Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Bowhunting Feathers or plastic

New to this game. Planning on either Slick Tricks or Wasp Drones for a broad head. Trying to decide between feathers or plastic vanes. I have been told that 4 inch feathers typically are far more accurate and stabilize a fixed head better..

Plastic helical twist drop away rest and properly tuned bow

Tuning is your key. Hell, there are some traditional shooters using 1.5" and 2" feathers with longbows and recurves, with EFOC set-ups and huge 2-bladed broadheads that work just fine.

If it's tuned properly, it'll shoot. If it's not, you're trying to compensate for the margin of error with larger vanes/feathers.

Start at the start; get it tuned, and then go from there.

I have used both, I am currently using Plastic and have recently shot my best ever with them.

One thought, just my observation. The Blazer vanes are less user friendly to get the glue to hold them to bare shafts. I've tried a number of different glues and they just do not hold up as well.

I used some vanes made by AAE max hunters and they stick much better. There must be some kind of plastic formulation that helps the AAE vanes adhere better.

When I re-fletch blazers I can often grab the vane and twist them off the shafts. When I try this with AAE vanes they will tear off at the base which remains glued to the shaft. That's quite a difference.

There is nothing I have found that a 2" blazer vane at a 2-3� helical won't stabilize. When fletching blazers, clean bare shafts in a solution of Ajax and water. Let dry. Wipe with denatured alchohol. Acetone may be used to remove any glue residue on reflecth shafts. I use Flex Fletch Zing primer and locktite control gel glue. It welds blazers to carbon shafts

I like the AAE vanes also - mainly because super glue gel works great on them. I use feathers with my Trad setups, just seems right with a recurve.

I'm a trad shooter and you don't need EFOC to shoot small feathers. In fact I consider EFOC a shortcut to tuning. It's simply a way to make tuning easier at the expense of having softball trajectories.

When properly tuned , with good form and release you can accurately shoot bareshafts at 40 yards. You better not pluck the release though or you will miss by feet.

I use nothing but 125 grn tips and would use lighter if the 3D's I shoot would allow it. They have to try to make the playing field easier for those EFOC softball trajectories from guys shooting over 300 grns up front.

Personally prefer plastic for compound either 3 or 4 inch and 5 inch feathers for my long bows

Try a superglue formulated for use on plastics - they have some solvent and/or adhesion promoters in them that let them "bite" the plastic. I've never had a Blazer come off; have to cut them off...

How well does the fletch tape work? That's all I use with feathers with a dab of super glue at the front and back after they are set.

Feathers are much noisier. But its all I can use on my recurves so thats what we do.

On one of the cheater wheeled bows, I still have vanes on those, as do on cheater crossbows.

I shoot 5 inch shields out of my recurves.

I thought all feathers came from Jewish family companies.

You can shoot vanes if you use an elevated rest, even with a recurve.

Would not shoot anything but a shelf with a recurve.

Why?

Just because if going traditional, I go all the way back. Plus the bows shoot better for my eye with the arrow on top of the hand or very close to it.

One could shoot carbon, vanes, and mechanicals with a recurve I suppose...

I shoot cedar and 2 blade COC heads or 3 blade snuffers. If I were to start shooting my bows again, i'd probably be shooting cedar with stone heads.

I don't have a problem with anything anyone wants to shoot. Whatever your conscious dictates is fine with me but I see the whole "not trad enough" thing as completely ridiculous.

My Trad bow bow is a technological marvel of 6 layers of FRP laminated together with high tech glue using one of the most modern string materials ever developed yet, if I shoot off the shelf it's trad but a stick on rest isn't. It's very hypocritical IMHO.

Every bow and all materials used are extremely modern unless you went naked into the woods, chipped out a knife and fashioned a bow and arrows with only natural materials you killed and rendered in the wild. Even then, I drive to this trad shoot in my 2010 F150 crew cab.LOL

What about the shelf materials you use. Is it always brain tanned leather and glued on with hide glue. See my point?

Again, I am fine with people shooting whatever makes them happy. I just don't understand the "not trad enough" attitude.

Both work very well. Both have their pro and con.
I shoot mostly feathers and have for 20+ years.
However, I am hunting Alaska in May and expect rain, so I fletched up some plastic vanes.
If you are not fletching your own, I'd go with vanes, they last longer.

2" Rayzr feathers from my Athens. Used to use Blazers but got tired of inconsistent bases, some flat some curved. Went to the Gateways and have no regrets. No noise at all from these 2" feathers and great fixed blade broadhead flight to 40 or so. A little shot of Scotchguard for waterproofing and that's it. Even fly good if torn, try that with plastic.