String Jumping animals-- Bow noise, arrow noise, or sight?

[Hunthigh1]

I was listening to the podium archer podcast the other day and they were debating if animals that jump the string at the shot are reacting to:

1. Sight of the arrow

2. Sound of the arrow
or
3. Sound of the bow

What do you think? I wont bias the convo with my thoughts as I don't have enough archery kills to have a strong opinion on the matter.

 

[justin davis]

I think it can be different things. Also a combination of bow and arrow. I know that when I hunted coues deer few years ago they were ducking my arrow solely off the sound of the arrow.

One example is I was above a coues buck as he was coming thru a saddle. I was 50 yards from him. He had no clue it was there. He stopped. I shot and he literally stepped out of the way from the arrow and then stepped back into the same spot and looked down the Mtn at where the arrow went. He didn’t look up at my direction. I loaded another arrow and shot again and the buck repeated the ninja move and then ran off

 

[Swamp Fox]

Nobody thought to include seeing the archer release?

 

[wildwilderness]

The only animal I think that has seen my arrow and moved was a pronghorn at about 60 yds. Looked like he just stepped around it.

My guess is most move at the sound of the bow, and how close it is to them. That’s why I think sometimes a farther shot is less jumpy for an animal even though they have more time to react.

 

[Blockcaver]

Add in the noise some releases make when they fire. I think it maybe any of the listed causes plus some cumulative total of all of them. Quieter in all areas is better.

And whitetails, wolves, impalas and even alert bears are all very good at jumping (ducking) the string in my experience.

Moose, elk, caribou, sheep and goats…not so much.

 

[Billy Goat]

I think its mostly arrow. The sound of the bow gives them something initially to alert to, but its the hissing of something coming through the air they are avoiding. Its not always a duck, not uncommon for the front of the body to turn away from it.

I have dropped water bottles from stands and they hardly react. It's not the single sound of the bow, except maybe coues deer, they are extremely jumpy.

 

[Hunthigh1]

Nobody thought to include seeing the archer release?

I am trying to exclude that from this discussion as i think its a different question/discussion when the animal is already alert to your presence or sees the shooter. . . but maybe you are suggesting the animal is seeing the follow through at the shot, I don't know how the shooter can control for that much though....

however, We can control fletching color, bow noise, and fletching/broadhead noise to some level.

 

[Swamp Fox]

I am trying to exclude that from this discussion as i think its a different question/discussion when the animal is already alert to your presence or sees the shooter. . . but maybe you are suggesting the animal is seeing the follow through at the shot, I don't know how the shooter can control for that much though....

however, We can control fletching color, bow noise, and fletching/broadhead noise to some level.

Not sure why you would want to exclude one of the biggest possibilities for string jumping --which is that one of the stimuli the deer is reacting to is the movement going on in the neighborhood of sounds related to the shot.

Is all the "fetching color, bow noise, and fletching/broadhead noise" on par, less than, or greater than seeing the bow fire and tip over?

Somebody is trying to make string-jumping more complicated than it is.

 

[Hunthigh1]

Fair enough. That's just not really something i thought about outside of animals that are already locked on the shooter and aware of them. . . Which one do you think is the main factor. You think it is animals seeing the movement of the shooter/bow? I am just trying to see what most experienced hunters think is the main factor to see if it is something i can control for in my setup. I don't have an opinion on the subject as i've never had an animal string jump me as far as i know.

 

[CMF]

I was thinking it's the bow noise. The arrow noise makes less sense to me, because they are usually already moving or moved by the time the arrow gets close to them.
I think Swamp Fox has a pretty good point. Releasing a bow creates a lot of movement in a relatively calm environment.

I had a whitetail doe spin out of the way of the arrow on me once, like something out of the matrix. Still call that spot the matrix deer spot.

 

[Swamp Fox]

Don't shoot vanes or BHs that whistle... LOL.. I shoot some feathers--Don't worry about them... I luv bright colors... But everybody loves white...Might buy you a micro second with deer ....


Don't over-think this.

 

[wildwilderness]

Fair enough. That's just not really something i thought about outside of animals that are already locked on the shooter and aware of them. . . Which one do you think is the main factor. You think it is animals seeing the movement of the shooter/bow? I am just trying to see what most experienced hunters think is the main factor to see if it is something i can control for in my setup. I don't have an opinion on the subject as i've never had an animal string jump me as far as i know.

Wow guess you haven’t hunted much or jumpy animals! I started self filming some southern whitetail hunts and those things jump all the time! Would not have seen some of the jumps without video evidence.

I have probably taken 100+ bow shots on animals so still learning.

 

[Hunthigh1]

Wow guess you haven’t hunted much or jumpy animals! I started self filming some southern whitetail hunts and those things jump all the time! Would not have seen some of the jumps without video evidence.

I have probably taken 100+ bow shots on animals so still learning.

Ive only taken 4 animals with a bow. Most of my success has been rifle so far.

 

[SDHNTR]

Sound of the bow. Most of the sound of the arrow is heard from behind it.

 

[5MilesBack]

Sound of the bow. Most of the sound of the arrow is heard from behind it.

I have only heard one type of vane from arrows that left my bow, and ironically those were FF Silent Knights. But I've been downrange to listen while a buddy shot arrows, and you can definitely hear them coming.

 

[Beendare]

Some animals are highly tuned in to unnatural sounds around them- hard hunted Whitetails and Coues deer for sure. They react to any sound thats out of the ordinary- especially if it's a sharp harsh sound.

I used to hunt with an Oneida back in the day and that was a game spooking machine....I literally had to lead some critters.

I think the best answer is it's a combination of factors. Part of the solution is to never get made by the animal.

 

[Skerhunter]

If someone has a pile of doe to mess with it could be a fun experiment. You could take movement, the sound, and the sight of the arrow out of the equation pretty easy.

Most of the time you are alerting them before the shot, could be movement from drawing, an unintentional sound during drawing process, or you just made a noise to make them stop. Now you have an alert animal and that’s not helping.

You and the bow move when the shot breaks, the bow obviously makes a sound, the arrow makes a sound, and you can obviously see the arrow.

I’m guessing it’s a combination that they react to. Late reaction maybe it’s just the arrow sound? Matrix like moves they probably heard the bow, hear the arrow and maybe get a glimpse of it depending on distance.