Also relatively new to traditional bow hunting. 1st purchase was a vintage recurve & I added a takedown several years ago. This provided options on getting limbs of different strengths. Am up to 50 lb limbs currently and can comfortably pull that with good accuracy & consistency. Shoot carbon shafts & ordered arrows online from an ebay vendor in the US. 1st batch was very good quality so I ordered another batch from him. Didn't really set out to fletch arrows, but have found myself damaging fletchings during practice sessions, so replacing them has become a necessity more or less. Got the glue from West Kelowna store before it closed out & ordered feather fletchings online.
The vintage 40 lb recurve on my 1st bow hunting excursion 2017. Like the noob I was, a mish mash of arrows, some with vanes instead of fletchings. Didn't take long to figure out vanes were not good for my feather arrow rest! I've cut vanes off all arrows that had them & replaced with feather. Actually a good source of cheap carbon arrows with vanes can be found in local stores. Sometimes worth the effort to cut off the vanes & refletch.
The new takedown out in the field
As practice improves grouping, the fletchings take a beating.
Looking forward to early archery season coming up! No success bagging a large animal yet, but I did harvest one of these little guys.
I want to fletch my own because I want to shoot of the shelf instead of a rest but I never thought of just cutting the veins off carbon arrows and re-fletching... might be a worthy endeavor. For now as I transition. Would also be a good use of my older beat-up arrows I was shooting on my compound.
Is that a Samick Sage? thats what I have right now. Starting at 30lbs but I'll be looking to change the limbs once I get more consistent and accurate.
and nice bird! Hopefully I can at least get a few of them this year and build a bit of confidence for next season.
If you're only shooting 30# then expect to buy new arrows. somewhere around a 700 spine for carbons, if you are shooting woodies then speak to an arrow smith.
If you wanna be good at the single string game then you need an arrow at least close to a tune for any level of consistency, then you know if it's you or the gear thats messing up!
I want to fletch my own because I want to shoot of the shelf instead of a rest but I never thought of just cutting the veins off carbon arrows and re-fletching... might be a worthy endeavor. For now as I transition. Would also be a good use of my older beat-up arrows I was shooting on my compound.
Is that a Samick Sage? thats what I have right now. Starting at 30lbs but I'll be looking to change the limbs once I get more consistent and accurate.
and nice bird! Hopefully I can at least get a few of them this year and build a bit of confidence for next season.
The take down bow is a Fleetwood Edge, updated clone of the Samick Sage I think. I like it, shoots well. I ended up buying 2 more as gifts for my daughter & son in law. Between the 3 of us we now have quite a selection in different weight limbs. The older bow is a Canadian build, "Wildcat" by Dunmark Mfg. Co. of Brantford Ontario. Once I got comfortable shooting it, a take down was a logical next step, the 40 lb limbs of the Wildcat being just within the legal limit for hunting certain game animals. Not even sure my draw length takes it to that 40 lbs. I purchased the Fleetwood with 45 lb limbs and wasn't long before I added the 50 lb limbs which I'm quite comfortable with. 500 spine carbon arrows with the Wildcat, 400 spine carbon with the Edge.
Here's a closer view of the Wildcat when it still had the sight on it. It's much lighter overall than the Edge.
The side by each for comparison. I made a diy sight for the edge, but no longer use a sight on either bow.
If you're only shooting 30# then expect to buy new arrows. somewhere around a 700 spine for carbons, if you are shooting woodies then speak to an arrow smith.
If you wanna be good at the single string game then you need an arrow at least close to a tune for any level of consistency, then you know if it's you or the gear thats messing up!
OK good to know. I thought that I could get away with my current arrows. Maybe I'll buy the new heavier limbs as the poundage isnt much of an issue for me and just shoot 400 spines.
From what I gathered though it seems like its better to start light and work your way up to keep your form quite clean
Also relatively new to traditional bow hunting. 1st purchase was a vintage recurve & I added a takedown several years ago. This provided options on getting limbs of different strengths. Am up to 50 lb limbs currently and can comfortably pull that with good accuracy & consistency. Shoot carbon shafts & ordered arrows online from an ebay vendor in the US. 1st batch was very good quality so I ordered another batch from him. Didn't really set out to fletch arrows, but have found myself damaging fletchings during practice sessions, so replacing them has become a necessity more or less. Got the glue from West Kelowna store before it closed out & ordered feather fletchings online.
The vintage 40 lb recurve on my 1st bow hunting excursion 2017. Like the noob I was, a mish mash of arrows, some with vanes instead of fletchings. Didn't take long to figure out vanes were not good for my feather arrow rest! I've cut vanes off all arrows that had them & replaced with feather. Actually a good source of cheap carbon arrows with vanes can be found in local stores. Sometimes worth the effort to cut off the vanes & refletch.
The new takedown out in the field
As practice improves grouping, the fletchings take a beating.
Looking forward to early archery season coming up! No success bagging a large animal yet, but I did harvest one of these little guys.
That's some great accuracy. Nice bird as well!
Ali
"It is a blessing of the wilderness life that it shows us how few things we need in order to be perfectly happy." - Horace Kephart
"Don't ever be afraid to try something!! Remember a lone amateur built the ark and a large group of professionals built the titanic..."
Hi there, yes I do fletch my own arrows. It’s like tieing flys to me. I buy most of my supplies from cabelas, just shooting arrows (NV), point inserts, nocks, field points. And then I buy bulk arrows online, all carbon fibre. There is a bit of research you’ll need to do for shaft spine weight to bow. For my recurve #40 I used to use a 500 spine and for my compound #60 I run a 300/320. Fletching is the fun part, where you can experiment with different lengths, straight mount, helical mount. I use guerrilla glue to glue my fletching. I use a plastic jig, but I have a good buddy that uses a aluminum jig, which is way better. I’d go aluminum jig if you haven’t bought one yet. I don’t use wraps.