I was doing some reading the other day regarding Paul Schafer and that he liked to use an elevated rest on his bows for best performance (which I understand). But it was also stated that he was using vanes on his arrows for durability in the field.
Anyone else shoot vanes off an elevated rest?
Thoughts?
I made up a few arrows with vanes to shoot off an elevated Bear Weatherest. I am still not sure why, but they do fly well. Very good for that rainy day.
I use an elevated rest and blazer vanes. I like the performance I'm getting and the durability of the vanes is nice.
I shot that set up for many years and liked it a lot. Several times I shot a critter, picked up the pass through arrow and washed it off in a creek to use right away.
The vanes seem quieter than feathers as well.
That's what this set up is....
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/cloudydraw.jpg)
Back in the day, that was all my family used. Vanes held up better obviously in the rain. They won't fly well off the shelf, but fly great off an elevated rest. We use to use the Herter's brush rest. It was a small diameter bristle brush about 1/4 in diameter and 3/4 - 1 inch long that you inserted into a hole drilled into the riser at an angle. I still have a few bows with those installed - they never wore out. When the vanes get to looking warped, put them over some steam and they snap back into shape pretty well.
Thanks for the replies!
I have a Bear Weatherrest that I plan on putting on my Silvertip this weekend and trying it out. I have some arrows that should be pretty closely spined that have vanes on them that I plan on trying out.
Plan is to shoot the feathers first, then try a few with vanes.
Here is a Pic of my vaned arrows. I start with 5" Parabolic Marco Vanes, chop them to 4" Shield cuts and install at 4 @ 105 &75 degrees helical left wing. (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x132/recurvehunter_2007/whitevanes.jpg) Heres a pic of a typical bow setup for me. Vanes are waterproof,quiet rubbing against clothing or brush , durable, and quieter shooting than feathers. (http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x132/recurvehunter_2007/ArrowRest-1-1.jpg)
Sergio--great idea! I never thought to chop vanes.
NAP QuikSpins and those little Bohning Blazer vanes work great BTW.
Interesting. So I guess if you shoot off an elevated rest then you have to move your nocking point up a little? Any other adjustments necessary?
I'm using them off an elevated rest, on a DAS with LB limbs...have done alot of testing and I like them alot.
QuoteOriginally posted by Tsalt:
Interesting. So I guess if you shoot off an elevated rest then you have to move your nocking point up a little? Any other adjustments necessary?
Only by the amount (or just a little less) the rest is up from the shelf...things stay basically the same, you just shift things up a half inch or so.
I used vanes off a Jennings rest with a plunger on my Groves Spitfire Mag II the entire time I lived in SE Alaska. I also used a Saunders tab. Never had to worry about the wet weather messing with my gear.
Thanks again for the comments everyone. Just looking at adding one more "trick" to my bag for potentially wet weather.
Sounds like it's a good weekend for some experimenting.
QuoteOriginally posted by Tsalt:
Interesting. So I guess if you shoot off an elevated rest then you have to move your nocking point up a little? Any other adjustments necessary?
Using an elevated rest changes a lot of things, but can be adjusted to with time.
How far your bow is cut to center, and what type of elevated rest you use can be a big factor and can change your arrow tuning drasticlly.
It can also change your sight window perspective as you are moving your string nock up the hill a good 1/2". in some cases where lower grip pressure is applied it can cause a bit more vibration to be felt. if this happens you may need to shift the pressure point on the grip up accordingly. Guys shooting medium to medium high grips shouldn't experience this at all.
Vanes are excellent in rainy weather. :thumbsup: