Most effective string silencer for you

[lost in the woods]

sorry gentleman but i got to buck the tiger on this one ,,,

as what i prefer to call a traditional archer / hunter i keep my bows , arrows and methods as traditional as possible , giving up ALL cams and pulleys in the late 80s i went to a osage self bow , arthritis in the elbows and wrists lets me know when I'm getting just to much string shock and vibration , one of the only silencers I've found is natural fur , but not just any fur will work , the thickest and best comes from upper north america in winter, biggest factor is the placement, for me each bow is different. that you will have to determine on each bow for your shooting style.
I prefer beaver but have tried a few other species , mama got tired of me trying to swipe a piece from her fur coat ( wouldn't recommend this by the way ) so i had to go online to get mine , recently i found some on **** and ordered a set , I've tried some of the others they sell on there but this one suited me and went back and purchased sets for most of the bows i shoot on a regular basis , I'm not going to promote the manufacturer here but if you want to know just mail me through here.
so in short what do i prefer ,, the best beaver fur you can find and proper placement of the fur.
thanks yall for letting me voice my opinion
LOST IN THE WOODS

[Pete]

Piece of rubber inner tube 1/2"x2" long. Overhand knot pull tight...trim...cheap,slide up and down, they work. All the young guys cringe cause they dont look cool. Oh well.

[SpikeMaster]

Wool puffs quiet the bow and affect performance the least but they pick up burrs and absorb water. Cat whiskers are water and burr proof but you need to be careful not to put too many on and cut them short because they can greatly affect performance. I found that out through bare shaft tuning. Going from a bare string to 2 full whiskers on the same bow, I had to change from 2018's to 1916's.

[Terry Green]

I experimented for over a year and a half and I found that the product I was 'working on' was the best for me.  Bow Hush and Hush Puppies.

I hear a lot about 'water'...but water gathers not only on the silencers, but the string, feathers, shaft, broadhead, bow limbs, shooting glove.  When it rains the silencers aren't the only thing to get wet, or effect the performance of your equipment...everything is effected, and folks should account for all that as well when their equipment.  You will get 'sprayed' even if you have no silencers, and your arrow will be slower regardless.

Yeah, Rubber will absorb water cause it is porous, and it will also 'collect' water just like any other silencer.  Rubber also weighs more than wool when both are dry...least the wool puffs I use by far.  

I liked the wool's effect so much I put my little girls in buiz....Not just 'any wool'...but Wool from New Zealand that has more crimp and I use a longer staple than what is sold in stores.

BTW...the Bow Hush Hero pic page is about half done...and thanks to all who contributed to that.  Also, I will be updating the 'About the Owners' page soon as well as some of you will not believe how much they have grown since that 1st pic of them with the yarn spools.

Also, I'd like to thank all those that have been our customers over the years. And thanks for sharing your successes with me and my gals.        

  Bow Hush and Hush Puppies

[jacobsladder]

bow hush puppies.... all i use.

[buckeye_hunter]

Traditional bowhunter mag did a test on this question. They found the rubber cat whiskers to be the most effective at sound dampening and added padding on the limbs where the string hits for recurves.

-Charlie

[Colotrad]

IMHO silence all starts with the skinny string.  Minimal silencing material needed after that.

[Covey]

Wool yarn, it works great and it's cheap! 6 bucks and it's hard telling how many a fella could get out of a bundle!! Jason

[Whitetail Chaser]

I used wool yarn from the grocery store on one of my bows, but recently I switched to 35 strands of old B-50.  I think the old recycled bowstring actually does a better job than the yarn.

Brett

[waknstak IL]

I've used beaver balls and they seem to work well. I ordered a couple pairs of the hush puppies a week or two ago. I am anxious to see how well they work.

[Old York]

I've always used the catwhiskers, they work
well plus I can tie a lot of Chernobyls and Sneaky Petes with them.

[HATCHCHASER]

Hush Puppies and beaver strips.  I have also used wool from the craft stores but it does not work as well as Bowhush.

[Mr.Magoo]

Rubber cat whiskers.  Buy it as "skirting" material from someplace like Jann's Netcraft and you'll get 5.5 feet of it for a little over a dollar.

[Jeff Strubberg]

Beaver balls.

There were some serious problems with the piece in Trad Bowhunter.  Most of the conclusions make no sense whatsoever.

[ega278]

After some research I too chose to order a few sets of "Hush Puppies" a few weeks ago. Still nothing in the mail though...

[Jason Jelinek]

Going to a skinny string with tapered/padded loops and 10 strands of yarn on 1/4 points.  Very quiet shooting bow is the result.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

The little rubber Limb Saver Silencers. They don't slow me down, they're quiet, and they're water proof.

[lost in the woods]

has anybody else tried the beaver fur strips from hairy beaver ? , although not waterproof they took the zing out of my old longbow , had em on for 3 months now , still holding up good.

[pappabearsnuffer]

Been using beaver silencers for years with no problems. most of the time i can use them on new strings when the string is replaced.

[Covey]

I had beaver and it didnt work near as well! the wool made a big differance! jmo! Jason