With a market saturated with different brands, spines, diameters, straightness, fletching configurations, inserts, and nocks, trying to understand what makes an arrow worth your hard earned money can be a daunting task. Trying to find unbiased information to help you understand how to make the best choice for your bowhunting application can be harder than getting blood from a turnip. Hopefully, by the time you finish reading this article you’ll be better equipped to decide how to pick the right arrow for your bow hunting adventures or if it is worth your money to upgrade your current arrows.
Understanding Arrow Basics
Before we delve into the finer points of arrow selection we need to know arrow basics. Understanding what spine is and how to pick the best one for your hunting set up, what length your arrows should be cut to, and the names of the arrow components will only help in picking the best arrow for your money.
Spine
The spine of an arrow is a measurement of how much the arrow flexes when it is shot from your bow. In all cases the longer your draw length and higher the poundage your bow is the stiffer the spine of your arrow needs to be. Most companies use a standard scale to denote the spine of an arrow with the lower number, ie. 250 spine, being a stiffer arrow than the higher number, ie. 450 spine. The one notable exception to this scale is Carbon Express who saw it fit to reverse everything, ie. 450 spine being stiffer than 250 spine.
The easiest way to understand what spine you need for your bow setup is by consulting a spine chart. (Seen Below) The spine chart will give you two different measurements that you need to know about your bow to find the right spine. The draw weight and arrow length. The draw weight of your bow can be found with a draw weight scale, available for purchase online, or by visiting your local bow shop and asking them to find your draw weight. I will cover arrow length in depth later, but for now let's say your arrow length is 28 inches and your draw weight is 60 pounds.
Using the chart you will find your 60 pound draw weight (compound bow) on the left and your 28 inch arrow length on the top of the chart. By drawing a line from the draw weight to the right and from the arrow length down you will see they intersect at the 350 spine tile, so 350 spine is what you will need for your hunting set up. It should be noted that spine charts vary depending on manufacturer so be sure to consult the correct manufacturer’s spine chart for your arrows.
Arrow Length
Although you can cut your arrow to many different lengths, the one rule you must always follow is never cut your arrow shorter than the length from where your arrow nocks on the string to the arrow rest when your bow is drawn. This ensures that the arrow won’t fall off your rest causing an accident and potentially an arrow to go through your hand. An easy way to ensure that you never have to worry about this happening is to never cut your arrow shorter than your draw length. When I build arrows I always cut the arrows so the finished length is one inch longer than the draw length of the person I am building them for. Not only does this ensure the arrow won’t fall off the rest, it also keeps your broadhead in front of your fingers ensuring there won’t be any accidental cuts as you release your arrow in the heat of the moment.
Arrow Components
There are 3 major components present on all arrows, the insert(A1), the fletching(A2), and the nock(A3).
The insert is what goes in the end of the arrow and your broadhead or field point will screw into, the fletching are what will steer your arrow when you shoot it from your bow, the nock is what goes in the back of the arrow and attaches your arrow to your bow string.
A1
A2
A3
All hunting arrows should come with nocks and inserts in the package although they won’t always be installed. Only pre-fletched arrows will come with fletching glued on. I highly recommend visiting your local archery shop to purchase arrows since you will walk out the door with arrows ready to shoot. If you purchase online you will need to take those arrows somewhere to get cut to the proper length and have your inserts installed.
How to Select Your Arrow
There are no hard and fast rules for picking an arrow except that it has to be the correct spine, but there are 5 things you need to consider when selecting the best arrow for you: Arrow diameter, arrow weight, arrow straightness, arrow cost, and how you are hunting.
Arrow Diameter
Arrow diameter is measured and named based on the inner diameter of the arrow shaft. There are 3 popular arrow diameters available on the market, .245(Standard Diameter), .204(Small Diameter), and .165(Micro Diameter). It is worth noting that some companies may have slight variations on each size, for example carbon express has .203 instead of .204, but the principle is the same.
Standard diameter arrows are the largest, most available, and most affordable of the diameters. The larger size can cause reduced penetration compared to the smaller arrows and can cause wind drift on longer distance shots. Standard diameter also tends to be the least durable of all the sizes.
Small diameter arrows are growing in popularity lately since they are a good mix between affordability and availability and penetrate and are more durable than the standard diameter option. Small diameter arrows seem to be a great all around option, but are more pricey than standard diameter arrows.
Micro diameter arrows penetrate the best and have the least amount of wind drift of all the arrow diameters. Durability is heavily based on the arrow weight with heavier arrows being much more durable. Micro diameter arrows are easily the most expensive option and only slightly less available than standard and small diameter arrows.
Arrow Weight
Overall arrow weight is a heavily debated topic in the archery world these days. One that I think is far over complicated and over thought. So let’s keep it simple. Make sure your arrow is heavier than 5 grains per pound of bow draw weight to ensure safe shooting and use a heavier arrow for bigger and tougher game animals. I tend to shoot for 500 grains total weight when I build arrows for myself, but do not stress if I come in above or below that weight.
Arrow Straightness
The further you shoot the more you need to be worried about arrow straightness. Being I am primarily an Illinois bow hunter who rarely shoots over 30 yards I am perfectly happy shooting a .006 straightness arrow. If I was regularly shooting 60 yards at western game I’d want to step up to a .001 straightness arrow. The truth is most of us will never be able to tell the difference between the different straightness and paying more for a straighter arrow is as much about the confidence it gives you in your equipment as it is about anything else.
Arrow Cost
The best advice I can give when it comes to arrow cost is to not get caught up in paying for a name or fancy designs on the arrow. Pick an arrow that maximizes what you get for the money you plan to spend.
How are you Hunting
Having an understanding of what you need out of your arrow comes from understanding how you are hunting. Are you sitting in a tree stand shooting 20 yards or less over a food plot? A .006 straightness standard diameter arrow will do everything you need. Are you setting up in a rut funnel or on an acorn ridge on public land? You may need to reach out to 40 yards to touch the buck slinking by on the edge of the funnel or ridge. A small diameter arrow would be a great option since it is less affected by wind drift and would penetrate better on the longer shot. Are you spotting and stalking during a light rain? You may have to take shots past 40 yards so I’d choose a micro diameter arrow. Less wind drift and greater penetration will be your friend. These are just examples, not one size fits all, but it should help to understand how to compare arrow characteristics to your style of hunting.
Conclusion
Every time we carry a bow in the woods we stack the deck against ourselves and although it maybe true that all arrows will do the job if we put them in the right place, we shouldn’t use that as a reason to not maximize our arrow set up to help make us as successful as possible in the woods.