I just ordered 5" feathers from BigJim on sale. I felt it was a great deal and wanted to add them as an option in my archery tackle box.

I shoot 4" RW feathers on 90% of the arrows I own. To be honest, it's really out of habit more than anything else.

Any thoughts one way or the other?

All of mine are Trueflight LW mostly in 5” and 4” Parabolic.

I use 5" feathers and a helical fletch. Why? Fred said too, works for me!

I've started using 4" LW Parabolic. When I first started I was using 5". Now after getting use to the 4" and seeing no difference in flight and lower noise, the 5" look like overkill to me now.

I use 4" left wing turkey primary feathers and I split & cut my own.

5-1/2" LW highback sheilds for me...

I went from a 5" lw to a 4" lw parabolic. The 4" seems to be quieter and just as stable as the 5".

I don't have a preference. I use whatever length and shape sounds appealing at the time. But I cut my own from full length.

Only thing certain is I use nothing but RW.

I use 5" RW and shoot right handed with the cock feather in. I get very long feather life that way. I like the bigger feathers as I use Wensel Woodsman heads and want a lot of feather steering the back-end of my arrows.

Two reasons I went with left wing. First, in the early 80’s it was hard to find right wing feathers. They used to clip that wing to keep birds from flying away. Besides, plastic vanes were all the rage. So when I bought my fletchers I bought left wing. Second, I had an issue with right wing feather cutting my hand from my ASL bow. I read it was advisable to shoot left wing feathers. Got to remember this was before “Trad” and “super tuning” bows/arrows became the norm. That my excuse,

5" shields cause i like the way they look. Trueflight because the quills are ground consistently.

Generally 4" RW shield, but 5" RW on my bamboo. Just like the 5" on boo. Simply us RW to keep screw in tips in place without waxing threads. Process my own feathers so I wind up giving my friends the LW.

5" shields for me. Left or right doesn't matter. Whichever is on sale.

I like Gateway feathers and I have started using wild turkey feathers as well.

5" LW Pope & Young/ Raptor shape that I cut myself. Helical.

If you’re good enough to tell the difference... you’re a far better shot than I.

Just enjoy ‘em.

5" LW shield. Used Bearpaw the last couple times but have had good luck with about every other brand over the years. 4" works great but after getting beat up a couple years, or when wet, or when stabilizing a big non-vented 2 blade after a poor release, I like a little extra.

I like 4 & 5 inch shield cut- lean towards the 4 more lately.

True flight imo are the best I have used but i just ordered some knockoffs on eBay to try.

I started using a straight fletch some time ago and doubt I’ll go back to a helical.

However I do also like an offset fletch.

I use fletching tape. No issues with it to date.

My 3D arrows are 4 3" 60x120 and 3 4" Cock feather in) std both parabolic. I am also fooling around with 3 4" low profile 4" banana style.

My hunting arrows are 3 5" shield. However, I have used some parabolic.

Most all my fletching is LH and Gateway fletching. I like their camo stuff and wish they still made the full feathers so I could custom cut some profiles and lengths.

I also have some sets made for wet weather hunting using Canadian goose. They are much more water repellant naturally. Problem is they are all dark grey.....

Gateway or sagatarius rw. 2" and 4" low profile sheilds(modified template). Also 2" and 4" low profile bananna.

I have tried most makers of them and the only ones that are consistent have been Trueflight for me. The others have been sad. Mostly use turkey feathers that I have made my self. Have traded for some turkey feathers that were great too.

I like True Flight 5” rw shield cut 4 fletched at 75x105 in bright colors for my old eyes. Fletching up some 2213 today.

No preference except left wing.

wild turkey

Sagittarius has the most consistent quality I have ever found and the absolutely best prices. Their color saturation is tops as well. No pointy ends to trim either.

Trueflight.

I just ordered another 200 from Sagittarius. Absolutely the finest quality, best prices and BRILLIANT colors. LW 4" parabolic.

For 30 years I’ve used 5”, LW, TrueFlights, mostly parabolics.

I use real turkey feathers. You can't beat the price and they look good too!

Ive been using the gateway feathers 5" LW par, and they work better than I can shoot I`1m sure, but now I have this "make your own feather" virus. Made the grind jig, got the choppers LW and RW, rotary cutter and now the dyes. Staying with 5" for the SS bear heads. Yep, I`m hooked :)

Just use 4-inch Gateway red and flo yellow on Axis Trads 'cause Gateway had the best flo yellow. Have several dozen old Predator II's fletched with 3.5-inch feathers, and the leading edge of the feathers is twine wrapped. Really like that length plus the wrapping. The 3.5's came from a small shop in OKC long ago. Might even go to 3-inches one of these days.

Wrapped arrows with 3.5-inch feathers.

4-inch Gateways with preferred flo yellow

Wild turkey feathers cut 4" shield rw

Trueflight has gotten to be too expensive for my budget, so I get either Sagittarius or whatever happens to be cheap on Ebay. And by the way, the Ebay sellers are small American business as well; sellers like stilldub, jdhunts, and hundreds of other small cottage industries. The last bunch I got came from Archery Past in Oregon, who goes by arrowdude on Ebay.

I use LW because that's what I started with in the 1960's and to me the LW jigs are more ergonomically set up for a right handed guy. And RW points come loose too.

These feathers on the "Autumn Legend" arrows are my favorite.

4" sheild cuts. Why:

I can always get two feathers out of a full length feather--- even the stubby truflights. I grind my own often and use a feather burner.

Shield cut just looks good to me.

Theyll stabilize any broadhead I'll use ( arrows are well tuned).

They look good on everything from my skinny carbons to woods.

I prefer 5" feathers. I prefer Trueflight. I prefer helical. I prefer parabolics. Beyond that I don't care. Even then I'm not set in stone. I will however NEVER consider 'offshore' production feathers.

Change in archery comes slow. Probably took 30 years for carbon to become the rage!!!

Years ago, and I mean back in the day, even before aluminum they needed long fletching because they didn't have straight arrows.

Today we have straight arrows, but the long fletching has remained. There's no need for it unless you like slower and louder. Bare shafts shoot straight, why would you need 3X5, 15 inches of fletching?

I experimented and have been shooting 6 inches of fletching for about 12 years with a big 160 Snuffer. Three 2 inch feathers is all you need if your arrows are tuned.

Bowmania

5" LW Gateway parabolic. I love the thicker quills for keeping the glue off the clamps. That said, I often need to trim them. I noticed that the quill gets thicker at the very rear end.

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