I use the bare shaft tuning method all the time , I actually prefer bare shaft tuning over paper tuning. Start out close (maybe 10 yards) for safety reasons in case your arrow spine is way off. This will be amplified at further distances so make sure you aim dead center of a fairly big target , I've seen extremely underspined un-fletched arrows hit as much as 2 feet to the right. Get your nock point set first and then tune for horizontal flight.
If you find yourself having to lower or raise your bow poundage to something your not comfortable with in order to get good flight , try different arrows!