i use feathers as well these guys have great points.through it all the only negitive is getting them wet. but even a wet arrows fly well out to 20 yards or so ,which were i shot most of my deer anyway. also if its raining that hard to make your feathers that wet you better make a clean kill shot or good luck finding him or her!!!

I will always have feathers rain or shine!

Feathers shoot great but as stated above they matt together when they get wet. From my experiments feathers are louder going through the air than plastis vanes the vanes made by simms vibration lad make the least amount of noise that I have shot. Do deer jump the string or the arrow buzzing towards them?

I don't think so. It's called jumping the string because they react to the sound of the bow. If they can see you, they also react to the movement. I think it's likely that an arrow in flight sounds like another fly buzzing their ears. If they hear it at all.

I keep hearing people say vanes are quieter than feathers and I simply don't believe it. Maybe someone who has a decibel meter could test the hypothesis for us. Put the meter 20 yards downrange, where a deer is likely to be,and shoot towards it. I really wouldn't expect to see more than one point either way between feathers and vanes.

maybe you could find some goose feathers. there may be a place in england to order them from.

Have any idea what that place may be? I've been looking to try some, and can't find em.

Arthur, I agree with you to a point regarding feathers and noise. Feathers just seem to "whistle" for lack of a better word. I don't know if feathers are actually louder if read by a decible meter, but I do know this, I can hear them and can't hear vanes. But I also know it makes no damn difference to the deer at all. They do indeed jump the string, not the arrow.

you may try this place:
Raven Arrows. Birch and fir. Tapered or parallel shafts. Greybar turkey & grey goose feathers. 993 Grays Creek RD., dept tb, Indian Valley. Idaho, 83632. (208) 256-4341.

There simply is no reason and no advantage to shooting feater with all the modern vanes available today. I wouldn't mess with feathers unless you actually enjoy refletching your arrows all the time. I am getting the same flight as I used to from 4" feathers and I am using the Bohning Blazers. They are the best vanes I've found thus far. Good luck and good shootin'

Actually it'snot"whistle". It's "the hiss of death."

Really, how noisy a feather is relates very much to how it's cut (size, profile, configuration), how much helical you put on them and how well the bow is tuned.

Low profile parabolic is the quietest cut. Shield cuts are somewhat louder, butI use them because I like the look.5 1/2" magnum high profile banana feathers are pretty darn loud. But Lordy! do they stabilize an arrow fast! Of course, 6" uncut feathers are the loudest. When you're shooting fluflu's though, who cares?

A lot of people, especially traditional shooters, go way overboard when wrapping helical. I used to do it myself, until one day I bought some arrows already fletched up with much less helical and shot them side by side with my hard helical arrows. They weredefinitely quieterand shot a lot flatter at longer yardages than my arrows. And they did practically as good a job with my broadheads. So, I quit making noisy, slow,parachute fletchesand started using quite a bit less helical.

Finally, if the arrow is coming off the bow sideways, hell yes those feathers are going to scream! But they will straighten that arrow out a lot quicker than vanes will.

I must respectively disagree with this statment. There are several advantages to shooting feathers over vanes these days. I have shot the Blazers and I do like them. In fact, I carry one hunting just in case I get caught in a downpour. Light rain, and I use feathers with waterproofing powder. However, the overall forgiveness and flight of feathers is amazing. They are also TOUGHER than most vanes, despite what many say. You shoot a vane and it rips. So then you "clip" out the rip. You want to talk about noise in flight; try listening to one of those downrange. With feathers, you just fluff them up, pass them over steam, and you are good as new. They really do take abuse. I shoot them for indoor and hunting, and I am debating switching to smaller ones for 3D. Only issue for 3D is the Kansas wind. When shooting open stakes at 50+ yards, the wind will really move a feather driven arrow. PLus, feather fletches just look awesome.

I would just tell everyone thinking about them to try them. They are not really that expensive, and they do last.

JMAC