naw its not once you understand what's happening. Its the first tool to getting a guy close. I agree paper tuning and than group testing as a final step and you'll be drilling things! The more you do (and understand) the easier and more proficient the process becomes. Its kind of like trying to roof with a ballpeen hammer..it'll work, till you have to pull a nail. Bareshafting alone only gets you close, but I wouldn't rule it out!
If you hunt in the rain you're about as close to bareshafting as you can get with a bh on the front to boot. I cant sit at home when I'm on a typical hunt up here. SO either I park in a tent or I get out and hunt and at times even a constant drizzle can and has mashed my feathers down. The more tuned you are, the less it will be an issue.
And you don't have to shoot vertical, I don't and haven't. Though If I really cant figure out whats going on with a 15or so degree cant I'll turn a shot vertical to confirm things. You're not spending a range day shooting this way.
I guess I don't understand why people walk away from this tool. Its a fast way to get to the papertune and or group testing stages, no feathers correcting and giving even more false or less dramatic info. Simple put easy results.
The nice thing about bareshafting and staying slightly weak before fletching when playing with carbons is if you over shoot it you can add internal weights to compensate for it being slightly stiff. But I'd bet you don't go too stiff unless you get bareshafts to fly perfectly and than turn around and paint and fletch. If you're going to paint, I recommend bareshafting with painted shafts!