Fastest traditional bows on record?

[BowEd]

I stand corrected Pat B.I thought I read in one of the Bowyers Bible books that one of Jays' bows' tested very fast.He was a hunter that's for sure.

[BowEd]

I'm surprised at you badger that you did'nt take advantage of the rules there.I bet most everyone else did.Was Don Perry there?

[half eye]

I was not going to post on this but I notice that you said you were interested in "hunting" as opposed to target or flight. I was a little confused regarding the intial question because when it comes to bows they are ALL slow compared to the sound they make.

What I mean by that is in a lot of places (excluding the thin air and high elevations) sound is going about 1126.547 fps at 68 degrees....so if you have a bow shootin 226 fps you are still 5 times slower than the sound that the bow makes. So, being interested only in hunting I have allways put a premium on silence and not speed. As long as the arrow comes from a silent bow, and has a realitively flat trajectory at say 15/20 yards that's what is important to me. The other thing is a point that Pat made about reliability VS performance. Idealy there is a middle ground that will make a great hunting bow and crappy flight bow.

Just one guy's opinion. But if you are truely interested in hunting then speed aint the main thing is all. Not trying to start a fight....Cause there is all kinds of archery and they are probably all fun as all get out.....but each area has it's own criteria also.
rich

[Badger]

Beadman, Dan didn't make it this year. Very small turnout. We all had a nice time but it makes me wonder about the furure of the sport.

[BowEd]

Badger...I bet each year is a little different.Does'nt mean the sport of it is being hurt any.
half eye......No offense felt here.I used to have an exwife that could offend me a lot more than that........LOL.I hear what you're saying about quiet and all.I have a pretty quiet bow here that shoots above standard so a flatter trajectory and deeper penetration come into play too,but as is known a well placed shot don't need an extra amount of speed at 15 to 20 yards but it does at 25 to 30 yards.I probably would'nt shoot at a deer at 30 yards but probably would at an elk.

[Bryce]

Light arrow=less penatration, flatter cast, higher speed
Heavy arrow= deep penetration, low speed.

All my bows are covered with sound dampening furs and what have you.
Half eye, I liked what you had to say. Great minds think alike

Beadman, i thought my bows where quite until I recorded myself shooting.....and I was not quite at all. It was a good eye opener.
But even before that I was taking shots at deer at 20 yards and they where jumping the string.
Then after learning how to make my bows stealthy, I now take shots at an easy 35 yards and the "Ghost of the Pacific" doesn't know what hit em!
Elk, that's another....you could have the loudest bow in the world and they wouldn't flinch till the arra hit it ha!
Just my worthless 2 cents.
Flight bows fascinate me though, works of art those things.

-Pinecone

[Marc St Louis]

Good point Ed.  I know I would hesitate to shoot at a Deer out to 30 ydrs but not if I had a Moose in front of me

P.S.  Using the loud bow argument is a bit silly.  People have been using glass recurves for hunting for a long time with great success and they are quite loud.

[JW_Halverson]

Good point Ed.  I know I would hesitate to shoot at a Deer out to 30 ydrs but not if I had a Moose in front of me

P.S.  Using the loud bow argument is a bit silly.  People have been using glass recurves for hunting for a long time with great success and they are quite loud.

I had someone tell me once that it is not only sound of the bow that causes the deer to "jump the string", but everything all at once.  These animals are sometimes keyed up and sometimes relaxed.  When they are keyed up, they are like the finest of athletes, their reaction speed is lightning fast.  Get 'em head down and feeding or looking for a bed and can almost walk up and stick the arrow in them by hand! 

Never look 'em in the eye, keep motion to a minimum, add sting silencers if your bow is quiet enough, and follow thru with the shot (hold that release position until after the arrow arrives in case yo miss and the deer looks your way). 

And I'd hate to have a flight bow set up in my hands when a deer walks in, even the world record setter.  Gimme a easy shooting hunting bow every time. 

[Marc St Louis]

Just because a flight bow is setup for shooting light arrows fast doesn't mean it won't shoot hunting weight arrows just as well as a hunting bow and everyone knows that heavy arrows will tame the sound of any bow.

[JW_Halverson]

But the thought of a bow built on the ragged edge of engineering principles and pushing the wood to it's limits scares the heck outa me.  Imagine the deer running off with a limb splinter in his butt while I hang out of the treestand from one hand while the other holds a ragged chunk of what used to be a bow handle!  Something tells me I would never wear those underwear again. 

Marc makes a valid point, for sure.  And taken another step further, we who hunt with bows have a lot of thank you's for those groundbreakers designing flight bows.  We have stolen their flipped tips, narrowed tips, and other designs in order to improve our designs.  You don't see drag racers running out to share their design innovations like Marc has. 

[PatM]

The bow made by ay Massey was in fact listed as the fastest bow Tim Baker tested at the time.

[Bryce]

P.S.  Using the loud bow argument is a bit silly.  People have been using glass recurves for hunting for a long time with great success and they are quite loud.

I was pointing out that when hunting elk a quite bow isn't really neccisary:)IMO
Bc there not as jumpy.

[Badger]

      JW, for the broadhead competition all I ever use is regular hunting bows. I usually make mine around 55# and nock off a few pounds for a flight shoot. When I arrived a few days early I had a stack of bows with me. I pulled 3 of them out of the car and tested them. All were hitting out to 220 yards and I only needed 211 yards. The day I tested them was dead still and we always have a slight tailwind so I was over confident. On shoot day because of heavy rain we sst the course up next to the road with a very slight crosswind. I kind of thought I might have trouble at that point but had allready weighed my bow in. The arrows I made for the bow were 28" but because it was 1# over I had to use an old set that was a 1/2" shorter than I needed. I should have just scraped it down a bit and stayed with the longer arrows. Always next year!
     We are talking about organizing informal flight shoots by state or region to attract new members to the sport. Rules would be slightly relaxed to make it easier to compete and give new shooters a chance to learn the sport. Every existing record will be and can be broken. If the new primitve flight league was well organized it might gain enough respect to be considered official with in primitive circles.

[JW_Halverson]

I think it would be wonderful to have state sanctioned shoots!  I wish you the best of luck with getting that going.  I would be interested in having a shoot here in South Dakota, too, but we may be kinda shy on shooters. 

I can see it now.  I'd call my name for my turn to shoot.  I'd run get my bow and hand it to me to be looked over by the range safety officer.  I would then ask myself some questions about the bow while I looked it over.  After sweating bullets, I'd hand my bow back to myself with instructions to proceed to the shooting line.  Once there I'd take my shots and then run out to measure the shots.  Even with all this help from myself I'd come in dead last.   

[johnston]

This is a very interesting thread...thanks guys.