Feather length

[Bowguy67]

I use 5” shield basically cause it looks old school and that matters to me. You don’t need it. You also don’t need to use a longbow right? It’s what/how we choose to do things

[smokin joe]

I shoot 3-fletch because I have a 3-fletch fletching jig. There is no other reason than that. I have been shooting 4" feathers for several years now. If there is a difference in stability between 4" and 5" feathers, it is too small for me to see. I like the way 4" feathers look. That is the only reason I tried them in the first place.

To me, one of the cool things about trad bowhunting is that it allows for so much personalization in how you set up your bow and arrows. I truly do not like things that are mandatory. "To each his own" is far more interesting.

[bowmaster12]

If you are the science type the push archer podcast did an eposide with Trad lab all about fletching type size etc...

[Rob DiStefano]

5" burnt design, helical fletched, 3 or 4 feathers.

Bare shaft test flights can be a good part of shaft selection, but having lotsa big fletches gets the shaft spinning straight quickly and can help when yer release isn't up to snuff.

As to big feathers being affected by wind, who am I kidding when all my shots will be inside of 20 yards or so? 

This is about longbow/recurve hunting, not target shooting - go big on the fletching and put some insurance into each release on game.

[Wudstix]

Rob, also helps steer big 3 blade heads.
 

[Rob DiStefano]

Rob, also helps steer big 3 blade heads.
 

All I use are the original Wensel Woodsman 3 blades - fly great, easy to sharpen, devastating on hogs.   

[BUCKY]

I was thinking of 3 4” with my stinger killer bees 2 blade.

[Maclean]

Great looking arrows Rob!

[Rob DiStefano]

Some folks are concerned about "pointed" fletch ends making buzzing noise during flight, and that's mostly true for high fletching ends such as shield cuts or fletchings that are "slope" scissor cut from rear to front (primitive style).  My fletch burnt shape is silent - no buzzing or zipping - because the fletch end points are lower than the fletch high point.  Took awhile working with fletch shapes to realize this and thus my burnt wire design is all I use.  Plenty of feather for good steerage that's helical, too.

[varmint101]

I’m using 4 3” this year and they’ve worked great. Not a problem from woodsman’s to sharks. Always used 4 or 5 before.

[tracker12]

I have used everything from 5” to 2” and have not noticed any difference.  I bare shaft tune then fletch what looks good to me which is 3” four fletch.  They fly well and are quiet down range.

[Rob DiStefano]

Back in my heretic carboniium arra dayze I used a low-pro banana cut 4-fletch.  They worked just fine and had that extra "zip" flat trajectory. 

This is all well and good until one day on the hunt with Tarz down in Texas I had a bad release that cost me meat in the freezer.  Since then all my shafts are helical fletched with big feathers.  YMMV.

Canada goose feathers - super waterproof!