How do you know when your bow is quiet?

[SirRobin77]

I was shooting my bow yesterday and  it seemed loud to me but my buddy who shoots a compound said it was super quiet.
  He was standing about 10 yds behind me at one point while he was  fiddling with his bow and he had his back turned to me. Of course i looked to see where he was before i nocked an arrow then fired one off. He said he didnt know i had shot until he heard the  arrow hit the target and that made him look up . To me its loud. There is a small vibration for maybe 1/4 of a second after i fire which he said he could not hear. Am i feeling the vibration and  not hearing it? Is there anyway to totaly eliminate this?
  Its a Bear Kmag im using beaver fur to silence and have a 7 and 3/4" brace height.
Matt

[tradtusker]

always good to stand back and let someone else shoot your bow, it sounds quite different when your the one shooting it, its often quieter than you think.

you could put some felt on the top of the limbs where the string contacts the limb, that helps with noise or bowhush is even better.

 http://www.bowhush.com/

[Jeremy]

Your '62 KMag with a dacron string and beaver balls shouldn't have more than a little thump IME.

Where are your beaver balls on the string?  Should be at about the 1/4 points (measured from where the string makes contact with the limbs, not the end of the string).  It's also pretty common to hear a vibration if the beaver strips aren't wound tightly on the string.  

Best way to install them is to untwist the string a few turns and insert the tag end of the fur, brace the bow, wrap the fur and insert the tail end, then twist the string back up.  That way you're tightening the silencer on the string.

[Bob B.]

I always figure it is louder to me as the noise is right close to my ear.  I ahve my wife stand on our elevated deck and i shoot kinda under her with her like 10 yards in front of my position (safeley).  Then also about 10 yards to the side of my position.  When she can not hear my bow or my arrow in flight, I know I am good, even if I can hear it.

Bob.

[the elf]

I have found with my Kodiak Magnum that the best brace was always between 8 and 8 1/2 inches with small wool puffs at the 1/4 string marks.Hope this helps.
        lon.

[SirRobin77]

Ok so if my total length from where the string no longer touches the limb to the other end where it no longer touches is 40" then my beaver balls should be at 10" up the string from where it starts not touching the limb. Right? Thety are at 5" now. Oh and they are tight.
Matt

[Jeremy]

Matt, yup, 10" up from the last string contact in that case.  It puts the silencers farther down that what most people *think* they should be, but looking at the string harmonics it makes sense.

What string do you have (endless/flemish, # of strands, string material, etc)?

[Scott J. Williams]

I shoot "Widows", and they get a bad rap for being loud.  I have yet to have game jump the string, and have used fewer silencers on my widows than I did on other bows.

This is what I have learned about silencing bows over the last 42 years.  Shoot the bow at the upper end of what the bowyer says is the recommended brace height,  sounds simple but some people are always trying to ice skate up hill.  

Secondly, shoot at least 10grains per pound of draw weight, regardless of your draw weight. I personally shoot 11 grains per pound in my lighter weight bows.  

Select your silencers wisely, yarn, wool, will silence your bows, extremely well, but at a price.  They are heavy, they do pick up moisture.  Rubber, dampens well, with less weight. I have some friends who shoot their bows without silencers, and they are silent. Longbows are most likely easier to shoot without silencers, but I have had a few recurves that could be shot that way too.  

If you follow these rules, you will have a bow that is a quiet as that bow can possibly be.