Trails Across The Prairies
Left or Right
With some of my arrows beginning to look kind of ratty, or the fletching in particular, I decided to re-fletch a 1/2 dozen of the worse ones. Now it's a given that the fletching will wear as the arrows go through things, possibly grass or weeds, or targets, or.....well you get it they wear out after while.
When it came to choosing colors for the new fletch, I decided to try a all barred natural look although I was somewhat concerned they might be hard to spot once they were laying possibly partially covered by grass. In the end my concerns went away as I began using them, the arrows easily spotted for easy retrieval down range.
The shape I decided on is a shield cut in 5", the single most popular feather length and cut in traditional archery. Shield cut has slightly more surface area compared to parabolic cut, which will make arrows fletched with shield feathers a touch more stable in flight than those fletched with parabolic cut feathers. Parabolic cut is a little bit quieter in flight as wind has less surface area to grab on too.
Having types of arrows with shield and parabolic cut fletching in my quiver, I often make the comparison as to which is better. I find the arrows with the larger shield cut feathers stabilize broadhead equipped arrows better in flight.
As far as the "Left or Right" this is in reference to the feathers available as a left-wing feather, or a right-wing feather depending which wing of the turkey they came off of.
Because I shoot a bow right handed, I am using left-wing (helical) turkey feathers on my arrows. This means that when I draw and release the arrow, the arrow spins left allowing the arrow to clear the bow as the arrow passes through the sight window of my long bow.
This theory was written in stone at one time, but today not so much, as its been proven that it doesn't make much difference regardless of whether you're left-handed or right-handed, and whether you use left or right wing feathers.
Still, I'll stick with what has worked for me over the years, and that's why I'll continue to fletch my arrows with left-wing feathers.
Just so you know, it's required that your arrow fletching jig has the proper feather clamp, in my case a left wing clamp.
Expand the photo for a closer look.....
