Choosing the arrow...

[horatio1226]

How do you choose which wooden arrow you are going to take the first shot of the season with?
What do you do to make sure its set up right for you? Do you make new ones for every season? Do you spin test them? Do they have to be a specific color? Any superstitions? If you have 3 all the same how do you choose arrow #1? Thanks!

[Fletcher]

If I get a special feeling about a particular arrow, it will get the #1 spot in my quiver.  I like to be able to see my hit, so within a set I will fletch up a few with all chartruese feathers and nock.  I'll carry one of these in the quiver for early and late.  Sometimes I have a particular broadhead I want to shoot, like the 2-blade Zwickey Delta that jrbows sent me.  I'll mount it on my #1 arrow.

[magnus]

Shoot them and see which one flies best. Mark on knock 1,2,3,etc it's usually the first shot that counts. Usually.

[ishiwannabe]

Brian, I attempt to make all of my arrows identical. The last thing I need is a distraction...is that the right arrow?  :D

[No-sage]

I spin test and shoot all my broadheads.  Any that seem to fly funky don't make the Deer hunting quiver, they go into the squirrel quiver.

I always number my nocks too.  Don't know why because I seem to switch things up if I'm not seeing any deer.

[horatio1226]

How do you spin test your arrows?

[mcgroundstalker]

Out of a dozen shafts ya may find three or four straight enough for hunting. Then... I'll spin test those with broadheads. Number "1" will have the best "true spin" and be set in my bow quiver as the first shot arrow.

All are fletched the same... Nice and bright. Broadhead practice arrows are hit with a file to dull edges and marked near the nock as such.

Best Of Luck Brian!

... mike ...

Oh Yea... Right after hunting season all my broadhead arrows become field point or judo arrows. Keeps me making up more stuff then I need for the following big game season.  

[horatio1226]

Glad you remeembered the most important part Mike, the reason to make some more.

[Orion]

I craft my hunting woodies to very close tolerances.  They all spine, weigh and shoot the same.  I don't pay any attention to which arrow I pull from the quiver because I have complete confidence in all of them.

[ishiwannabe]

An easy way to spin test them is to put four finishing nails in a board to form two "X's". Put your arrow into said "X's", and rotate it with your hand. Watch the very tip of the BH for a wobble. I draw a line on the board, line the tip up and spin.
If there is a wobble, readjust the BH(with heat) and try again.

Or you can come to my house and I will show ya.

There is a better spinner design in the How to...

[SELFBOW19953]

99% of my hunting is done with wood arrows.  I spin them on a flat hard surface, check for wobble, then shoot them.  If they don't fly true, I reheat and reset the head (check the nock, too).  When I have a half dozen that fly true, I sharpen them.  The one with the leather cover on the BH that falls off is my first arrow.  It's worked for me for a lot of years now. I usually shot 2 or 3 deer per year using wood.

[Don Stokes]

After making up a set, I recheck spines and weights and micro-sort them. The best and most consistent get the broadheads, and if I notice one that seems better than the rest when I shoot them, it gets the #1 position. At the same time, I make sure the rest of the quiver shoots the same. It's purely mental.

I restraighten them before each practice session as needed. After a few straightenings, any shaft worthy of hunting should stay straight. Shooting them will weed out any that are hopeless. That should be rare, if you matched them well to start.

The best thing you can do for the stability of wood shafts is shoot them. The flexing stress-relieves them, and any shaft that's unstable due to stress in the wood will settle down when it's been shot enough.

My hunting arrows always have some red on them, for juju. Ishi did it.