Had hunted with the Hoyt Super Rest this deer season when I took out my stickbow- wasn't a fan so back to the drawing board. I had originally used the rest as I was told it would help clean up my poor release.

I purchased Tom Clum's shooting class/clinic deal, going to spend the next couple months figuring out what I'm doing wrong form wise & get that corrected. I'm sure that me chasing my tail tuning while also not having perfect form isn't going to help anything & just cause further frustrations.

In the meantime, rest is getting ripped off & I got some new strike plate material on the way. I am positive it's possible to get great arrow flight off the shelf, and am determined to make it happen.

I went down a tuning rabbit hole, and now am worried that my 2doz + arrows & multiple 200 grain heads are going to be too stiff (had to bump up the brace height to 8.5" to get a good hole through paper), which is 1-1.25" higher than what Brian recommends.

I have to say, as many contraptions that are on my compound, having worked in a shop as long as I did I'm much more comfortable tuning them. Not nearly as fun to shoot however.

I have no problem getting perfect (what looks like perfect) arrow flight off of the shelf.

My release is certainly not perfect, no one's is. As I go to lighter bows I am focusing more on release....heavy bows absolutely can mask a bad release.

Are you shooting a glove or a tab?

Changing the recommended brace height to get a better hole through paper isn't the way to go. By raising the brace height that much you are killing your performance.

 Actually paper tuning using trad gear with fingers isn't going to be very consistent anyway. That method is primarily used for rest adjustment using a center shot rest and a release aid. You get more movement using a tab or fingers, and depending on how far past center your rest is cut, those arrows need to flex more than a center shot set up.

First thing to do is get your bow back down to 7.25" brace, and get rid of the paper tuning set up for now.  Start with basics and let us know what draw weight, draw length, length of arrows, and what spine arrows you are using. That will get you better advice on arrow selection. .02 cents worth

Yep! Share your bow and arrow specs. A pic or video of you shooting would help too. It has been my experience that some shooters (including myself), over estimate their draw length. In our group of shooters we took pics of each other on the range. All but 2 (out of 10) were not drawing as far as they thought they were. That can make a difference in arrow spine, length, point weight. Rest/shelf material. I use soft sided Velcro and many custom bowyers do as well. You have folks here that will help you out!

Off the shelf works just fine with tuning once you get the ups and downs and rights and lefts adjusted out.

One of the things I have never understood is why does raising the brace height make a bow shoot better with a stiffer arrow? I have heard this before; though I have never tried this myself.

In my way of thinking, the longer an arrow accelerates on the string... the arrow should become 'weaker' acting due the longer powerstroke and changes in the dynamic spine.

Regardless, I know that you want to get all that worked out before the big hunt!

I'd say you're beating yourself up a little more than necessary. I'd be willing to bet that about every person on this site has a release that could use some improvement including myself. Having consistent form is very helpful but certainly not vital to getting arrow flight that is acceptable.

After following you other thread pretty closely I agree that it sounds like your arrows were not spined correctly for the bow you're using although I don't believe you ever mentioned what spine or bow weight you're working with.

I agree with Kirk. Forget about the paper tuning and just get yourself some arrows spined in the ballpark and see what's going on. When I first started doing this nearly 20 years ago I never even thought about tuning and I could usually get broadhead tipped arrows flying decent.

A lot of times I think poor arrow flight can be from deflection off the shelf or sight window far more than from a bad release. Sometimes it's a simple as rotating the arrow to get the feathers to clear without deflection.

Quote from: Stringwacker on February 10, 2026, 02:57:16 PMOff the shelf works just fine with tuning once you get the ups and downs and rights and lefts adjusted out.

One of the things I have never understood is why does raising the brace height make a bow shoot better with a stiffer arrow? I have heard this before; though I have never tried this myself.

In my way of thinking, the longer an arrow accelerates on the string... the arrow should become 'weaker' acting due the longer powerstroke and changes in the dynamic spine.

Regardless, I know that you want to get all that worked out before the big hunt!

Here is something to chew on. When raising a brace height above the bowyers recommendation, what it does is it actually lowers the preload tension on the limbs. I'm talking actual string tension at brace. This definitely affects the performance rate. Not only do you have a shorter power stroke, but there is less tension on the string to stop the forward motion of the limbs and less energy gets transferred to the shaft.

The amount past center the shelf is cut out can make a huge difference. The only thing that I could think of having a high brace helping with a stiffer shaft is that the arrow is coming off the string sooner and doesn't make contact with the strike plate as hard. But it's no way to tune arrows... listen to the bowyer and use the recommended brace height for best performance. Then tun your arrows accordingly.

If you would like some enjoyable reading on shooting, Search online for: two books by Fred Asbell "Instinctive Shooting", and "Instinctive Shooting II", and if you like those then find "Advanced Instinctive Shooting". There are a number of booksellers that will include his books to sell. The first two are available at Thrifty Books.