Feathers or Vanes?

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

Feathers or Vanes?

Which do you prefer and why?

I am starting to lean toward feathers after I have bin using vanes for years.

Whats your opinion?


Hutch

[Ehunter]

Hutch. I was shooting the 2 inch quick spins by NAP. Like the way they fly, but kinda noisy. Starting to switch over to Fusion vanes. Fletched a few arrows with them, and they seem to fly really well. Good at stabilizing broadheads too. I shot feathers years ago, but switched over to vanes for the durability in bad weather.

[bowhntr]

i too am interested in feathers. When i took my bow course the instructor said he had been shooting vanes for years, his buddy said "try the feathers and you will never go back" he tryed them and has been using them for five years now. from what ive heard they add arrow speed out to about 40 yds. but after that it slows the arrow a little more than vanes. also i hear they get wet and dont fly very good but there is some stuff to put on them to avoid that. im really thinking about trying the razr feathers this year. none of my treestands offer a shot over 30 yds. any way in the hills i hunt!

[archerx7]

Shot nothing but feathers for years, untill I got caught on the 3D course in a downpour. Arrows wound't fly right on the remaining targets, so I switched to 4" vanes and used them for years untill someone talked me into trying blazers and I haven't shot anything else since, except on my indoor bow which I still use feathers on.

[SonnyThomas]

I had feathers on my 2312 Super Lites and they worked great, but I'm die hard vane type guy.

It's kind of hard to just up and name a vane perference, just partial to Bohning Brand.

As of right now, 4" Bohnings on my hunting shafts and the Bohning X vane 1 3/4" Shield Cut on my target arrows.

[ElkSlayer]

Gateway feather powder & Bohning feather-dri both are under 10 bucks and work well..nothing works better then just keeping them dry thou
Use a cover .. used to be the only thing a guy had was feathers.

I do like vanes but the recurve Don't, so its a mix for me..the target rig slings 30" shafts using 3" vane tec's low pro's
5" Gateway shild cut feathers set on 32" shafts for the recurve .
Have not desided on the new arrows for hunting rig. ( still have some 5" vanes on 29" shafts bit short now that I reset DL)
Went with 2" Rayzr feathers for the youth hunters. sure like how they fly.. wife and other grankids all use the vane tec's cause thats what I orderd..lol

[Money Man]

I have only shot vanes for the couple months I have been shooting, but now that most of the vanes are being torn off the arrows, I need to re-fletch and am thinking about switching to feathers. I just need to find out if I can put them through a whisker bisquit and if I should put them on helical or straight. Still trying to figure out all the details...if I can't use the WB, it might be a good reason to go buy a new rest.

[alex]

This is a "deja vu" thread. Hutch, you must be more careful now when you're in Barry's list Oh and i use both vanes and feathers, tell you the truth i'm not so experienced archer to feel any diference

[RLW]

Only vanes now for general field shooting and hunting. (3) 4" in helical. Currently Flex-Fletch FFP360 (ok, so 3.6")
Quality and consistency is good on the better brands, and I think they typically hold up much longer than feathers in all around outdoor conditions.

Had feathers of course back when I shot recurves, and even tried feathers again with one of my compounds for a while. Flight was great with them, but as far as I could tell, no better than vanes when my bow was well tuned. Also had more noise, especially after fraying a bit.......I do like the light weight of feathers which bump the speed up a little bit and helps FOC balance. They also can create more drag for better stabilizing, however this also slows arrow quicker so once past 30-40yds that extra speed is gone. (if that really matters at all)

On late season hunts during bad weather, feathers reminded me of hunting with my traditional muzzleloader and being carefull to "keep the power dry"......I could coat the feathers and/or cover them to keep them dry longer, but just didn't want the hassle of babying them or worrying about them anymore.

[michaeljohn]

Feathers or vanes? This question is very common when choosing archery arrows... Which do I use? They say that feathers are more forgiving. Maybe this is so, for target shooting or shooting a recurve or straight bow. Plastic vanes on the other hand are my choice of fletching only because I do a lot of foul weather hunting. There are no real good explanations of which to choose from. Many archers have drawn their own conclusions depending on the type of bow they use. For instance, if you are shooting a recurve or straight bow with a flipper rest (or something similar), then feathers would be my choice.