sheild is more or less a 1" longer Rayzar style.
I'd use them in a heart beat.
Something they point out on the site that makes the Rayzar is that they only cut one from each feather, and it's cut from the stiffest part of the feather,,I belive that has more to do with how quite they are rather than the actual shape.
What site sells rayzer cut. Will it stabilize abroadhead with a wide cut like a centaur or Simmons
Most of the animals reaction is from the bow, not the arrows.
Don't believe me,,....try just plucking your string with no arrow on it when some does are around and see what happens.
Yep...I've done it.
Want to really test this and see? Go to TX and hunt over a feeder, and when the deer gather around, shoot an arrow over the feeder with NO feathers on it and see what happens. You will find out its the bow.
I've had plenty of success killing animals for years with 5.5 inch shields 3 fletch, and 5 inch shields 4 fletch.
Get your bow quiet and go hunting....and learn where the aim at the animals based on local tendencies, posture,weather, and body language.
When I started bowhunting, 38 years ago, I used a Bear Griz, and wood arrows, and had deer jump string. Before my last shoulder surgery, I was shooting a Matthews Q2, and had deer jump string, with straight fletched vanes. Now after the surgery, I'm gonna shoot parabolic, slight helical, and aim for lower third. It's worked thus far. I think bow noise, is far more important than fletch noise. Arrow material being second. Aluminum arrows make a metallic sound, carbons seem to make more noise than cedar. Just my experience, which means little to anyone but me. Good luck, but arrow noise, is the least of my worries. Just my 2 cts.
QuoteOriginally posted by The Butcher:
Good luck, but arrow noise, is the least of my worries. Just my 2 cts.
Amen....along with a lot of other distracting 'static' that folks take as gospel as of late and fret over. Get your equipment tuned, your shooting attuned, your heads sharp, and get inside the mind of the game your are chasing......and it will all work out.
Terry, -Sound- Advise...
I totaly agree with DesertDude. ;)