Archery Hunting - Arrows

Archery Arrows - Custom Make Your Own Hunting Arrows

Great satisfaction can come from making your own archery hunting - arrows. A whitetail deer hunter who has the knowledge and equipment to make their own custom archery hunting arrows, and archery target arrows, can greatly improve the accuracy of their shooting equipment. In my opinion; any store bought, mass produced hunting arrows leave a lot to be desired. Sure most will fly fine, for a novice, or someone just getting into the sport. But those of us who have been archery hunting, or shooting archery equipment a long time know the difference between off the shelf and custom made arrows.

You can get all of your custom arrow making supplies at Bass Pro; just click on this banner and check out some the great archery products to choose from.

Picking The Right Hunting Shaft

For today's modern bow hunter, just any hunting arrow shaft won't do. You need to match the arrow shaft to your hunting bow and draw length. I suggest you go to a local archery shop (take your bow with), and get fitted for a blank arrow shaft. Buy a dozen and have them cut your hunting arrow shaft's to your draw length.

The hunting arrow shafts being cut here are Easton's new "Axis Full Metal Jacket" shafts. These are great shafts; they have an inner core of carbon material and an outer core of aluminum. I feel they are the best of both worlds when dealing with archery arrows for hunting. With this shaft, you have a carbon arrow (strength) and aluminum arrow (straightness & ease of pulling out of targets) all wrapped up in one hunting arrow. Sweet! For more information you can go online to www.eastonarchery.com and research their archery arrow selection charts for hunting. Their are just too many variables on this subject for the various arrow shaft type and sizes. Other considerations are; hunting bow draw lengths, hunting bow draw weights, the different types of cams on specific hunting bows, arrow rest positioning and other variables to fully cover which hunting arrow shaft for everyone to use in this short article.

Install the inserts

After cutting your arrow shafts to length you will need to glue the inserts in. These hunting arrows have what is called - "hidden insert technology". Easton's arrow guide says that you will get better accuracy with these hidden inserts. It allows full contact between the broadheads shank and shaft wall, and as a result; the smaller diameter arrow shafts can deliver more kinetic energy and have better penetration. I think this is important when deer hunting for that trophy deer.

As you can see, each insert has to set at an exact depth.

Easton supplies this tool.

Fletch Your Arrows

After installing your nocks you will want to fletch your new hunting arrows. I use a Bitzenburger, Dial-O-Fletch, fletching jig to fletch my shafts with Naps "Quick Spin Vanes". It is one of many archery fletching tools on the market; but it lets you fine tune your fletching exactly where you want them, using right or left helical clamps (depending on which direction your arrows will spin, as recommended by the vane manufacturer), for specific vanes or feathers. It is not cheap (about $70.00); but it is good, and you won't be disappointed after using it. Prepare your arrow shafts by cleaning them. I wipe them down using a small amount of acetone on a cotton cloth. If using carbon shafts, you will want to ruff up the surface where the fletching makes contact with some fine sandpaper, thus allowing the glue to adhere better. Use arrow fletching glue on aluminum shafts. You will need a quick-set cyanoacrylate or "super glue" on carbon shafts. Place the vane or feather fletch in the spring clamp where you want it, apply a small narrow bead of glue along the fletching base. Now, set the clamp into the jig so the jig magnets hold it in-place, as the fletching contacts the shaft. Let the glue dry; only a minute or so with the "super glue", and up to 20 minutes with a regular fletching glue for aluminum arrows. After fletching an arrow I like to put just a small drop of glue at each end of the fletch where it contacts the shaft. This adds extra strength to the ends of the fletching.

Custom Arrows - For Archery Hunting - And You Made Them

With this archery hunting equipment (a small investment that over time will pay for itself), you can custom make your own hunting arrows. You will be able to fine tune them, repair them, color them, crest them, and more. Take your archery hunting experience to another level. You will be happy you did! Good luck hunting.