Made some "disposable" squirrel arrows.

[RJonesRCRV]

I got some cane from someones yard, and got it all dried out in my car trunk. I guess I came out with about 50 some pieces, though thatll probably go down due to splitting and breaking during straightening. I have multiple bows, so the weak shafts can go to my lower weight bow.

I just wanted them good enough to take shots at squirrels or whatever when theres a good chance of losing an arrow.  My equipment is limited so they arent really weight, spine, or length matched, and I didnt want to put too much time into them.
And my straightening skills arent up to par yet, so that coupled with the bulges between nodes resulted in just somewhat straight arrows.

I followed some cane build alongs here on tradgang, drilling the larger end to take a 1/4" oak dowel, and the nock end to fit a poplar dowel to keep back end weight down. Some have larger back ends, so I have glued in some old 1/4" carbon arrow nocks in those.

Right now Im just making fluflus, 5" x 3 straight fletch and 5" x 2 180° spiral wrap fletchs.  I wanted to go primitive my first go, so when I get a fletching jig I will hopefully appreciate it more. So i just unraveled some waxed nylon thread and used individual strands to tie on the feathers, with some Duco at each end of the feathers, on the knots, and each thread "bridge" between the feathers.
 
 
 

[Shadowhnter]

Very cool! You've mustered up the courage to do  something I've wanted to do, but never went through with it. Nice job they look plenty good.

[Captain*Kirk]

Looks good from here!

[Warden609]

       

[jabodnar]

Those look awesome!

[Mike Faith]

Tree rats beware! Looks good, cane can be tricky to work with...

[Pine]

Those should do the trick .    

[RJonesRCRV]

Now I just need to get some blunts, or grind down some field points, drill them, and put some pins or nails through for a judo-ish point. Trying to keep expenses down so money can go to other items I cant make myself.  I might try finding some of the right inside and outside diameter in my stack that will fit regular carbon inserts so I can change out points easily, then I can use my regular fender washer/field point combo.

[Mike Vines]

Taper the ends as normally done, then screw on some wingnuts, or just use judo heads.  They do the trick.  I've even hit them with broadheads and they take off with your arrow.  Squirrels are one tough critter.  

I have tried using Flu Flu arrows, in the past, for squirrels.  I swear they can hear them coming and duck out of the way.

[RJonesRCRV]

Mike,

I had seen someone using cap nuts and Pex pipe plugs as well. The wing nut would do the trick of keeping the arrow from burying itself. I was also thinking about getting some new old stock Bodkins for squirrels.

I plan to make some with regular size fletching for the longer distance squirrels, as they can duck pretty much anything from what Ive seen.  The fluflus will be for the close ones or those in trees.

I figure if I make a good arsenal of these arrows, Im bound to get one or two. If not Ill use my special bow... A single shot Winchester 20 gauge.

And if it comes down to it, stumps cant duck my shots if the squirrels are.

[Slickhead]

I plan on making some squirrel arrows also.
Possibly using the wingnut idea.

Maybe a 5.5 inch shield cut.

Squirrel arrows tend to get "misplaced" in the woods.
For my eyes, nothing stands out like the color blue on the forest floor.

So my arrows will be stained blue for that reason.

[dringge]

The way I shoot all arrows should be disposable. I need to give these a try. They would be nice for those winter rabbit hunts as well.

[Eric Krewson]

You need more feathers on those arrows, they will fly much like regular arrows. I used to host a flying target flu-flu shoot at the ASTB tournaments so I made dozens of flu-flus. For  arrows fletched with 6  feathers, a big guy with a long draw could put them in the ground over 100 yards away. With a tight spiral fletch the same guy would send them about 40 yards.

These are the arrows that would only go about 40 yards;

   

I always had a big turn out, these guys would shoot until the target thrower( my friend Buzzy)gave out.

 

[frank bullitt]

Yes,  spiral fletch will slow 'em down,  but you need all the speed and energy for Fox squirrels!
Love cane!  Have some made up along with some pine shafts from Larry at Lost nation.
After 30+ years of squirrel hunting with a bow,  prefer heavy bullitt points or blunts! Also some field points with a small piece of banding super glued in.

As for fletching, 3 or 4 5.5" !

[RJonesRCRV]

The 180° spiral ones start dying at about 40-50 yards. Im sure the straight fletch ones go quite far, but I can tell from the sound that theres more drag than with regular feathers. I do have two arrows with the regular puffy spiral flu-flus, they start dying at 20-30 yards. I just wanted some that work somewhere between the real slow fluflus and regular arrows.

[Tajue17]

someone might of already mentioned it but shouldn't it be blunts instead of points?