Bow Hunters ?

Bow Season opens the 10th here. Unfortunately the recurve I was using last year has a failing limb. I have a cheap one that was a mess but after some tuning supplied by my limited experience I managed to correct a major issue.

Here was the flight shortly after release.



And here it is after changing the arrow rest.



No sights but best I can tell it is pretty good on the left and right, maybe just a tad left. Is there some way to correct that or is it something I will have to anticipate when taking the shot.

Your using correct arrow and rest to fit that bow?

Correct.

Veins or feathers on that rest?

Vanes were still giving me a problem with the tail flying higher than the tip even after the arrow rest change so feathers it is.

Could be gripping bow to tight that can cause you to be off left or right.

Shoot it bare shaft and go from there.

Ah, this I will have to add to the mental check list.

Shoot it through paper at 10 feet. The shape of the hole made by the arrow passing through the paper will tell you what is wrong with your rest and or nocking point.

You must have a good camera. Nice pictures.

I have slow motion footage that I grabbed those pictures from. I would post the video but when I upload it to a host it plays back in normal speed.

This also a few pics of the arrow in a soft target.

Does it matter if I use a target point or broad head when shooting the paper?

As long as they're the same weight.

You shooting from the bow shelf? Or off elevated rest?
Vanes wont work of the shelf. They kick up.
If you're right handed and the tail kicks left your under spined, use a lighter point or lower brace height a tad.

If your shooting veins over the wrong rest that is common try feathers that might do the trick. If your shooting off of mole skin or a shelf I’d about guarantee it. Even on some arrow rests the veins sit different to clear the rest.

Love shooting the English Yew Longbow….But I ain’t no Howard Hill…

First off it needs to be feathers off the shelf. Otherwise youll never get consistency. I doubt those are the correct arrows for the bow. No offense. So how do you get the right arrow?

The use of a modern phone with slow mo video over and above you will tell you alot. Paper can also suffice. 10’ away level and square to your bow shelf

Start with the arrow you want to use, but preferably long. Start with your nock 5/8” high. Shoot until you have a flat nock indication out of the bow. If your nock is flying right looking at your back, at the target thats good. That means your spine is weak. Start to shorten your arrow until your nock leaves good holes in paper or good flight out of the bow via video.

After this you can bare shaft and shoot broadheads and see if they all group together. Times a tickin…..

I still have a bunch of 5" feathers and a Left Wing Bitzenberger fletching jig if you want to go crazy making your own arrows.

Some time ago a friend gave me an E-Z Fletching Jig. I will have to try and find it.

Are you still shooting with a recurve? If so switch to feathers they are more forgiving off the shelf of the bow. Try not to grip the bow, just a gentle hand shake.

I can't imagine trying to get good arrow flight out of a recurve shooting off the shelf. I tried Zwickey broad broadheads out of a well tuned compound and couldn't get the things to fly. All over the map. Good luck.

I shoot a reflex deflex bow off the shelf and its deadly accurate. Its al about tuning.

If you shoot veins that makes sense but feather shooter have been doing it forever, we added a stick on flipper rest to get away from the shelf rest.

Aint sure but those is look like a TOTAL disaster!

Aint sure but those is look like a TOTAL disaster!

With field tips or broadheads or both. I've never been a recurve guy so I had to Google how to tune one. Basically just what I thought. Cenershot if you have a rest capable of achieving it, nock and brace height and tiller.

The video I watched was made by an Olympic archer and he said he worries more about group than arrow flight. I don't know how you would ever stabilize a Zwickey to fly straight if you don't have good arrow flight. You might get away with it if you were shooting a small diameter lightweight broadhead. Fingers would only compound the issues.

I heard you the first time.

Don't think it has been mentioned but the knocking point could be off. Looking at the first pic I say high if it's that.

I shoot single bevel 175 grain grizzlies on cheap easton aluminum arrows with fletching. They shoot just the same as when I shoot points. I spent a good week or two tuning with bare shafts to find what was consistent and not me over gripping or plucking.

It was. It was adjusted along with an arrow rest added to get the arrow off the shelf.

While I can’t get the slow motion video to load, the video I posted can be slowed down by taking the following steps if anyone wants to view it that way.

Open a YouTube page. Search for the video by Hobbietone img0377. Once you pull the video up.....

I shoot 3 different recurves, 2 takedowns and a 1 piece, and a 1 piece reflex/deflex longbow. All are shot off the shelf. The arrows I shoot are a mix of carbon, aluminum, and good old Port Orford cedar. The cedar are a breasted shaft. They start out as a 23/64 dia shaft. The nock end tapered about 10 inches to 5/16. The point end is tapered ten inches to 11/32. They fly like darts with both field points and broadheads, either snuffers or Wensel Woodsmans, both 125 grain. They spine 45/50 pounds. The cedars shoot well out of them all. For the aluminum it's either 2016 or 2018 depending somewhat on bow poundage. The carbon are a little more finicky. I need 3 different spine weights and have to play around with some length and point adapter/insert weights. All shafts get a 7 inch vinyl wrap and are fletched with three 4 1/2 inch banana cut feather that I chop myself They all fly to the same spot I might add with field points and broadheads. I personally prefer shooting wood in any of them.

Paper tuning and bare shafting are totally dependent on form and technique. When I worked in the archery shop we would shoot thru paper using a device called a Hooter Shooter when we were done with the tune. It would take all the human influences out of the shot. This process was used on compounds. Didn't work so good for stick bows. For those it was just a regime of practice and coaching from a more advanced shooter. In my hay-day i could take a bow and shaft combination that was a very good set up and punch bullet holes or cut the paper in half at will. Conversely I could take a set up that was out of whack and after a couple shots to see what was going on could produce a bullet hole without changing a thing. Again it's all technique. Bare shafting is much the same. Never bare shaft using a broadhead. If things are a little out of whack the blades will act like wings on a plane and go who knows where, especially with a 2 blade head.

If I knew bow weight and measured draw length I could be of more help. The spine weights of the shafts you are trying would also be helpful.

Sorry Hobbi but with that rig set up the way it is I would say a archery hunt with it is out of the question. This year.That is if you have any respect for the quarry .there is a process whereby a shelf bow can be made to shoot very well with nothing more than hair rest. The spine, length of the arrow ( these two are interrelated) weight of the point also interrelated and the poundage of the bow. All work off each other. I have two 60’s and one 72 pound recurve s that can be made to paper test almost as well as a Mathew Z7 with a fall away rest. Funny thing is one of the sixties shoots the arrows that diled in with the 72# Saxon Sellkirk
Another thought I your bow tillered for split finger or three under.

I got plenty of time.

Thought you were talking about the 10th.

Today is only the 7th. lol

So give us your poundage, bow length, draw and arrow length.

After hours of shooting and adjusting my form and then hours of repeating said form I went back to making adjustments to the rest and nock point. I’m certain there will be some unknown when there is actual game in front of me but I will continue to practice my form over the next three days as much as I can.

It took me 6 sheets of paper to get here, another dozen or so shots with the only variation being where on the paper I hit.



It can probably be dialed in a little more but I’m gonna give it a couple days and then paper shoot before the big day. The results of that will determine if I’m hunting with the recurve or the compound.

If you followed my hunt last year you know my ambush spot will give me a shot inside of 10yds.

A young fella hunting bear with me this year showed up with single bevel broadheads. Two hundred and forty dollars for three broadheads. Ouch!

I want to thank everyone for their input. Feeling pretty good about the adjustments I have made. Can’t remember who posted the “paper guide” and then took it down but I screen shot it while it was up and it helped tremendously.