fletching

[Arrowcraft]

I am curious as to which length and how tall
    or should I say height of feather most prefer shooting port orford cedar single barrel tappered shafts. Also do you find a taller profile fletched arrow to make more noise on its way to its mark ?

[Shadowhnter]

I have only shot the rear tapered POC shafts, but im doubtful taper types will matter much as far as fletching goes. I have shot 5.5", 5", and 4" fletching both banana, and shield cut. Unsure of hieght, but was cut with a lil chopper. They all work great, but I personally like the 4" anymore, and believe there is slightly less crosswind effects with using them. I also tune my arrows perfectly as possible though. As far as noise, i think the difference is not perceivable, if any,between all of them. I think many folks like 5"+ though, for the bit more of stabilizing properties. I will say my arrows are extremely quiet.

[Kingstaken]

I like all 5.5" shield, parabolic and banana.

[McDave]

I don't think you're going to find much difference out to 30 yards.  If you like to shoot at targets at longer yardages, wind drag becomes noticeable, and I think 4" is a good compromise between stability and low wind drag.  I use 5" with broadheads to add more stability, and I don't shoot broadheads over 30 yards (on purpose, anyway).  I use shield cut for everything, just because I always have and see no reason to change.

[Sam McMichael]

I have had some high profile feathers that seemed noisy, while lower feathers of the same style cut were considerably quieter. I generally shoot shield cuts and have primarily observed these results with these fletches.

[bucknut]

For what it's worth I have noticed Parabolics to be the quietest in flight. Also less helical seems to cut down noise significantly. I have a set of high profile 5.5" shields with radical helical that sound like whistler bottle rockets going to the target. I read an article on this recently in TBM recommending offset straight instead of helical. Never tried it, just relaying info.  Hope this helps.

[Babbling Bob]

Gateway 4-inch shield cut for me. I have 3.5 inch feathers on some light Predator II arrows (from a dealer in Oklahoma) and they fly great for my lightest draw bows for a few of those 3-D's where the targets are real difficult and I don't want to waste a $10 arrow shaft.  Use 4-inch on my Axis Trads which are my go-to arrows.

Fletch two red and a yellow cock feather since 1962 and still do except now I use Gateway flo-yellow with two reds.

[Slickhead]

I like 5.5 magnum (Banana)