Feather color

[Nala]

I have white, brite yellow, chartreuse and pink feathers in my practice quiver.  I wondered this very question and decided to do a test.  I went out at near dusk and started shooting my visible fletchings from 25 yards.  As it got darker I found that the CHARTREUSE showed up marginally better than the others.  I have to say though that there wasn't that much of a difference at all, to my eye anyway.
True the chartreuse was a TINY bit better, but that's not saying I wouldn't take any of the others and be worried about not seeing them.  I say shoot what you like cause it really doesn't make that much difference anyway.


Oh, the backdrop for my tests is an old, wooden, weathered fence about 8 feet tall.  You all know what color those fences get after many years....a dull, dark gray color.

Larry.

[stagetek]

I use white, but in snowy weather fluorescent lime.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Yellow, green and orange.

[David McLendon]

Hot pink if your man enough to tote'm, and sometimes I'll even commit the supposed         non-traditional sacrilege of putting in a lighted nock if I think I need it for visibility. Knowing is better than guessing or hoping.

[John Malone]

Ill second the hot pink for the woods, I really like yellow but the areas I hunt are full of ground level cactus with yellow flowers. I have found that if you pick two primary colors say yellow and blue (makes green) it makes a very visible fluttering green so does red and blue makes a nice fluttering purple. Certain  color combos like I mentioned are very good for observing arrow flight in the back yard. Some combos give an illusion of bad flight. But that's just the way I see em.

[Terry Johnston]

White is hard to beat under all light conditions..

[riser]

I remember reading about NOT using the colors red white or blue while turkey hunting, those colors are on a turkey's head/ neck.  I thought it was good advice.

I like white, but I'm on my last batch of white fletching ( for 3d ). I'm heeding the "red white and blue" advice, plus my concern of looking like a whitetail flag.

Hot pink is my new fletch color.

Add a real world factor that dirty fletching are harder to see as they get older. The once vivid white feathers are now dingy dirt colored.

I guess that is a testament for the durable fletching glue (Saunders NPV or Fletch-tite platinum>>high lot number = "good stuff").

"Hot dingy dirty pink" is the accurate color description I guess.

[monterey]

I remember reading about NOT using the colors red white or blue while turkey hunting, those colors are on a turkey's head/ neck. I thought it was good advice.

That's a good idea.

As far as what an animal sees, a rule of thumb is "if the male or female of a species is brightly colored then that animal sees colors"

Turkeys and pretty much all other birds fall under the rule. I'm very careful of color of anything used in hunting turkeys and ducks.

[J-dog]

Don't do all white!, almost got shot that way    plastic vanes do hiss as they pass by - like all chartreuse these days or pink - lol

[Terry Green]

Yes Nala....chartrues shows brilliance more when the lighting diminishes...its the Florescent that does it.

[bunyan]

I've always liked chartreuse fletching for my arrows, although instead of getting dingy like a previous poster mentioned with white fletch, I've had some that have faded to a pale yellow. I guess I'm not shooting and loosing/breaking enough arrows before they need replaced!!

[ChuckC]

When you open the Trad Gang app and see that first group pic..... which arrows do you see ?

[Black Hills]

Four fletched, with alternating flo pink and flo chartreuse...  Stands out like a laser on the shot, easy to track in flight (regardless of light conditions) and get a good handle on probable shot placement.

A side benefit is that most of the guys I shoot with refuse to use strong contrasting colors like that, and being different isn't a bad thing.

[monterey]

The chartreuse color in road workers vests Is that color because it's unique and not found in nature.  That alone should make it easy for us to see in flight.  

I'm going to be switching to four Fletch on my future arrow builds.  Maybe two chartreuse and two pink?  

[Gdpolk]

Fluorescent pink with Lumenoks.

[monterey]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
When you open the Trad Gang app and see that first group pic..... which arrows do you see ?

Wow! That does pop.

[T-Bowhunter]

I use two chartreuse and one pink.

[Rick Richard]

White or even a color that is fluorescent can be a give away to your position as seen by game. Believe me, the deer I hunt in Illinois do look up in trees. I use a blue fletching, which is less bright than most colors, but can be seen on the ground after the shot. It just contrasts better with the fall leaves.

[J. Cook]

If being seen by game due to your fletching color, simply use a fletch cover.  I use one that I made with a thin fleece that I sprayed with camp dry so it also keeps any minor rain storms or wet conditions from ruining my fletch.

I like bright feathers on most of my set ups and the fletch cover is the answer for me.  

Back to the original question - Chartreuse or AMG's Fluorescent Lime show up the best for me.  I still use mostly traditional yellow as it shows up really well against the brown of a deer when in flight towards the animal and it's bright enough.

All the feathers become harder to find when coated in blood after a pass through!!!!!!    

[smokin joe]

I use yellow fletch and white nocks. The feathers are sometimes two yellow and one green, or two yellow and one red, or all three yellow -- but the nock is always white. I also use wraps. I always photograph the bow quiver in black and white, and study the photo, to see if the feather/wrap/nock combination results in something that camouflages itself to the limited color vision of a deer.

This works well for me.