I love the look of beaver,mink,muskrat or otter balls but rubber catwhiskers are quieter IMO.
I never see any string silencers when I look at the old pictures of Fred and Glenn and their hunting buddies. I see brush buttons alot but nothing eles. Not to hijack your thread but maybe some of the historians can tell us how the guys shooting in the 50s and 60s silenced their bows.
My guess would be tweaking brace heights, or heck maybe they just didnt care as much as we do today. Fred used the old noisy 4-arrow leathertop bolt-on quiver alot and most would not venture out with that rattletrap today.
Trap