anyone hunt with a clicker?

[buckeyebowhunter]

I just ordered a clicker, I'm tired of the inconsistency in my anchoring. I'm not really going to make this a form question or I would have posted in the shooters forum. But i was wondering how many of you guys that have went to the clicker are using it while also hunting?  Are there any issues with the noise spooking game?  Thanks fellas.

[David Mitchell]

I do.  No issues. I do quieten the clicker a bit with a small bit of tape.

[Caleb Monroe]

Goin to this year.

[Don Lampkins]

Larry D Jones

[Bow man]

Once you get comfortable with the clicker and are shooting well, you can open it up and put a little electrical tape on it if worried about the noise. Many use with out

[A.S.]

This will be my 25th year hunting with a clicker. I have never had a noise issue with them.  I do take efforts to quieten the blade before I hunt with them.

[KSCATTRAPR]

I hunt with mine and so far no issues with it spooking animals.

[NYRON]

I don't currently shoot with a clicker, but I hunted with one for several years and never had any problems with the "click" scaring animals. As other have said, use a piece of electrical tape to quiet the click of the spring steel blade and replace the stock chain with a nylon string.

The bigger problem I have experienced with clickers is moisture getting behind the double sided tape and allowing the clicker to then pull away from the limb. To prevent this, I used to use electrical tape to create a "sealed" clicker.

These aren't great...but below are couple of pictures showing a clicker that is sealed and upgraded to cord and snap swivel attachment.

If you are interested in more detail, I cover clickers and other ways to achieve a consistent anchor in my book.

Best of luck and feel free to shoot me a PM if you need any help.

 


 

[Nathan Killen]

I'm also going to try the clicker for hunting this year. It's made a substantial difference in my shooting and it's upped my confidence as well !

[buckeyebowhunter]

Thanks for the replies. Do you guys mount on upper limb or lower or does it matter? I would feel that on the lower limb it would be out of your sight picture.

[A.S.]

I mount mine on the upper limb. Just low enough that your string has clearance when you unstring your bow. This keeps the clicker cord fairly short.

I have mounted it on the lower limb in the past. I never had an issue either way.

[Fritz]

I wouldn't hunt without one. I set mine up just like Allen. Be careful wrapping electrical tape around the blade. In cold weather it will almost nullify the click. I use moleskin on both sides of the blade. Never ever had an animal notice the click.

[knobby]

Hunting with one this year after shooting so well with it this summer. It wouldn't make sense not to try hunting with it. The "click" on mine is very soft, more of a "bump" that's felt.

[Jerrynocam]

I've been thinking about getting a clicker. Which one do you guys recommend?

[DanielB89]

Originally posted by Jerrynocam:
I've been thinking about getting a clicker. Which one do you guys recommend?

I have too!  seems like a good deal, and it would probably help me! lol.

[NYRON]

Below are couple of paragraphs from my book that might be helpful...

From "A Traditional Bowhunter's Path:"

I know of many hunters who use clickers on their bows during the off season to practice, but remove the clicker for hunting because they think the “click” sound will scare game. I suppose this is fine as long as the good form developed through repetition of using the clicker holds in a hunting situation, but I suspect this is often not the case. I don’t presently shoot with a clicker, as I now use a dynamic double anchor, but when I did, I kept the clicker installed while hunting. I never had an animal detect me because of the click, but I do recommend a few clicker modifications for hunting.

There are two clicker brands available at retail traditional archery stores. The Clikety-Klicker and the Crick-It. There are some minor differences, but preference is likely a personal choice. Both brands use a tab made of spring steel set in an aluminum frame to produce the clicking sound. To modify the clicker for hunting, disassemble the housing and wrap the spring steel tab with a small amount of electrical tape to mute the metallic click. After doing this, you’ll find that you actually feel the click with your fingers on the bow’s string more than you hear it. I also like to replace the clicker’s short section of metal chain with a nylon string to prevent noise made by the chain hitting the bow’s limb. The other modifications I recommend are to re-inforce and weatherproof the clicker’s attachment to the limb. The clicker attaches to the limb with a piece of double-sided mounting tape. I recommend re-enforcing this with a few wraps of electrical tape beneath the spring steel tab and around the bow limb, and waterproofing it with tape on the sides of the clicker frame to prevent water from getting to the mounting tape. While hunting, the clicker will be useless if it becomes loose and can pull away from the limb by even a fraction of an inch. I found this out the hard way on a rainy spring bear hunt!

[buckeyebowhunter]

Ron, Thank you for adding those paragraphs. I appreciate everyone's input.

I got the clicker yesterday and installed it just above the top limb bolt on my widow PSA. I really like the clicker so far and everything seems to perform well. I am not getting any interference from the string but man is that thing an eye sore. I wish I would have followed my gut and put it on the bottom limb which I considered but I really didn't want to cover up the specs and my name on my brand new PSA.

I'm somewhat of an OCD person and I'm hoping that the spot that it's in will grow on me but if it doesn't do you guys have any suggestions for removing the clicker, because that thing is on there!

[David Mitchell]

Wow, Buckeye, you must have a long piece of cord hanging down if you mount the clicker just above the limb bolt on the top limb.  I mount mine far enough near the top of the upper limb to be just a couple of inches below the string loop when the bow is unstrung.  You may find that long piece of cord hangs up a lot in the woods.

I have used clickers for years and removed and remounted many on other bows when I sell/trade, etc. I use a thin knife blade to remove them--being very careful to hold the blade at an angle where the blade does not touch the limb but toward the clicker base plate.  Take your time and it works fine. I use a tape from 3M I believe that is gray in color and the peel off side is red.  That stuff holds great and comes off much easier than normal mounting tape that has a sort of paper consistency.

[buckeyebowhunter]

Thanks David I'm gonna grab some tape an move that thing. Way too much cord for my liking lol.

[Bowwild]

I haven't used one but I own one. Unless I misunderstand the directions it seems the makers recommend mounting near the limb butts?  I suppose this is to keep weight (however little) away from the limb tip?

However, every picture I see of a clicker in use (I have the Crick-it) they are mounted just down from the working part of the recurve limb tip?