I have alwys thought that the cock feather on the arrow was supposed to be pointing straight away from the bow. I have noticed on a couple of traditional bow hunting shows they had the cock feather pointing straight up. Can someone please explain which way is the best or if it really even matters.
Thanks!
If you listen to Black Widow Bows, they recommend the cock feather be either straight up or straight down. On the other hand, Jack Howard recommended the cock feather be turned into the riser. And then there is the conventional thought of the cock feather turned out. So, go figure. Whatever works for you.
I shoot 4 Fletch so I don't have to worry about that.
With a well tuned set up it shouldnt matter with most bows. When I fletch mine they are cock up as thats the way my jig is set up. I also pick up arrows someone else fletched and they may be cock out. Some non-center cut longbows may be a little more touchy about its fletching but you wont know till you shoot the different setups.
Only reason for it is to help you index the nock to the string visually. Put it where it makes sense to you. The other consideration is fletch clearance for whatever rest you are using. Most folks seem to like the fletch in the corner - and that results in the cock-feather sticking straight out from the riser.
I want my feathers at 12-4-8, but on few bows for whatever reason it doesn't work and with the cock feather straight down they have the best flight.
I'm RH and would prefer LW feathers cock feather out,they gave me the best clearence on my wood arrows.When I would fletch with RW feathers I would fletch the cock feather straight up with a TM nock reciever on my Jo jan.But these days with tunable nocks I just rotate them for best clearence.Just the way I preferred in the days before tunable nocks on most carbons and aluminum.
I fletch them so the cock feather is oriented out. then I shoot them cock feather out, or sometimes in, seems to shoot just fine either way and it evens out the wear on the feathers