Quote from: Rob DiStefano on December 28, 2025, 06:19:03 AMBow material matters far less than bow/limb design.

100% agree .  imho...adding that the execution of the layout/tiller of said design also being crucial to that noise level or lack-thereof .

I just now found this. ...My absolute best for you Randy ....We are all pulling for you brother !
 

Has there been any talk of anyone continuing to make Dale Dye bows?

What type of rest, or rest material are you using? And, is it elevated? I personally like to shoot my ILF rig off the shelf, but it's slightly elevated. I used a shaped piece of rubber about 1/4" high, then covered it in Velcro.

Some guys like a springy rest, some like a flipper. Both are elevated rests and require a more vertical position when shooting, but can handle a larger spread of spine difference.

I do not spend a lot of time bare shaft tuning arrows either. Where I spend my time is carefully matching the spine on all my shafts using a spine tester. I could care less what my arrows fly like without fletching. I don't hunt with bare shafts....

A little fun fact from a retired heavy equipment operator. Years ago after a telephone repairman came out to replace a emergency splice I made with a tube of silicon after cutting a telephone line, the repairman gave me several repair kits he had on the truck. The potting adhesive that was in the kit was urac 185. I made a hickory backed red oak bow using one of the kits. Gave it to a family member and as far as I know it's still shooting.

It was time to slow down and smell the coffee! Grandkids , bow hunting and fishing now !

Mike's suggestions above are all good.  You may have to go even higher than 3/4" to find true nock high.  It is important to know whether you have true nock high or false nock high, because if you are dealing with false nock high, i.e., shelf bounce, you're not tuning the bow at all.

You didn't mention which riser you have.  Most ILF risers should be tuned at some intermediate position between max high and max low tiller bolt locations.  There are some ILF risers, like the Hoyt Satori, that have stops to prevent the tiller bolts from being set too low, and they can be tightened all the way down like limb bolts on a non ILF riser.  Most ILF risers have instructions about setting the tiller bolts, like "no lower than one complete turn up from bottomed out," or provide marks indicating max low and max high.  Those tiller bolts must be locked into position using the provided tiller bolt locking screws, which are also provided with risers like the Satori in case you want to set the tiller bolts at some intermediate position.  If the tiller bolts on your riser are tightened down further than the recommended position, it will be difficult or impossible to tune and could damage the limbs.

Interestingly I've had a few toelkes with micarta and a few with wood risers. The wood riser ones were across the board slightly quieter. Slightly softer on the shot. The micarta (while still very quiet) had a little louder "thummmm" on the shot. Seems others have had the opposite experience. Maybe it's just being made one at a time by hand, each one has a little different life and feel to it, and the micarta vs wood riser isn't even a factor in sound/vibration.

I'm not much into turkey hunting but I've killed a dozen or so with my bow. I always used same equipment as deer setup. Hunting them from blinds my shots have always been close. One thing I really believe in is shooting them head on or tail on. Better odds of getting the vitals than broadside on, in my experience. My favorite shot is quartering on between the neck and "shoulder". They flip right over and don't go anywhere.

R

I just use my regular whitetail setup as well.  45#@29" and 560 grain arrows.  Definitely, don't need that heavy of an arrow, but that's where I am at with my setup and tuning.