A stabilizing experience
It has been awhile since I had the time and motivation to sit down and really play with some stabilizer combinations on my bow. Many folks, myself included, make the mistake of assuming that one effective stabilizer combination will work on all bows. In one sense there may be some truth to that as some stabilizer combinations work much better than others at dampening noise and vibration. But, on the other hand, many folks totally forget that stabilizers were originally intended for help in optimizing bow balance and stabilizing the aiming process.
As per a discussion on a thread in the bowhunting forum I decided to play around with a few different stabilizer combinations we have down at the shop. Some were older models originally designed for conventional dual cam bows while others were more recently introduced. I attempted to find a combination that not only provided noise/vibration reduction but also aided in balancing my setup. After several shooting sessions over several days I came to a rather unsettling conclusion....I actually was shooting more accurately with no stabilizer at all rather than with any combination I could put together!
I found that revelation particularly troubling because I have always operated under the assumption that stabilizers, in general, could only improve accuracy when set up to match your bow and arrow combination. What I found, at least in this particular situation, was that even a well balanced stabilizer setup may not necessarily improve accuracy. Now, before I get slammed for that last comment I will note that I have a suspicion this may have something to do with target panic and/or general fatigue but I will leave further comment on that issue aside until I hear if anyone else has had a similar experience.
Comments?