20 yd max range and fletching
 

I was watching a fletching video a while back with Byron Ferguson and he said that if shooting inside of 20 yds then the best fletching would be a 5" magnum feather. It would provide maximum control under all conditions. This made a great deal of sense to me. My maximum range would be 30 yds under very good conditions but most, if not all, of my shots should be within 20 yds or less. Right now I am using 3 different kinds of fletching but have been leaning mostly towards feathers and am considering using feathers bigger than the current 4" ones. The one drawback with the feathers is wet weather but that doesn't seem like a big deal. You could just have a few arrows fletched with 4" or 5" vanes too.

Now, to what I was wondering. Those of you that shoot short yardages, do you use 4" vanes or bigger, 4" feathers or bigger? If not, why not? Wouldn't you want maximum control when arrow speed is not the issue?

If you needed arrows for a longer, second shot you could just have a couple setup and in your quiver for that possibility.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

I don't hunt at 60 and 70 yards but I do practice at that distance andI use 4" feathers almost exclusively. The only other vane that, IMO, works as well as a feather is the quick spin speed hunters. I find that the controlfeathers offer far outweighs the minimal velocity loss.

I haven't shot themyet, other than just a quick couple of shots behind the store,but I have fletched up a few arrows with six 4" feathers and a few others with six NAP quick spin speed hunters.I can say that there was absolutely no fishtailing to the arrow what so ever from 30 yards out of a bow that I just threw a rest and sight on. No tuning at all was done.

One day I will get around to shoot them through a chronograph at distances farther than 20 yards to see how much velocity loss there might be.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

the 2 biggest drawbacks I see to useing feathers are getting them wet and the noise. the amount of noise feathers make when shot from the faster shooting bows that we use today is signifigantly louder that that of a vane, not to mention how noisy they are if you bump them on something.Furthermore I have watched shooters all winter shoot 600 with 55x with plastic vanes and you dont need to be anywhere nearthat accurate to double lung a deer. If there was an advantage to the feathers then I would say go for it, but in my opinion the disadvantages out number the advantages by quite a large margin

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

Yeah, what bigbulls said. I shot feathers and they definitely control your arrow very well. I currently am running 4" vanes with as much helical as I can get, and they are doing a very good job. I shoot full length arrows, such is the problem with my 32" draw, so I need all the control I can get, and the 4" does the job for me. I was shooting at 65 yards this past weekend, and they did well in that area too.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

That's kind of the crux of my question. If you only shoot inside of 20 yds why would you use blazers when a bigger feather would offer more control and not affect speed.

Have you tried using bigger feathers or is that much control a little overkill?

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

I don't believe that I saw Byron's fletching fletching video. I do know that Howard Hill also recommended three 5-5.5" feathers (both shot longbows). Personally, I use a 5" parabolic feather and shoot them up to about 60yards. I've tried all types of shapes including Pope and Young but found the parabolic to be the quietest in flight. Howard also used the parabolics because of the same reason.

I do try to get the best helical I can get on them though as the seem to stabilize a fixed broadhead the best.You can really get a great helical on a tapered shaft.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

I understand the wet part but inside of 20 yards is the noise feathers make that big of a deal?

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

It's very good. It is put out by Gateway. It also has Chance Beaubouef building target arrows.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

What does the magnum fletch look like? I've seen and used maxi-fletch's before. Very stable, but noisy until they get worn in.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

Yes but a 5" feathers usually makes contact with the rest a little and makes noise when you start your draw. That's whyI am playing around with more than three 4" feathers.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

I haven't had any in my hand but they look like that. The highest part is more toward the center of the fletch. This is from the Gateway site and, as you can see, they call them banana shape there but whenever I see them to order they are called magnums. I think that is what Byron called them in the video also.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

True banana fletches are hard to come by. I had chopper that did them, but traded it for a pretty rare book a few weeks ago. I wouldn't advise a chopper though, they are pretty inconsistant, varios are much better, but are also expensive.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

I don't get it. If you are shooting within 20 yards, what is the extra control going to buy you? Maybe it stabilizes flight faster, but at that short of a range, I would think that it doesn't matter. Maybe out to extended distances it could correct problems with your form, but out to 20 yards I would think 2" blazers would do as good of a job as 5" feathers. Plus, they're weather resistant, quieter, and more durable. If my field points and broadheads hit the same spotout to30 yards, I see no need for big feathers.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

when I say noisier I dont just mean in flight but also in the quiver or attached to your bow string. when you brush one of those feathers against your stand, bow, hand,etc it sounds like when you where a little kid with the baseball card in your bike spokes. to me my blazers or duravanes fly great and I dont have to worry about noise or weather.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

Afew pics.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

Think of it as both ends of the spectrum.You could use abare shaft (fletchless) and have no stabilization on the back of the arrow or havemaximum stabilization (larger helical fletches).Thereareall kinds of stuff inbetween. Does it matter at 20 yards would depend on a lot of things including but not limited to personal form, broadhead type, rest type. For me I have to use feathers because I shoot directly off the shelf of my bow and I use fixed broadheads.

RE: 20 yd max range and fletching
 

The way it has been put to me (and Byron Fergusonalso said this) is that we can all shoot well with good form on the range. But up in a tree with the wind blowing a bit, you've been sitting for 3-4 hours, you're coldand now a huge buck comes walking in and you get a bit of buck fever. All of these things can affect your form and your shot. Better stabilizationmay help cancel out some of those things.

I understand WTF's point about noise, although I think that can be controlled,but inside of 20 yards the blazers don't ADD to the effectiveness of the arrow and, because they wouldn't stabilize as well, may take away.

I am not advocating a change from vanes to feathers. Just trying to learn about the pros and cons about one or the other in relation to short range archery.