Are wood arrows a novelty these days?

[Knawbone]

All I ever have shot and hunted with is wood arrows. Never have liked carbon or aluminum shafts. Carbons don't feel right and aluminum's are noisy.I enjoy building wood arrows and don't find it hard to keep them straight, at least not the softer wood arrows like cedar,spruce and fir.I shoot cedar and fir mostly, but a light weight spruce shaft makes an arrow with a higher FOC if that is you goal. I find that a well tuned wood arrow has fantastic flight characteristics ,which coupled with a razor sharp broad head, will kill any north American game.A stiff spine woodie with a woodie weight and heavy BH on a light weight shaft will get you up around 20% FOC. for the tougher jobs! Heavy woods like ash and hickory make for heavy hitters that are tough to break.No real secrets for tuning,just experiment with spine, shaft weight, length,and tip weight.The combo's are almost endless!

[Plumber]

woodies are alive an well

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I kind of go back and forth..... When you have the time to build a nice set, and get them all balanced out, you just can't beat the satisfaction. I'm a fan of Doug Fir shafts, but have recently got a set of Tonkin Bamboo shafts that are amazing. Heavier than the Doug fir, and darn near as tough as carbon and in some cases more durable than carbon shafts. Great stumping arrows!

But.... I hunt with carbon because they are always dead straight or broken... nothing between. From pouring down rain to hot sunny weather it doesn't effect them like it does wood.

I also like carbon for 3D madness. When you let your hair down and take those crazy shots through brush and long distance. They just hold up better than woodies do and i don't worry about trashing carbon shafts or losing them....  If you go to all the trouble building those purdy wood shafts, it just breaks my heart to trash out a set on a 3D course.

I love woodies!

[ChekDE]

Wood arrows are all I shoot!  Wouldn't have it any other way.  Using port oxford , but have also made Doug fir .  Not,hinny like shooting a bow made by hand and home. Made. Arrows.

[Marc B.]

After I switched to wood I wondered why it took me so long. I love them and wood is all I shoot now.

[Centex]

I love wood arrows, but I agree with Kirk that a day of 3d trashes a good set of arrows.  

[Pat B]

Hell no. Wood arrows have been in style for 12,000 years. I guess the guy needs artificial arrows to go with the training wheels.

[centaur]

Wood is what I shoot. I'm old and set in my ways. I know that carbon is probably more consistent, but I will stick with what has killed millions of critters over the centuries. So far, so good.

[hitman]

Wood is definitely not a novelty. They are  "the"
only thing for me. Sure I have shot aluminum and carbon but always fall back on wood when getting serious. Just me, everyone has their own choice and that's what is good.

[DaDVM]

For some reason I have a lot easier time tuning a wood arrow to fly than with carbon or aluminum. Add the fact that they look good and and make for a quieter arrow and it seems to be a no-brainer for the traditional minded archer.

[Grey Taylor]

Wood and bamboo is all I use.
They work great, are plenty accurate, and they are as consistant as I make them.
I can make a wood arrow beautiful and something to be proud of. A carbon or aluminum will never be anything more than a carbon or aluminum arrow. A wood arrow can be a work of art.

Guy

[Paul/KS]

I have more than a few dozen of wood arrows. Some that I have built and some bought. Really the only type to shoot out of my selfbows.    
They seem to hold up fine in the 3D shoots that I attend...  

[Stumpkiller]

All I shoot is wood.  I tried aluminum briefly around 1980/82 and was disappointed.  Never tried ordering or working with carbon.  I have shot loaners (fired a DART round with carbons - nice!) but I wouldn't know where to begin to select what I needed.  I'm not loosing any sleep over that as I like wood and it works.

Tradition - to me - is what someone taught you and I was taught how to make and shoot wood arrows.  Why look elsewhere?

I like wood.  I enjoy preparing and tapering shafts.  When I make arrows there is no distinction between stumping, bunny hunting, target or deer hunting.  I make them all the same way and enjoy doing it this time of year.

Break a lot, lose a few.  Make some more.

I have developed a lacquer-free system.  All wiped on stains and leather dyes under a poly sealer coat and Sharpies or Pilot markers/pens for cresting.  Simple and low odor.  
 

[Cavscout9753]

Yeah, the durability theme will always come up. I don't do any 3D shoots, the ones around here are pretty compound-centric and if I drive a couple hours to a trad shoot I don't think my shooting skills would be on par with the gas expense, haha. Soon as deer season is over I will turn to hogs (deer season on post has been rough for me this year, haven't seen many and the number of hunters on post has the games nerves about frazzled.) I am looking forward to going back to pugs though. I had a good deal of success last year. Seems winter is the best time to go after them. Its drier, less foliage, and the swamps dont fight back as hard it seems. Hah! That being said, I know the odds of getting a cedar, or any wood arrow for that matter, back after sinking it into a hog is pretty slim. But that doesn't bother me, it will have done it duty. On a related note, 2nd day of deer season a had a pair of 'yotes trotting past my stand about 20 meters away. I lined up on the second one in line and fired. Due to it trotting I hit further back than I wanted. Its back end dropped to the ground and all heck broke loose. It began snarling and turning in circles. Then it reached back and bit my carbon arrow into 3 pieces. This happened in the time it took me to nock another arrow, (I cant even stand to see a coyote suffer if I can help it). I let him finish his butt-dragging turn presenting me with his pump house and loosed what I was sure was the fatal shot. It was a good hit, right in the 10 ring, though he managed with his last breaths to turn back and bite that arrow in half as well. In the end, which immediately followed, I had one dead good sized yote, and 2 broken carbons arrows. Figure if I can break carbon like that, I wont cry if some woodies go out bloody. Oh, I was so impressed with that coyote's will that I kept his tail. Salted it and now it hangs on my oldest boys bedroom door (he insisted on posing for a picture with the rascal). Guess I took the long road to get to that point huh? Sorry.

[thump]

Been shooting wood strictly for the past 20 yrs.

           

[JAG]

If shooting wood arrows is a novelty, then I've got a whole 3 Ring Circus of River Cane in my quiver!
Johnny/JAG

[Jon Stewart]

Make my own wood shafts and hunt with them.

Shoot a wood arrow out of a compound and they are extremely fast and very quiet.  And NO they will not blow up out of a compound.

Casey (Zmonster), welcome home and if you get a chance PM me your mailing address.

[snag]

There are just some things that are "the way they were intended to be". Wood bows and wood arrows are a wonderful match.
It's interesting to me to look back over time. Guys went "hi-tech" with all sorts of things back "in the day". Now we are coming back around to what worked really well before all of this.
Wood bows and wood arrows for me.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Originally posted by thump:
Been shooting wood strictly for the past 20 yrs.

               

Off subject...  but this is a very cool looking bow you have here. Incorporating extended wedges in a one piece riser like that is hot!  Who makes that one bro?   I like it... Kirk

[pete p]

looks like a Kanati??