Noisy Bow-Quiet Bow

[Drewster]

Many of us, myself included, spend time and worry trying to quieten our bows for hunting......especially recurves. But does it really matter? I'm thinking a deer will hear your bow no matter if it's quiet or noisy......except perhaps on a breezy day.

You hunters with a lot of experience, how much difference does a really quiet bow make?

[Pine]

I really don't know , but if you look at old pictures of Fred Bear , Howard Hill and others , they don't have silencers .
They also were successful hunters .

[Anointed Archer]

It's as simple as having as many things as possible in your favor. Quiet bow is one of those things you want in your favor!

[J. Cook]

Deer will react differently to different sounds.  However, it's more a function of their "state of mind."  If you shoot while one is looking and is on high alert - it'll be running 180 degrees and 10' away when the arrow goes where the deer was when you shot.  But, if you shoot when it's calm and head down and unaware, I've had them not even flinch.  In fact - in my compound days I had more than one never move, they just kept doing what they were doing for about 8 seconds and fell over.

[Shadowhnter]

I like a quiet bow, but im doubtful as to the need of it. I personally think a quiet arrow is MUCH more important.

[jess stuart]

I have always felt quieter is better.  If you hear someone shoot a .22 rimfire at a couple hundred yards no biggie make it a 06 totally different. You can't make them totally silent but quieter certainly doesn't hurt anything.

[Tedd]

I don't shoot well if my bow isn't very quiet.

[Mitch Edwards]

I tend to think deer don't always hear the bow. If you have a friend shoot it and you can't hear it from 15-20 feet or so then it's hunting quiet. I know deer hear better than we do but I don't know how much. I have had deer react to bows at 10 yards and also at 30 but those weren't the most quiet bows. A quiet bow never hurt anyone's chances of being successful but a loud bow?

[Nala]

Graps reminds me of a Fred Bear video that I watched and couldn't believe.  It is the one where he is hunting the Grizzly and he misses it with his first shot and leaves and the bear comes back and after sneaking up for another shot, the Grizzly stands up and he puts one right in the boiler room.

I literally was stunned how noisy his bow was.  That thing rattled like it had parts loose on it.  I don't think a single hunter here would hunt with a bow that was as noisy as that one was.  Didn't matter to him at all.....nor did it matter too much to the Grizzly.

[Orion]

I quiet my bows, but am not obsessive about it.  As has been mentioned, a stationary, alert deer will likely hear the bow go off, regardless.  A buck doing its rutting walk through fallen leaves in the fall likely won't hear it.  At least that's my experience.

I've seldom had deer jump the string. But that's my excuse when I miss.  

[JimB]

Quiet matters.I was around when most of us did not use silencers and yes people killed game but it wasn't all wine and roses.As soon as we learned about string silencers,everyone started using them.I can't remember a single person that ever went back,if they were shooting recurves.

I've never seen a bear jump the string.I really don't think they do.Regarding the Bear movie,I believe those sounds were dubbed in later.I know the bear sounds weren't real bear sounds.

Of course the animals attitude factors in to it as well as how hard hunted they are in certain areas.Ask guys that hunt Texas.

Animals and people react faster to sounds than their other senses.Higher pitched tones will get more of a reaction than softer,lower pitched one.

Animals coming in to water can be much more high strung and likely to jump that one that just finished drinking.

[D. Key]

In a quiet woods setting (hunting deer and hogs), sound travels.  

Sound travels at 1088 Ft./Sec. therefore, an arrow traveling at 200 FPS will arrive at a spot 15 yds. away roughly 5 times slower than the sound of the shot.  Regardless of how quiet your bow is, a deer/hog has ample time to react to the shot, thus dropping their body to load their legs, in order to run.  My theory is to focus at the lower part of the Brisket, which allows the animal to drop into the arrow's path.  It has worked for me and I hope it helps you as well.

[Wheels2]

The sound gets there 5 to 5 1/2 times faster than the arrow so I try for the least sound as possible.
The "old timers" used Dacron strings and wood arrows which I think helps.
I try to tune without string silences than add them when I have as little sound as I can get from the bare string.

[Sam McMichael]

I want mine quiet. It might not always help, but it will never hurt.

[Randy Koleno]

It depends on the level of alertness of the deer, but, I never wished I had a noisier bow.

[Bvas]

I think the noise level directly influences the animals reaction.
Less sound=less reaction.  It may not influence how quickly an animal reacts, but will definetly affect how "violent" the reaction is.

[elkken]

I have always been an advocate of a quiet bow over a fast bow, but my hunting partner who has killed more whitetails than I ever will did not use ANY silencers ... I'm sure I have gotten some second chances due to my quiet bow that my partner would not.

I guess he just shoots better the first time    

[Nala]

I never knew about them adding in the sounds later to that video.  I wonder why they would add sounds to make his bow sound loud?  You'd think they'd want it to sound as quiet as possible to impress people how well their bows were made.

Oh well, I guess they didn't think that way back then and their emphasis was on other things.

I still love that video and especially the one where he is hunting Cape Buffalo.  The guy narrating it is perfect.  It's one of the coolest archery videos ever.

Sorry to go off topic.

[highlow]

In agreement with those who feel it can't hurt.  Another factor that just "might" help put that arrow where it belongs.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Quiet is better in My opinion.  It may not help but it certainly will not hurt.

Regarding archers in days of old, they often took looooong shots.  I guess the deer wouldn't hear a compound at 80 yards either.