String jumping....

[Sunbkpk]

I work with acoustic engineers and there are a number of variables not considered that effect things alot.
1 Sound sensitivity greatly effected by ambient noise level. Dead quiet and a much quieter noise is easily heard.
2 Sound level drops with the square of the distance. The bow that's as loud as a loud conversation (mine by measurement), is as quiet as a whisper at 30 yards.
3 a deer's ear position as they act similar to a directional mic.
Just to name a few.

I think you should all fund me to do a bunch more hunts and I will test this out with mics and video cameras to answer this.

Personally I have only had a mule deer buck that I was positive jump at the shot. He was at 35 yards looking directly at me and appeared to drop to lunge at the shot that had my arrow just clear his back he dropped so far. Was it sound or sight I will never know.

 

[Beendare]

Why couldn't it be the arrow?

I don't see a bit of difference between head down, head up, doing the hokey pokey. The deer are reacting for sure, but how do you know it's to bow noise? ....

In my EXTENSIVE TESTING....the arrow doesnt start to hiss until it hits the 12 1/2 yard mark (not! I’m just messing with you Aaron)

In most of those situations in the videos I posted the deer had their heads down.... so we know they couldn’t of seen the aero until they lifted their head. It appears they heard something first as while they are lifting their head their body is dropping.

It’s such a short distance for most of those shots, my thought is that it Hass to be the bow because it would take the arrow a few yards just to develop enough sound for the deer to hear. So how long does it take for an arrow to go from say 5 yards to 18 yards once it’s already a top speed? Not long.

in cases like these I don’t think it’s arrow noise.

in the other cases you mentioned like groundhogs and such I do think the arrow is the main factor. Those varmints are used to watching out for fast predatory birds.


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[Beendare]

Nothing about arrow vs. bow in this video, but head position matters. I've seen and heard other examples of this as well.

Long video here, but jump to 7:45 to see the good stuff.

I think you are onto something here Malachi!

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[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

In my EXTENSIVE TESTING....the arrow doesnt start to hiss until it hits the 12 1/2 yard mark (not! I’m just messing with you Aaron)

In most of those situations in the videos I posted the deer had their heads down.... so we know they couldn’t of seen the aero until they lifted their head. It appears they heard something first as while they are lifting their head their body is dropping.

It’s such a short distance for most of those shots, my thought is that it Hass to be the bow because it would take the arrow a few yards just to develop enough sound for the deer to hear. So how long does it take for an arrow to go from say 5 yards to 18 yards once it’s already a top speed? Not long.

in cases like these I don’t think it’s arrow noise.

in the other cases you mentioned like groundhogs and such I do think the arrow is the main factor. Those varmints are used to watching out for fast predatory birds.


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I still think that arrow noise can be it's own issue after a certain distance. Bow noise is going to diminish to insignificance by 50-60 yards. But that arrow noise keeps moving all the way to the animal.

 

[Billy Goat]

In my EXTENSIVE TESTING....the arrow doesnt start to hiss until it hits the 12 1/2 yard mark (not! I’m just messing with you Aaron)

In most of those situations in the videos I posted the deer had their heads down.... so we know they couldn’t of seen the aero until they lifted their head. It appears they heard something first as while they are lifting their head their body is dropping.

It’s such a short distance for most of those shots, my thought is that it Hass to be the bow because it would take the arrow a few yards just to develop enough sound for the deer to hear. So how long does it take for an arrow to go from say 5 yards to 18 yards once it’s already a top speed? Not long.

in cases like these I don’t think it’s arrow noise.

in the other cases you mentioned like groundhogs and such I do think the arrow is the main factor. Those varmints are used to watching out for fast predatory birds.


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I'm sure the bow generally starts the reaction. It might cause the whole reaction. It was something I started to pay attention to after playing bow golf. Some arrows are surprisingly loud. Same as some bows. I feel like the arrow is an often overlooked component.


Either way we can probably agree that your not getting an arrow there fast enough that if a whitetail or Couse deer is going to react your not going to beat their reaction time. Maybe try some Mary Jane food plots, see if it calms their ass down.

 

[Beendare]

del

 

[Btaylor]

Beendare, the thing I noticed in most of the videos you linked were the initial point of aim was up around midline. My personal thoughts are that bow noise is the primary catalyst for reaction and arrow noise will only accentuate that reaction. Interesting observation in the growing deer tv video about head up or down.

 

[MattB]

I shot a coues buck down once, 40 yards and head down feeding. At the shot he jerked his head up, looked my way, raised his head and refocused on the arrow, dropped and the arrow hit him on the way back up.

 

[MallardSX2]

I dont shoot luminocks for the very reason that the deer see the arrow coming. I have a buddy that swears thats why he missed a slammer 10 point in Iowa. He said the deer saw that arrow coming as the wind was blowing so hard that he couldn't have heard the bow.

 

[MattB]

I dont shoot luminocks for the very reason that the deer see the arrow coming. I have a buddy that swears thats why he missed a slammer 10 point in Iowa. He said the deer saw that arrow coming as the wind was blowing so hard that he couldn't have heard the bow.

The nock should be pretty well obscured behind the arrows - no? I would think it more likely the deer saw the hunter move at the shot.

 

[Beendare]

I think Sun at the top of the page nailed it- many variables.

I've shot at gophers, ground squirrels and they definitely hear/see the arrow. I've taken long shots where I do think the animal heard the arrow.

Otherwise, in almost every other case....its the sound of the bow that gets them moving.

The quality of the sun matters in my experience...softer...and at a lower thud vs a sharper pitched twang makes a difference IME. Any environmental noise helps a lot....and it makes sense. There are other things going on...so less reaction. When its calm quiet outside......the only sound is your bow and its easy for them to focus on that.

Lastly the biggest factor is when they make you before the shot....they are looking at you aware. ...never good. They are just looking for an excuse to bolt....and your bow gives it to them. I style my tactics around avoiding this last factor at all costs.

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