Who's shooting? Tuning? Tinkering?

[bowhunter1023]

Well worth the watch. He played a key role in my early archery career and while I don't like what the Bone Collector brand has done for "bro'ing up" hunting, he's definitely earned his street cred. He makes some great points, which I can fully support as someone who has killed deer with 9, maybe 10 different broadhead and arrow combos. I've always shot heavier arrows, but that was mostly by happenstance up until 6-7 years ago when it become more of a conscious effort. The funny thing for me is that I'm a natural risk-taker, yet the one place I actively try to mitigate risk, is now in my arrow/broadhead combo. More interesting to me is that the worst experience I have had with a broadhead, has been a fixed blade, but to Michael's point, that was a ME problem and not a broadhead problem. He speaks a lot of truth in this video and I'm thankful that TOO mirrors his advice pretty well.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Someone say heavy arrows?!?

I've been shooting this general setup since this time last year and am sold on them. Yeah, it slows my bow down a bit, but it also makes it dead silent and smooth as a baby's behind. These are Easton Axis 5mm 260s with 75 grain brass inserts, cut to 30.875", and weighing 430 +/- grains without points (125s), nocks, and vanes. FOC comes in right at 12.3%.

 

[Tipmoose]

@bowhunter1023 Ive seen ya shoot and know what you can do with that set up. So this is not intended as criticism. Its curiosity. Do you find that this set up limits you in any way that a faster, lighter set up would not? For example, since we were talking about THP and pronghorns earlier, would you shoot this arrow at a pronghorn at 50 yards? What about a muley at 60?

The reason Im asking is because there's no way I would take a 50 yard shot at anything with my slow DXT. But I would with my crossbow. 440 fps vs 240 makes a difference to me.

 

[bowhunter1023]

@bowhunter1023 Ive seen ya shoot and know what you can do with that set up. So this is not intended as criticism. Its curiosity. Do you find that this set up limits you in any way that a faster, lighter set up would not? For example, since we were talking about THP and pronghorns earlier, would you shoot this arrow at a pronghorn at 50 yards? What about a muley at 60?

The reason Im asking is because there's no way I would take a 50 yard shot at anything with my slow DXT. But I would with my crossbow. 440 fps vs 240 makes a difference to me.

Well, there's no antelope or mule deer in Ohio, and I don't have any plans to hunt them where they live with this setup, so those hypotheticals are really not on my radar, nor are they why I built these. If I were hunting those two animals, I'd build a flatter shooting arrow.

As for whitetails, I haven't shot a deer over 40 yards since 2007 and this arrow isn't intended to do work beyond that range. That said, I'm routinely putting 3 arrows in a softball at 50 during practice and given the right conditions, I'd take that shot on a whitetail. My bow is about as quiet as they come, so on a calm whitetail and a little ambient nature sounds, I'm not worried about the heavier arrow finding the mark. I haven't shot a deer at an unknown distance in quite a while and I practice at odd yardage, so I have a great feel for my arrow flight from 15 to 55 yards. If I booger up a shot, it's on me, not the arrow.

To your specific question, yes it's limiting, but every gear choice we make is limiting in some way, shape, or form. A 350 grain arrow with a Rage might fly flat and make you uber confident out to 60 yards, but you better hit your mark or you'll see the limitations of that particular setup.

 

[jagermeister]

Assuming the archer does his part and judges yardage correctly, I would argue the heavier arrow would perform better even at 50-60 yds over lighter arrows… from a penetration standpoint, and a noise/sound/animal reaction standpoint.

 

[Tipmoose]

Well, there's no antelope or mule deer in Ohio, and I don't have any plans to hunt them where they live with this setup, so those hypotheticals are really not on my radar, nor are they why I built these. If I were hunting those two animals, I'd build a flatter shooting arrow.

As for whitetails, I haven't shot a deer over 40 yards since 2007 and this arrow isn't intended to do work beyond that range. That said, I'm routinely putting 3 arrows in a softball at 50 during practice and given the right conditions, I'd take that shot on a whitetail. My bow is about as quiet as they come, so on a calm whitetail and a little ambient nature sounds, I'm not worried about the heavier arrow finding the mark. I haven't shot a deer at an unknown distance in quite a while and I practice at odd yardage, so I have a great feel for my arrow flight from 15 to 55 yards. If I booger up a shot, it's on me, not the arrow.

To your specific question, yes it's limiting, but every gear choice we make is limiting in some way, shape, or form. A 350 grain arrow with a Rage might fly flat and make you uber confident out to 60 yards, but you better hit your mark or you'll see the limitations of that particular setup.

Thank you! Again, Im not throwing shade at your build at all. With my old slow bow, I can't afford much more of a slowdown so I am still shooting something lighter. I view mechs as one more thing that can go wrong, so I shoot a fixed blade. Just trying to learn what you've already figured out.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Thank you! Again, Im not throwing shade at your build at all. With my old slow bow, I can't afford much more of a slowdown so I am still shooting something lighter. I view mechs as one more thing that can go wrong, so I shoot a fixed blade. Just trying to learn what you've already figured out.

I shoot a 2007 model Switchback XT that wasn't a speed bow when it was built, let alone 14 years and 15-20K arrows later. With all due respect, not being able to "afford" a slowdown is a mental thing more than it is a mechanical issue. And JB makes a great point about down range penetration at longer distances.

Now, here's the disclaimer, I killed most of my deer with a 490 grain arrow and only a handful with anything heavier, so I'm still experimenting. But based on my last 2 buck kills and my practice sessions last year and this year, I'm in no way regretting the heavier builds. I may have went a little overboard with these, but there's only one way to know for sure and that's to turn them loose on some live targets. I may go back to a 300 shaft with a 50 grain insert and cut at 29" so I'm closer to 575, but only if I see a reason to do so. Reading my chronograph isn't enough of a reason to abandon them yet. BTW, I'm still shooting these at 260 fps.

 

[Geezer II]

Someone say heavy arrows?!?

I've been shooting this general setup since this time last year and am sold on them. Yeah, it slows my bow down a bit, but it also makes it dead silent and smooth as a baby's behind. These are Easton Axis 5mm 260s with 75 grain brass inserts, cut to 30.875", and weighing 430 +/- grains without points (125s), nocks, and vanes. FOC comes in right at 12.3%.

View attachment 134919View attachment 134918
View attachment 134920

Jesse do you put any degree of off-set on your vanes

 

[bowhunter1023]

Jesse do you put any degree of off-set on your vanes

I shot a 1° straight offset 3 fletch for years. These are a true right helical. I prefer the 1° offset for my 3 fletched arrows, but found the true right helical flew better when it came to the 4s than the usual straight offset.

For the good of the order, Geezer and Milo taught me how to fletch arrows using a beer bottle circa 2006. In the words of Slim Shady: "they created a monster..."

 

[Big_Holla]

 

[bowhunter1023]

I realize there's a shit ton of YouTube videos on building arrows, but would it be helpful if I did one walking guys through my process? I thought it might be more relatable and hopefully, educational for the TOOville crowd.

 

[Wildlife]

I realize there's a shit ton of YouTube videos on building arrows, but would it be helpful if I did one walking guys through my process? I thought it might be more relatable and hopefully, educational for the TOOville crowd.

Count me in, I'll definitely watch it. I'm sure I'll learn somethin. You're far more into it than I. I look forward to it!

 

[OhioWhiteTails]

How about when you record the video, you fletch a dozen for me and we'll all watch.

 

[bowhunter1023]

How about when you record the video, you fletch a dozen for me and we'll all watch.

Send me the spec and/or parts and I'll do it before Strouds.

 

[Sgt Fury]

When I was younger, I’d shoot a minimum of an hour a day after work and 4-8 hours on weekends. Every Sunday our crew went to a bow shoot in either NJ, Delaware, Maryland or Pennsylvania. I belonged to every club in the tri-county archery association in NJ. Picked the brains of every good shooter that I could. Got to where I was shooting a 552-556 out of a perfect score of 560. I was shooting softball sized groups at 60 yards and nickel sized groups at 20. Then when I hit 40 years old, all of my friends had kids that were graduating high school, going to college, getting married, etc. Everyone dropped out of the shooting circuit and I started work at a new garage that had pretty much unlimited overtime. Stopped shooting around 2005. Since then I’ve had ulnar nerve surgery in my left arm, torn bicep surgery in my right arm, and also my eyesight has diminished along with the strength that I used to have. All of this stuff I’m reading has really got me wanting to get back into it!! The only thing holding me back is that I KNOW I will never be as good as I once was, and that’s a hard pill to swallow. Maybe shooting a lighter poundage and a lighter bow could help me get back into it. I really do miss the bow shoots and ball breaking that went along with it. I’m also retired, so I do have the time to put in…just don’t know if the body will allow it. I’ll keep my eyes open for a used (but not too old) Hoyt bow and give it a go. I still have dozens of arrows and all of the tools needed to build my own. I still have a Mathews hanging in the basement but it’s around 15 years old…maybe older.

 

[Milo]

If you do one, I can see if I can do one as well.

 

[bowhunter1023]

When I was younger, I’d shoot a minimum of an hour a day after work and 4-8 hours on weekends. Every Sunday our crew went to a bow shoot in either NJ, Delaware, Maryland or Pennsylvania. I belonged to every club in the tri-county archery association in NJ. Picked the brains of every good shooter that I could. Got to where I was shooting a 552-556 out of a perfect score of 560. I was shooting softball sized groups at 60 yards and nickel sized groups at 20. Then when I hit 40 years old, all of my friends had kids that were graduating high school, going to college, getting married, etc. Everyone dropped out of the shooting circuit and I started work at a new garage that had pretty much unlimited overtime. Stopped shooting around 2005. Since then I’ve had ulnar nerve surgery in my left arm, torn bicep surgery in my right arm, and also my eyesight has diminished along with the strength that I used to have. All of this stuff I’m reading has really got me wanting to get back into it!! The only thing holding me back is that I KNOW I will never be as good as I once was, and that’s a hard pill to swallow. Maybe shooting a lighter poundage and a lighter bow could help me get back into it. I really do miss the bow shoots and ball breaking that went along with it. I’m also retired, so I do have the time to put in…just don’t know if the body will allow it. I’ll keep my eyes open for a used (but not too old) Hoyt bow and give it a go. I still have dozens of arrows and all of the tools needed to build my own. I still have a Mathews hanging in the basement but it’s around 15 years old…maybe older.

I'm shooting a 14 year old Mathews. Pretty sure it'll fit the bill if you want it to.

 

[Big_Holla]

When I was younger, I’d shoot a minimum of an hour a day after work and 4-8 hours on weekends. Every Sunday our crew went to a bow shoot in either NJ, Delaware, Maryland or Pennsylvania. I belonged to every club in the tri-county archery association in NJ. Picked the brains of every good shooter that I could. Got to where I was shooting a 552-556 out of a perfect score of 560. I was shooting softball sized groups at 60 yards and nickel sized groups at 20. Then when I hit 40 years old, all of my friends had kids that were graduating high school, going to college, getting married, etc. Everyone dropped out of the shooting circuit and I started work at a new garage that had pretty much unlimited overtime. Stopped shooting around 2005. Since then I’ve had ulnar nerve surgery in my left arm, torn bicep surgery in my right arm, and also my eyesight has diminished along with the strength that I used to have. All of this stuff I’m reading has really got me wanting to get back into it!! The only thing holding me back is that I KNOW I will never be as good as I once was, and that’s a hard pill to swallow. Maybe shooting a lighter poundage and a lighter bow could help me get back into it. I really do miss the bow shoots and ball breaking that went along with it. I’m also retired, so I do have the time to put in…just don’t know if the body will allow it. I’ll keep my eyes open for a used (but not too old) Hoyt bow and give it a go. I still have dozens of arrows and all of the tools needed to build my own. I still have a Mathews hanging in the basement but it’s around 15 years old…maybe older.

I wish I kept my old Mathews Q2 from back in the day. It was so easy to shoot and shoot very well with that bow. My Elite E-35 is just as pleasant and easy draw but the memories of shooting that Q2 are still there. I am confident in saying it's never too old of a bow to get it back into shooting it, like @bowhunter1023 is saying.

 

[Wildlife]

I'll still have my 2009 Mathews SoloCam Reezen 6.5 @70# as my backup to my 2015 Mathews 'NoCam' @65# that I use today. Both are great bows IMHO. I love them both and both are ready to rock-n-roll for action!

EDIT: I should also add, I gave my youngest brother last year my oldest Mathews SoloCam as his first bow, that he intends to hunt with when he makes it out to my place hopefully for sure this season. It will be the first time ever that we've hunted together. He served 24 years in the marines. You can read about it if you like in my last years hunting journal when he stopped out for a few days at my place.

I guess you can say I'm a Mathews fan boy even though my first compound was a Hoyt when I was teenager.

 

[Big_Holla]

Should say new strings make the big difference in old bows.