Traditional archery Off the Shelf Question

N

nothinghappenedtoday

Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
85
Hey folks, I usually shoot a Bear Grizzly recurve with a rubber "shoot around" rest instead of shooting 'off the shelf.' Well, I just got a Bear Montana longbow, and decided to try shooting off the shelf (seems even 'more traditional,' if that's a term). The problem - it's tearing off my fletching (I use Gold Tip Master Hunter carbon arrows with the plastic/rubber fletching). Any ideas on what's going wrong?
 
First thing is do you have some kind of cushion on the shelf? mole hair or bear hair and a plate or something like that. It is best to shoot real feathers off a shelf since the plastic / rubber veins will deflect off the shelf. I went to all feather and have had no trouble. Doug
 
Do you have a strike plate and fur rest? If so, are they both facing the right direction?
Short hairs on the rest/plate can pull fletching right off if they are put on backwards.
 
I have the plate/rest that it came with - an almost suede-like material. Thanks for the real-feathers tip - will have to try it out. I'm guessing it's more expensive. Oh well, gives me an excuse to buy a fletching jig:D

I still have the bearhair rest/strike plate that came with my Grizzly - I may try that one on and see if anything improves
 
Going from plastic vanes to feathers will help. Feathers don't kick as hard as vanes when they hit the bow, and they correct faster in flight. It will also reduce the dynamic spine of the arrow slightly because they're lighter then vanes (hits to the right of the vaned arrows for a right hand shooter).

The bad news is it won't completely correct the problem. You still have fletching contact. The two most common causes are a too low nocking point or a misspined arrow. If most of the the damage is to the lower hen feather, or your arrows are porpoising in flight, then your nocking point is too low. Increase it 1/16" at a time. If both hen feathers are getting nailed or your arrows is fishtailing, then your arrow is misspined. The fletchings are either not getting around the riser fast enough (underspined), or they are coming back and hitting the riser (overspined). Longbows typically require a lower spined (less stiff) arrow then recurves of the same draw weight. 5-15 lbs lower is typical for modern tackle.

You can check for contact by powder testing the bow. Dust the arrowrest with talcum or foot powder and shoot a couple of arrows. Streaks in the power indicate where it's contacting.

You can check for spine by bareshafting. Strip the fletchings off of 2 or 3 arrows and wrap where they used to be with tape till the arrow balances at the same point as a fletched one. Shoot both types at the target. If the unfletched arrows impact to the left (right hand shooter) of the fletched arrows, then your arrows are too stiff (overspined). Go to a heavier point, a longer shaft, or a weaker arrow. The opposite applies to underspined arrow (impact to the right of the fletched arrow). Go to a lighter point, shorter shaft, or a stiffer arrow. Caveat that this will not work with a severely mismatched arrow (e.g. 50# arrow for a 22# bow).

Bareshafting can also be used for nocking point, but be careful because fletching contact will play games with the results. If the unfletched arrow are hitting below the fletched arrow, then your nocking point is too high. If they hit above, then your nocking point is too low.
 
Last edited:
You can shoot plastic vanes off the shelf but almost no one does it for a number of reasons. In addition to the problem you are seeing, you will also tend to get erratic arrow flight.

That said, shooting arrows off the shelf on a trad bow is a great way to go (assuming you use feathers) whether you're talking about a longbow or a recurve. Getting the arrow off a rest and down on the shelf gets it closer to your hand and makes life much easier if you want to shoot without sights (instinctive, gap, string walking - whatever you choose).

Hey - this thread is missing pictures! Bear bows rock. Got any action photos?

---

Beckerhead #42
 
when i put a new patch of fur on my pearson mach one, there was a slight hard ridge of glue line the side closest side to me. i lost a few fletchings, then took a closer look. quick little sanding and i didn't have anymore problems.
 
Lots of great advice! I did read some reviews of the Montana longbow on the 3riversarchery site complaining about the rest/plate that came with it, so replacing it with the bear hair sounds like the right move.

For some reason, I've always used the Bear weather rest or some sort of elevated rubber rest with recurves(i guess it's because that's what my dad used), but wanted to try off the shelf with the longbow. I'm still going to keep the elevated rest on the recurve though (why change what's working for me?). Always shot instinctive - can't stand sights, peeps and all that tech - although in some circles i'm sure that carbon arrows and rubber rests are considered 'too hi-tech' :D

No fishtailing, but I'm still working on getting the nock-point right. The bow and string is new, and I want to get it 'shot in' before I really fine-tune it.

No photos, i'll post some before/after grouping shots once I get some feather vanes.
 
Do you have adjustable knocks on your arrows? If you do, twist them so that the fletching isn't hitting the rest. Like others suggested, get shelf skins. you can find them at cabelas. It's moleskin, i think they were called bearskins or something actually, you put them on the shelf and riser.
 
My recurve broke me of shooting with plastic vanes. Going to feathers has improved fletching life span and my accuracy.
 
Update: Went to my local Bass Pro, and they didn't have any arrows with feathers already attached, and I'm going to wait until after the holidays to get myself a fletching jig so I can just fletch my own arrows.

I did attach the Bear Hair rest and plate, and rotated my nock so that the bottom hen feather ran in the groove between the rest and plate. Big improvement.

For now, I'm just going to stick with my recurve and its elevated rest until I can get some feathered arrows going and shoot my longbow off the shelf.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top