Arrow Numbering = Unnecessary?
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: BGbasbhat
15-Apr-19
Does anybody shooting modern compounds and carbon arrows do this?
I've thought/heard of numbering my arrows to track which ones may be fliers, or inconsistent, and not to use those for a hunt. But given the considerable amount of human error (my crap shooting), I'm doubtful if there would be any concrete result.
Is this something more traditional guys do? With near perfect carbon shafts, symmetrical fletchings, spin-testing, etc., not sure if it'd be worth the tracking?
From: Ucsdryder
15-Apr-19
I number arrows. Doesn’t take long to notice a flier. That being said, with better arrows it’s less necessary. If they spin well they will most likely fly well.
From: Tilzbow
15-Apr-19
I do it when building hunting arrows and shooting with fixed blade broad heads to sort out the good and the bad.
From: Owl
15-Apr-19
You'll shoot some arrows better than others. Best to know which those are. I imagine most guys either number or grade out. Numbering is less expensive and more practical,imo.
From: Bou'bound
15-Apr-19
No harm in doing it. Piece of mind
From: BGbasbhat
15-Apr-19
Good to know from you pros. Guess i'll be shooting them anyway, so might as well track em on my spreadsheet. FYI, I'm shooting Magnus Buzzcuts. On that note, do you guys typically pair a broadhead with shaft too? Again, whatever pairing flies the best together?
From: Marty
15-Apr-19
I do it all the time, flyers become bunny blunter arrows!
From: dirtclod Az.
15-Apr-19
I always wondered why my dads arrows had numbers back in the 70's.My practice arrows are so mis-matched,If i notice a problem i write 'bad' on the fletching with a sharpie.
From: Predeter
15-Apr-19
I always number my arrows Seems to always be certain ones which are always in the middle and others are always flyers so I'll keep doing it.
From: BTM
15-Apr-19
Always. What Owl said: "You'll shoot some arrows better than others. Best to know which those are."
From: Owl
15-Apr-19
Another note on the OP, if you can't distinguish among your better flyers, you likely are not shooting far enough. For instance, you'll have more arrows hit like "1s" at 20 yards than at 40, etc. Or, presuming they all "hit badly," you need serious help with your shooting.:)
From: RogBow
15-Apr-19
If I need to number arrows something is terribly wrong. I don't want to sit there thinking oh, this is arrow 3 but I am going to shoot it anyway. You have all year to figure out a good setup.
From: GBTG
15-Apr-19
I number my arrows and then keep a notebook with each practice session documenting the best arrows. Is it necessary no.... but confidence to me is everything.
From: Franklin
15-Apr-19
I don`t....nothing goes on the hunting trip or in the quiver that is a "flyer". I work on form more when practicing so my practice arrows are hodgepodge. Closer to the season I`ll start to dial in.
From: HUNT MAN
15-Apr-19
I name my arrows. Numbers are boring!!!
From: COHOYTHUNTER
15-Apr-19
I square all my arrows after they are cut.. then I weigh all inserts and broadheads to get weight matched, use loctite and screw in super tight. then weigh shafts after I've fetched. Then match broadheads/inserts to shafts so all arrows are within .5 grains of each other. Then I glue inserts with broadheads attached into shafts. Before glue is dried I spin test. I get all my hunting arrows to spin perfectly and all within half grain... it's a little OCD.. but eliminates most fliers and guarantees any arrow I grab will be good to go.. that combined with bare shaft and broadhead tuning gives me piece of mind
From: Scooter
15-Apr-19
I number...
From: LINK
15-Apr-19
Been numbering for years. Doesn’t make much difference with field tips but some arrows don’t like broadheads. Shaft isn’t square or something of that nature.
From: sdkhunter
15-Apr-19
Even buying the better grade arrows seems like there a few that I always seem to shoot the best. I normally mark my favorites with dots or similar with a sharpie... if nothing else it’s a confidence boost to know I’m shooting my favorite arrows from my quiver when hunting...
From: Ermine
15-Apr-19
I name them. Easier to remember than numbers. But yes it helps to identify if you have ones that shoot different
From: trophyhill
15-Apr-19
Great thread! After testing all my arrows and fine tuning them, I write a short message on one of the vanes if each arrow. This way I know which arrows are tuned to perfection. Or very near perfection anyway. I started doing this after seeing the Adventure Bowhunter video several years back. I think that's what it was named, with Tom Miranda. I guess you could say it's a personal message as it goes into and or thru the vitals as it takes life, and sustains life.
From: Tyler
16-Apr-19
I ran out of room on my fletchings most arrows start as number ones but as soon as they hit off the mark I have to change the numbers to grade 2s,3s,4s,5s etc. Its always the arrows fault why they don't hit their mark.
From: APauls
16-Apr-19
I write on the fletching what I killed with the arrow. Some arrows will rack up a pretty decent kill count before they hit the offside shoulder and snap in a death run or something. I’m never hunting with any flyers
From: BGbasbhat
16-Apr-19
Thanks all for the feedback. I let me OCD out and tweaked my tracking chart. I went by distance and weighted average. 0=Dead Nuts, 1=Under 1" per 10 Yards, 2=Over 1" per 10 Yards. Add them up at the end and the lower the score the better. Also, have 5 rounds per arrow and per distance. To make sure the higher #d arrows don't get shot last when I'm tired, I mixed up the order of the 21 arrows: 1-21
21-1
Middle #s First
Outer #s First
Random
Probably overkill I know. But thanks all for the tips. I might as well do it since i'm shooting a round a day.
From: Genesis
16-Apr-19
It’s not all about prioritizing arrows as I’ve been in situations where I had to shoot multiple arrows and with the adrenaline pumping it’s really helpful to know which arrows in the succession presents with what certain findings on it to help diagnose the situation
From: Mark Watkins
16-Apr-19
Tilzbow X 2!
BGbasbhat,
Now that is OCD:):):)!
Mark
From: x-man
16-Apr-19
My Target arrows are all numbered sequentially. When I'm "on" I can shoot the same arrow in the same hole. Shooting them in the correct order on my 5-spot target face lets me know if something is starting to go wrong. Missing by 1/4-1/2" tells me something has changed.
My hunting arrows all have the same number... 114
From: Inshart
16-Apr-19
I used to number them until I discovered something dynamic. Dubbed it "wobble wear".
The number 1 takes less ink than the number 2, etc., etc., and when I really noticed the difference was when I got into the double digit numbers. I never went past the number 29. ***For instance, 29 takes more ink and was therefore heavier and created more velocity "drag" - then the number 1. I had always written on the cock fletch and that extra weight/ink drag made them wobble - hence the cock fletch would wear out before the others. All this caused me to occasionally miss the one inch bulls eye at 120 yards.
NO MORE NUMBERING FOR ME!!!!
From: LINK
16-Apr-19
You could just number them all with 2 numbers. Then you would be dead nutz. ;)
From: SBH
16-Apr-19
I gotta number mine for when I empty the quiver and I'm trying to put all the pieces back together in terms of what the hell just happened!
From: Bake
16-Apr-19
I number. Lots of good reasons to do so.
I don't keep a chart. I don't number until I've been through the arrows about 15 times. Then I start trying to narrow down the best
From: BGbasbhat
16-Apr-19
Hahahaha, Inshart that's hilarious. lol. Hahahahaha!
From: Beendare
18-Apr-19
Try it on a couple dozen arrows and you will soon see the idiocy of, "Screw on your Mech head and go hunt"
Seems to me there is an archery app for your phone that makes easy work of plotting your arrows.
From: T-Hawk
19-Apr-19
I have been doing it for years
From: eddie c
19-Apr-19
I've done it on occasion. I like to have someone to listen to my arrows. My wife used to sit in the back yard when I shot. One day she stated that one of the arrows made a weird noise. I figured if she could hear it a deer could. Never did figure out what was wrong with that arrow.
From: Whocares
19-Apr-19
If I didn't number mine how would I know how many I shot??
From: Surfbow
19-Apr-19
I used to number them, and since I'm an airhead I promptly forgot which number the flyer was when I pulled the arrows and started shooting again. So instead I just keep a sharpie in my pocket when practicing and put a dot on the fletching of a flyer, the ones with lots of dots get moved to the back of the pile...
From: ELKMAN
20-Apr-19
I wouldn't shoot arrows that weren't numbered. PERIOD. (Way to many variables to not have trackability)
From: cnelk
20-Apr-19
If you dont number them, you will always have an excuse for that 'flyer' :)
From: Rut Nut
20-Apr-19
I don’t number my arrows. If I have an arrow that is a consistent “flyer” so bad that it will miss the vitals, then something is wrong with it. If I cannot fix it, it goes in the trash.
From: Lee
20-Apr-19
Always! Anal about it - one flies it’s in the trash. Big confidence builder to me, just one less thing to worry about at the moment of truth. My VPAs are also matched to the arrow and numbered as such.
Lee
From: Two Feathers
20-Apr-19
When I'm shooting cedar arrows out of my stickbow I'll number them.
From: Shaft
22-Apr-19
is there a phone app for plotting your numbered arrows impact? I number each arrow and then shoot a couple of rounds at 20, 30, and 40 yds. I plot on a blank target where each arrow hit. More often then not I see that each arrow tends to have a general region of impact. Some arrows consistently hit slightly high or right or left or low or any combination. My arrow plotting tells me what each arrow is doing. If I have any flyers then I turn the nock to see if they will dial in closer to the bullseye. After I am done I select my arrows that group the closest together and move my sight to match the point of impact of those arrows. (note: we are talking 1-2 inches difference at 40 yds) Then I put broadheads on and repeat the process. I have found that by doing it first with field tips the broadhead process is greatly reduced. After about 4 rounds with this closer impacting set of arrows it is fairly easy to select my very best arrows for my hunting quiver. For me it adds confidence to my equipment. If there is a miss at this point it is on me or a deflection of some sort. Another thing to note is that when I have repeated the process with broadheads I have found a couple of broadheads here and there that it didn't matter what arrow I stuck them on it didn't fly very well so something was off on the broadheads manufacturing. I just take that broadhead out of the rotation. It works for me. It would be nice to have an app though instead of my clipboard and target.
From: leftee
22-Apr-19
Don't number anymore.Obvious flyers go.Before any season 18 are shot with the broadhead(s) of choice at 20 and 40.If 'pass',set aside.After that no worries,confident in all.
From: elkstabber
22-Apr-19
I number my arrows for the recurve and the compound.
From: BGbasbhat
22-Apr-19
Thanks all for the feedback. I'm a few sets in to my spreadsheet.
Shaft I don't know if there is an app, but it sure would be nice. Printing out my spreadsheet and carrying it around seems archaic nowadays.
From: Catscratch
22-Apr-19
Not a numbering system, but I always have a favorite arrow (that gets the first slot in the quiver) and a practice arrow (that gets the last slot in the quiver). There always seems to be one or tow arrows that always hit the mark and one or two that is always an inch or so off.
From: adogg437
22-Apr-19
I number them, just to help with the off chance that one is a little squirrely. I spin test all my arrows. It helps me to see if something changed with my setup or if it was operator error.
From: cnelk
22-Apr-19
Ive done this
From: bigeasygator
22-Apr-19
BGbasbhat, love how you went from “I’m feeling like numbering arrows might not be needed” to a full blown spreadsheet!! I could totally see doing that.
But you guys have it all wrong. Names and numbers are boring. You wanna really know which arrows are flying well and aren’t, use these arrow wraps! I always forget which number arrow is flying poorly but when it’s the blonde in the black bikini you tend to remember!
As a side note, one year I shot a mule deer, black bear, and a whitetail with the same arrow wrapped in the brunette with the red bikini.
From: Brotsky
22-Apr-19
I'd like to be wrapped in the brunette in the red bikini as well. It's no mystery why that shaft is your straightest.
From: BGbasbhat
22-Apr-19
Hahahaha, that's awesome bigeasygator. See if you can sell those on the site. They'd go like hotcakes!
From: Straight —» Arrow
25-Apr-19
I always end up with some arrows that just don't fly right.....I just put FP's on them and they go in the practice arrow pile. I find them so quickly now that I don't even number my arrows anymore. I just sort out the flyers as I'm shooting them the first few times.
From: wifishkiller
25-Apr-19
I really can’t believe there’s guys out there that don’t number arrows.
Anyone buying a few doz arrows and doesn’t need to twist a nock at the least, probably shouldn’t be giving advice.
From: TD
25-Apr-19
Growing up on the farm.... I hate to number of or name things I know aren't going to be around long.......
From: TREESTANDWOLF
25-Apr-19
Arrows are manufactured, no two are alike. Its up to you if you want to take your painstaking time picking and numbering the number 1 arrow.
Believe me, you want Ol number one loaded when your target animal is in range.
