I was recently watching a show on the Outdoor channel and noticed that the bow hunter's arrows were fletched different than anything that I have ever seen. The knocking feather was in it's normal spot but the other two were about 1 1/2"'s toward the front of the arrow. They looked to be 3" vanes. Not sure what that was all about and was wondering if anyone out there knows what the benefit of this would be?

I've seen arrows that way also.... Guy claims it stabilized broadheads better so I tryd one that way made no noticeable difference in my opinion.

Just thought it was strange. I've been bow hunting for 18 years and had never seen anything like it.

In the Archery line in the last ten years, there is some pressure to get more speed and accuracy out of bows and arrows.

For me it's less speed and less money spent. I learned hunting accuracy years ago. That's all I need.
Besides, if I wanted speed, I'd just use a 30/06. I'm not so particular. To me it was learning a slower speed sport. Some just want to make it fast and lose that.

IMO this is simply a fad or hype - whatever you want to call it. Fletching stabilizes and arrow by 'catching' the air. Regardless of what position the vanes are there is still only enough surface on the vanes to catch the air. What will change the vanes' arrow stabilization is the amount of helix on the vane.

As mentioned, fletching is only meant to induce drag on the tail of your arrows, helping to keep the tail in the back and the nose in the front.

If this drag isn't even on all fletches, it will impart uneven pressure on the tail of the arrow, causing a slight torque deflection (pivoting at the center of balance) on the tail, actually increasing your wobble.

Now, if you've ever fired arrows with damaged fletching, you've seen how little this matters on a well tuned bow. For what it's worth, the only reason I fletch my arrows at all is to help me find my arrow after a shot and out of habit, as I could deliver "huntable accuracy" bareshaft with Rages out to 40yrds without any fletching at all.

Ultimately, in a physical sense, having uneven fletching hurts arrow stability, so it's mostly just a fad.

On the other hand, if you want to slow your arrows down, like a flu-flu, having uneven fletching can help do that, but your accuracy will suffer.

Thanks for the input. Just thought it was strange

Seen tha same thing about 3 yrs ago. guy claimed improved his accuracy by improving the drag on his arrows. Tried it on some of my old arrows that I shoot for practice. Didn't see any difference at all. Arrows actually looked less stable in flight.