Noisy Bow-Quiet Bow

[Pine]

I didn't mention in my first post that I use silencers . I have one bow that will " TWANG " bad without them and that same bow will shoot better with them .
I think the spine of the arrows are just on the edge of being to weak and the silencers slow it down just enough to get in the sweet spot .

[SELFBOW19953]

While silencers weren't often used back in the 50's and 60's, what about brush buttons.  Did they help silence the recurves?

[JimB]

Every time I've put brush buttons on a bow,they increased noise.

[Terry Green]

One comment about no silencers quote back in the day......

 back in the day animals weren't pressured to the  Relentless Pursuit that they are today ....ie less woods and WAY more hunters flood during bow season causing them to be more alert and cautious and wary of sounds

[southernarcher]

Alot of good info here of deer reaction.
How alert the deer are, etc.
I believe, deer are more sensitive to noises that are in close proximity to them. An alert deer won't do more than look towards the sorce of a rifle shot from 1000 yards away, but jump out of their skin if they hear a twig snap at 60 yards. We need to be in close proximity to take deer with our equipment,  so the quieter it can be the better. Also the pitch I believe matters. A  wouldn't think a lower pitch noise would necessarily sound as threatening as a higher pitched sound.

[tomsm44]

Originally posted by Graps:
I really don't know , but if you look at old pictures of Fred Bear , Howard Hill and others , they don't have silencers .
They also were successful hunters .

They typically shot heavy arrows, the original bow silencer. They also were typically shooting non fast flight strings, if I'm not mistaken.  I know a lot of people claim that fast flight isn't any louder if the string is made correctly, but all of the ones that I have tried have at least seemed louder to me. Not that all fast flight strings I have shot were loud, just not as quiet as a non fast flight string on the same bow. I personally will pick a quiet bow over a fast bow any day.  As far as how much it actually affects the animals, I honestly can't say how much of a difference it makes.

[vintage-bears]

A quiet bow is paramount IMHO especially when using a grunt tube.
I have experienced this on 2 occasions where bucks came into my grunting. They were both on SUPER HIGH alert. Grunting certainly works during rutting periods but he is now looking for us and quite alert.

First buck reacted instantly to my release and the arrow had found his spine.

Second buck, same reaction but my arrow hit too far back. We jumped him 3 days later and never seen him again.

My vote is for a quiet bow over a fast bow.

[huronhunter]

I strive to get my bows whisper quite .
What I have noticed in 31 years behind the stick and string is that when a quite bow is used , the recovery of the animal results in a shorter tracking job .
I remember years passed when a friend shot his buck the buck went over 150 yards before expiring on a good shot . The next morning we were shooting a few arrows and I noticed that his bow sounded like a screen door slamming !

[two4hooking]

I have had many more follow on shots at game since switching from recurves to very quiet Hill style bows with no silencers.  I believe that longbows are not only quieter in volume, but the pitch is something that really wires animals.  The lower pitched hummm of a longbow seems to be not as much threat as a high pitched thwang.  Of course the arrow makes noise also which may be more of a concern, but I have had them jump at the sound of the arrow going by and then clam down and return because the animal could not pinpoint where the sound originated from.

[two4hooking]

Humans can hear lower tones better than deer apparently, and conversely they can hear high frequencies better.  Higher frequencies are also more directional in nature (motion detectors use high frequency sound that deer can hear much like a dog whistle).

 

[JimB]

Interesting stuff,two4hooking.I've always noticed that a lower sounding thump seemed fine but the higher pitched tones were a problem.People have been tested to react quicker to noise than visuals and I believe deer are that way too.If deer "jump",it's usually due to noise.I also agree that deer as a whole have become jumpier but can remember having this discussion with friends and installing silencers,on recurves back in the mid-60's.Silence is golden.