First year hunting with Cedars. What to expect?

[skychief]

To this point, I have only used aluminum for hunting.  I am excited to use cedar shafts this year.  Maybe it's the romance and history surrounding wood shafts that has me pumped up.  Whatever the reason, I am anxious to take a deer or two with them and think about it a lot.

So, for those that used aluminum or carbon, then switched to taking game with wood shafts, was the thrill any different for you ?

Best regards, Skychief.

[Kent57]

Yes it was ,I love making and hunting with cedars. I've taken a lot of game with them, both big and small. Good for you. Of all the game I haven taken not one complained about being killed with a cedar instead of a carbon

[Scott E]

More of a Thrill? I don't think so. But I really enjoy wood arrows. Making them, shooting them, breaking them and hunting with them.

[stevem]

I can't say there was/is any thrill in using cedar shafting.  There is a bit of history.  I always like how quiet they are compared to aluminum.  And the aroma of a broken shaft is something to be enjoyed!

[Bobby Urban]

Nothing cooler than the back half of a broken cedar arrow with blood on it you discover while tracking a deer.  Best if the scenario includes snow!  Beyond that - not much difference but I just cannot shoot anything else from my longbows.  Just seems sacrilege to me.

[Uncle Buck]

I went full circle, I started with the old Graphlex shafts and despite the horror stories you hear, I never had any problems. When those became hard to find I switched to aluminum. Next was cedar, because they were pretty and flew great from my 55-65# bows. Shoulder problems now have forced me down to 45# and the cedars just seem like they are flying in slow motion to me, I have never been impressed by speed but they just look slow to me. I know its all in my head, but its my head. Anyway I am switching to 30" GT 3555 trads with Zwickey Eskalites. I only hunt whitetails and small game, so they should get it done. I will miss the smell of the cedars.

[Sam McMichael]

If they are well made and properly tuned, you should expect the same good performance that your old arrows gave you. They fly well, penetrate well, and look good doing it - just like any other quality arrow.

[varmint101]

What to expect?  That wonderful smell of a broken shaft on a crisp fall morning!

[59Alaskan]

Originally posted by varmint101:
What to expect?  That wonderful smell of a broken shaft on a crisp fall morning!

And if you're lucky, game to take home.

[monterey]

You guys have me all excited to smell a broken cedar.  Going to pull a couple out of the quiver and bust em over my knee!  

[ChuckC]

You will feel the aura, smell the romance, see the beauty, and hopefully shoot something !  Just have fun and enjoy them.
ChuckC

[wooddamon1]

I shot my first deer with an aluminum arrow and a few since with cedars. I like playing with different materials, but it seems when the season rolls around I have woods in the quiver.

 This season will be cedars again after making Douglas Fir for the past couple years, something special to me about them...

[Machino]

I have been thinking about going to cedar next year. I have been using doug fir, and though I like it a lot, I was wondering if the cedar would be lighter giving me slightly more FOC.  Is it so slight it wouldn't matter?

[Machino]

Also, have you noticed the spines being consistent between woods?  I know they should be, but wondering if anyone saw a difference.

What exactly are you shooting Skychief?

It is possible to get heavier or lighter weight cedars, I get mine from Wapiti Archery. For me, 55-60 surewoods fly identical to my 53-55 tapered cedars. The one small difference for me between aluminum and cedar or doug fir, is how much noise I get in the back quiver when walking fast. A bigger difference is how snow makes ice droplets on metal arrows when it is below freezing.  Out of a hundred or so broadhead arrows for myself over the years, I had three that were goofy.  Test shoot every arrow a few times.

[Bjorn]

The spines are very consistent between Cedar and Fir. For Ash and Hickory I go up a spine group relative to Cedar. Get yourself a spine tester and a grain scale they are a good investment.  

[LongStick64]

They work extremely well. Wood arrows have been used since the dawn of man, why change now.

[doctari]

I love cedar arrows, easy to make, the smell, all the things mentioned above. I hunt with ash arrows instead, I have had poor results with cedar, just was not getting the penetration. Maybe I will try them again with more weight up front.

[bigbadjon]

Despite people arguing differently wood arrows do not have more consistent spine than aluminum or carbon. On top of that I have shafts that vary as much as 12 pounds of spine from the stiff side to the soft side not taking into account that the grain may twist out of line and register differently at different points in the shaft. If you buy matched shafts you can equal the accuracy of alloy or carbon but the 6# groups sold by most sellers will never yield that accuracy. For my cedar arrows I match mine to a spine variance of 1 pound and 5 grains of weight.

[skychief]

Originally posted by Machino:
Also, have you noticed the spines being consistent between woods?  I know they should be, but wondering if anyone saw a difference.

What exactly are you shooting Skychief?

Nothing special.  50-55# parallel with 125 grains up front and 5" parabolics on the back.  

They shoot wonderfully out of an old Pearson recurve I plan to hunt with this year.