Who shoots banana fletch for hunting?

[Etter1]

#7110

If you do, do you notice a lot of noise and, if not, how high do you trim them down above the shaft? Thanks. Gonna build some turkey feather arrows from any toms that I might bump into this spring.

[Doc Nock]

#58240

I tried some 4″ nanners cut 3/4″ high…didn’t notice any extra noise, but found a Nanner arrow once at a shoot, shot it once before returning it into the “FOUND” bucket…OMG! That thing actually SCREAMED thru the air!!:shock:

Being not mine, and it was returned to the found bucket so I cannot say, but someone suggested, being nanner, it’s easy to put on with barbels reversed and that’ll make them SCREAM… 🙄

I was careful with ones I tried, and found no such “noise” factor. I settled on my 3″x 1/2″ A&A (f16 wing) design with 3-fletch as stabilizing the biggest heads I ever shoot, quiet and fast… didn’t cause issues in cross winds, so I didn’t stick with the nanners.

Good luck…lots of people love em!

[Ralph]

#58307

I have 5 1/2″ banana chopper and years ago I was into banana fletches just because I thought they were neat looking and at the time they were kind of a deal with people.

A 5 1/2″ nanner feather looks kinda like a mini flu flu.

I never noticed a noise problem until some wear and tear started appearing on the feathers. Then they’d make more noise and sometimes they’d make lots of noise.

I finally made the chopped feathers as short and as low as I could make the chopper cut them then I’d still trim some off the height.

After all that work I wondered what am I doing here, converting a nanner feather into a parabolic feather and I’ve not messed with them since.

I’m talking 25 yrs. here.

I ‘ve learned much since then and I don’t need as much big on the back to stabilize as I thought, and lot of people thought, back then.

Doc, seems feathers put on reverse would be a little bit testy on one’s hand as they passed by:D:D An arrow loosed but not forgotten soon.:?

[Doc Nock]

#58352

R2 wrote: I have 5 1/2″ banana chopper and years ago I was into banana fletches just because I thought they were neat looking and at the time they were kind of a deal with people.

A 5 1/2″ nanner feather looks kinda like a mini flu flu.

I never noticed a noise problem until some wear and tear started appearing on the feathers. Then they’d make more noise and sometimes they’d make lots of noise.

I finally made the chopped feathers as short and as low as I could make the chopper cut them then I’d still trim some off the height.

After all that work I wondered what am I doing here, converting a nanner feather into a parabolic feather and I’ve not messed with them since.

I’m talking 25 yrs. here.

I ‘ve learned much since then and I don’t need as much big on the back to stabilize as I thought, and lot of people thought, back then.

Doc, seems feathers put on reverse would be a little bit testy on one’s hand as they passed by:D:D An arrow loosed but not forgotten soon.:?

ONLY YOU, Ralph, would make a feather with a chopper, then take a skissors to it and make it something else! 😆

I don’t shoot off my hand, but a shelf…Only shot that “found” arrow once and a few others in our group did so to hear it SCREAM. Later, in discussion, someone else opined that to make that much noise, perhaps it was backwards…dunno!:roll:

[Ralph]

#58364

:roll:OH, the arrow screamed. I got ya!! :lol::lol:

[Doc Nock]

#58370

R2 wrote: :roll:OH, the arrow screamed. I got ya!! :lol::lol:

🙄

Yeah, ralph…the arrow screamed…I don’t fly thru the woods at my age and ability much anymore… 😯

[Ralph]

#58472

Good! I was worried about the landing of an old screaming turkey flying through the air. 🙄

Be like the ‘oh no’ birds of the Pacific Islands.

Feathers better at flyin anyway:D:D

[Carl Brickey]

#59984

I made some 5.5″ ones a few years back with the chopper and glued ’em up with a dramatic helical. And they were almost as loud as a flu flu. I would say the less helical and shorter the feather though, the less wind resistance and less noise.

[Etter1]

#60047

I think Ill just stick with parabolics. Probably like those in your avatar. Might try out four fletch.

[Carl Brickey]

#60583

Etter1 wrote: I think Ill just stick with parabolics. Probably like those in your avatar. Might try out four fletch.

I’ve shot and hunted with four-fletch this past year since talking with folks on here and researching Dr. Ashby’s work, and they’ve worked great for me. The feathers in the avatar are hand cut wild turkey from a bird a friend killed, and are very, very quiet.

[Doc Nock]

#60611

My vision on small pics isn’t the best, Carl, but they look more like shield cuts???

Regardless, a friend who did feathers for a side biz, ground and chopped, he said that wild turkey are far stiffer than domestic because domestic birds are force raised to kill quickly and get to market, and their feathers do not develop fully in the time allowed…

I believe his point was that the wild feathers are more durable.. I’d THINK (don’t know) that being more durable, the barbels remain intact longer. I’ve noticed when I use commercial feathers, I often find barbels ripped loose from practice shots and they are farm more noisy than ones intact…

If that is logical or real, perhaps then wild turkey feathers remain quieter, longer???

That way early post of mine about the found banana cut shaft that literally made a screaming sound going down range, that was some pretty HIGH cut feathers… purple as I recall… and several posts suggest height is a noise factor…

I shoot smaller now with higher foc…

[Carl Brickey]

#60700

They are hand cut almost identical to the feathers in your picture. Sharp scissors, masking tape, a ruler, and a steady hand. Made a grinder jig out of oak and flat stock aluminum and I can crank out a dozen feathers (and a pound of dust) in a few minutes.

[Doc Nock]

#60746

cpbiv wrote: They are hand cut almost identical to the feathers in your picture. Sharp scissors, masking tape, a ruler, and a steady hand. Made a grinder jig out of oak and flat stock aluminum and I can crank out a dozen feathers (and a pound of dust) in a few minutes.

Carl, if you are referencing my picture, those are the A&A design… supposedly the delta wing right angle tail end causes least drag and noise.

WARNING: I have a friend who ground turkey feathers commercially as a side biz fr years… he ended up with some bizarre neurological disease ostensibly from “turkey feather dust”!:shock:

Who’d thunk it… vision, balance and hearing issues ensued. Respirator at minimum with shop vac sucking away as much dust as possible… even if you do it outside (when it warms of course), use a fan BEHIND YOU and a good mask…

Can’t emphasize that enough…

Be careful! Momma Nature can extract her pound of pain from messing with her natural critters!

[ChumpMcgee]

#60798

I was shooting Bananas last year and like everyone is saying they are noisy. But I was able to quiet them down when I was shooting at a wet hay bail and I pulled the arrow all the way thru the bail. After that the arrows were very quiet even after they dried off!

[Carl Brickey]

#60812

Doc, I got them as close to the A&A design as possible. I also have a few with 4 fletch 2.5″ parabolics. They fly like darts.

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