bigbulls pretty much summed it up. I shoot a WB and the feathers hold up quite well. I never worried about them getting wet because I don't hunt alot in the rain. If I did or was elk hunting or something I would waterproof them, no big deal. I still have my recurve arrows in feathers and some for the compound but I don't use them when hunting with the compound primarily because they can be noisy when brushing up against something - tree, clothing, whatever. While I would say the feathers provide excellent flight, I get good flight with the vanes but I would say they are quieter in the field. At least that's my experience. Of course, if you're careful not to brush them up against anything it no more problem than them getting wet.

They fly great,even wet.


I prefer the tru flight feathers over Gateway because they have a much more consistant base.Not sure if the feather itself holds up better or worse,I have shot both and can't say 1 way or the other.

If I was to shoot feathers, these would be the ones. Those are some "mean" looking arrows

My 4" Gateway feathered arrows shoot a little lower than my Blazered arrows. I am going to give the Razor feathers a try.

I've been shooting feathers for 25+ yrs-most of those years it's been Tru-flite(gateway has cooler colors but thick hard bases).Being wet doesn't affect them.And if it's a concern,there's many things to waterproof them

Don't know how I missed this one Dan, but I did go to bed WAY early last night...

I'm REALLY surprised to read this one:

We all know Matt knows his stuff, and I'm not about to argue his personal experience at his own shop... but that's absolutely the first time I've ever heard that... ever. I've heard many, many people claim the exact opposite. I know it's true from my own experience as well: I firmly believe that Tru-Flight offers a much better product out there, both in consistency of bases and in their coloration. Look at a Gateway barred feather, and then look at a Tru-Flight barred feather; there's simply no comparision.

bigbulls nailed it and saved me a lot of typing with his post. The only thing I would add to it is that I've sat in absolute downpours and still taken a field-point tipped arrow out of my quiver at the end of the hunt and shot a leaf with it; I experienced the same result of shooting a dry feather in nice weather. That -- coupled with my findings over the last decade that it's fruitless for me to go hunting in a torrential rain that is not going to let up before dark--gives me no cause for concern. If it is, and you wish to sit in downpours -- or are scared at the thought of being caught in one with a quiver full of feathers -- I'd suggest a couple things. One, spray your feathers down with a product called No-Sno, which can be found in Cabela's I believe. The other is to carry one vane-fletched arrow with you so you can switch to that when the heavy rains start.

Who knows

I have very limited experience with feathers myself, haven't shot them for 10+ years, or actually worked with them much at all. I steer clear of the trad stuff at the shop, I just hang out with and harass those guys when they are there, I don't work on much of their stuff. My only exposure tofeathers iswhat I see at the shop. I'd trust Greg's experience here much more than mine, he's been using the things forever.........

I've been shooting the 4" feathers for as long as I can remember. I can't rememberthe specific model thatI used all the way back in the beginning, but ever since I started buying the feathers and doing my crestings myself, I've used Gateway exclusively.

As Greg said - anyone who makes the "weather" argument is missing the boat. There was even a guy on here last year(Littlechief, I think) who went so far as to soak his feathers in a bucket of water and play a little bit of wet feather mythbusters. Myth busted.

I killed the biggest buck of my life in a soaking downpour, and my feathers were so wet that they were actually slicked down against the shaft. No worries. It will hit where you aim it. The thing is, the arrow "snaps" so hard out of the chute that almost all the water retained in the feathers will be blown off before your arrow even gets past the riser.

This year, I might switch to the Rayzr's, b/c I know Goherd1111 used them last year and really had great results. Besides, they look pretty badass.

It totally boggles my mind as to why more people don't shoot feathers. They stabilize the arrow every bit as good (possibly better) than their plastic brethren, with none of the clearance/warping/tearing issues.

Edit: double post

heck trying new thing is part of the fun, if i were doing this it would be the barred turkey feathers no dought.