Are wood arrows more forgiving???

[Zwickey-Fever]

Originally posted by pavan:
Not only that, wood arrows are more forgiving.

LOL,,Now the timing on your posting is priceless!!

nuff huggin and kissin lets get back to arguin'

[Zwickey-Fever]

Doctor Phil moment is over,,,LOL!!

[Shadowhnter]

Originally posted by pavan:
nuff huggin and kissin lets get back to arguin'

       

[Captain*Kirk]

Lest we forget...
Indigenous peoples hunted with hand made wood arrows for thousands of years before any of us were born. It's doubtful that any of their arrow shafts were as straight as the worst production shaft you would find today, and weight and length were likely whatever they found. Can you see a Sioux warrior fretting because one stone arrowhead 'felt heavier' than another? The likelihood of any two arrows even being remotely close by our standards is laughable, yet...most young men had killed more game with these 'monstrosities' before they were twenty than a dozen modern trad bowhunters would likely kill in a lifetime combined. It was that or starve to death. I think we obsess over the details too much and depend on technology to make up for what we can't master in skill and discipline, and then still complain if we miss!
But back to the OP's question...I've found wood to be my arrow of choice, even though aluminum and carbon both are technologically superior as well as more durable for the most part. I guess one could argue that a wheelie bow is "more forgiving" over a trad bow too...but not too many of us are running to make that trade.

Years ago, many years ago, I got my first copy of Hunting The Hard Way.  There were tips on how to make arrow shafts and how to fletch those arrow shafts. The fletching technique worked great.  My attempts at making Hill style barrel tapered shafts was different. You should have seen those suckers fly.  I killed nothing but time and air with those hand made shafts.

[KeganM]

Joke if you'd like but no good comes from being nasty towards fellow archers.

To the OP: see which works best for you.

Paper is good for comparing different gear or techniques. Removes as many variables as possible. I can shoot the same scores with carbons and woods on 3D but the difference on paper is almost 20 points (just in my yard- I don't compete). The wood exaggerates my errors more, but hey, your mileage may vary.

Below a certain level of accuracy gear doesn't make a difference. I spent a lot of time fussing about gear before my shooting got consistent enough to really see a difference.

[Zwickey-Fever]

Nobody is being nasty Kegan, people are just making light of the situation. Nobody is belittling anybody's preferences or methods or gear of shooting but just making light of the subject matter. As I mentioned previous, everyone here has their own definition as well as methods of shooting traditional. There was no name calling or bashing here. There was just a strong support for wooden arrows, no more, no less.

There are so many variables in these opinions that no one could draw any solid conclusions.  What is forgiving is a huge variable in itself.  I have seen wood arrows that others have had made for them, lots of pretty paint, but not right.  I see a continuous string of threads of folks not getting carbon arrows to tune that are looking for help.  Nothing is automatic.  Perhaps pure center shot bows like carbons better, bows that are not center shot need that carbon arrow tweeked just so to be right for them.  In Hill style longbows things tend to show up.  My three upper 50s to 60s longbows will all shoot the same wood arrows, but my 57.5# bow is the only one that will shoot the carbon arrows that I have, they act way loggy out of the 55 and most definitely take a weak side walk with the 60.  All of the bows are identical 3/16" outside of center and are right to specs for tuning. Could I play around with them by going outside of tuning specs to get the carbons to fly? Maybe, but still, those woods fly out of five of my bows and the carbons only fly out of one.  ON A MORE FUN NOTE.  I broke out my target arrows yesterday, I have been doing onesy shooting with a single bop net length broadhead arrow mostly this year. Target arrow meaning, a dozen 1918s plus one net Surewood and not  shooting at my deer targets.  My 12 1918s, turned into 8 very quickly.  That Surewood is a mean son of gun with a prejudice against orange knocks, it has a pretty yellow nock.  Of course, I always shot it last, I didn't want any of those orange nock autumn orangers to hurt my reality check arrow.

[forestdweller]

Shooting paper is good for comparing different gear or techniques for some people but definitely not everyone. Guy's like Ishi could not even hit the target from what I have read yet very rarely missed game.

For me the best indication of whether or not the change you made is beneficial is to hang a tennis ball on the target and take one shot from 20, one shot from 30, and on shot from 30 paces and see how close I can get to hitting it.

I'd then work on a form change that day or equipment change and do the same thing the next day with the change. If I miss further away with those 3-5 shots then I'll either keep working with my change if it's a technique change or revert back to what gave me greater accuracy.

In hunting it's only the first shot that counts, sure someone can shoot a 285 NFAA round but it's that one shot in the 1 or 2 zone that in a hunting situation that could lead to an injured animal or a complete miss.

I'm not trying to justify my crappy paper shooting either I'm just saying in my opinion a greater measurement of accuracy for a hunter would be a one arrow shoot off at varied distances and stump shooting.

For that one shot either stumping or at game, I have more confidence that a wood arrow will not go off as far as a carbon with my longbows.  When a carbon arrow is shot weak from a longbow, from what I have witnessed, they seem to have a bigger reaction than a wood arrow.  In target scoring an arrow that goes off an inch will make a bigger difference in the score.  But then with target shooting, there is no excuse for bad execution, since timing and shot position is totally in the shooters control. It is a common thing for hunters to occasionally make a weak shot at game. On video, Hill did, Byron Fergusson talked about it, when I do not feel that broadhead touch my finger, I know made a weaker shot. A hunter should consider that possibility when setting up his arrows, no matter what type of arrow he is using.

[kennym]

Wood arrow prices are sure to skyrocket now.   :D

[STICKBENDER98]

Great stuff guys, always good to have a light hearted discussion.  As has been stated above, it doesn't matter what bow you shoot, or what arrows you shoot out of it, when it comes right down to it we are all "brothers of the bow".  The more I have shot my test arrows, the happier I am that I tried them.  When all is said and done and I settle on a specific spine weight, it wont matter which bow I grab I can shoot the same shaft from them.  Just hope I get them ordered before the price jump!...    

Jason

Come to think of it, I think everyone should shoot aluminum arrows.  STAY AWAY FROM THOSE NASTY WOOD AARRRRROOWWSS!$!$!$

[KeganM]

Originally posted by forestdweller:
In hunting it's only the first shot that counts, sure someone can shoot a 285 NFAA round but it's that one shot in the 1 or 2 zone that in a hunting situation that could lead to an injured animal or a complete miss.

A 285 would mean no 1's, 2's, or 3's which is some world class shooting. Way beyond the average bowhunter just looking to cleanly kill a deer and more like your average compounder.

But that's scoring to compare yourself to other shooters, I'm talking about compare YOUR usual scores to YOUR new scores with whatever different gear/style/etc. Personally, I drop about 20 points going to wooden arrows. In the 230 range down from around 250. Not super scores but something to compare. It's helpful in finding what actually works best for me.

[Shadowhnter]

I think its all going to boil down to what a particular persons shooting faults or lack there of,.... actually are.

Im like Kegan, I shoot carbons better in general then I do woods. I love woods, and dang sure shoot them plenty good to kill any deer I shoot with them..., turkeys is a lil more sketchy because of the tighter kill zone.
My form issues, involves a really bad habit, of torquing the arrow shaft when drawn. It causes the shaft to bend right to left, throwing my shots crazy like a poor tune. I'm working on it. But, I've noticed the carbons in my situation are less affected and so group tighter then do the woods. I know it's my faults causing it, but that's where forgiveness amounts come in to play,, right?, when all is NOT right?. In my particular situation the carbon are more forgiving then the woods, because they are less affected by sideways pressure. However....if I'm NOT being a bone head, and concentrate on what I'm doing....I can get pin point accuracy with both wood AND carbon. So, if im shooting correct there isnt much difference really, and they all go where I tell em....but when I'm messing up and doing MY bad habit....the carbon is more forgiving. Ticks me off too, because Ive always loved woods, and continue to shoot them. I'm convinced this matter, is a matter of what we deem our "faults" to be in a realistic and honest way, relating to which type gives a more forgiving result. If there is no fault in ones shooting...lucky you,,,they will both consistently hit the mark and be forgiving to us. How can it do  or be anything but? We should probably just be more understanding as to why each of us have our own experiences, demons,  and thus opinions. We each certainly have our own faults and dont argue that point, right? That makes it quite a personal experience, as to which is more or less forgiving, and we can argue til the sun dont shine about it. The truth is, we are all likely correct in our opinions, based on our own personal experiences. Nobody is exactly the same, why try to make it so?