Whistling arrows

[Ssamac]

Have a report on this. I took the 5.5 shields off and shot bareshaft. Quiet
Re fletched with 4" shields and straight fletch and what do you know -- dead quiet.

It's the 5.5 shield feathers with the curved fletch that did it.
Nice when you shoot target - not nice when you hunt deer.

Keep it in mind guys and thanks for all the help

sam

[David Yukon]

This thread was a real plasure to read! Thank you for all the suggestions!
cheers

[Wolfkiss]

First thing I noticed when i shot some arrows I fletched with 5.5 " feathers was the 'hiss' of the arrow all the way to the target, compared to 5 inch they were really noisy. Whether this can be heard in front of the arrow I dont know.

Feathers were parabolics and shot from quite a fast 65lb bow.

I currently shoot 5" but the next ones will be 4" to try and eliminate more noise and drag.

[Don Stokes]

Wolfkiss, it's the high profile rather than the length that causes the noise. Try trimming the height to quieten them down.

SEMO, were your natural turkey feathers from a mature bird, or a jake? I found jake feathers to be noisy.

[Wolfkiss]

I'll give that a try, save buying new feathers,

Thanks,

Andy.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by Don Stokes:
Wolfkiss, it's the high profile rather than the length that causes the noise. Try trimming the height to quieten them down.

SEMO, were your natural turkey feathers from a mature bird, or a jake? I found jake feathers to be noisy.

That I believe was exactly the problem. My neighbor gave me the wing feathers off his bird he got a few weeks ago and it was a young turkey. I don't know if it was a hen or a jake, but the feathers were small and thinner than a mature gobbler or a hen and mine not only hissed, but almost like a high pitched scream. I stripped them the other night and re-fletched one with 4.5" parabolic white fethers, the arrow is completely silent now. Lesson learned, don't fletch with young bird feathers.
My broadheads still have a little hiss, but not real bad and there's not much I can do about that except go to a 2 blade solid and I don't really want to go that route. I'll stick with my 3 blade heads cause I've got 12 of them and I'm not going to switch right in the middle of bow season, besides the BH's shoot great so I would like to stick with them. Hopefully the deer I shoot at won't duck my arrow? I tend to shoot a bit low anyway so if it does try to duck, then maybe it will drop right into it?
Thanks for the feedback.

[Ssamac]

Thanks Dave. It's always fun to talk trad archery with you guys. We have a lot to share.

Anyway, I tried to trim the full shield feathers but that did little good for me. The 4" feathers were the big difference.

Do the deer hear them? I had 2 duck so far. I think so. I'm shooting low from now on too, but my 4" feathers will be tested next shot I take. If they don't duck, guess what?

I'll keep you guys posted

Thanks and good luck
sam