HuntingNet.com Forums - View Single Post - So, how quiet is your bow?

11-06-2002 | 02:05 PM

#7

JeffB

Nontypical Buck

Joined: Feb 2003

Posts: 3,058

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From: CT, USA

RE: So, how quiet is your bow?

SA,

I think the disagreement here is different experiences in the field.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quotequote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> How many deer do you think you'll lose because your set-up is slow vs. how many do you think you'll lose because your set-up is noisy? <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

I too had a stint with traditional gear, though not as long as yours. I’ve had as many, but not necessarily more deer jump the string with a 160 FPS ultra quiet longbow (Morrison and Allegheny Mountain if you keep up with such things) shooting 520 grain Norway Pine shafts as I have with a noisy 300 FPS bow shooting Beman Diva C’s.

In both cases… just a handful. In my experiences, the animal’s attitude was the main factor, not equipment. I shot when the animal was nervous, or too alert for whatever other reason. IN each of the circumstances it’s quite possible on e way or another the equipment MIGHT have made a difference had I been shooting something different, but there is no evidence to rule out the contrary, either.

In your original post you said <BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote> I have been willing to sacrifice both speed and a little accuracy, if necessary…. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

In my experience accuracy is relative to the situation, and of the utmost importance. If you are shooting 1” groups on the range, in a hunting situation due to circumstances that “group” might grow to 4” or even larger. Now If I’m willing to sacrifice to say 2 to 3” on the range, now how big would my “groups” be? The tighter you are in the first place, the less impact the circumstances will have in the field. I’m not willing to sacrifice ANYTHING, for accuracy. All things being equal where you put the arrow is what counts be it a deer, or a target. If I can do that at 280 FPS and not have an overly noisy set-up so be it, 300 FPS is better. I prefer the flat trajectory for one reason: I have to think less or basically not at all, regarding yardage. Especially when I hunt on the ground. I generally have split second to draw, and no time tio worry about which pin to choose. Yep, I can pre-range, yep, I also get “goofy” when a deer comes my way. I want to think about ONE thing: hitting the spot I want to. A flatter trajectory helps me do that.

Your comments regarding inexpensive bows I agree with wholeheartedly. It’s MUCH cheaper to silence something you have than buy a new bow. However from my experience I don’t think all inexpensive bows are necessarily noisy. I’ve shot some 200 to 300 dollar bows that are extremely quiet once just given a good stab, some limbsavers and leeches or whiskers and not having to “resort” to tearing the bow down to line the pockets, or buying a new string. (PSE Nova, and some of the cheaper Pearson models for example). My point here is again, that going to drastic measures to silence a bow is IME, and IMO, not needed..or should I say, should not take precedence over other factors such as pure accuracy, and range estimation.

Again, I have no qualms with your methods of silencing a bow, just that I don’t agree (again, In my experience, we obviously differ in that regard) regarding the level of importance given to it by many archers. Yes, it’s important, No I don’t think sacrificing things like accuracy and overly reducing the speed of the bow in favor of silence is the right way to go about things. All three things at the least should be given equal consideration.

RE: the Martin. Actually I had a Tiger Twist put on mine, it helped some but the noise part I feel is mostly from the limbs, the pockets, and the rockers that Martin uses. Your padding of the pocket is something that I HAD to do many years ago, most notably on some Darton bows I hunted with. Yep it works. I realize you were speaking in terms of cost, and quieting down your existing model, and again I agree with that. When cost is taken out of the equation though, I’m not sure this will make or break your deer hunt (more than just about anything else like what brand peep you use for a weird example) with the vast majority of bows we have today.

While my set-ups are also very “clean” re: stuff on the string, I think you got yourself one built by George Ryals himself <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>, As mine at 29” struggled to hit 285 FPS at 5 grains w/ the 29” module and just a loop.

My definition of performance includes the characteristics of speed, accuracy, and energy. Not necessarily in that order.

As always on this matter we shall have to agree to disagree. Just putting out some food for thought <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

J

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