Paper tune overrated for whitetail hunting?

[ethanbillingsley]

Not that I am a subject expert by any means and seeing as there are so many on here I was just curious to see what the thoughts on paper tuning were. Growing up my dad bow hunted my entire childhood and he just shot tennis balls off the roof with his compound bow for practice and that was good enough for him to harvest more than enough deer. Most of the archery hunting in my area, S.C., wouldn't result in me feeling comfortable shooting past 35ish yards at a deer. Most of that is inexperience for me but still I am curious as to if this is something that is make or break.

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I would say paper tuning does tend to be overrated, but that's not an indictment of tuning in general.

Paper tuning is just a starting point toward the ultimate goal (for a hunter) of getting broadheads to land alongside field points. A well-tuned bow allows you to switch between practice mode (field points) and game mode (broadheads) without adjusting your sight, confirms that your arrow is flying straight right off the bow, confirms that you have sufficient fletching to steer your broadheads, and minimizes the effects of less-than-perfect shot execution during the moment of truth.

Paper tuning is a good starting point to get in the ballpark and can be done at close range indoors. Bareshaft tuning is a good intermediate step to confirm/refine your tune at distance and saves wear on your target because you're not shooting broadheads. But those two methods are both optional and can be skipped with no harm done. Broadhead tuning (shooting BH alongside FP at distance then adjusting your bow until they group together) is the ultimate test.

While its true that the closer your shots are, the less being out-of-tune will hurt you, hunters should still treat broadhead tuning as mandatory IMO.

 

[Trial153]

I dont think paper tuning in over rated at all. If I can get a bare shaft to shoot clean through paper at 10 yards I have yet to see a bow I couldn't shoot to a very similar POI at medium distances with SOME well made broadheads. Notice I say some braodheads, cause not ALL broadheads shoot well.
I wont take my bow out of tune to shoot a particular Broadhead. Unfortunately that is what some people when they "Broadhead tune"

 

[Jpsmith1]

First "new" bow I bought i asked about paper tuning. Coming out of the 80s and 90s into the later 00s I expected to at least send a couple through paper.

We don't do that anymore. You just set this and that and it's fine.

I could SEE the arrows bending dang near in half at 20 yards.

Several trips back and forth before they agreed to shoot thru paper and it had a terrible vertical tear that took the tech several hours to tune out.

Between that experience and some other negative interactions, I have a new shop

 

[Hussar]

I don't believe it to be overrated. It's a fantastic starting point to save someone a bunch of time, headache, and target wear. I use it as a starting point for any new bow, or after a string change.

I think people get hung up on a bullet hole = a perfect tune. In reality, a broadhead hitting with a field point at distance is a perfect tune for a hunter. It really should not matter that you have an imperfect tear through paper if your field points and broadheads are hitting together at 30 yards (or whatever your max effective range is).

 

[WoolyBugger]

It’s the best way to start tuning so I don’t think it is overrated in the slightest. Thinking you’re done at that point is overrated.

 

[Ashy Larry]

Had new strings and limbs put on my Levitate last week. Shot it in a hundred or so shots and went to paper tune. Bad nock left. Took to shop and had them shim the bow. Shoots a bullet through paper. Today I shot bareshafts thru paper and moved the rest slightly to get a bullet. It’s raining now so I haven’t “confirmed” tune but I would imagine I can now shoot at 30 and have bareshaft, fletched and broadhead hitting same POI. That’s a good feeling.

 

[ethanbillingsley]

I dont think paper tuning in over rated at all. If I can get a bare shaft to shot clean through paper at 10 yards I have yet to see a bow I couldn't shoot to a very similar POI at medium distances with SOME well made broadheads. Notice I say some braodheads, cause not ALL broadheads shoot well.
I wont take my bow out of tune to shoot a particular Broadhead. Unfortunately that is what some people when they "Broadhead tune"

What is your thoughts on a good broad head then? I know that can be vast in reference to your game animal? It just isn't something I have considered out past I currently use 125grain megameats and have ordered their BMP which seemingly is a nice option.

 

[Healthy Scratch]

I shoot a Travers and have had a very small tear since I got the bow. It was extremely small and I couldn't get it out. It bugged the heck out of me. Jim Morrow (who trained Olympic and competitive archers; god rest his sole), of MJC Archery, told me that paper tuning was overrated. He said that due to the Archers Paradox and the dynamic flex of the arrow, small tears are not a big deal. That being said, I now take my bow to one of his former students/employees, Coby Moscowitz. (A great find because there's a lack of good bow mechanics in my area.) Well, Coby now tunes my bow and I'm shooting bullet holes. Go figure. For the record, I don't believe that 'perfect' paper tuning has tightened my shot grouping. I do shoot better now but, I believe that has more to do with changing my arrow set-up and more practicing.

 

[Billy Goat]

I think poor tuning is the actual blame for poor penetration in a lot of situations.

Fetching will eventually straighten an arrow out, but at 10-15 yards a lot of times that arrow isn't straight yet because its not leaving the bow correctly.


I don't paper tune, but having a well tuned bow is beneficial for several reasons.

 

[Trial153]

What is your thoughts on a good broad head then? I know that can be vast in reference to your game animal? It just isn't something I have considered out past I currently use 125grain megameats and have ordered their BMP which seemingly is a nice option.

Thats great question. Obviously, there are many different facets to what makes a broadhead good. In this case, we are talking about arrow flight specifically. I'm not gonna go into Broadhead design and materials.
So this is just in reference to broadhead flight versus a field point.

You gaol should be to shot an arrow that has a close zero displacement as possible from your POI. What I mean by that is the field point is considered the gold standard. Then a good shooting broadhead will do two things.. firstly it will without changing the tune of the bow shoot as close to the field point control impact as possible. And secondly, it will group aa close possible in the diameter of the grouping compared to the bow with field point.

This is asking a lot of a broadhead and some do it better than others. If your bow is tuned with a bare shaft with a field point, or I might argue even with a fletched arrow and a field point. A good shooting broadhead will most likely be within the margin of era of an average shooter at short range hunting distance distances. How every many broadheads will not do this!!!! If a bow must be taken out of tune " to " Broadhead tune " then the head you are shooting does not meet the first criteria above.
The absolute best notion a bow Hunter can dispel in his mind, Is that broadheads shoot the same as field points they do not.

 

[Bump79]

I don't believe it to be overrated. It's a fantastic starting point to save someone a bunch of time, headache, and target wear. I use it as a starting point for any new bow, or after a string change.

I think people get hung up on a bullet hole = a perfect tune. In reality, a broadhead hitting with a field point at distance is a perfect tune for a hunter. It really should not matter that you have an imperfect tear through paper if your field points and broadheads are hitting together at 30 yards (or whatever your max effective range is).

Agreed with this. I personally just setup a bow through paper close then really get after the rest of the process. Once my sights axis is right on, I like my balance from my stabilizers then I proceed immediately to broadhead tuning with fixed blades.

 

[Blake C]

First it depends on the shooter. At home shoot through paper. If you can put a consistent tear shot after shot on paper. Then tuning can benefit you. If every shot has a tear in different directions. Then don't bother because you aren't consistent enough for someone to tune it anyway

 

[fatlander]

First it depends on the shooter. At home shoot through paper. If you can put a consistent tear shot after shot on paper. Then tuning can benefit you. If every shot has a tear in different directions. Then don't bother because you aren't consistent enough for someone to tune it anyway

Hard to swallow pills inbound. . . If a prospective bow hunter can’t get consistent tears, that isn’t a fletching contact or rest malfunction issue, they have no business going in the field with bow in hand until they can, and then broadhead tune their bow.

I agree with [mention]Billy Goat [/mention]that the overwhelming majority of penetration issues are from lack of tuning.

Tuning bows isn’t hard. Paper tune with a fletched shaft at 7 -10 feet. Then you can bareshaft tune to 20ish yards (optional). Finally broadhead tune it to 60.

I think going straight to broadheads from paper is a little faster than the bareshaft route. You’re going to make the same adjustments with broadheads as you do with bareshafts. And bareshafts are even more critical of form imperfections than broadheads. For the vast majority of hunters, paper then broadhead tuning is all they need.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bump79]

I think going straight to broadheads from paper is a little faster than the bareshaft route. You’re going to make the same adjustments with broadheads as you do with bareshafts. And bareshafts are even more critical of form imperfections than broadheads. For the vast majority of hunters, paper then broadhead tuning is all they need.

I'm all in with this statement. I did the whole bareshaft thing - it's just an extra step in my mind now.

If you really want to see if you're as tuned as you can then screw on a big fixed blade solid head. I use the Tooth of the Arrow Solid XL 4 blade. It is very unforgiving in flight and you have to have a great tune. It exposes the fine details.

 

[Fowl Play]

I’m sure there are allot of guys killing deer with untuned bows… but making sure your arrow flies straight is huge in terms of terminal performance and accuracy. I think it is extremely worthwhile. There is literally no negative for it, and the benefits are clear. So… that leaves laziness as the only reason to not do it, and it’s really not hard.

 

[Billy Goat]

If a bow must be taken out of tune " to " Broadhead tune " then the head you are shooting does not meet the first criteria above.

Have you seen a bow taken out of tune for a broadhead to fly with FP's? Or are you referring to a different tune, maybe French, that it seems to come out of?


I don't feel like I have seen it, but I can't say that maybe it couldn't happen? Tho I kinda find it doubtful.

Personally I think its more just about degrees of "forgiveness", with field points being most forgiving, then mechanical, small vented heads, and on to. And on the back of tge shift, the opposite. The larger and more fetching, the more forgiving.

I can generally get most anything to fly, only thing, and it has been an argument, is at around 65 yards, some broadheads are flying 10 fps or so slower than a field point. So, what's maybe 1/2" low at that distance from a field point, so it might be at 40 yards your broadheads are maybe actually 1/4" high. Thats into the weeds, nobody can shoot that difference.

But I am genuinely curious of an example of taking a bow out of tune for a broadhead to fly, seems like it might be an arrow issue instead of a bow issue if it does happen.

 

[dkime]

First post in a year but I am a fan of @Billy Goat so I am just here hoping he will sign my bow.

Paper tuning is a snapshot in time; it tells us nothing about what is happening before or after the arrow is passing through the paper. We encourage all of our customers to strive toward getting a good bare shaft tune through paper simply because it shows us that they are capable of executing a shot with the level of consistency required to perform an actual tuning process. I spend more time working with guys Draw length and peep height and release length and d loop length while paper tuning than I do wrenching on the bow. Paper tune at 10 feet, bare shaft at 20yds, broadhead tune at 50. Ultimately a guy could just jump to 50 and do the broadhead tune because that is the end all be all, but this system tends to help folks eat the elephant a little easier.

As far as it not being necessary for whitetails, it is more important for whitetails because they're often moving when the arrow hits. Folks outside of this industry often refer to it as a virtual force, think of it like trying to jump off of a cushion as opposed to jumping off of concrete. The force transfer is not nearly as high. Inadequate penetration on these animals is strictly IMHO related to a poor tune and poor arrow flight. Elk and mule deer and whatever else tend to stand still and choose to die. We all know they're lesser animals

 

[doc holiday13]

Paper tune is a tool. Great starting point for field points. Broadheads then tell you how much more you need to tune. Its not so much as making the broadheads shoot with field points as it is about the broadhead telling you how much and what adjustment needs to be made

 

[Trial153]

Have you seen a bow taken out of tune for a broadhead to fly with FP's? Or are you referring to a different tune, maybe French, that it seems to come out of?


I don't feel like I have seen it, but I can't say that maybe it couldn't happen? Tho I kinda find it doubtful.

Personally I think its more just about degrees of "forgiveness", with field points being most forgiving, then mechanical, small vented heads, and on to. And on the back of tge shift, the opposite. The larger and more fetching, the more forgiving.

I can generally get most anything to fly, only thing, and it has been an argument, is at around 65 yards, some broadheads are flying 10 fps or so slower than a field point. So, what's maybe 1/2" low at that distance from a field point, so it might be at 40 yards your broadheads are maybe actually 1/4" high. Thats into the weeds, nobody can shoot that difference.

But I am genuinely curious of an example of taking a bow out of tune for a broadhead to fly, seems like it might be an arrow issue instead of a bow issue if it does happen.

All the time. If your have clean bare shaft flight and you have to bump you center shot over 1/16 or 1/32 to bring those broadheads into your field points then you changing your tune.