Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Whisker Biscuit Rest

Do you like them?

Yes.

I used to use the drop away on my Mathew Bow but have now switched to the Whisker Biscuit and love it, especially when in the tree stand , no matter how you move the arrow stays in place. Best hunting rest you can use

I like mine. I have used them for years now. My only complaint is that your vanes will begin to get wavy due too melting as they pass through over time. It requires you to replace vanes periodically if you shoot a lot.

They're not the quietest on the draw, but they are excellent at holding the arrow at the ready. As has been said, no matter how you tip or turn your bow, the arrow stays in place. That is a HUGE advantage over any rest that does not secure the arrow. The only disadvantage for me is the largest size will only accomodate arrows up to 22/64" diameter. I can't shoot my ultra-lite 2512s in it. Maybe it's time I quit being cheap and go buy some new carbon arrows and join the 21st century.

Personally I think they are junk. They do everything a rest isn't supposed to do. To this day I can't see why some people have such a hard time keeping an arrow on a rest. I guess if I were that clumsy I might like them too. Or better yet try shooting a bow weight fitting one's ablity they wouldn't have a problem. There is always someone willing to design and sell you a band aid rather then fix the real problem.

My son had put one on the bow that he gave to me, and it works well. For hunting I can see some advantages.

I have one on my new bow and I love it. I had been shooting a Bo-doodle Super Doodle for years. It was fairly good at holding the arrow on if you bumped it wrong but the bisquit is totally secure. Back about 10 years ago, I had a WB on my bow and it didn't have a slot in the side. you had to insert the arrow in through the slot where the arrow "rides." The side slot is a huge improvement over the early models.

I think they are great and there is nothing mechanical to break like the drop-away rests.

The WB is the only rest I use. It is the epitome of the K.I.S.S. principle.

It's simple and it works well. Yes, I like it.

Yes they work great. There are some disadvantages like noise when drawing the arrow thru. Not something you notice at the range, but you will when in dead silence from the tree stand. I have had a couple( rare) animals stop and look my way while drawing. Maybe coincidence? I doubt they slow an arrow down enough to make any functional difference, and I have not noticed any fletch damage on my arrows.

They beat the "always ready" drop aways by a long shot years ago. However now there are fully contained Drop Aways that are quite nice. The WB is fool proof and near indestructible. I have used them on some bows for decades now. The one single issue I see with them, is the amount of contact after release. Any hand movement with the bow will adjust the POI of the arrow.

There is a lot said about brace height for "forgiving" release issues. With the wisker biscuit you have an effective brace height of "ZERO" because the arrow is part of the bow until the knock clears the wiskers, VS the arrow being free of the bow the instant the trigger is pulled with a good drop away.

The drop away makes your functional Brace height far greater then the wisker biscuit.

Nothing else wrong with them at all that I can see.

MCH,

So how do you keep an arrow on the rest?

With the WB rest, I can sit in my stand at a very high state of readiness. That means arrow on the string, bow laying on its side in my lap, and my release on the string. If a buck comes in, all I have to do is draw and shoot. I don't leave my bow hanging on a hook, all arrows in the quiver, sitting cross-legged, reading a book. I am always ready to shoot immediately when the opportunity arises. I really cannot understand why anyone would do it any other way. Where I hunt, I often do not know there is a deer in the vicinity until they are in range. There is no way in heck a buck will just stand there while I move to pick up my bow, nock an arrow, attach release to string, and finally start to draw. That is exactly how to kill dang few deer, at least the wild deer I hunt. Maybe the deer you hunt are a bit less wild?

That is pretty funny. First I hunt very wild state land deer. They see every movement, they hear every sound, and they spook at the drop of a pin. Have never had any issues keeping my bow at the ready with arrow. I hunt both release and fingers. I use a luancher blade and Flipper with a plunger and have not a single issue with keeping the arrow on it. I don't read in the stand or do anything other then hunt. But you can sell whatever BS you want, I am not buying any.

So what happens with a whisker biscuit when it's cold out and snowing and the thing freezes together? Doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

How often would that be a problem during archery season?

I shot the number 19 european wild hog in the SCI record book during a cold spell that was 7 degrees. It worked flawless. I also hunted with it in the freezing rain of the cascade mountains for decades much of it with the WB, never a single failure or reason to complain about it. Sprayed with silicone lube before the season and it's good to go!

Interesting enough Fred and the Pope and Young boys never had as many problems as the new archers have.

I've never missed being able to take a shot and have never shot an whisker biscuit. Just doesn't seem all that complicated.

Just got my bow out today checking it out for the upcoming....Yes,on the Whisker Biscuit...I like it.

Jayco

Nope. Tried it, didn't care for it at all.

I don't shoot much upside down so my drop away rest works just fine and yes, I sit on the stand, arrow nocked and the bow crossed in-front of me. Zero issues.

been using the WB since they came out and have zero reasons to change. Shoots accurate, and with blazer vanes, no problems with vanes getting wavey, no matter how much you shoot.
I don't use it because my arrow won't fall off, I use it because it's simple and effective.
The WB is probably the most used rest on the market these days, and for good reason.

I love mine. I hunt from the ground, not in a blind per se, but simply hiding in tall grass or brush. The WB keeps the arrow on the bow even when the bow and arrow are laying on their side on the ground. When drawing the WB will push the arrow back into the center hole if necessary and go ahead and shoot.

Snow and ice no problem for me even on January hunts.

It will magnify poor form, as JJHack has stated above, but then again, I've not missed a deer because of it.

NO. If conditions are quite, a wary whitetail hears the draw. I used them for years, and like everything else about them, but alerting a couple of mature bucks at the draw will cure that.

Can't get over folks using noisy rests... used to and still do cover all my wire rests with moleskin. Of course I prefer to wait for close shots too, but I'm amazed at what some folks can get away with noise wise. Maybe others are shooting tame deer and ours here are wild....

My Whisker Biscuit make no noise when i draw my bow slow. If people would shoot a bow with poundage they could handle comfortably and draw slow without having to jerk it back because of using Bows way to strong for them then most rest wouldn't spook a deer especially the Whisker Biscuit. I used to be into this macho chit when it came to my bow 75 lbs or more and now shoot a 50 to 60 lb set on 58 lbs and have not shot one deer or hogs that i didn't get complete penetration and have to hunt for my arrow after it zipped through .

If your good reason it is a band aid then I agree with you. What do you consider accurate? Because I have yet to see a tournament archer use a WB. If it is so damn good and accurate then they would be using them. They don't. A rest is exactly that a device made to rest the arrow on during draw, with the least amount of contact to the arrow as possiable. As to when is it freezing during hunting season well here in CT we hunt till the middle of Jan and yes there are many cold, wet, snowy, and crappy days. No matter how you stack a WB it is a band aid period. If you like it and want to shoot it so be it. But that doesn't make it a good thing.

I don't draw heavy like I used to... And I have used a whisker biscuit as has my nephew and I even warned him not to... then he calls one night, the doe heard me drawing.... Deer here at least, can hear your clothes move when you go to draw. Why? I don't know. Could it be so far south that there is very little hair on their ears, especially in bow season and they don't have to survive a hard winter so their hearing is not nearly as blocked as deer that have to survive a winter? I don't know. Why do our deer duck or jump the string so bad compared to other states I've hunted in? I don't know that either, and it can't be due to use of feeders because I've shot a number of deer in places that never used feeders, and they were shot on trails from bedding to feeding areas so they were in nature so to speak, not used to coming to feeders....

My draw is around 60 pounds give or take the last time I weighed it. My test is that its too heavy if you can't put both feet side by side touching, IE legs together, and push the bow STRAIGHT out in front of you, not to your side and SLOWLY draw all the way to anchor without lunging, or having to push the bow to the sky to do it.

YMMV though as they say. We are probably what I call in the same book and chapter but not same page.. much as we are still comparing apples to apples but different species of apples....

You compare our deer, to the mule deer I"ve hunted with a bow years ago.... where my buddy had a springy rest, bare metal wire, with AL shafts( and that might be a key, most folks shoot carbon, but when I had a WB I still shot AL) and the deer would not do a thing when he drew. And the one deer I shot at something like 42 yards, watched the arrow come in all the way till it killed him....

I didn't realize an arrow rest discussion could evoke such emotion...lighten up Francis. Your last sentence is patently incorrect. If the OP likes it and wants to shoot it, then it IS a good thing.

Anyone ever had to let down and wait for a better shot? It sure seems like the WB would really stand out for that. Also how do we know exactly what alerted the deer? Maybe it wasn't the rest.

90% of the time it is movement that spooks the deer not the rest you are using on your bow. My opinion is, use what works for you and your setup.

I've had to let down and wait many times. I shoot a Trophy Taker Shakey Hunter fall away rest, and haven't had any problems with the arrow coming off on draw, or let down. Being able to let down without the arrow jumping off the rest is another reason to shoot lower poundage. Like rost495 I'm shooting about 60 pounds, and can draw, and let down, with the bow straight out in front with a smooth motion.

No it doesn't make it a good thing because someone wants to use it. By design it is a POS. It does everything you don't want a rest to do. If someone wants to use it that is their choice to do so. But does not make it a good product or choice of equipment. Sorry you can't comprehend that. There is no emotion about it, the OP wanted to know what people think of it. I gave the OP the straight scoop on it. What are you offering to the OP??????

In my first post, I offered to the OP a simple and succinct answer to the question he presented.

Thanks for your answer. I like mine.

Try a QAD - Quality Achery Design totally captive fall away and you will throw that WB in the trash (where it belongs)

According to some of you guys, it's a wonder that anyone kills anything with a WB on thier bow because it's so noisy and it ain't accurate for crapola....but yet I can't remember the last critter I missed including two turkeys this spring and who knows how many over the last several years, 4 of the last 5 years elk including a 320" bull, forget how many whitetails inclduing 170" buck, and don't forget the last two antelope including one at 61 yards even with COC broadhead, and a few grouse thrown in for good measure...I wonder how it's even possible.

I know,.....luck...just plane 'ol luck.....and a whole lot of it!

Its fine for hunting (though I wont use one) but you wont find any competition shooters using one.

Most competition shooters use what the company that sponsors them makes

Why do you think WB dont sponsor competition shoots?

I have seen a lot of crude, rough, designed poorly, you name it things work. Doesn't make them GOOD.

I would argue that the WB isn't just good, it is the BEST. I would throw all the drop-away garbage in the trash before I considered giving up the Biscuit.

WB is the best rest I've ever used. I always had to watch my game and the rest to make sure the arrow didn't fall off when I drew back and spook game. Don't even look at the arrow now. Deer walks off without a shot and I can let the arrow down with ease. 1 less thing to worry about.

Ken

Things must have changed over the last 35 yeras or so... I never had to watch an arrow while drawing on an animal, I always watch the animal. I"ve never had an arrow come off a rest.

As to spooking and movement, yes thats the case, but for me, I don't draw until the head is in a position where it can't see my movement. The last thing I want here, at least for our deer, is to be aware something moved or happened, I need a totally relaxed deer. Even at that we've had deer move totally out of the way before the arrow arrives, and this typically at under 20 yards. Even had a guy hit one on the flip side as it spun out of the way to run.

So I know that movement doesn't get me. Especially since I started using ground blinds. They simply can't see movement there unless you do stupid things.

Its the long drawn out noise of a slow arrow drawn. A short noise usually doesn't do anything, but a long same noise is not normal in the woods.

I test them if its wind still by dragging my shirt sleeve against chest or pants leg to simulate a draw. If they look up each time I do that, then I have to wait for a plane to fly over, wind to blow, a car to drive by if close enough to some road etc.... other than that I"ve watched deer when its been so still that you simply know you will never be able to draw your bow.

As noted to before we get into huge fights, it certainly seems that different animals will accept different things. Some accept movement, some accept noise and so on. Feral hogs here.. movement spooks them worse than noise every last time. They can't see well and if they see you move, they have not clue and are on full alert. But you could make noise while drawing, and while their hearing is very good, it seems not to bother them much if at all.

Granted no one is saying a WB is target grade rest. And if it were not for the noise, for my applications of short range shot they'd be just fine. Of course this comes from someone that waxes their shafts and puts moleskin on the arrow rest so that the draw is as quiet as possibly can be.

I got caught up in the Drop Away Rest craze which is mostly a sale gimmick and not worth the price they sell for. . When hunting, simple is usually the best and that is why the WB is so successful and used by so many hunters. The may be crude to some, but they work.

crude? Crude is a shelf with beaver skin on it like my Brackenbury... Still works fine.

I"ve never owned a drop away and dont' intend to if I can avoid it. But like I said, if it works for you... just don't assume it works for everyone and every situation.

Interesting posts. I am just getting back into archery, and I need a new rest. Everyone said I have to get a drop away. I am currently using a Golden Key, with "grasshopper" arms. They no longer make those arms though, and they are worn out. Time to upgrade. Never considered the WB though...

I do not like the drop away concept simply because I don't like the string tied to the cable etc. Just seems like one more thing to F-up when I am in the middle of nowhere.

for Colorado type deer, I wouldn't worry about the WB. From the bowhunting I've done there, you can draw an AL arrow along bare metal fingers and get away with it generally....

WB wont' be too loud for your deer, plus you most likely won't be on the short side of 10 yards like I typically am when I shoot.

IMO the WB is one of the finest HUNTING rests out there.

I always used various launcher and drop away rests and was convinced the WB was a poor joke. When I bought a used bow it came with a WB installed. Before the bow even arrived I had ordered 2 different drop away rests for it so I could [bleep] the POS WB as soon as it came.
Well the bow came and I decided to shoot it before I made the switch.
Several years later the 2 drop aways are still in the drawer and the WB is on the bow.

Maybe my hearing is bad but I can't hear any noise when I draw if I'm using a nice slick Beman ICS Hunter or the GT Pro.

So the fletch going through the whiskers doesn't slow it down, or tear up the arrow?

thanks.

No but they say feathers work best.

Feathers? I am no caveman, haha.

I think you guys have me sold. Might buy one. I now need to decide if I am going to continue with my xx78's, or use carbons. I went carbons for awhile, but went back to xx78s after having a couple carbons explode while releasing. Must have been cracked and I didn't see it, but it still happened.

They work great with vanes.

I love mine. I know its probably not the "new" thing anymore, but for hunting I couldn't find a rest that I liked any better.

Dunno - I shoot a fall away as does my dad and brother. Brother probably shoots somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 arrows a week, year round.

NEVER had an issue. I fret it not.

ETA: That said - I've used the WB - it does absolutely NOTHING my fall away doesn't do. I see no advantage at all. I knock an arrow, give the string a tug to set the rest and my arrow can't fall out in any fashion at all.

Like this - where's it gonna go?

aha, a SMART moleskin man too!

Seriously good stuff - that particular set up is a Matthews SQ2 I bought the year they came out. I sold it to my father about 5 years ago - his rig now. I currently shoot a Growler rigged exactly the same, dig it. My brother just picked up a Matthews Z7 Tactical. SWEET rig but I'll stick with the Growler for a bit. Just got my son a Menace - GREAT little bow. Uber adjustable.

I"m old school... brackenbury recurve these days if I get time. Newest bow is a 91 or 92 PSE FireFlight. Between the 2, have killed everything that I had a right to. The high tech stuff of the compound years ago got to simple though. Pretty easy to zip a deer if they were in range. Got boring.

Swapped to the recurve, life is challenging again.

Whisker Biscuit work , even a Cave Man know this

They don't work here, at least not if being able to draw on a mature buck counts.

The WB worked just fine on a 14 point 245# buck at ~15 yards a coupla years ago.
Nice story too since it was the first time I ever took my daughter with me bowhunting.

She even spotted him first!

He never heard a thing and neither can I.

Once again its simply a matter of your deer vs our deer. And 14 points and 245 doesn't mean mature, though I"d think close to it. I"ve seen deer with up to 13 points as 2.5 year old deer. I've also shot deer here that were(very big for us) around 225 on the hoof, that were 3. 5years old..... Those deer were young and stupid....

Whisker Bisquit is BEST IN THE WORLD!

I didn't have the buck aged (Swampy would have said it was 20 years old though) but this was a natural, non fenced deer in a non agricultural area. No feeders, no food plots, no licks, just big woods. 245# dressed is even rather large here but they do get bigger.
If it wasn't mature it was darn close.

These deer are not hunted heavily so that may play into it but I still don't hear a thing when I draw my bow with a WB.

LIke I said, works for you whose to say. And we tend to use what we know works.

As I've said I"m a close range hunter. Yes I hunt feeders at times, but generally I"m set up on trails these days and set up such that I have short range, not 30-40 yard shots. You can get away with things at 20-40 yards. You can't get away with a lot where I prefer to shoot which is 15 and less. Typically I"m under 10 yards. Last buck I killed rubbed on the tree I had my quiver on, and I had to grab it before he knocked it out and on top of him... I had to let him move down the trail a bit further before I could get a shot... less than 10 yards.

Kinda like does a 223 or 243 or 06 or 300 mag work on deer.. the answer is yes and no.

245 dressed must be meaning 300 something live. I'm not arguing age, just saying weight and points don't mean anything sometimes. Weight certainly meaning more than points. Used to laugh when folks thought a 14 point was 14 years old.....

BTW, for the WB fans, how many animals have you taken with a WB? Just trying to see if its a long run of say 100 animals or so, or just say 10. That will answer some questions too.... At 10 animals in I thought I knew bowhunting. Boy was I WRONG.

If you have plastic vanes; take a lighter and quickly move it back and forth the vane to slightly heat it up. Sometimes the vane will naturally go back to its original position, but other times your have to help straighten it out.

they work great for my bowhunting.

Junk, might as well glue a old tooth brush to your bow, the tooth brush may be a little better design!!

If you are stalking game through high grass, brush, on your hands and knees or belly crawling with your bow, a fall away or prong style rest is useless.

Not all bow hunting is done standing in a tree.

If I am stalking I don't need to knock an arrow until I intend to draw. Like I have said before WB's work but that doesn't make them good! I don't think anyone on here is saying they don't work. Just that there are better options out there. If you like a WB and it gives you more confidence that is great.

Here is a pic of the new rest I invented, it is called the tooth biscuit arrow rest, and it is going to be a hot seller, patent pending.

When you are moving up on a bugling elk or trying to stalk an antelope with a decoy you wait until you are ready to draw to knock an arrow?

Whatev. It's your deal.

If I were shooting 3D on weekends and spending my hunting season standing in a tree I wouldn't be using a WB either.

Just sayin'

ROTFLMFAO! That is great.

Yes when I stalked the to Prong horn I shot in WY I knocked my arrow 37 yards from the speed goat on the first one and 42 yards on the second. On my last elk I was 30 yards he bugled I knocked the arrow he turned I drew he turned back and looked right at me as I released the arrow. He never knew what hit him or that I was there, took three maybe four steps and fell over.

I see. Didn't realize no one stalked game unti Whisker Biscut came a long.

As shown my drop away rest basically makes it impossible for the arrow to be removed from the rest without tripping the rest (easy to do). In essence it does everything a WB does (which is basically just make it impossible for an arrow to come off) without having full contact on the shaft. IMO it's a heck of a lot easier to shoot consistantly when I don't have 500 different brushes hitting my arrow shaft for the full length of the shaft at release. Those same 500 brushes may or may not grip the next arrow the same.

If you like em - great, no skin off my nose but the OP asked opinions. I gave mine and will do so again. No advantage over a well designed fall away, and they have a disadvantage the fall away doesn't have. Thus I don't use em. YMMV

Here's my 2 cents worth. I have been shooting a whisker biscuit for about the last 5 years. I used to shoot the old 2 prong rest (can't remember what it was called) but I shot with it for some 20 plus years. I like to keep things simple and try to think ahead of what possibly might go wrong before I get into the woods. The drop away rests looked interesting but I never bought or tried one due to the way they are lifted when drawing. I hunt alot and can imagine getting ready for a shot and finding the string that lifts the rest had caught on some branch or twig and the rest no longer functions. Much like the rubber on a peep sight. I have had no problems with the whisker biscuit and find it works well for me. I also lightly sand (0000 steel wool) and wax my carbon arrows before I hunt. Cuts down friction and noise. I guess it's like rifles/calibers etc. if it's working for you and it ain't broke don't fix it. Tom.

I have noting against drop or push away rest other than they are to expensive for the little benefit you might gain from using one., plus most people don't shoot good enough to see the difference in their shooting regardless of the rest they have on their bow. I like the Whisker Biscuit and it has never spooked a animal as of today , maybe in the future and it has worked every time. If the Whisker Biscuit had been around 200 years back it would have made shooting Bison from horse back much easier for the Indians

MCH,

From your reply, it sounds like I insulted you. I sincerely apologize to you, sir. I meant no disrespect. Please forgive me.

However misguided the wording, I am genuinely curious how the fallaway rest works and retains an arrow with the bow laying on it's side.

Actually, I cannot shoot as accurately with the WB as with other shoot-through rests. Before the WB came out I used dual prong rests, one favorite being the Quick-Tune. To keep the arrow on the rest I used a device called a Sta-Put. It is a little rubber flipper that rests against the top of the arrow to hold it in place on the prongs. When the arrow is released, the Sta-Put flips forward-and-upward out of the way. They work pretty good, but not as foolproof and simple to setup as the WB.

You didn't insult me. I think it is pretty funny that everyone thinks their deer are harder to kill then the next guys. Actually there is some merit to it but not nearly as much as guys think. I have been lucky enough to hunt deer and other game all over America.

I don't shoot a drop away rest either so I am not defending them either. They are however a step above a WB in my opinion.

As I stated earlier I use a launcher blade or prongs on my release bow and a Flipper rest with plunger on my finger bow.

Nobody can shoot as accurately with a WB because there is just to much contact with the arrow. Which is exactly why a WB isn't a good product. I know it is a hard concept to grasp for some on here. I personally just don't see any reason to shoot a WB.

Come on now,a 14 pt. 245 lb. dressed buck is just a baby, probably still had spots. I like my WB, but then again I'm lucky enough to only hunt dumb deer.

Still toying with getting one. They are cheap so if it doesn't work, no biggie. I like the simplicity of them. I am going on a remote elk hunt this fall, would be nice not to have bells and whistles all over my bow. I don't even shoot a peep though, I like to keep it basic.

I don't use a peep anymore either.
Ditched it last year for the Hindsight system.

Much better in low light situations.

If the WB "has too much contact to be accurate", how is it possibe then to paper tune to perfect tears. After all, if the arrow leaves the rest flying straight, why would that arrow not be accurate?

Hindsite, is that like a No-Peep? I went to a huge peep AND a No-Peep above my sight, mounted just low enough I can see it and check for torque.

Shelf with beaverskin on a recurve is custom built for remote hunts like that one. Took mine on a caribou hunt in 2003, never found a big enough one close enough though.... but for foolproof... instinctive with a recurve is it.

If it is really remote, I would take a backup bow anyway. Maybe you could take your compound AND a recurve. On my first caribou hunt I took a rifle and a longbow. A takedown bow would be nice.

Who would have thought that a post on the most popular rest east of the Mississippi would have made 9 pages of argument? I've hunted with and owned some of the most expensive longbows & recurves you can buy but it doesn't make me superior to those who don't. When I'm serious about putting meat in the freezer the compound goes to the woods.

The Whisker Biscuit is the best hunting rest ever sold.

Price doesn't always make something good. There are a lot of inexpensive rest on the market. Hell the flipper rest on my finger bow may have cost me $10-. One can always spend a lot of money on things, but it doesn't always make it better. A WB is an expensive bandaid as far as I am concerned.

You cant fix stupid

Can you shoot helical fletch through the WB?

thanks.

The Whisker Biscuit rest isn't expensive.

Yes.

Different execution but the same result.

Hindsight forces a consistent anchor point and consistent torque free grip.

For too many years I was frustrated by even the big 1/4" peeps in first and last light.

yes.

Where did I say it was????? Reread what I wrote and who's post I was responding to and what they wrote. Follow along.....