5 things you should NEVER do as a bowhunter!
Leigh Hauck – March 13, 2025
If I weren’t seeing bowhunters do these five things all the time, I wouldn’t need to write this blog about it! These five things are far too common and can each be detrimental to your success as a bowhunter. How many of these things are you guilty of?
Never change your draw weight without assessing its impact
Your arrow has a certain amount of energy that it is designed to take from your bow, and it isn’t a range. Think of a standard bell curve. The peak of the curve is where your bows energy output and your arrows ability to take and use that energy are perfectly matched. Increase or decrease your bows energy even slightly, and you fall to one side or the other of the curve. While this may not be completely detrimental to your accuracy, it very well may be – depending on how far from the bell curves peak you already are.
This is exactly what the process of spine matching is all about, which I have covered in detail on my YouTube channel (search Tooth of the Arrow – Arrow Building Masterclass). The goal is the build an arrow that is mathematically perfect for your bow, or at the peak of that bell curve.
Once you have this perfect arrow build/bow output combination – don’t mess with it! Changing any of the factors that impact your dynamic spine will take your setup out of that Goldilocks zone that we worked so hard to achieve with spine matching. Changing your draw length, draw weight, point weight, or nock weight will have an immediate impact on your setups ability to shoot fixed blades at long range – the ultimate goal.
If you make a change to any of these things and don’t see an issue, it’s luck. If you make a change and do see an issue, now you know why. This is just physics.
Conversely, changing your draw weight or point weight may be the answer to your poor broadhead flight if you aren’t sure where your setup sits on that bell curve. If your bow is just slightly overpowered for your current arrow (meaning you are underspined), increasing your point weight to weaken your arrows dynamic spine, or lowering your draw weight could bring you closer to the top of the curve. Of course, the only way to know for sure is by using a spine matching software, such as Archer’s Advantage.
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Never switch to lighted nocks just before your hunt
For the same reasons I just told you never to change your draw weight willy nilly, never switch to a lighted nock just before a hunt. Lighted nocks are on average 4x heavier than a standard nock.
The addition of this weight to the back end of your arrow stiffens your dynamic spine, which can take a perfectly spined setup to a slight overspine. While your arrows may still fly well, every bow is different and will react to this change differently. I have seen bows which can shoot broadheads perfectly in a 10lb draw weight range, and ones that can’t even handle this minor change in rear end arrow weight from the lighted nock. Every bow is different, and it isn’t worth the risk in the field.
I know that lighted nocks are expensive, but so is your bow, your arrows, your boots, your truck, etc… Spend the extra few dollars and practice with lighted nocks all year round. Testing whether or not a change in your gear will change your arrow flight on an animal is not an ethical thing to do, period.
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Never shoot with gloves on
I live in Alberta, I know exactly how much it can hurt to shoot your bow in -30 degree temperatures without gloves on. It sucks, but here is the truth. Wearing gloves changes everything. On your bow hand, it changes the way your bow settles into your hand.
That hand form that you’ve spent all spring and summer honing is completely changed and inconsistent when you add a glove to the mix. For your shooting hand, a glove changes your anchors, and doesn’t allow you to feel the trigger – guaranteeing a trigger punch.
I don’t even bring gloves in the stand, no matter how cold. I keep a ‘kangaroo pouch’ style hand pouch on my lap with a couple of hand warmers in it, and my hands live in there for as long as possible.
When a target animal walks in and I have to start handling my bow, yes, my hands get cold. It’s life. The adrenaline will get you through, and making a perfect shot without gloves – just like you’ve practiced all year – will make you not even notice the cold hands.
If you think that those gloves that have the tips which can be flipped up to expose your fingers is the answer, they aren’t. Your anchors will still be off, and your hand form will still be inconsistent. Just take the gloves off, man.
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Never go bowhunting without testing your broadheads
It doesn’t matter how guaranteed your broadheads are to ‘fly like field points’. Your bow, or your form, may not allow them to fly like field points. I don’t care how perfectly tuned you think your bow is, you do not know how well a broadhead will fly out of your setup until you shoot it.
I shoot 5 arrow ends all year, and one of those arrows is always a broadhead tipped one. When season rolls around, I have zero doubt whether or not my setup is capable of shooting a broadhead with my field points. Do not test your broadhead flight on an animal, ever. Be an ethical bowhunter, not an overconfident one.
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Never blame your equipment first
It is human nature to look to our environment for blame when something goes wrong. When something isn’t working on your setup, it may very well be the gear, but it more than likely isn’t.
Did you or your tech set it up correctly? Is your form as good as it can be? Are your arrows really spine matched? Is it possible that you are punching the trigger? I know, you just brought your bow in and got it perfectly tuned, I hear that every time.
Your gear may be the issue, it is entirely possible, and it happens all the time – especially with foreign made goods. However, you should always look to yourself first before blaming your gear. Having that level of self-reflection and being humble as an archer will take you a long ways in this game!
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If you have any questions or would like to discuss the topic further, please feel free to reach out to us at sales@toothofthearrowbroadheads.com
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