mrfritz44

Hi Dave......I was hunting yesterday and just started reading this thread again. I've got some questions:

1. What size fletching and what degree of helical are you using?
2. What release are you using?
3. How snug is your nock?

You and I may be very close to the same tune, but as Joe pointed out, those 5" shield cuts may be masking a problem I have too. I met an older, wiser gentlemen on eders.com and started hunting with him occasionally last year. He was very insistent that in hunting situations a large feather with good helical was to be shot. He reminded me that in wind and rain broadheads are going to obviously fly less than perfect, and that this configuration was a way to mimimize flight variations in real world conditions. He also regularly takes deer with fixed heads beyond 40 yards at the fields he hunts. I guess some of that rubbed off on me, hence the arrow style I've chosen. This may or may not be right for you in Texas where hunting ranges may be greater (my impression is that western archers tend to shoot longer distances), but here in PA hunting shots of 40 yards or more are the very rare exception. If your ranges are typical of ours, and if your arrow has little steerage, you may want to try longer fletching at a more radical helical. Arrow speed doesn't drop off fast enough at hunting ranges for the greater slowdown to cause less accuracy, per what another of Easton's tuning guide graphics explains. I say this because I'm getting good groups at 40 & 50 yards with broadheads too.

My GT 7595's and your Beman ICS's list identical spines, and my arrow is only 1" shorter than yours, so I think our arrow specs are sound.

How does you arrow flight look? Remember on the phone I said that after I broadhead tuned my arrow flight was better per my eye. I could focus on that small nock I'm shooting and against dark backgrounds I could actually see the arrow spin into the target. My field tip accuracy went up slighty after broadhead tuning as well. How does your field tip accuracy relate to your tuning changes? Increase? Decrease?

Sorry I can't help you with the creaking........you have a friend with a good ear who may be able to isolate it for you? I remember another Bowtech post where the cable slide was the problem. That problem drove that person nuts too until they found it (I can't remember who it was). As a home test, maybe you can take the slide off and draw the bow?