Old bow, new ideas.

[Z71&Gun]

I have an old Mathews DXT that I shoot well. 30" draw length 72.5 lb draw weight. I typically shoot a 250 spine arrow with a 100 grain broadhead, 3 blazer veins for a total weight of 405 grains (converted from grams on a kitchen scale, so give or take) I've used Montec G5s and Swhackers.

I mainly shoot mulie does and turkeys with a high rate of success. No pass through problems or any weird anomalies to speak of, except for A LOT of "string jumping."

I want to spot and stalk black bears with my bow and I have 3 main concerns.

1) My arrows fly loudly and my bow is not quiet. I think my arrow flight noise is alerting animals. Will heavier arrows be quieter? Different veins?

2) G5s don't make for very good blood trails on deer, so I don't have faith in them for bear. I also don't know about using Swhackers, though I'm not opposed to the idea as they have worked really well on deer. Considering heavier 2 blade options but that could just be because they're super hyped right now.

3) Arrow building, tuning, etc. I live in the middle of nowhere and do most of my bow work by myself. That, or I drive an hour to bother Justin at Diamondback. I'd prefer if I didn't need to be a rocket scientist to transition to a new arrow setup and to go from the range to the field.

Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Billy Goat]

Arrow weight will help quiet the bow. Blazer vanes are a very loud vane, there's other options out there that are quieter, but it's largely a function of height and helical. So you need to find a balance point of enough vane, not too much noise.


I doubt you are shooting 250 spine and arrow weight coming in at 405.
Perhaps you are shooting a 250 Carbon Express? Their numbers are backwards, a 250 is actually a 400, 450 is a 300 spine.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

Tuning those old single cam bows is pretty straightforward. The only adjustments avaliable to you are idler wheel lean, nocking point position, and rest position. Of those, only wheel lean adjustment (by twisting/untwisting yokes) requires a bow press. If you don't want to splurge for a "real" bench-mounted press, portable presses (e.g., Bowmaster, Synunm) work pretty well on solid limb bows.

 

[Z71&Gun]

Arrow weight will help quiet the bow. Blazer vanes are a very loud vane, there's other options out there that are quieter, but it's largely a function of height and helical. So you need to find a balance point of enough vane, not too much noise.


I doubt you are shooting 250 spine and arrow weight coming in at 405.
Perhaps you are shooting a 250 Carbon Express? Their numbers are backwards, a 250 is actually a 400, 450 is a 300 spine.

Sorry, 340 spine. I just checked. Not sure where I got 250.

 

[Marble]

I have an old Mathews DXT that I shoot well. 30" draw length 72.5 lb draw weight. I typically shoot a 250 spine arrow with a 100 grain broadhead, 3 blazer veins for a total weight of 405 grains (converted from grams on a kitchen scale, so give or take) I've used Montec G5s and Swhackers.

I mainly shoot mulie does and turkeys with a high rate of success. No pass through problems or any weird anomalies to speak of, except for A LOT of "string jumping."

I want to spot and stalk black bears with my bow and I have 3 main concerns.

1) My arrows fly loudly and my bow is not quiet. I think my arrow flight noise is alerting animals. Will heavier arrows be quieter? Different veins?

2) G5s don't make for very good blood trails on deer, so I don't have faith in them for bear. I also don't know about using Swhackers, though I'm not opposed to the idea as they have worked really well on deer. Considering heavier 2 blade options but that could just be because they're super hyped right now.

3) Arrow building, tuning, etc. I live in the middle of nowhere and do most of my bow work by myself. That, or I drive an hour to bother Justin at Diamondback. I'd prefer if I didn't need to be a rocket scientist to transition to a new arrow setup and to go from the range to the field.

Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

In your situation, I would consider the following:

Research vanes and heads that are quieter. The more surface area touching air, the more noise. Maybe some guys can chime in on arrow noise. I know vane shape is important too.

A heavier arrow in general will make your bow quieter. Additional stabilizers/vibration reducing additions can help too. I know when I shoot my 380 grain 3D arrow and then follow it up with a 520 grain hunting arrow, there is a noticeable difference. Depending on how old your bow is, there is probably a limit as to how much quieter it will get.

The last option is a new bow. I'm not sure how old your bow is, but the new ones (last 3-5 years) are faster and really quiet. I've shot at several animals, elk, deer, bear, turkeys and coyotes. I'm yet to have them jump the string.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Rob5589]

Build a .300 spine arrow somewhere around 480-530 grains, sharp broadhead, you'll kill stuff. Blazers are loud but I've never had an issue with them. Some new threads could help, some of the various noise suppressors could help as well.

 

[dony]

I have shot old 80s, 90s compounds, mid, and new bows, almost always seen string jumping on old ones for sure. I think the bow at the shot is the loudest sound and biggest factor. That initial sound is what makes them jump. Think about it this way too... if you're within their "safety bubble" then that sound will --1. Be exponentially louder, and --2. Be similar to the range a mountain lion can sneak in and make a good pounce, so they'll jump first and look later. If you're outside that bubble, and they hear something, they'll just look before jumping. That bubble could be 30 yards, could be 70, really depends on the animal. If they hear the arrow the last 15 yards, that's definitely in their bubble but that's way less time to move than your bow shot sound from 40 yards. If you do the math, you'll see that bow shot sound reaches their ears before the arrow whistle because the arrow whistle sound really doesn't kick in until it's closer. Trend has been towards faster bows that give animal less time to move, but faster arrows are louder and are still 4 times slower than the speed of sound (1125 fps speed of sound makes the difference between 270fps and 300fps arrows negligible. At 40 yards the time difference would be 0.4 sec vs 0.44 sec). Google says a cat's reaction time is 0.02-0.07sec, and an arrow will travel the last 15 yards in ~0.16 sec, subtract sound speed 0.04sec gives cat 0.11sec to react if they hear the arrow during the last 15 yards. So yes, reaction to arrow sound is highly possible. If you shoot regularly from far enough away that you feel the bow sound isn't as much a factor, that's fine keep using your bow. But that's the loudest noise. Get a new bow. I for one get tired of spending hundreds of dollars on travel and days/weeks of time trying to get closer to animals, just to have a perfect shot get dodged. Also you need to get rid of those blazers. The low profile aae stealth vanes are quieter than blazers. Maybe try 2.3 inch in a 4 fletch or 2.7 inch in a 3 fletch. I have 580gn arrows that fly fine with a 2.3" 4 fletch and are very quiet even at 270 fps. The archery shop told me I need bigger vanes to compensate for broadheads. But haven't tested enough to know yet. Vane shape has a big effect on sound they say, but also more area and size means more drag/disturbance. The area creating most sound will be what hits the air head on, and the rear shape of the vane which can dictate how much turbulence is created, so vane height/angle of attack is a major factor.