Some things you just have to do, even if you don’t want to. One of those things is tuning your bow. You can get close to what you’re shooting at if you don’t have a perfectly tuned bow, but in order to be as accurate with your bow as possible, which you should be if you’re using it to hunt, you need to tune it. The bad news is that tuning a bow can be a real nightmare.
Your arrow rest needs to be exactly in line with the travel of your string, and the nock point needs to be where it pushes the arrow exactly level. Depending on what components on your bow are adjustable, this can be pretty involved. And you’ll also need a frame that holds a piece of paper tight at a level where you can shoot through it as the arrow travels to the target.
The easy part is shooting the arrow through the paper. After you do that, look at the hole you just made in that paper. Most likely, there will be a hole where the arrow went through, then a tear coming out of that hole. The tear shows you where the tail end of your arrow is going. If the tear is stretching down and to the right of the arrow hole, you’ll need to adjust your rest to the left and up, if it adjusts vertically. If not, you’ll need to move your knock point up. Then shoot again and adjust again accordingly. And again, and again, and again until it’s making a clean hole in the paper.
And now that you’ve made adjustments to the flight of your arrow, you’re going to need to adjust your sights again. And if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can put your practice broadheads on and try it again. Chances are, you’re going to need to do more adjusting, because the broadheads act like another set of fletching on the front of the arrow.
Good luck. It’s not the most fun thing you can do with your bow, but it’s worth the effort.
