You shoot a longbow or selfbow.

If you were on a blacktail deer hunt on Kodiak Island, Alaska and you knew that it was going to rain for ten days straight; would you only bring arrows with plastic fletching?

SD

Yeah, if I knew it was gonna be rain the entire time I’d use trad vanes

No.

So are you are not worried about shooting at a deer with soggy feathers?

Well you can spray them with a little hairspray. You can use feather dry powder. Or not. Worry about it. They'll be dry within two feet after you shoot anyway. Or get you a quiver where you can cover up your arrows and pulling out when needed. Frankly, I wouldn't be hunting in the rain anyway. Makes pretty hard blood trails if it's that wet. JF

I exclusively shoot plastic vanes, and mostly from the shelf, so that's a yes for me.

Longbows are actually easier to set up to shoot vanes from the shelf than most recurves are, so that's a yes X 2 for me.

Feathers are purdy & all, but dot dot dot.

You get my drift by now, I'm sure.

Rick

No I’d use a quiver that protects the fletching but again I’ve never tried vanes

No question, yes I would use vanes.

Shooting vanes out of trad rigs is not the black magic voodoo it is made out to be, even off the shelf.

Rick Barbee and Rooty, among others, have been shooting vanes for years. Thank you guys for demonstrating it is not impossible.

No

First....I don't have soggy feathers. There are 100 or more ways to keep feathers dry....all of which work.

From fletch covers, to different types of quivers, to keeping your feathers under your rain coat, to treating them as mentioned above.

I don't have anything against vanes, but I'm also not afraid to hunt in the rain and/or snow with feathers.

[[[ "First....I don't have soggy feathers. There are 100 or more ways to keep feathers dry....all of which work.

From fletch covers, to different types of quivers, to keeping your feathers under your rain coat, to treating them as mentioned above.

I don't have anything against vanes, but I'm also not afraid to hunt in the rain and/or snow with feathers." ]]]

Soaking wet feathers have never had any effect on my shots. Not even on long shots, so I never bothered with trying to protect them.

I really only shoot vanes for three reasons:

(1) They outlast feathers 100 times over.

(2) They are quieter in flight by a lot.

(3) They are way cheaper.

Rick

And all of those points are valid. My dad was a huge fan of vanes even as far back as the '60's.

But none of them sway my decision/choice at all. :)

Rick, what vanes do you use?

4" Marco Soft vanes.

Marco went out of business a while back though, so if I run out (which I shouldn't) I'll be in the markets for something else.

By-Delta has some interesting products, but I haven't tried them (yet). That said - I'm not interested in any of their vanes (like their "rain vanes"), that are designed to tear. It isn't necessary if your tune is right.

Rick

That should have read - "Bi-Delta"

Rick

My arrows fly no different with wet feathers.

MP

[[[ "If vanes were better than feathers God would have put them on birds. ]]]

Or, maybe made arrows grow wings. Feathered wings of course.

:-D

Rick

I hunted blacktail in WA for years with both vanes and fletch...I'd bring both, and one bow with a shelf, one with a rest for vanes.

I think I hunted Kodiak, Raspberry, And POW islands about 25 times while I lived in Alaska. The vast majority of the time I used feathers and cedar arrows. We used everything from sprays to plastic bags to try to keep them relatively dry but never really found the perfect thing. A well tuned bow and arrows was the best fix. Remember all the bare shafting you guys do? Wet feathers can be a bit like that. I've missed deer before but I don't ever recall blaming wet feathers for it.

No.

Goose feathers handle rain much better then turkey I keep a tuned selection of goose fletched arrows for my hunting bows for rain days That said ive hunted with wet turkey feathers also,theyll dry out before the arrow stops paradox Plenty of options,,id find what works best for you,,,bringing extra dz arrows on a hunt just in case cant hurt Catquiver is good option to

Yes and no.

Plastic as back up.

Goose feathers for rain.

AK Pathfinder pretty well summed up my experiences, limited that they may be.

So, I watched a youtube vid, gun shy I believe, and that guy was spraying with clear finnish. He said it works great, anyone here used that? What are your thoughts?

Seems it would make them awfully stiff.

I have used hair spray on more than one occasion as well as spray starch though.

I want to thank Rick Barbee for mentioning what he shoots. I've always been a feather guy. I went over to the Bi-Delta site just to look around at their products. I find their rain vanes interesting, and reading how they work. As to my feathers I never really noticed a huge difference in my arrow flight within 20 yards. I tend not to hunt in really wet conditions anymore. However I once again want to thank Rick Barbee for mentioning the Bi Delta site. I may have to look into those. I assume they glue on like any other fletching would.

On a hunt of a lifetime I would use what I use every day. Have a Blessed hunt!

If I was set on using feathers I’d use feathers from Wild Fletching. They are so much more water proof than feathers from farm birds. I’d still spray them with N- Snow or dry fly spray. I’d also keep at least a few trad vane arrows with me too. I use them interchangeably with feathers, especially hunting in really wet weather. I couldn’t imagine having to worry about my fletchings on a hunt.

If I knew it was going to rain for 10 days straight I'd stay home. That would seriously suck.

The guy on Gun Shy says he does not notice any stiffness issues. I believe he would pull them through his hand when dry, I'd have to watch it again. I thought it was pretty interesting and he said it lasts him the whole fall.

I'm not sure what type of clear product he uses, but when I was a commercial flytyer I used to spray a LOT of feathers with different clear products to increase their durability. Particularly when using them for wingcases, carapace tops and so on. And those got awfully stiff.

I’m a self professed wet guy and have shot a lot of vanes off the shelf and elevated rests. My thoughts are that you will make a more consistently accurate shot with feathers in wet or dry conditions under hunting conditions. A short draw, bad follow through or brush in the line of flight will always be more disruptive with vanes. And, if you do choose to shoot vanes, do not do so at the last moment. Find some that work for you wear them out, they are cheap and easy to replace.

I will protect my feathers and keep them dry as best I can and shoot them.

I hunted Kodiak for 10 days in 2019 and carried 3 vanes and 3 feathers. It worked out ok and the deer I shot was with feathers as it was dry that day. The last five days we got heavy rain with high winds so much you couldn't hunt and we didn't leave the cabin, that's Kodiak!

Here’s an option

I have hunted waterfowl for almost 50 years and I have kill a bunch I have never seen duck or goose primary wing feathers matted because the rain, now that being said I got nothing against Trad Vane folks say they work well, but when I got to Kodiak to hunt Blacktail I will have both Goose and wild Turkey fletching on my arrows

I'm done with hunting in crappy weather on purpose.. But totally with Rick Barbee on vanes.. Especially the quietness of the shaft benefit.. The fact that they are waterproof is just the icing..

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