Anybody else like slow, quiet and forgiving?

[Ragnarok Forge]

Hitting and not spooking game far outweight speed in my book.  I love a fast bow.  I hunt with a quiet mid speed bow.  Love the part where he posts the deer didn't even know it was hit.  No string jumping means more meat on the ground.

[wollelybugger]

If you want a slow, very quiet forgiving bow there is nothing better than a self bow with wood arrows. They make no noise shooting and shoot a lot slower than a regular bow, but not that much shower. There is something about carrying a self bow and a quiver of woodies in the woods.

[Jack Skinner]

Im with Wolleybugger selfbow. But my second choice would be a Hill style D bow.

[hvyhitter]

Slow is also just a relitive term. My D bow is from Windstorm archery that I've had for about 16 yrs now. Its noticably slower than my Leon Stewart or my predator recurve (all 60@28) but it still spits an arrow out nicely and is Oh so much quieter. I usually shoot woodies in the 650 gr range and watch my fletching disappear as the arrows pass through. Usually the deer then jump from the arrow hitting dirt and just walk away and fall over. I also get another shot sometimes after the 1st warning shot.......

[Bjorn]

I find it curious how some folks think that a bow has to be slow to be quiet and 'forgiving' what's up with that?

It is hard to imagine Howard Hill ever hit anything with that all wood junk he was using back in the old days.  At least until you shoot that all wood junk.

[swampthing]

65# 68" "Hill Bow" with 500g woodies! around 180fps, just under 8gpp!!, 16 strand dacron string, no silencers!! at 5 yds it is inaudable. I like it, smooth, like cheesecake.

[bigbadjon]

Thank you Bjorn, the only fellow who sees it my way.

[pdk25]

Originally posted by Bjorn:
I find it curious how some folks think that a bow has to be slow to be quiet and 'forgiving' what's up with that?

x 2

If you have 180 fps versus 210 fps at twenty yards, the slower bow will not cause the arrow to drop that much farther than the faster arrow to cause a automatic miss.  however, if the 210 fps bow was loud and touchy with a buck fever release, that could make a big difference.  Certainly not all fast bows are loud and touchy, but the slow quiet ones get the job done often enough to give them serious respect.

[slayer1]

Originally posted by hvyhitter:
Slow is also just a relitive term. My D bow is from Windstorm archery that I've had for about 16 yrs now. Its noticably slower than my Leon Stewart or my predator recurve (all 60@28) but it still spits an arrow out nicely and is Oh so much quieter. I usually shoot woodies in the 650 gr range and watch my fletching disappear as the arrows pass through. Usually the deer then jump from the arrow hitting dirt and just walk away and fall over. I also get another shot sometimes after the 1st warning shot.......

Slow is a relative term. And that is a good point to make. I have had a lot of bows over the years and the D bows are always, consistently more quiet. Maybe not necessarily slow.....if all I cared about was speed I would go and shoot wheels. Point I was trying to make is a quiet forgiving set up works much better for me and the conditions I hunt better than speed type set up.

[Bill Carlsen]

Quiet and forgiving are not mutually exclusive. Nor does an arrow  have to be "heavy" to shoot quietly and obtain optimum penetration. Personally I like fast, quiet and forgiving.

[YORNOC]

Speed is also relative to distance. If you limit yourself to fairly close shots, not so important. If you shoot long...which is an individual distance, very important.  
Quiet?  You bet!
Forgiving?  On a freezing cold day after sitting 3+ hours motionless..., yeah. But in general I'd rather bet on my shooting abilities than the forgiveness of my bow.

[Sixby]

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love quiet and forgiving. I want a bow that is quiet and forgiving and so fast you can't see the arrow. Well hardly. I like to hear the arrow hit the target when I release the string.

[bigbadjon]

Speed is important and even if you don't hunt past 20 yards you still need to practice further out. The new TBM has an article about it and it is very true.

What is slow?

[Night Wing]

My two bows shoot between 153-155 feet per second (fps) and many people call that slow.

[bigbadjon]

Your arrow is too slow if your flight path is such an arch that you have trouble hitting targets squarely past 30 yards.

[sawtoothscream]

i like a good blend of quiet, smooth and fast.

to slow you have to be better at judging distance. with range finder it sure does help though. plus less penetration

[Night Wing]

During my last 47 years shooting a recurve, I've never taken a shot at an archery target that was 30 yards away and I never will for the simple reason all of my killing shots at live game have been at 20 yards and under with my slow and heavy arrows. I think the majority of my killing shots have been between 12-17 yards. I think the longest shot I've ever taken at a stationary archery target, not live game, was 23 yards and I deemed that "too far" for me.