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I was not on the road on another traveling adventure bowhunt and since I get so many email and phone calls from readers/viewers/customers about a certain topic, I opted to use the "at home time" to enlighten bowhunters.

I asked this question in more than a dozen groups on social media about broadhead vent noise. 98% of respondents said that vented broadheads are louder than non vented broadheads so I put that theory to the test at the world headquarters of this adventure bowhunter on the back side of our spacious compound in my latest broadhead video.




FYI, I included not 1 but 2 sound meters (decibel meters) and the results matched that of the sound recordings. It would have made the video a hell of a lot longer to show the meters and the readings for each shot and since they didnt add value or disagree with the findings I shortened the video by leaving out the sound meter footage.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

The super majority of the readers here are not bowhunters or serious bowhunters so this topic has not likely even entered into your minds (which is why I did not poll followers here in advance since too few of you actually bowhunt)

As far as the noise coming from the bow it self. The very brief sound a bow makes is very short in duration. And its the furthest from the animal. The fletching noise is louder and longer in duration and continues to get closer (so its an approaching sound. ) For that reason I think fletching noise is a worse case than bow noise or broadhead noise.

Last edited by sharp_things; 05/24/21.

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yep the video was interesting thank you. how about real feathers noise verses plastic feathers/vanes noise ?


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Hardly cutting edge(!), but the Ben Pearson Deadheads of about 50 years ago screamed like banshees in flight. They were really wide with big cutouts.


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I knew Vanes made lots of noise, some are quieter than others, so are broadheads. My buddies & I used to xperiment with this kind of thing in our younger days.
We'd Put a target up on a stand just past a shed, and go listen by the corner of the shed as the arrows went by, the noise was a wake up call.

Last edited by doubleDs55; 05/24/21. Reason: spelling

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From my personal experiment (the buddy method) feathers were louder than plastic vanes. I always assumed vented broadheads were louder as well. I like to shoot the Magnus Stinger Killer Bee in my longbow.

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Originally Posted by Pappy348
Hardly cutting edge(!), but the Ben Pearson Deadheads of about 50 years ago screamed like banshees in flight. They were really wide with big cutouts.



I rested a few dead heads from my Dad's cedar arrows. I killed a few does with them. They were loud. but didn't cost me any missed shots due to spooked game. Scott taping vented heads used to be a thing

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Take a small file and slightly round the edges of the cut-outs.

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Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


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Originally Posted by WStrayer
Take a small file and slightly round the edges of the cut-outs.


interesting.

Ive always found the ben person dead head interesting since I was 8 years old looking at my dads ben person recurve and cedar arrows with dead heads and bear razors

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Originally Posted by dale06
Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


Jeez, next thing you'll be saying you track your own blood trails and find your deer without thermal imaging drones.

Who ever heard of such a thing?



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Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by dale06
Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


Jeez, next thing you'll be saying you track your own blood trails and find your deer without thermal imaging drones.

Who ever heard of such a thing?


>>> maybe try to be a little more positive when you reply ? i like what this man offers us its free to learn a new trick or too.


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Originally Posted by pete53
Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by dale06
Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


Jeez, next thing you'll be saying you track your own blood trails and find your deer without thermal imaging drones.

Who ever heard of such a thing?


>>> maybe try to be a little more positive when you reply ? i like what this man offers us its free to learn a new trick or too.


You just like his tits

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Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by dale06
Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


Jeez, next thing you'll be saying you track your own blood trails and find your deer without thermal imaging drones.

Who ever heard of such a thing?


Lets not get too carried away. Lol





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Originally Posted by DeadHead
Originally Posted by pete53
Originally Posted by smokepole
Originally Posted by dale06
Thanks for sharing your testing. I shoot mostly feathers and almost exclusively vented broadheads. And have been doing so for 43 years of avid bowhunting. If arrow noise has ever caused a problem, I’m not aware of it.


Jeez, next thing you'll be saying you track your own blood trails and find your deer without thermal imaging drones.

Who ever heard of such a thing?


>>> maybe try to be a little more positive when you reply ? i like what this man offers us its free to learn a new trick or too.


You just like his tits


Nah, I think pete is more of a balls man.



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just ignore little smokepole he is so humble


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Yes, frequently.



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That was interesting, thank you. I’d never considered that before.

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it certainly makes sense, the smoother the surface the less air disruption and therefore the less noise (assuming no harmonic ringing from the shock of launching)
so more noise from fletching than heads.
if anything I would have thought that the freezer tape would be noisier based upon the coefficient of friction...

I do wonder though, if you made fletchings with the trailing edge like the trailing edge of an owl's wing: would you get a quieter fletch?

well you might need to play with the leading edge too:

Last edited by OldmanoftheSea; 06/26/21.

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I’m fortunate to have a huge oak tree backing up my 30 yard target, as well as another big oak at about twenty adjacent to the “flight path” of our arrows. The trees are large enough that we can stand behind them and have another shooter shoot broadheads at the targets, judging relative quietness of the broadheads. In our admittedly unscientific judgement, vented blades do make more noise by a significant margin. It’s noticeable.

Some, you hear a hiss on their flight, while others sound like they are whistling Dixie the whole way to the target! It’s interesting in that some broadheads you can hear the instant they leave the bow. Others, only when they pass you by. Some are so noisy I feel like I could dodge the arrow! It’s no wonder why deer jump the string on some “perfect” shots….

The ones that generated the most noise generally were the vented heads, but their were exceptions.


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The vents on Sharp Things make him louder spouting his nonsense...

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Originally Posted by Godogs57
I’m fortunate to have a huge oak tree backing up my 30 yard target, as well as another big oak at about twenty adjacent to the “flight path” of our arrows. The trees are large enough that we can stand behind them and have another shooter shoot broadheads at the targets, judging relative quietness of the broadheads. In our admittedly unscientific judgement, vented blades do make more noise by a significant margin. It’s noticeable.

Some, you hear a hiss on their flight, while others sound like they are whistling Dixie the whole way to the target! It’s interesting in that some broadheads you can hear the instant they leave the bow. Others, only when they pass you by. Some are so noisy I feel like I could dodge the arrow! It’s no wonder why deer jump the string on some “perfect” shots….

The ones that generated the most noise generally were the vented heads, but their were exceptions.

what else causes hiss?
I have heard it on field points that felt like good releases, but others were silent so I was trying to figure if it was a bow tune factor, or something else.


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My take is that arrows make noise and most of that is from fletching. Pretty sure why so often deer "jump" the string is more like they hear the arrow coming and spook at the last second.


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Originally Posted by OldmanoftheSea
Originally Posted by Godogs57
I’m fortunate to have a huge oak tree backing up my 30 yard target, as well as another big oak at about twenty adjacent to the “flight path” of our arrows. The trees are large enough that we can stand behind them and have another shooter shoot broadheads at the targets, judging relative quietness of the broadheads. In our admittedly unscientific judgement, vented blades do make more noise by a significant margin. It’s noticeable.

Some, you hear a hiss on their flight, while others sound like they are whistling Dixie the whole way to the target! It’s interesting in that some broadheads you can hear the instant they leave the bow. Others, only when they pass you by. Some are so noisy I feel like I could dodge the arrow! It’s no wonder why deer jump the string on some “perfect” shots….

The ones that generated the most noise generally were the vented heads, but their were exceptions.

what else causes hiss?
I have heard it on field points that felt like good releases, but others were silent so I was trying to figure if it was a bow tune factor, or something else.

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Isn’t there a downside of not having vents, especially on a large surface area broadhead? I thought the vents were there to prevent the flat surface from becoming a “sail” or airfoil and ruining accuracy.


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Ive shot non vented around 280 fps.
Flew great.
But I run a bit of FOC and helical fletch.
Boringly repeatbly good.

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Loose tip or damaged fletching will add noise.
I do wonder how quality of flight plays into it as well

We did the shoot past and listen thing.

Didnt take much wear for fletching to get loud ( feather ).
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Deer spoke because of bow noise at release. Vents are generally added as a means of cutting weight.

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Originally Posted by cotis
Isn’t there a downside of not having vents, especially on a large surface area broadhead? I thought the vents were there to prevent the flat surface from becoming a “sail” or airfoil and ruining accuracy.


if you are marginally out of tune then vented head are more forgiving because they fight the fletching less..
given that the vents function when tune is slightly off it stands to reason that the vents are more prone to make noise when you are slightly out of tune.

you could do an easy test by intentionally tweaking your tune to see if a particular set of vented heads get louder or quieter...

Last edited by OldmanoftheSea; 06/29/21.

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