bow quieter with split finger....

[Mike Faith]

Trying to challenge myself today, after watching some of Mr Terry Greens shooting vids, by doing some awkward shots with my longbow, I had to switch to a glove instead of my tab and shoot split finger instead of my usual 3 under. First of all, wish I would have tried split finger with a glove a long time ago, really like the feel of it. But the biggest surprise was how much quieter my already quiet Great Northern 'lil creep shot with this style of shooting, I am sure some of it could be form, mine is not even close to perfect, but my groups got tighter, I mean a lot tighter....please share any experiences y'all may have along these lines...
Thanks
Mike

[Pine]

That's typical for 3 under to be louder than split .
Most Bows are tillered for split . If you shoot 3 under your bow should be tillered for that .

[Longtoke]

Some say adding an extra silencer the top limb will help slow it down slightly to match the bottom limbs speed better and quite the bow a bit more.

[Flying Dogg]

I also found that 3 under produced quite a bit more release noise from my tab than with split finger.

[Roadkill]

I do not usually wear my hearing aids when shooting, but I sense the same thing

On every bow I have ever tried it on, 3-under was louder than split.

Bisch

[damascusdave]

2 under and 2 finger split are quiet enough and taking that third finger out of the equation makes my worst shots better...watch some video of Mr. Hyek the defending Olympic Gold Medallist

DDave

[Kevin Dill]

I too have noticed that every bow I've ever owned (and shot both ways) is louder with 3-under...regardless of specific tiller. Maybe it's limb/tiller related and maybe it's something else. Though I haven't ever shot a bow through a chronograph I have noted repeatedly that my release is cleaner and arrows hit harder/penetrate deeper in my target. I also require a stiffer arrow for 3-under vs split. I shot split most of my life and changed to 3-under a number of years ago. The benefits far outweigh the only negative for me, which is noise. I counter that with good silencers.

[Lady Frost]

Interesting.  I think I will start training myself to shoot split finger.

[Rick Richard]

No doubt three under is louder than split. I have tested various locations on my ILF bow and it does not appear to make a difference with respect to noise.

[Gil Verwey]

A Tradganger straightened me out with 3 under. I always shot split finger. I wanted to try 3 under but all bows sounded like I was dry firing them.

A Tradganger told me I was putting too much pressure on the string with my bottom finger. He did this and recommended I try it. To straighten out my 3 under he had me place a piece of tape around the first joint above my knuckle on my bottom finger. That forced me to not put much pressure on the string with that finger until I could do the same thing without the tape.

It worked great and quieted the bow down quite a bit.

Good luck
Gil

PS - I switched back to a wrist tab. Many people would not consider that traditional, but it works great for me.

[Mike Faith]

Thanks for the response...good stuff!

I am really enjoying split finger, think I am going to try it for a while.

Gil, will give that a try if I try 3under again.

PS- If you shoot a bow with only one string I think it is traditional...

[Mr. fingers]

A high elbow ( draw hand ) will also cause more tension on that third finger and cause more noise. I recently switched to 3 under. And the longer I've been doing it the quieter my bow has gotten. I switched from a glove to a 3 under Cordovan tab which also helped. Split still feels more natural to me but Kevin Dill hit the nail on the head with where I'm at. I do require a stiffer arrow shooting 3 under. And as much as I love split my accuracy shooting 3 under is ridiculously better and it kinda makes me mad. I was on a Howard Hill / John Schulz. Kick back quiver and everything lol. But I cannot shoot as consistent split as I do 3 under.

[awry]

Recent YouTube video came to interesting conclusion

 

[Mr. fingers]

Awry,
Thanks for sharing. I had my wife listen to me shoot to see if she could hear a difference. She said she didn't really know if it was louder just had a little more of twang sound. And after watching your vid. I wonder if it's a certain tone that we are more sensitive to but not necessarily louder.

[Kevin Dill]

I've read plenty of theories that the increased sound level (3 under) is caused by uneven limb forces...limbs recoiling out of synchrony...weird string vibrations...other stuff. I can't prove a darned thing. One might reason a mechanical release would produce the most even string / limb pressures and therefore quietest (or quieter) shot. Having seen more than a few recurves shot with a release I noticed they were plenty loud too.

My own theory is that (split finger) the index finger pressure does something to the string (above the nock) upon release to somehow dampen or affect the vibration/harmonics. How much proof do I have?

0

[Mr. fingers]

Kevin I agree with the release aid being louder. When I shot compound I always shot fingers and my bow,was always quieter. Than anyone,shooting a release.

[Carpdaddy]

Try raising nock a little. Worked for a friend but there could have been other variables.

[stiknstringer]

I agree with the video...the sound of the arrow in flight may have a lot to do with animals ducking the shot. I've seen foxes dive out of the way of my arrow just feet before it hit them. Their sudden reaction seemed to indicate that they heard the "wooosh" or hum of the feathers.  

[FlintNSteel]

Not only have I noticed my bows are louder when I have tried 3-under, but on several, the vibration is enough that my brush buttons vibrate away from the limb tips.

Personally, I have never liked the feel of three under and recently shifted from 2nd finger in corner of mouth to a very high split-finger anchor with first finger right at the bottom edge of my eye socket, which gives me the same 25 yard on target arrow tip view as the fixed crawl.