Unless it’s the bugle of an incoming elk or the clack of my arrow’s impact on a rib cage, I hate noise when I’m bowhunting. I strive for silence in my clothing, boots, treestands, and packs. You name it, it must be quiet, or it doesn’t hunt with me.
By Curt Wells, Equipment Editor
Various bow silencing products. Clockwise from bottom left, Sims dampener on its Limb-Saver Prism Sight, Sims Mino LimbSavers and Super String Leeches, Cir-Cut adhesive fleece, Vibracheck Stabilizer, Fize Stabilizer, Sims S-Coil Stabilizer, Stealth Archery Stabilizer, Carbon Express Stabilizer, Meanv Archery Custom String Suppressor, and Mathews Harmonic Dampener.
Foremost in the quest for silence is a quiet bow. First, let me settle a common argument. Can you make your bow silent? No. Will a big game animal always hear your bow going off? Yes, unless distance, wind, or water covers the sound.
The speed of sound, at sea level and 70 degrees, is 1,128 feet per second. That's four or fives times faster than your arrow, meaning the twang of your bow will reach a game animal well before the arrow. Most animals react to that sound rather than the impact of the arrow. An animal has no concept of what an arrow is or what just happened. All it knows is that it might be in danger -- so run!
Carolina Archery Products ShockStop Stabilizer
The infinitely varying situations and attitudes of individual animals, however, complicate this debate. Is the scene quiet and calm? Is the animal calm or tense? Is the shot long or short? Does the arrow fly at 180 feet per second or 320? Is the animal aware of your presence? Is it an ultra-quick impala or a less-reactive bull moose? Will a loud bow spook game worse than a quiet one? Does it make a difference?
You never want to "break the spell," as I call it, by making any noise before or after you launch an arrow. So, the singular answer to the above questions, at least for detail-oriented bowhunters, is to get your bow as quiet as possible -- just in case it does make a difference.
Doinker 5" Multi-Rod Plus Stabilizer.
The Twang
No doubt, the most significant noise generators on any bow are the bowstring and buss cables. Bow manufacturers have gone to great lengths to reduce and dampen string/cable vibration. Mathews employs its String Suppressors, Hoyt the StealthShot String Suppression System, Ross Archery the Flatline Silent Shot System, and Browning the SRS (String Recoil Suppre-ssor) devices on its Illusion bow.
Aftermarket string suppression systems are also available. They screw into the backside of the threaded stabilizer hole or into the front with an adapter, and the business end butts up against the bowstring. These are effective in dampening string vibration. Four good options are Norway Industries' String Tamer, Meanv Archery's Custom String Supp-ressor, STS Archery's Shock Terminator Suppressor, and Falcon Products' Rattler.
Probably the biggest name in noise suppression is Sims Vibration Labor-atory, whose products of NAVCOM (Noise and Vibration Control Material) are found on many bows today. Many bow manufacturers include Sims String Leeches with their bows. These small, yet effective, devices go a long way toward taming the oscillation of any bowstring.
BowJax, Inc., another front-runner in noise reduction, makes string dampeners that slip between the strands of the string and cables, or slip over the bowstring after putting your bow in a press.
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