Is Archery Becoming Overcomplicated? A Bowhunter’s Perspective | FRIDAY KILL NOTES

Feeling buried under bow specs, tuning hacks, and must-have accessories? We take a hard look at modern archery’s tech surge and make a case for something rarer and far more effective for bowhunters: simplicity with a purpose. Instead of chasing every new sight, rest, and arrow layout, we walk through a clean, goal-driven setup that holds up in the woods and under pressure.

We start by drawing a clear line between target precision and bowhunting realities. If your whitetail shots live inside 40 yards, you probably don’t need a $600 sight or a micro-diameter arrow. We break down where to spend and where to save: a dependable rest you can trust, standard-diameter arrows that spin true, and broadheads that group with field points. Then we stack real-world results against internet theory—light and heavy arrows both perform when shot placement is solid, and the biggest animal losses come from buck fever and rushed execution, not a missing 1% of FOC.

From there, we get practical. Define your hunting scenario, set a budget, and build the least complicated rig that meets your needs. Skip extra stabilizers if your shots are close and you hunt thick cover; fewer parts mean fewer snags and failure points. Once tuned, stop upgrading for the sake of upgrading. Pour your energy into the skills that pay off at the shot: neutral grip, consistent anchor, clean peep alignment, and a calm pull-through release. Practice from kneeling, at odd angles, and with an elevated heart rate so your process survives adrenaline.

If you want the newest gear, we get it—and we can help at Extreme Outfitters—but don’t let trends outrun your goals. Keep archery fun, affordable, and effective by chasing confidence through reps, not receipts. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s stuck in upgrade mode, and drop your own minimalist setup tips or questions in a review.

🏹 Shop Extreme Outfitters for all of your archery & bowhunting needs: https://extremeoutfitters.com

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Transcript

Has Archery Improved Or Overcomplicated

Zakk Plocica 0:00

Let me ask you guys something. Has Archery gotten better or more complicated? Right? Are we improving performance or are we just adding to the noise? This is a question I constantly find myself asking. You know, if you look at Archery as a whole, it's constantly evolving, right? There's always new products, new equipment, new tactics, new techniques. It's endless. I mean, look at all the different bow models we've got now, all your different site options, right? You've got sites from$25 all the way up to over$1,000, right? You can get a Garmin site that you can range your target. It's got pins that adjust. It's wild the amount of technology that has come along, which is great, right? But we've got spine calculators, FOC calculators, stabilizer math equations, and then you've got everybody on YouTube or these social media platforms telling you doing everything wrong and this is the correct way to do it. And I think what it leads to is a lot of overthinking, right? And this is this conversation is catered to the bow hunter, right? I'm not talking to the target guys. I'm not talking, if you're chasing X's or you're looking for shooting dots and looking for absolute precision, I think everything matters in order to gain that edge, right? You need to know the ends of outside and everything. And any little piece of equipment that can add to your bow or your equipment in order to give give you a little bit more edge is warranted, right? But I'm talking to the bow hunter. So that's what we're talking about today, guys. You know, are we overcomplicating archery? So thanks for joining me today on the Archery Project. I'm your host, Zach, and this has been something that has been on my mind. And I'm probably the um doing myself a disservice by having this conversation because right at the end of the day, we know what I do. My company sells archery equipment. I own Extreme Outfitters. Um, and we are a retail store, right? We're a shop, we tune bows, we sell bows, we set up bows, we sell all the latest project uh products. Um, but it's something that I I constantly think about. And, you know, I in I'm kind of referencing one of my social media posts that I put out on my personal page this past week. And um, there was a comment about, you know, how I build my bow, right? It's very simplistic, there's not a lot on it. Um, and and that's an approach that I take for a lot of things because it's easy to get caught up in the weeds when it comes to archery, right? When we we talk about all these products, and there's so many cool products, man. And I'm I'm I love products as much as the next person. Like it's very easy to get sucked in because there are so many cool archery products out there from the stabilizers to the sites to all the different arrow options. It's overwhelming and it's endless. But at some point, you have to kind of look at yourself and kind of determine what are my goals? And I think that's what it comes down to, right? If you don't know exactly what you're doing or what your goals are or have priorities, it's easy to kind of veer off track and dive down these rabbit holes of you know, tuning and micro-tuning and super tuning and and whatnot. And and and it kind of takes away from what you're doing because if you're somebody that that's your goal, you want to be the absolute best tech, you want to learn the ins and outs of all these this product and understand, you know, the technical side more, it's a great approach. Right? There's nothing wrong with that. The only the best way to become more well-versed is to learn and to dive into all of these different tuning capabilities and products, right? That's the best way to learn. Get hands-on, mess with them, learn about them, and then you can educate people, right? It's a great approach. But if you are a bow hunter, I don't think it's necessarily the right approach because that's not your end goal. That's not your mission, right? So, and I don't want to say an ant sound anti-progress here, right? I'm everyone knows I love the latest and greatest. I shoot a new bow pretty much every year. Haven't got a new bow this year yet, but I pretty much shoot a new bow every year. I have new equipment that I put on my bow. Um, and I enjoy that part, but that is not the priority for me, right? So obviously, bows have come an incredibly long ways just in the last, I would say, five, 10 years, right? Technology has advanced greatly, right? Cams are way more efficient. The bows are easier to shoot, the bows are faster, more forgiving, easier to shoot, a faster bow, further. Um, your arrow technology, the the materials, the consistencies, the quality is all improved greatly. And then you now you've got all these tuning systems that are do-it-yourself tuning systems, right? You can do it at your house without a press for a lot of them. You got the Matthews Limbshift technology, the XTS tuning system through Hoyt, um, the Botec Deadlock um tuning system. Um, more access to information, right? That's what it comes down to. Things have evolved. There's more people involved in this, there's more voices out there, there's more information out there. But what I think that leads to is almost a paralysis by analysis effect. It does for me, right? I I'll give you a prime example when we talk about camera stuff, right? I I kind of went off the deep end and I do a lot of media and I've dove down the rabbit hole in cameras and lenses and this, that, and and whatnot. And it's easy to get sucked into that. And you know, before I know it, I'm spending thousands of dollars on multiple camera rigs and lenses and all these things. And while it's fun, it does get expensive. And it it can lead to, like I said, almost a paralysis where you're just constantly seeking more information instead of just getting to what it is you're trying to do, right? And as a bow hunter, that's be successful in the woods. That's go and kill the animal that you're hunting successfully, and that doesn't require a um massive amount of equipment or the latest and greatest, I would say. It doesn't have to. Um I think we have almost like a decision fatigue, right? And especially as like a new archer, right? If you're new to this and you start, damn, there's bugs in here flying around me. It's the middle of winter. If you're a new archer looking at this, or even if you're somebody that's pretty well versed in it, it's it's easy to like, you know, what bow should I buy? What arrow should I shoot? Should I shoot a four mil, a five mil, a six mil, a six point five mil? Where do I go? How much FOC is is warranted? What should be my overall arrow weight? Should I um tortune my bow? Do I need a do I need a um a$600 sight? It's easy, god dang, dude. Sorry, guys, I'm over here battling these one gnat. It's about to take me out. Slap this my microphone off the dang stand. It's it's easy to overcomplicate that things. And I think there's a way to simplify it, right? And this is kind of approach that I've taken as I've been into this a little bit longer. Um, and I I've kind of applied it to everything I do at this point. And I start with, I kind of almost reverse engineer what I'm doing. And I start with, you know, what is my goal, right? I'm looking for simplicity, I'm looking for reliability, I'm looking for durability whenever it comes to archery. And as a bow hunter, that's what I focus on. I'm not a target guy. I don't shoot paper, I shoot it in the shop sometimes. I'm not a 3D guy. I love shooting 3D targets for fun. That's why I like total archery. I am a bow hunter through and through. So everything I do is based around that, right? When I build a bow, when I build an arrow, it's specific to my end goal of shooting and killing an animal. So I can I can be successful in a hunt. And it's easy to, with that, with all the social media out there, look at, oh man, what's the best arrow to shoot this animal with? How much FOC do I need? And I think all of that, you really start to get into the weeds, the stuff that doesn't really matter. Um, because at the end of the day, does a 1% difference in FOC matter? Does a, you know, 3 to 5% difference in speed really matter? No, it it doesn't. Not for a bow hunter, not for a successful bow hunter. It doesn't. I think more animals are lost to we could call it buck fever, hormones, adrenaline, and poor shot execution than equipment issues, right? I dude, I I'm I know guys, and we've set up arrows and bows for guys who've, you know, killed elk with 386 grain arrows, you know. I think we overthink what it is we're doing, and we just really need to step back and simplify and start with what our goal is, right? People are constantly almost like chasing the Joneses, right? Trying to keep up with the Jones, trying to keep up with the latest and greatest thing, and you just don't need to do that. It comes down to simplifying, in my opinion, for a bow hunter. Start with what your end goal is, simplify everything. Therefore, your focus, once you get this bow set up, you can focus on spending time behind the bow and not chasing more information. And that's critical to becoming good as a bow hunter. You've got to be good with your equipment, right? And then you've got the whole other host of things with the tactics and woodsmanship skills that come along with being a bow hunter. The gear is one part of it, and I think a very small part of it. Honestly, I mean, woodsmanship skills are much greater than having the latest and greatest bow. Obviously, your bow needs to be set up correctly for you. That is priority one. When you determine what's your bow, bow you're gonna go with, you need to make sure it's set up correctly. So, this is kind of my approach or the approach that I would take, or the advice I would give somebody that is bow hunter focused, looking to hunt. I would say you need to start with whatever your goal is, right? If you are a bow hunter and you know that you want to bow hunt, you're gonna hunt the East Coast and you're gonna hunt out of a stand, white tail hunting, off the ground, out of a blind, that's your good starting point. From there, it makes it easy to kind of figure out what direction you need to go with your bow. From there, then you can establish your budget, right? And when you establish your budget, you need to stick to your budget. Don't get oversold on things. It's very easy to do. If you have a$1,200 budget, you know, for just the bow, that's a great starting point. Find a bow that fits within that budget, whether it's a new bow or whether it's a secondhand bow or maybe it's a mid-price point bow, whatever it is, stick to the budget. Look at your goal, right? From there, you know your your shots for a white-tailed deer are gonna be realistically for most people within 40 yards. So if that's all you're doing, you probably don't need a$600 site. You don't. If you want it, buy it. Of course, that's the approach, but you don't need it. Don't feel obligated to it. If you're hunting primarily within 40 yards, realistically, a fixed five-pin site is a great option for you, right? You know you're gonna be within 40. That's your primary goal with this bow. You're building the bow based around application and goals in order to be successful in the woods. And you don't need to overspend on your site. Same thing with your arrow rest, man. I take a buy once, a cry once approach. I would, when I buy an arrow rest, I would look at it, it's a critical part of the bow, right? It's where you micro tune, it's where your arrow is in contact with until it leaves the bow. An arrow rest is critical. I would invest in a quality rest within your budget, though, right? If that's a whisker biscuit, it's a whisker biscuit, man. Whisker biscuits have killed bajillions of animals. There's nothing wrong with them. I personally opt for a limb-driven dropaway rest. It's just what I like. Um, but there's nothing wrong with the whisker biscuit. As long as whenever the everything is put together and assembled on that bow, it is set up correctly. Right? You go through, you get that, you determine what arrow you're gonna go with. No reason to overspend on arrows. Do you need a four mil? Do you need a five mil? Do you need a 6.5 mil? Yes. Right? If you're new to Archie, don't overspend on your arrows. Keep it simple. 6.5 bow hunter is great. A hunter XT is fantastic, a standard diameter, just because you know, you know, you're not shooting that far. So wind drift is not going to be a major factor for you. You don't need a four mil. You're not shooting those long distances, right? Open terrain, hill country where there's a lot of wind. A four mil is great because it has less surface area, so there's less potential for that arrow to drift, right? The arrow maintains momentum a little bit better because there is less drag on that arrow. But as a whitetail hunter, that's not necessarily what you need. You're shooting those shorter distances. You can get away with a little bit cheaper of an arrow, a standard diameter arrow. Just make sure that, in my opinion, it needs to be consistent as far as straightness goes. They need to spin well. Um, but you don't need to over overthink the arrow build side of things. And I'll give you an example. So that's primarily what I do. I white tail or I a bow hunt, white tail deer out of a stand, off of the ground. That's kind of my focus. And that's what I build majority of my bows around, except for total archery route, build bows, right? Um, so I've killed deer with arrows that are extremely light, in my opinion, right around 400 to 420 grains, to arrows that are 500 grains, right? I've had arrows that are very high FOC, very arrows that are just overall heavy arrows. And I can tell you, I have not personally, as a whitail hunter, I have not seen a difference in performance or recovery rate for what I've shot with any of those animals. Right? This, and I'll give you a prime example. This year, speci or this 2025 season specifically, I started off with an Easton 5.0. It was 418 grains. It was obviously very low GPI, 5mm arrow that very light. Some people would consider them brittle. I had no issues with them whatsoever. I shot three deer with that arrow, right? It was very FOC focused, but an overall light arrow. Three deer, a good buck. I full body cavity threw a dough, no issues. I then at the end of the season switched over to an FMJ Max, which went from 418 grains to 465 grains. That was just an overall heavy arrow. It had a stock insert in it. It was not FOC focused. Same thing. I shot additional three more deer with that arrow. No issues as far as recovery, no issues as far as pass-through on both. So I think we really get in the weeds and things that don't really matter as much as we want to think they do. Right? I look at it like this application base, goal mission focused. Build, select your equipment based off what your goals are and what you want to do. And and realize as a bow hunter, it doesn't have to be overthought. Right. Another thing we look at, I see a lot with like what stabilizers should I run? Dude, listen, if I'm shooting realistically my animals within 25 or 30 yards, I'll shoot a I normally run a little bit shorter bow, a 30 to a 31-inch bow. I won't even put stabilizers on it. I'll run it bare bow because I know I don't need any additional equipment on that bow to improve my accuracy within those distances. I just don't need it. My thought behind it is it's one more thing to get hung up on whenever I'm busting through brush, trying to get in the woods. It's one more thing to hang up on. It's one more piece of equipment to come loose, to fail, to cause me an issue. It's one more thing I got to think about. So if I can strip the bow down to the bare minimum and just run exactly what I need in order to accomplish my goal or that mission, that's what I'm going to do. You know, and then once you get your bow set up and you figure out the equipment that you want to run, don't feel the need to continue to upgrade those things all the time. You don't, especially if you've already invested once, buy once, cry once approach. Just because a new site came out doesn't mean it's going to be a better or do anything more than what your site does now, right? It doesn't necessarily, you don't need to always upgrade. I would take, once I've got my equipment set up, I would take my time and invest it in just shooting my equipment, being familiar with it, being proficient, understanding the ins and outs of the equipment that I'm using. So I know everything about it, how that bow responds, how I shoot that bow under pressure, how I shoot that bow at weird angles, you know, can I shoot the bow, kneeling, seated, all of these things. And I would invest all my time into that versus chasing new and learning about new equipment. By all means, if you need new equipment, you know where you can find it. But I'm not saying, I'm just saying you don't need to feel the need to chase that. Focus on your grip, focus on your anchor, focus on your peep alignment, understand the shot process, you know, dial in that that shot, that that shot execution. You know, make sure your form is is locked in. Those are the things that you need to spend more time researching, learning, and being proficient at versus the gear side of things. You know, lock in your setup, stop chasing that new thing. Very easy to do, right? I think um that's that's one of the big takeaways that I have noticed with the social media and going through some of the comments and stuff is you know, we just we just tend to overcomplicate something that is just supposed to be fun. Um and and like I said, if that part of it is fun for you, by all means, I would encourage that. But if your goal is not becoming the most tech savvy individual and you're just a through and through hunter, don't obsess about the gear. Don't obsess about the bow. Make sure the bow's set up correctly, make sure the bow's shooting right, run the bow through paper. Get it shooting well, practice with your broadheads, make sure they're grouping and shooting as your field points are, and run it. That's what I do. I'll be honest. I don't bear shaft tune any of my arrows. I've never felt the need to, I've never had an issue. You know, I will go through, however, and make sure I test all my broadheads. I will practice with the broadhead and make sure that they are grouping and shooting as my field points are. But I don't go through and overthink this entire process. Um, and I just see a lot of people do that and then they become overwhelmed, they become frustrated, and then it's almost like, oh man, maybe, you know, maybe archery isn't for me. And, you know, I hate to see somebody leave the sport because we just got it's just an overwhelming amount of information out there. I would say step back. If you're gonna spend your money, invest in the the best equipment that you can afford within your budget, get it set up, take it to a good shop, ask the right questions, make sure it's set up and shooting as it should, and just spend time behind that equipment. You know, don't overcomplicate your own setup. It's just as soon as you start adding more and more to it, you know, and you don't fully understand the functions of the equipment that you've put on there, the accessories right, you're just asking for an issue or another failure point. Step back. I know it's fun to spend money. I love it. I love it too, guys, but you don't have to overspend. I would take the approach of what is my goal and what is the least amount of things I need to do in order to achieve that goal. It just saves you a headache. It does me at least, right? I'm I I hate changing a bow, I'll be honest. Like if I could stick with one bow and just shoot that bow, I would probably shoot one bow for a couple of years. But with what I do, it doesn't work that way. I I need to upgrade bows and stay up to speed on the latest technology to an extent. But whenever I find a bow and a bow I enjoy shooting, that's what I spend my time behind. This past year was my Mach 33. I did whitetail hunt with it. Um previously it's always been a shorter bow, a Mach 30. Um, or the decree. I even really like that bow too. And um, but this year I decided to shoot a little bit longer ATA bow because I did take the approach of um not wanting to switch to another bow for Total Archery. I just ran one bow all the way through, and I kept that bow very simplistic. Um, and that's that's basically what I'm trying to say with this podcast, guys. I know it's a ramble. Um it was just something that was I was thinking about, and I look at it and I look at all the social media out there, and you know, everybody's telling you this is how you need to do it, this is the right way, and everyone is incredibly confident that they have the answers to everything. And I would step back, take a deep breath, not overconsume information. If you're thirsty for information, yes, but do it. But you know, don't get overwhelmed. There's a lot of ways to approach this thing, and I think you got to figure out what works for you. And if you're new and getting into it, I would say less is more, stick with simplicity, focus on reliability, ease of use, and understanding the equipment that you're actually using. Um there's just a lot out there. It's overwhelming. It's overwhelming for me, right? I've got to, I can't, we carry all of it. We carry all the new gear, we gotta be up to speed on it. So I've got some really great great techs here who do spend a lot of time with it and well, way more well-versed than I am with all of it. And you know, they're a great resource. So if you guys have questions on equipment or setups or you know, just need advice as to, you know, what your goals are and where we would kind of start as far as like the bow build or setup process, we'd be happy to help you out. You know, you guys can always reach out to us. Um, you know. Bow doesn't kill the animal, it's a part of it, but the guy behind the bow is the has the final say in it. And if you are not spending time behind your bow, shooting it, being familiar with it, understanding the end and out ins and outs, ins and outs of it, that bow is you're gonna have a problem, man. Spend time behind it. Um enjoy the process. Don't overthink. Don't feel like you need to keep up with everybody and buy all this stuff, man. I see a lot of comments like archery is just too expensive for me to get in to. And it it's really, it's not, man. It doesn't have to be. Obviously, yes, there's top-of-the-line stuff for the Ferraris or Lambos of the archery world. You don't need it, you don't have to have it. I would encourage you, if it's not within your budget, don't spend it. If it is something you want, there's nothing, no harm, no foul, man. Buy it. I firmly believe in investing in your hobby, but don't feel the need to constantly chase the new. I'll give you, I've got this arrow setting here, and you know, I was thinking back. This is one of the arrows I've killed more deer with than any than anything. And when I went into building this arrow, there was not a lot of thought put into it for me. And I've killed a ton of whitetail with it. It's a very simple Axis five mil with a stock insert, with a hundred grand point, with a stock factory blazer vein on the back of this bad boy. And tell you, I shot a bunch of different broadheads with it, I've shot a bunch of different animals with it and had no recovery issues whatsoever. So I think we just it just we overthink on the things that just don't really matter as much as we would like them to matter. Your fletching configuration, you know, obviously the more advanced you get into this sport, the the more you want to tinker and learn about these things. But when you're getting started, don't overthink it. Buy an arrow that's pre-fletched, slap the stock insert in there, put a field point in there, shoot the dang thing, get a good broadhead, right? Get something that's reliable that you that's been tested, that does fly true. The James Yates study is a very good, it has a lot of good examples of that. The severs are fantastic, the megametes fly very well. Look at simplicity, stick with simplicity. That's it. That's what I got for you. That's my rant, guys. You know, as always, I appreciate you guys following along. Um, you know, confidence is built through reps, it's not built through purchases. Just remember that you need to spend the time behind your bow, master the basics, change less, shoot more, enjoy the process, enjoy the archery experience. Um, because at the end of the day, it's about being in the woods, being outdoors with your bow and developing and honing those skills and not spending all your money. If you want to spend all your money, by all means, that's cool. Extreme Outfitters, we got it all, man. Hit us up. We will help you out with anything. We'll answer any questions, we'll ship you whatever you need. Um, help you with tuning questions, whatever it is. Uh, but that's it. You know, as always, I really appreciate you guys following along and all the support that you guys give to us, our brands, our channels. Uh, it means a lot to us. It's a lot of fun being able to do these things and go back and read comments and you know, answer questions. And that's what we're here for. We're a resource. We're here to help um your you guys because we do have a lot of experience and we we get to play with all the latest and greatest, and we get to talk to so many people and learn so many things. But just remember we are not the end-all be-all. We do know a lot, but there's a lot of ways to do this, man. And I would encourage you to take your time with this. It's a journey, it's a marathon, it's not a race. Enjoy the process, man. Ask questions, reach out. Um, but more than anything, shoot your bow, shoot your bow a lot, shoot it all year, no time off. I love it. That's what I do. You know, just enjoy it and don't overthink this thing, man. Simplicity, reliability, durability, that's where it's at. That's what matters when you're in the woods chasing any kind of game. So I'll leave you guys with that. As always, I appreciate you guys following along. Drop some comments, give us some feedback. Let me know your thoughts, man. How do you approach a bow build? What's important to you? What matters, what matter, what doesn't matter? Do you think there's, you know, there's too much information at times from people? Is it overwhelming for you? Uh, and what are some great resources that you uh seek out whenever you've got questions on things? So drop the comments, give them some feedback. As always, this is another Friday kill notes. Appreciate you guys following along. We will see you guys in the next episode.