Over the years of much trial and error, I am sure all of us has had a bow and arrow setup that just felt perfect to us.  Target, hunting, competition it doesn't matter.  But what happens when something goes astray?  What are some of your methods/references you use to get the bow back exactly as it was.  Now I am not talking about a bow square and trying to remember all the measurements for every bow you have. Here are a couple of mine

Every bow and arrow combination that worked great for me I would have my arrows that could be used to reset the bow.

1. The end of my cresting was always set to my brace height measured to a certain spot on my bow.

2.  I also had markings on an arrow and the bow to check tiller.

3.  I had all the string info on a arrow with type, strands, nock point height, serving size.

All this info would be on a short arrow that stayed with that bow and always went where ever that bow went.  

Share some of you tips and trick that you use to duplicate your setups.

good stuff, charlie!    

i always put a tiny sharpie mark on all arrows, 6.5" from the nock throat - my preferred brace height on just about all my longbows.

in a pinch, i use a square folded sheet of paper (any large enuf piece of paper from printer to news) as a bow square - put the string in the fold, line up with the shelf or rest, checking the nock point location.

Charlie...I,too use my home drawn cresting bands as a brace reference...
also a small book travels in my kit that describes my set up for bow style ie curves , longbows etc  but also a detailed description of each individual bow.
I tune the arrows to the brace height I want ... so ts always the same pretty much and I tend to use bows of approx the same make, style and specs .

For my two Blacktails, I have everything written down in a log to the "smallest" detail. Nothing is left to chance or guess work.

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Bow #1

Bow Type: Recurve
Bow Make: Blacktail
One Piece or Take Down (TD): Take Down (TD)
Bow Length: 66"
Bow's Shelf: Cut 3/16" Past Center

Riser: 19"
Limbs: 23.5"

Archer's Draw Length: 30"
Bow Weight at Draw: 42#
Brace Height: 7 9/16"

Bowstring: Flemish
Material: Dyna97
Strands: 12

Nock Point: 5/8"
Nock Material: Brass Nockset (1)

Style: Split Finger (One Over, Two Under)
Tab or Glove: Tab (Bateman)

Fletching: 3, 5" Parabolic (Gateway)
Straight or Helical: Right Helical
Cock Feather: Out

Arrow Material: Aluminum
Arrow Length: 32"
Spine: 2117 (Easton Camo Hunter)

Tip Weight: 200 Grains
Broadhead: STOS 160 Grain 2 Blade Glue On
Broadhead Adapter: Magnus Long 42 Grain 11/32"
Arrow Weight: 637 Grains

Speed: 153 FPS (Feet Per Second)
GPP (Grains Per Pound): 15.16
FOC (Front Of Center): 15.4%

Tuning Method: Stu Miller's DSC, Paper Tune

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Bow #2

Bow Type: Recurve
Bow Make: Blacktail
One Piece or Take Down (TD): Take Down (TD)
Bow Length: 66"
Bow's Shelf: Cut 3/16" Past Center

Riser: 19"
Limbs: 23.5"

Archer's Draw Length: 30"
Bow Weight at Draw: 37#
Brace Height: 7 11/16"

Bowstring: Flemish
Material: Dyna97
Strands: 13

Nock Point: 5/8"
Nock Material: Brass Nockset (1)

Style: Split Finger (One Over, Two Under)
Tab or Glove: Tab (Bateman)

Fletching: 3, 5" Parabolic (Gateway)
Straight or Helical: Right Helical
Cock Feather: Out

Arrow Material: Aluminum
Arrow Length: 32"
Spine: 2114 (Easton Camo Hunter)

Tip Weight: 180 Grains
Broadhead: STOS 145 Grain 2 Blade Glue On
Broadhead Adapter: Zwickey Long 36 Grain 11/32"
Arrow Weight: 550 Grains

Speed: 155 FPS (Feet Per Second)
GPP (Grains Per Pound): 14.86
FOC (Front Of Center): 16.2%

Tuning Method: Stu Miller's DSC, Paper Tune

I've done the cresting trick.

   

A book or magazine can also do for an "emergency" bow square.  I have a 3" x 5" card with all the string and brace-heigh info for each bow in my archery toolbox, but I guess that wouldn't be much help in the field.

I do make up a second identical string (including silencers) for each hunting bow and keep that in my beltpack, though.