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It’s the time of year again.
Bowhunters are starting to tinker with their gear to prepare for fall. I tweak my arrows on a regular basis. After all, it’s the arrow that gets the job
done. Building and tuning arrows has become
easier than it was ten or twenty years ago.
Small broadheads combined with a fall away rest on a bow usually produce
great arrow flight. However, great arrow
flight isn’t always enough. Sometimes, we
need exceptional arrow flight. More and
more bowhunters are traveling out West to hunt elk and pronghorn. Some hunters hunt caribou on the open tundra
of Alaska or Canada. In these situations, having a super accurate
arrow is a must because 50 and 60 yard shots are not uncommon. When hunting at great distances, arrows must
perform flawlessly to get the job done.
Tim Gillingham from Gold Tip Arrows knows how to get the job done at
great distances.
Gillingham is a diehard hunter and a professional
archer. He has won several national
archery tournaments in the last several years and is one of the best archers in
the world. I have watched him shoot and
it isn’t uncommon for him to hold a tight group at 80 and 100 yards. To get his arrows to fly perfectly at long
ranges, he shoots a lot and makes sure his equipment (including his arrows), is
flying perfectly. To achieve perfect
arrows, he builds his own and believes archers and bowhunters who want
exceptional flying arrows should build their own as well.
Tim Gillingham of Gold Tip with his monster elk he shot in 2007
When
building your own arrows, make sure the inserts are square and glued in
properly so the broadhead is properly aligned with the vanes. Ensuring that everything is square and
aligned can make arrows more accurate, especially at great distances. If you are not sure if your arrow is tuned
perfectly, pick up an arrow spin tester from Apple Archery or Pine Ridge
Archery.
Another
option is spraying your vanes with powder when shooting. If the arrow is coming in contact with the
rest, powder will remain on the rest.
If you shoot a fall away, don’t assume the rest is always out of the
way. Fall away rest cables often
stretch, creating some timing issues.
Regularly check your rest and cables to ensure everything is working
properly. Tim Gillingham uses a new drop
away rest called a Limb Driver. The
cable on the Limb Driver attaches to the upper limb of the bow which eliminates
many of the timing issues associated with drop away rests.
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Gillingham usually fletches his arrows with four or six
vanes. “I have noticed when testing
arrows at great distances that using four vanes causes the arrow to spin more
which produces a more accurate arrow,” Gillingham
explained. When choosing a style of
fletching, remember that there are several options. VaneTec, Duravanes, and Bohning make great
vanes but not all vanes fly the same.
Many bowhunters enjoy shooting high profile short vanes because they
help reduce the chance of an arrow planing.
Gillingham prefers low profile vanes. I recently used low profile
Duravanes and had great success. They
fly great and have a great memory. If a
vane gets bent in my bow case, it bounces back to its original shape quickly
after it’s removed from the case. When
gluing on your own fletch, placing a bead of glue near the front of the vane
after it’s firmly in place on the shaft will help reduce the possibility of the
vane coming off.
Fletching your own arrows is one way of making sure your arrows fly
correctly.
Having an
extremely straight arrow is also important.
Most arrows are sorted for straightness and shipped so the tolerances in
the shafts in a dozen are fairly consistent, but they can be off slightly. The tolerances in inexpensive arrows are even
greater and can especially be noticed at great distances. To help eliminate the problem, cut your
shafts at both ends when fletching them.
According to Gillingham, the
inconsistencies in the shaft are often at the ends and cutting both ends
produces a straighter arrow.
If you plan
to hunt at great distances, practice at great distances. Plan on having a little extra front of center
weight on your arrow, especially if you hunt in windy conditions. An arrow that has plenty of weight in the
front end recovers faster after the shot and isn’t affected as much by the
wind. Gold Tip has a weight system that
allows hunters to add extra weight directly behind the front of the shaft. Other options include using a heavier
broadhead or using an arrow that has extra weight in the front end like a
Carbon Express or a new shaft called the Grizzly Stik, which is actually an
extra heavy tapered shaft that has more weight in the front end.
There are lots of ways to tweak an arrow so it peforms better. These are a few examples to help bowhunters shoot better at longer ranges.
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