RE: Helical vs. Straight vanes(plastic) for hunting?
Arthur P gave you all the pertinent info. If you have the right combination for YOUR bow, feathers or vanes won't make a whole lot of difference. It's the total sum of what you have, arrow size, head weight, etc etc that determine how you shoot. Little things like a tiny bit of helical just tweak it to perfection to fit your form etc. All that's well and good, but FIRST you have to have the right spined arrow for your set up and head. If you got considerably worse flight I would go back to ground zero and recalculate everything you need and have. Helical is good for me on a hunting arrow, but you have to make sure you're not using it to cover up a bad choice in arrow selection.