My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

The majority of your bowhunting year is spent practicing and/or training. This is the place to discuss it!
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Longbowfanatic
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#1 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Hi everyone,

It's been awhile since I posted here. I spent my spring and summer shooting local 3-ds as well as some state target archery championships (my first experience with these events). So, I haven't spent much time on archery forums this summer. Anyway, as our Illinois deer season is approaching, I began to transition to tuning my deer hunting bow, as well as attempting to find and tune the perfect arrow for my setup. First, a little background. The bow I chose to hunt with this year is my Wallace Mentor 64" 52@29. I had this bow up for sale here before and boy am I glad I didn't sell it. It has a Shedua riser and red elm limb cores and veneers. I have shot bows with bamboo and maple cores, but never with red elm. I was pleasantly surprised at the performance of these limbs. They're are not fast, but they have great cast IMHO.

Now, on to the tuning process. This bow has a brace height recommendation of 7.5-8". While shooting it, I noticed quite a thump upon release. I began adjusting the brace height from 7.5" and worked my way up. Once I got to the 8" mark, I noticed the bow was very quiet and had very little felt hand shock. Perfect! Now, I wanted to find the best arrow for my setup. I wanted to avoid hunting with carbon arrows for a couple reasons. One big reason is that I wanted a very heavy, full length arrow that would reduce my gaps (since I will be gap shooting). So, that left wood and aluminum. The wood arrows that I have are too weak for this bow and I didn't want to spend more $ if I didn't need to. That said, I landed on aluminum. I have a good mixture of various aluminum arrow spines in full length shafts, so I began tinkering with different tip weights and arrow spines. When I shot my 2317 arrows with 200 grain tips (bare shafts), I immediately could tell this arrow flew exceptionally well. I fletched up a few shafts and shot them against my bare shafts. BINGO! They grouped together! Now, I had to select the broad heads I wanted to shoot this year. I don't buy new broad heads each year, but since I didn't have any 200 gr. heads, I decided to shoot something different. I selected the RW Grizzly single bevels. Today, I decided to shoot my broad heads with my field tips to assure they group together, and they did. I was very pleased. With this arrow/broad head combo, my arrows are a whopping 700 grains with 13.46 gpp. The final issue I wanted to resolve in my mind was to determine what this bows point on distance would be with these arrows. Today, I determined that to be 33 yards. That said, this would be perfect hunting rig for animals up to elk.

I thought I would include some pics of my bow and arrow combo for your enjoyment. What bow(s) and arrow combos are you guys/gals hunting with this year?

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4" four fletch

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Graps
Posts: 6696
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:39 pm

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#2 Post by Graps »

Sounds like you have a working combination
Buy the way, I have a bunch of 2317 full length just like you have in the picture.
If you would like, I would consider a possible trade or I might just sell them to you dirt cheep. My wife would just use them for tomato steaks.
"Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God as much." ~ Joni Eareckson Tada

Carpdaddy
Site Admin
Posts: 9469
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2013 7:36 pm

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#3 Post by Carpdaddy »

Glad you got a chance to get back in and catch us up Dennis. That is one serious combo your hunting with, and a beauty as well, it should bring down anything you shoot! I have not tried gap shooting enough to know but in my mind the 33 yards is quite a distance to be spot on with an arrow that heavy, but again, never done it successfully. All I have seen shooting gap have shot three under, are you shooting split finger, anchoring low, or is this actually normal? Sorry so many questions, I like learning.

Longbowfanatic
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#4 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Hi Carpdaddy,

Let me say that although my point on is 33yards, on deer size animals my self imposed limit is 15y. I shoot three under with a high anchor. Index finger on upper eye tooth, middle finger in the corner of the mouth.

Longbowfanatic
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#5 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Carpdaddy wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 2:50 pm Glad you got a chance to get back in and catch us up Dennis. That is one serious combo your hunting with, and a beauty as well, it should bring down anything you shoot! I have not tried gap shooting enough to know but in my mind the 33 yards is quite a distance to be spot on with an arrow that heavy, but again, never done it successfully. All I have seen shooting gap have shot three under, are you shooting split finger, anchoring low, or is this actually normal? Sorry so many questions, I like learning.
I also forgot to mention that you’re right about this bow casting an arrow that heavy to a point on of 33y. I figured with an arrow that heavy, my point on would be about 25 yards. I was wrong! I guess that’s why I said this bow has great cast.

Carpdaddy
Site Admin
Posts: 9469
Joined: Tue Dec 31, 2013 7:36 pm

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#6 Post by Carpdaddy »

HAHA 😆 Guess that’s proof enough, works for me!

Longbowfanatic
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#7 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Graps wrote: Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:20 pm Sounds like you have a working combination
Buy the way, I have a bunch of 2317 full length just like you have in the picture.
If you would like, I would consider a possible trade or I might just sell them to you dirt cheep. My wife would just use them for tomato steaks.
Hi Graps,

Send me a PM with your ideas on trade options, and your thoughts on what you would want in cash for your arras!

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Shadowhntr
Posts: 4614
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2016 4:47 pm

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#8 Post by Shadowhntr »

Sounds like a winner! :D
The element of surprise can never be replaced by persistence.

Longbowfanatic
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:41 am

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#9 Post by Longbowfanatic »

Thanks, Shadow. This setup is a THUMPER!

Longtrad
Posts: 1413
Joined: Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:26 pm

Re: My journey tuning my bow/arrow combo

#10 Post by Longtrad »

Glad you got it figured out. I really dislike arrow tuning.

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