Do I need silencers?

[madmaxthc]

Good morning Gang,

I have been shooting my new Baraga (ASL) and I was surprised how silent it is. This is the first time I shoot anything else than a recurve, I was wondering if I *have* to use silencers. What do you think?

Best,
Max

[Pine]

I only use silencers to fine tune an arrow setup.
They are not necessary. Look at some old footage of some of the most famous archers and you won't see silencers.
It's a more modern addidion.

[Terry Green]

I only use silencers to fine tune an arrow setup.
They are not necessary. Look at some old footage of some of the most famous archers and you won't see silencers.
It's a more modern addidion.

Older bow designs were quieter.

[varmint101]

I only use silencers to fine tune an arrow setup.
They are not necessary. Look at some old footage of some of the most famous archers and you won't see silencers.
It's a more modern addidion.

Older bow designs were quieter.

Why is that?

I have a Bear Tigercat and it’s the quietest recurve I own. There are silencers in it. Bowhush actually! Maybe that’s it LOL. It seems faster than my new ‘59, but it should since it’s 49 and new is 45.

I’d say if your Baraga sounds quiet enough and no vibe, then you don’t need silencers. If it’s not then you do.

[GCook]

Older bows were slower and the older Dacron strings give a little more on the shot allowing for it to absorb some of the energy. 
I have strong wraps and wool silencers on my recurve and wool silencers on my longbow.  I also use limbsavers on the limbs to dampen any vibration.  My arrows are tuned to the bows set up this way. 
As bad as my hearing is I try to shoot my bow in an enclosed spot to hear the differences.  Minor adjustments in brace height can change sound significantly.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Orion]

Adding silencers will make the bow even quieter.  If you're not going to hunt with the bow, probably not necessary.  But if you are going to hunt with it, why not make it as quiet as possible. 

[madmaxthc]

That's all good advice,

I bet my ears are not as good as deer's , I'll get some silencers on. Good point about the slower speed and the use of dacron on older bows.

Thank you, tradgangers, you save the day once again 

[Tim Finley]

Orions got it right  !!

[Medley]

Ya, that’s the kicker for me. If I’m hunting with a particular bow, I’m doing everything possible to silence it.

[Sam McMichael]

I have seen a few bows that were very quiet without silencers, but like Orion said, it may be good to make a quiet bow even quieter.

[flyonline]

Never mind 

[madmaxthc]

Be aware that silencers, particularly big fluffy ones will probably change the tune of your bow and may effect the flight of your arrow.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to re-test a couple of bare shafts after setting up the silencers 

[Terry Green]

Be aware that silencers, particularly big fluffy ones will probably change the tune of your bow and may effect the flight of your arrow.

As the original owner of BowHush....I found the complete opposite....as in probably NOT going to change....

Not saying this is 100% true, but out of say 20 bows I owned, not one of them ever were out of tune after installing fluffy wool silencers....not ONE.

 I would also like to add to my previous comment, No not all modern bows are loud..... Just saying the older designs were over all quieter.....

I will not hunt with a noisy bow..... And no matter how quiet my bows are they all have silencers..... But I have never found the need for limb savers..... I've never owned a bow that needed such.

No matter your bow of choice just make sure it's as quiet as possible for hunting. 

[Charlie Lamb]

True ASL type bows are naturally quiet and I've killed a pile of game with them unsilenced. Having said that I often add a very small set of wool silencers to my ASL's. By small I mean 7 or 8 strands of wool trimmed to a 1" diameter ball. Makes a very quiet bow "deadly quiet"... and has no impact on bow performance.

[Terry Green]

Hello Charlie....November?

[OkKeith]

I have the wool ball silencers on several of my bows but have the "rubber legs" type on others. Both work well. The rubber legs style seem to work better for me in wet weather.

OkKeith

[GCook]

Bowhush is the most durable and  effective string silencer I've used.
I hav not noticed performance changes but as said I tune with my bow set up how I hunt.
Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[Charlie Lamb]

November could work T.

[flyonline]

As the original owner of BowHush....I found the complete opposite....as in probably NOT going to change....

Not saying this is 100% true, but out of say 20 bows I owned, not one of them ever were out of tune after installing fluffy wool silencers....not ONE.

.....

No matter your bow of choice just make sure it's as quiet as possible for hunting. 

Sooooo, apologies, but it looks like I was wrong  I was about to post up a quick reply and thought better of it and instead went and put my arrows where my mouth was and tried to re-create my original performance.

First shot: Stiff (last time was waaay weak)???
Tried again, and again. All stiff.

Hmmmm. Changed everything I could think of that might have impacted last time and still out. I even stripped the feathers from a fletched shaft to check and sure enough, still out. So somehow I got it completely wrong, not sure how this happened as I am normally very careful and do multiple sessions over multiple days so I don't get a one-time false reading (measure twice, cut once!!).

At least these match up perfectly with my #56 nighthawk/sage hybrid with 150gr heads instead of 125gr so all was not lost.

Moral of the story, take everything you read with a grain of salt listen to Terry   

p.s. will update my original post to remove caution

[Steelhead]

I don't think you have to use silencers.I just had a Baraga and it was a very quiet bow.I did have wool puffs on it.In my opinion it will be quieter with silencers.As the sound you will mostly hear on a very quiet bow without silencers is string twang and or sting hummmm as the string dampens out after it returns to brace height.A hunting bow should be as quiet as possible!