Most effective string silencer for you

[Pointer]

Cat whiskers tied on with zip ties...

[DesertDude]

I buy wool yarn and make my own. Also I just bought a bunch of the old rubber cat whiskers.

[tj69]

Buzz busters. Make your bow pretty silent, very light and dont absorb water.

[Altiman94]

I use beaver balls, but cat whiskers seem to work the best as far as silencing the bow noise.

[broketooth]

i guess it would also depend on what your shooting too. i have an osage self bow, which i use beaver balls silencers. the bow is absalutly quiet. ive tried the same on a k-mag, they didnt work so good, bow was still noisy to me, which was probably my fault , lack of experience tuning a modern glass backed recurve. ive never tried any other products so i really cant say

[troutms]

Thanks everyone, you have been most helpful.

[ryan brodrick]

overall best silencer and lightest weight of them all for me is 10-20strands of bowstring material just like don stokes said.

i read about it in an old article dan quillian wrote.

i dont leave the wax in mine. in fact, i take it out by running the string material under hot water for about 30 seconds. the string material really puffs out good and a quick twang will get rid of any water (couldnt imagine a little water affecting a close shot anyway if you are worried about waterproofing).

all string materials work well (especially when de-waxed). i just use whatever string material i have on hand.

i will add that the material with wax left on resists burrs and snags more.

[Matty]

I prefer String Leeches, I get 5-6 months out of them Nothing Sticks to them easy on easy off, waterproof. However I like the LOOK of beaver balls and wool, but they dont seem to work as well for quieting the bow noise. It really does depend on the bow and how well it's tuned

[acadian archer]

musk ox wool from 3 rivers. A little expensive but they work great and they look cool !!!!!

[Covey]

I do the wool yarn thing! works like a charm, got the idea from my tradgang brothers. I think I got a spool of wool yarn for about 6 bucks, and itll last forever!! Jason

[Don Stokes]

I used yarn for years, but had two problems. It absorbs water, which may not affect your shooting, but I didn't like getting sprayed with water when I shot. Likewise, it picks up "hitchhikers" like beggar's lice. I had some of them hit me in the eye when I shot and they popped off. Don't have that problem with recycled bow strings.

Ryan, I didn't know Dan published on that.

[kevgsp]

Small section of catwiskers...did the wool for a while, but it holds water and burrs.

Never understood leaving the wiskers full length they wobble around and just work better shorter imo.
 

[jackdaw]

i've  personally found that those little foam ear "puffs" make the best string silencers money can buy!!! it's simple, you just ball em' up and stick one in you left ear, one in the right and PRESTO!!!!! .........other than that, hush puppies are darn good too!!! just kiddin' around fellows...heh-heh].

[freefeet]

Wool pompoms at the 1/3 points to cut out even harmonics and the 1/4 points to cut out the odd harmonics.

Then a layer of wool wrapped around the string where it contacts the limb - recurve bow.

[steve wasson]

I bought some thick, wool yarn at the store and cut it into 2 1/2" pieces, 5 per "ball" and put them at 12" and 18" from each end of string for a total of 4 per string.  They work well and don't seem to affect the arrow speed too much.

Steve

[elknutz]

I use wiskers on one and beaver on the other.  I like the look of beaver.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

I like to use the super string leaches that are made for crossbows.  They preform the same as the regular string leaches but they don't wear out nearly as quickly.  I couple these with beaver fur silencers, only because I like the way the beaver balls look.

[StickBowManMI]

I am surprised that no one mentioned heavy arrows. They quiet a bow without adding weight to the string.

[BowBrain]

String leaches work for me.  I have some Super String Leaches to try out on my next string.

[short slugger]

I have an Elburg LB with fur silencers at 1/4 pts. on a fast flight string. Still noisy with vibration that shook the arrows loose in my bow quiver. Just added 2 wool yarn puffs at 1 inch lower positions than the fur silencers, for a total of 4 on the string...arrows stay in quiver now, and more quiet by a subjective 65% now. Just sounds 2/3 quieter now!