Vanes for hunting?

[parker1]

Does anyone use 3" vanes with fixed blade broadheads? I have been using the 4" Easten Diamond vanes for years. I used to use the 3" for 3D but I am wondering if I would still get good flight with the short vanes.

[Orions_Bow]

Depends on the head, certain designs can be shot with a 3" vane such as the new Rocky Mountain Turbo, Rocket Ultimate Steel, etc. Anything with much over a 1" cutting diamter you shouldn't use a 3" vane at all, 1 1/8" is about the max. If you do try 3" make sure you try a helical fletch with them & a head like the Turbo will help since it has offset blades to add more spin.

[ijimmy]

Not advisable IMO , 5" vanes or better yet feathers will stabilize an arrow better when it has stearing [read a broadhead] on the front end . This makes tuneing easyer , thus makeing archery funner . Never could figure out why pepole want to make things dificult on themselfs . 3" vanes are for field archery as the benifit [if you want to call it that] of haveing a smaller fletching only realy shows up at longer distances , say 50 yards plus .

[Arthur P]

I agree. The bigger the head and the more blade surface it has, the larger your fletching should be. A couple weeks ago, I tested some of the new Bohning Blazer 2" vanes, that are supposed to be able to stabilize a broadhead if applied in a 2 degree offset. They did fine with an 85 grain Thunderhead, but with anything larger, arrow flight and accuracy went to pot in a hurry. Magnus II's - large 2-blade heads with unvented blades - went absolutely nuts!

[DaveH]

For shooting field points, I got along fine with 4" vanes with a small offset. When I put my 125 grain Muzzy's on, I found that my vane length and configuration needed to change. I got the best results with 5" vanes and a hard helical.

[WV Hunter]

Parker
Why would you want to use 3" vanes? I doubt they would do an adequate job. Stick with 4" or 5" for best results. I prefer 5" helical for my setups.

[hdsanders]

I use 3" vanes and shoot Muzzy 100gr 3-blade. I have not had any problems.

[Orions_Bow]

I woudl be cautious & go with a longer fletch to be honest. If you are shooting a small mechanical than a 3" will work fine but a fixed blad stick with at least 4". 3" can be shot with fixed blades but the average person is better to go with the longer vane.