Washington Hunter

Now, let me start this off by saying that I have never been a huge fan of the WB, however, I feel it is an effective rest. I've been shooting the NAP SmartRest since last March. I've been a big fan of dropaways and haven't seen any reason to switch, but it has been stated that the WB is not accurate past 20 yards and I decided to test that theory. I had one of the basic model WBs in a box here at the house, so I threw one on my Allegiance last night.





After taking my SmartRest off I leveled the bow (got it close, anyway.)



I installed the WB and made sure everything was leveled and lined up.





Now, I don't have access to a paper tuning rack here at the house, so I skipped that step. I took it for granted that the majority of the WBs I've set up have torn darn near close to perfect by just eyeballing them when setting them up, which seemed to be the case here.

In my backyard, if I open my gate and step back all the way to the street and I get exactly 40 yards to my target. I was hoping to get out to where I normally shoot which allows for 90+ yard shots, but I figured 40 would suffice for this experiment. I didn't bother to resight the bow in, so it was shooting a little low, but again I assumed that consistancy would suffice.

I stepped back to my 20 yard mark and shot three arrows;



I stepped back to 30 yards and shot three arrows;



I did the same for 40 yards;



I don't know, but I didn't notice a whole lot of difference between the groups, myself. They all shot a bit low for how I had the sights set with my SmartRest, which is what I expected. I am by no means a target shooter and honestly haven't had the time to really shoot my bow in the last few weeks. I wouldn't be extremely happy with the way I'm shooting if this were the week before season, but for having just put the rest on, not resighted the bow, and the fact that it was cold enough that by the time I was done shooting I couldn't feel my fingers, I'm happy.

I'll be reinstalling the SmartRest before deer season, but I may hunt turkeys with the WB this spring. We'll see.

My findings; the WB is just as accurate as a drop away. Go figure.

Matt / PA

I think it was Jim Despart or Dave Cousins or somebody? who shot a Vegas round with a Whisler Biscuit just to prove a point and they shot some ungodly score with a near perfect x count.

As long as a rest does teh same thing everytime it should in theory shoot an arrow to the same place everytime, especially at practical hunting distances.
Where a Whisker Bisquit will lose out is that the bristles can and do wear therefore constantly minutely changing the launch angle and tune. Over time a bristle rest will change..........a metal launcher blade will not.

GMMAT

From my golf and baseball days.....I trust what the guys at the top of the game are using.

If the top archers in the world were using this rest (on a wide scale level).....I think that would say a lot for it. I'm honestly not sure why they aren't? I guess that might be just as good a question.

Washington Hunter

Understood Matt, and one of the reasons I'm not a huge fan of them and will be going back to my drop away. I just can't get over the "does not shoot accurately past 20 yards."

Jeff - I'm not touting the WB as the best rest for 3D shooting or any form of target archery, which is where this all originated from. Its a good rest for those wishing to use it for hunting purposes. I wanted to make sure that at 21 yards it was going to be just as accurate as it was at 20.

atlasman

Countless hunters already know this Wash.............nothing new and no surprises.

I get the same groups at 40 yards.......I wouldn't even dare shoot 2 arrows with broadheads at the same spot at any range.

It has been accurate enough to kill everything I have ever aimed it at. I don't know what else anyone could want.

Gundeck

Thanks for devoting the time to checking this. As I am still kinda getting back into archery, I don't shoot nearly well enough to base the accuracy solely on my shooting. Thanks for the test and this is good enough for me. My WB stays where it is.

GMMAT

Never a miss or a wounded animal?

That's impressive. Kudos.

atlasman

Who's talking about top archers in the world?? You aren't using anything that they are. They shoot target bows that are a whole different world.

Target archery and hunting are not the same thing.

The WB is the most popular hunting rest..........that says a lot to me.

MeanV2

I think there in lies the Truth.I still prefer a Dropaway because of other obvious reasons. I will rig one of my bows this year with the New Hoatage. I feel it has all the advantages of that type of rest without any of the disadvantages

Dan

GMMAT

Me

I can shoot the same strings, arrows, sight, peep, release aid, rest AND bow if I wanted to.

That is....unless I wanted to shoot a WB.

When you want to find out what the most accurate piece of equipment in the archery industry is.....who else would you look to.....other than the guys at the top of the world in target archery?

You know I will readily admit it's a great hunting rest.....as long as you're not using rough finish arrows.

Again.....It's agreat hunting rest.