There are a variety of ways to quiet your bow that will make you a more adept hunter.

[caption id="attachment_6333" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Shoot like a ninja by employing these 3 ways to quiet your bow. Photo via wikicommons. [/caption] When you start talking archery setups for hunting today the conversation generally seems to hover around two main topics; speed and power. People are looking for faster and faster bows that have more and more penetrating power. To answer the call bow manufacturers have been cranking out bows with mind numbing specs in these two departments. To be sure, both speed and power have an important place in the discussion of archery hunting, but they don't corner the market on what's important while hunting. For eons hunters lived day to day largely due to their ability with a bow and arrow. Obviously their bows were no where near as technologically advanced as our current bows, yet they were still effective. One major reason they were so capable at staying alive with primitive equipment is their stealth. The ability to quietly close the distance on their quarry was, and still is, very important. However, ancient hunters also needed stealth from their equipment. You see, their arrow was moving so slow the shot needed to be almost completely silent to connect. Part of the archery equation has always been silence and our super fast modern bows generally don't fit this bill very well. Hunters realize this and there are a variety of products out there to keep our fast, hard hitting, accurate, and loud bows as quiet as possible. Here are 3 ways to quiet your bow for the upcoming hunting season to improve your odds at success.

String Silencers

To keep bows quiet it is important to employ the help of string silencers. Choosing a good string silencer is important for traditional shooters, modern compound shooters, and crossbowmen alike. String silencers typically weave into the string material and soak up some of the extra energy not soaked up by the arrow. They can be made of rubber whiskers, fleece, rubber, or other materials as well. String silencers are easy to install and go a long ways in keeping your bow quiet.

Limb Dampeners

Another way to quiet a bow is to mount limb dampeners. Like string silencers, limb dampeners soak up extra energy released into the bow. Not only do limb dampeners keep your bow quiet, but they help to prolong the life of your limbs as well. You can buy limb dampeners for traditional bows, modern compounds, and crossbows. When paired with string silencers, limb dampeners are a great way to quiet your bow.

Correct Arrows

The final way to quiet your bow is to use the correct arrows. This entails using an arrow that is of the correct spine, and also using an arrow that is heavy enough. When I first started shooting traditional archery the advice I learned was to hit 10 grains of arrow weight for every pound of bow weight. In other words, when I pulled my 55 pound bow back, I needed to have an arrow with a minimum weight of 550 grains on the string. This is important for traditional archers for kinetic energy purposes, but also really quiets the bow as well. The reason is simple. An arrow with more mass can soak up more of the energy released by the bow. That leaves less energy to be transferred to the string and limbs, making for a more quiet shot. Now, modern compound shooters and crossbowmen don't need that much arrow weight to be effective. However, by increasing your arrow weight you can decrease the noise of the shot substantially. Archers always have to weigh trade offs when getting their gear put together. If you are like many people who opt for speed and power, you'll be fighting a battle of noise. If you use these 3 simple ways to quiet a bow you'll no doubt enhance your chances in the field and shoot like a ninja. Follow the author through his facebook page or on twitter. NEXT: TYING A D-LOOP IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES