Bow Prep for Hunting Season: The Complete Pre-Season Checklist

One loose mod screw, one worn serving, one rushed string order, and suddenly your “dream hunt” turns into a repair problem you cannot solve from a ridge or a treestand. We get ruthlessly practical about bowhunting season preparation and the exact checks that prevent those small issues from becoming catastrophic failures when it matters most.

We start with the basics that almost everyone skips: a full hardware check on your compound bow, plus a reality check on bowstring lifespan, bow shop lead times, and what worn fibers and separating serving actually look like. I also break down how to wax a bowstring the right way (silicone-based, less is more), how overwaxing traps grit, and why new strings still need time to settle and a follow-up tune after you put arrows through the bow.

From there we move into the changes that force a retune: new arrow builds, spine choices, sight tape updates, and why paper tuning is your fastest diagnostic tool. We talk lighted nocks and the real risk behind inconsistent nock fit, then shift into broadhead selection, broadhead flight verification, and matching vane steering to the broadhead you choose. We also cover release changes (hinge to button or index) and the practice habits that carry into the field: controlled let-downs, holding at full draw, and shooting from awkward positions you will actually face while hunting.

If you want a calmer, more confident start to the season, hit play, take notes, and build your checklist today. Subscribe for more archery tuning and bowhunting gear prep, share this with a hunting buddy who waits too long, and leave a review with the prep step you think most hunters still overlook.

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Transcript

Season Countdown And Why Prep Now

Zakk Plocica 0:00

All right, ladies and gentlemen, the season is finally almost here, right? We are like a month or so out. September is right around the corner. So with everything is coming in hot, right? So everybody's starting to get the itch. Everyone's getting excited. Bow shops are busy right now. If you are last minute, if you are waiting to last minute to get ready for the season, and that talks, we're talking about arrow builds, we're talking about strings, bow preparation. You're behind the power curve. You're gonna have a bad time. So that's what we're covering today. We're talking about season prep in particular for the bow. Everything you need to consider right now in ways that you can mitigate problems as we get closer to the season. So thanks for joining me again today on the archery project. I am Zach Placeika. I have a company called Extreme Outfitters. Some of you guys are aware of it. Maybe if you're not, check it out. Uh we have a massive archery shop and a massive inventory, and we serve archers across the nation. So if you need anything archery related, hit the website extremeoutfitters.com, use the code archery project and save on all of your purchases. Something cool we just did, we launched our arrow builder. So we're a little different than majority or pretty much anyone else out there. We allow you to custom build individual arrows, right? Not everybody needs a full dozen, right? Sometimes you only need to replace those one or two to get that quiver filled back up. You can do that through us. You can buy shafts individually, you can buy as many as you want. Same thing with our arrow builder. You can now build your arrows to your liking one at a time. So check it out, extremoutfitters.com, use the code ArcheryProject, save on everything you need. But let's get into it, guys. So bow prep, right? Like I said, the season is right around the corner. And as you guys know, if you've been into archery for any amount of time, you know that the busy season is starting to tick up right now for shops. We are seeing a massive incline in a general interest in archery and bow hunting right now, which is phenomenal, but it can lead to frustration to for customers and the guys behind the counter whenever there's last minute issues, right? And it happens. I understand some things happen, but our goal is to mitigate that and be prepared for the season prior to the season kicking off, not getting everything done last minute. So there's a couple things I want to run through. Some of these are refreshers for some of you guys. Some of these, if you're new, maybe haven't even thought about it, but I want to cover them to help set you up for success. So we're gonna go through the entire kind of bow and everything you need to

Hardware Check To Prevent Breakdowns

Zakk Plocica 2:25

consider. And I want to start off with something incredibly simple, but is overlooked by dudes with tons of experience. We just had an issue with it the other day. It's just a simple check of your hardware. Like this is often overlooked by a massive amount of people, just because you don't think about it, right? It's easy to become complacent with the hardware on your bow. And the hardware I'm talking about is anywhere that there is a screw that holds something to your bow. So we're talking mod screws, we're talking sight screws, quiver screws, any of the hardware that is used to fix something to your bow, you need to check it. And it's a good habit just to go through it, especially our mods, because as you guys know, there's a lot of energy behind the bows, right? And whenever you shoot a bow a lot, tends things tend to work loose. I know a lot of these bows are very um dead in the hand, post shot, vibration free, but it doesn't matter. There's still a lot of energy going through the bow. And what happens is we see hardware come loose. We just had it the other day, a guy with a um Matthews quiver. Set screw fell out on his actual retainer, the rubber piece that retains the arrows, the gripper at the bottom. Not a big deal, easy fix, but it could be a bummer if you're out in the field and that falls off and you, you know, all your arrows are falling out of your bow. Um, so it's something you really need to consider. And uh the big thing, too, like I said, with it going back to the mod side of things, we see mods come loose more than anything. It doesn't matter what the bow is. I've seen them on Hoyts, I've seen them on Matthews, I've seen them on PSEs, boat botex. It doesn't matter. We have seen hardware come loose. And what happens is if the hardware comes loose on your bow, on your mod, and you continue to shoot it, it's very easy to shear those screws off and destroy your cam and your mod. Easily preventable if you just check the hardware. It's your responsibility to do that. Do your due diligence, go through and just check and make sure everything is snug on your bow. You know, because the last thing you want is being out on a hunt, let's say a backcountry hunt. If you're somebody that's invested all this time and energy to go out there, make this trip, you're out there for seven to ten days, and something as simple as a mod screw coming loose and shearing off a mod while you're out in the middle of nowhere, that's a hard fix, man. It's hard to get that piece quick enough to get you back up and running. Not to mention if you're somewhere that's remote where you don't have access to a shop. So you need to do everything you can to prevent those types of issues. And they are very preventable, but they're easy, very easy to overlook. I think most people are guilty of it, including myself, just becoming complacent. You haven't had a problem yet. And then, you know, if you're gonna have a problem, it's gonna happen at the worst time. And that's usually when you're out on a hunt. So check your hardware, man. I cannot preach that enough. We see that every single year. Something so simple turns into something catastrophic. So don't let that happen. Don't let it ruin your season.

Bowstring Timing Lead Times And Lifespan

Zakk Plocica 5:13

The next biggest thing is strings, man. Like strings are the strings should probably be number one, realistically. Um, but strings are probably the most challenging things for a shop this time of year. Everybody wants to buy strings last minute, right? Realistically, most people should have got their strings already. We're at the end of July, middle of July. And uh, if you're getting strings now, you need to get them and you need to get them on the bow right away, as quickly as you can, because you need those things to settle. But the problem is right now is lead times are starting to tick up depending on the manufacturer that you use. And the closer you get to the season, the longer it takes to get those strings. The more bows that are in queue in front of you that have to be serviced and strings put on if you're taking it to a shop. So it really becomes backlogged. You know, normal string lead times are anywhere from three to five days. Well, they can end up between, you know, four and eight weeks, depending on the manufacturer that you use and how backed up your bow shop is. You know, some of the smaller shops where they're not able to do the volume that some of the bigger shops can, it's easy to get backed up. And um, you know, you're out, you have to wait a couple weeks till you can get your your your bow up and running. And it's not the shop's fault. So, you know, it's up to you to ultimately do this. I mean, you can't go in there and be mad at the shop whenever your strings don't come in within a couple days, whenever it's you know, August. Everybody's ticking up, man. The season is busy. Get your string orders in and get them now. Now, if you've got your strings, if or if you haven't got strings yet and you're not sure if you need strings, this is what I like to tell people. Generally, strings have a two to three year life, in my opinion, right? Everything has a shelf life, just like a car. You've got to service it, you've got to change the oil, you've got to rotate the cars, you need to service the bow. And a big part of that is changing out the strings every two to three years. It's just a good way to take care and extend the the life of your bow. Because realistically, you can buy these bows, and these bows can last you a decade, man. Like at this point, as long as you take care of it, maintain it, check the hardware on it, replace the strings every two to three years, depending on how much you shoot. Dude, that bow is that bow's good, man. Now, what happens that we see is there's almost like a um, I don't want to say ego, but it's almost like a pride thing. It's like we see with a lot of a lot of individuals, like I've had these strings on here for you know five years, 10 years, and it's like they haven't, they're not, there's nothing wrong with the bow still shooting great. And you know, that's great until it's not, right? The problem is when these strings get old and they start to wear out, they the bow becomes inconsistent. The the tune comes um, it loses tune more often. There's just a host of problems. And a good way to see if it's time for your your if you need strings is there's a couple things you need to check. One is the main strings itself, right? The actual raw fibers. If you see a string and it's just puffy looking, right? There's just a lot of flyers on it, is what I would call. Or I would say, or it looks almost dry. It's a good and it's over, it's you don't know how long the strings have been on the bow. It's a good idea to go ahead and get new strings for that bow, right? There's only so much wax you can put on a set of strings to keep it good and keep it up and running and in the fight. At some point, you're just waxing the crap out of these things, and they're just they're they're they're worn out, man. Because when a string wears out, what happens is you'll see you'll you'll lose poundage in the bow, right? Like it's a 70-pound bow. You're like, man, it was 70 pounds the other week. Now it's 66, and next week it's 64, now it's 62. It just continues to lose poundage. And then the other thing is when it does lose poundage, the bow starts to come out of time or tune, right? All bad things. There leads to inconsistencies within the bow, right? You're used to shooting, you know, 29 and a half inches at 72 pounds. Well, now the bow's only pulling 66 pounds, your top cam's hitting fast, the bow's, you know, and then you you've tuned it again, but then it's back out of time. That's a sign that you need to replace your strings, man. Just go ahead, spend the money, put new strings on it. Get in, get a good set. It's for a set of strings, you're looking at 150 to a $200 investment, depending on the string that you go with, and you're good for two to three years with those. The other thing you need to check for on your strings is the actual serving, right? Around the cams, your center serving, um, your cable guard, depending on the type of bow that you're you're shooting, string stop, anywhere that they're serving around the actual string, if you see it, it's starting to separate or it's cut and frayed, especially around the cams, you need to replace it, right? Where it attaches to like your yokes or any of the hardware in the actual cam and it's coming undone, realistically, your best option is to go ahead and replace those strings. Most of your strings, your quality strings, have a warranty. So if it's within a year for most of them, they replace them. So it's a good investment. The other thing, too, when we talk about serving on a string, the center serving where you knock your arrow on that string, on that main string, if your center serving is moving or there's gaps in it, and that's where you attach your knock to the string, that's bad. You're gonna have inconsistent knock fit, and that is going to cause inconsistent flight with your arrow. You can either one, have it reserved, reserve it yourself, take it to a shop and have it reserved, or replace the string. And if, again, if you don't know how old the string is, how long it's been on there, err on the side of caution, go ahead and replace it, man. It's just gonna save you a lot of heartache in the long run, right? Depending on how much you shoot, too. Like everything has a shelf life. It's just maintenance, it's part of owning anything. You have to take care of it and you have to service it. And strings are one of the main things when we talk about compound bows, right? There's just the strings hold everything together. All the tension on that bow requires you to maintain that string. And at some point, that string is just going to wear out. It's it's just part of it. So just keep that in mind,

Waxing Rules And String Care

Zakk Plocica 11:05

man. Now, how can you extend the life of your string? That's a fantastic question because you absolutely can. And there's some things that you can do that absolutely will deteriorate that string and wear that string out faster. So, obviously, one of the ways we can maintain our string is every time we take it out on a hunt, um, we're out in any kind of the elements where there's condensation, there's fog, like anything where these strings are getting wet, wipe them down, clean them off, right? That's that's one of the ways you can do it. The other thing is the big question is wax. How much should I wax? How often should I wax? What kind of wax should I use? Wax is a great way to help maintain the raw fibers of the string, right? Help to maintain the string and improve the longevity of it, right? A good silicone-based wax applied to the raw fibers, not the serving, is going to help extend the life of your bowstring. It does not take much, right? You're better off using less. Less is more when we talk about waxing and maintaining a string, right? I talked to Eric Griggs, the owner of Gas Bowstrings, and I did an interview with him a couple years ago. And the he that was his thing. Wax, not wax, how much wax should I apply? Less is more. Only apply it when you need it. That's usually minimal, right? You're just going to put it on the raw fibers, apply that silicone-based wax, rub it in, heat it up, rub it in so it gets into the actual fibers themselves, and that's it. Now, what we see people doing is they overwax these strings and they get caked, right? Where the string almost looks solid. It's and it's super shiny and solid. And what that does is when you overwax these strings and you have so much built-up wax on the string, it collects dirt, grime, and grit. And what that does is it acts as like a sandpaper on your string. What happens when you apply sandpaper to a string? It wears it out much faster. All right. So minimal wax. Now, if your strings have been waxed a lot, right? You're after season, you're trying to clean up your bow, right? Doing your bow maintenance, a good thing you can do is take dental floss or serving and take and wrap it around the string, just the main string, the fibers, not the serving, and pull it down and pull that excessive amounts of wax off to remove it, right? That's going to help remove some of that dirt and debris so that you don't just have that continuing to have that caked, caked up mess collecting dirt and debris, wearing the string out faster. So silicone based wax, less is more, only apply it to the raw fibers and only apply it where it needs it when it needs it, which is not often, right? Some of the places you'll see where you need to apply it is near the peep site, right? Where you're some people, if they've made contact with the string on their arm or just how they carry the bow down low there, anywhere where you see those little bit of flyers, you can apply a little bit of wax. Now, if that string is just worn out, there's no saving it, man. Just go ahead, invest in a new string. It is what it is. So now, right, you've determined, you've figured it out, you've gone through your string is either good or it's not, you've decided it's time for you to get a new string. Well, you need to get it now and you need to get installed because your strings need to settle, right? The bow needs to be shot. I don't care if the strings are pre-stretched or whatnot by any of the manufacturers, they still need time to settle on the bow. So if you get strings one week before the season and you're gonna go to fly out to Alaska next week and you don't have any time to shoot your bow between getting them installed and going to that trip, that's a problem, right? Because the bow can change as you shoot it a little bit with those new strings as they start to settle. So, yes, initially, whenever you strings are put on, you tune the bow, but you need to have the bow rechecked and retuned after you've got a hundred or so arrows through the bow with that new string, just so you can confirm that the strings are settled, they're not going anywhere. Everything's good, right? Oh, the other thing, too, about when it's time to replace a string, you notice your peep is just twisting, right? No matter what you do, how often you twist it, it this peep will not stay lined up. Time for a new string, my friend. But yes, important whenever you get those strings installed, make sure you have time to shoot the bow prior to the season. They need to settle, like I said. The bow needs to be tuned initially and then retuned after you've got an air 100 or so arrows through it just to confirm everything is good. It's very important, um, just so you can get the most consistency and efficiency out of that. And you you're confident with it, right? You know that everything's good, the bow's in time, specs are good, brace height's good, it's shooting as it should be. Get some arrows through it, bring it back into your shop, or if you have you doing it yourself, put it back on a drawboard, reconfirm everything, all your measurements, and um, and then put it back through paper and make sure that it's performing as it should. So, very, very important, man. Strings, I can't stress them enough. If you need them, get them now, right now. Actually, get them yesterday and get them installed right away, man. You will be very frustrated if you're going to a shop within a couple weeks of the season in order to get strings installed on a bow. It's just it's a bummer, man. I mean, it's a bummer for us, man. Like we want to do everything we can as a shop to help you, but you know, we've got a lot of customers. So, you know, it's whoever's in there first, man. We do everything we can. We've got really great relationships with these string manufacturers, but we're not special, man. I can't get them any faster. I'm we're at the mercy, every shop you go to is at the mercy of the manufacturer. Yes, we stock some strings, but we can't stock strings for every single bow. That's one thing you got to realize when you go to a shop, is they're probably, unless you have the newest bow, they're probably not gonna have your strings in stock and they're gonna have to order them. And if they have to order them, that means they have to be built by the manufacturer before they're shipped. That's why the lead times are so great. So there's so many different bows out there. No stock, no shop is stocking all the strings. So if you have an older bow, you need to go in, you need to get them now prior to the season. If not, man, it's it creates some animosity, I would say. Um we've seen it in our shop. People get mad, man. It's like, dude, what do you want us to do? Like, it's your fault. Realistically, it's your fault you waited. Why did you wait? Same thing with you, crossbow guys. Like, dude, crossbow guys don't come in right before the season starts trying to get anything done. It's not gonna happen. It takes weeks. Crossbows seem for whatever reason the manufacturers are the slowest. So do your due diligence, be ahead of the game, get your stuff done now because you should be shooting your bow now, realistically. So all right, from

Silence The Bow And Inspect Everything

Zakk Plocica 17:30

there. One thing people that overlook, like especially when you guys getting into it, silencing the bow. And I don't mean like string silencers and limb lampers, all that. Yes, all that stuff is important, but when you're prepping a bow for the season as a bow hunter, the goal is to be stealthy, quiet, and not make noise, right? One thing I think that is overlooked is people tape and you know put stealth strips all over their hunting gear, which yes, you should, uh, to silence anywhere where there's a metal point that could make contact and ting. You need to do the same thing with your bow. In particular, I would say, which what I typically do is the riser of your bow. I like to run some kind of a stealth strip or the soft side of Velcro on the inside of the riser, specifically for my arrow, so that at no point in time it could bump the side of the riser and whatnot and make noise. Same thing where you have any points of um contact that are gonna be made, like if it's your quiver, if you're gonna take it off and hang it somewhere. You know, you can write wrap sight bars, like anywhere you do there's potential for there to ting. I think it's a good idea to silence the bow. Um, and that's what I mean by silencing it, like silencing those spots where you could potentially bump the bow and it could make noise and disrupt what what you're doing, right? Scare an animal, you know, that's a bummer. You blow it out because you I don't know, your arrow went wonky in your riser because you hit it on something. So silence your bow, man. I think it's important. Look at it, look over your bow, silence it where you can. And when we talk about looking over your bow, even if you've got a new bow, I think it's important to just always do a once over whenever you're getting whenever you get your bow out. Um, because it's very easy. Like if you have a limb issue, like a small crack or splintering, it's it's not always obvious. So it's always important, especially as you're getting closer to the season and you know you're getting closer to your trip, you need to constantly do that once over on your bow just to just so mentally you know everything is good. And that's running your fingers on your limbs, making sure that everything, like I said, is cranked down. You don't have any splintering or anything like that. Always keep an eye on your bow, man, because sometimes things sneak up on you. Things just happen. I mean, they're bows. There's a lot of energy, a lot of stored energy in these things. You know, it happens, it happens to the best of us, happens to every single manufacturer every year. Something happens, something fails, something doesn't go perfectly as well as it should. So look as you're silencing, you're you know, making sure everything's good, you're getting strings replaced, go over, take the time to go over, make sure your cams are good, make sure your bearings aren't worn out, and ask the text behind the counter, man. You know, if you notice anything weird on your boat while you're in there, have them look it over. Check the the the bearings in your cams, make sure nothing's bent, make sure everything's snug down, and you know, check the limbs, make sure they're good. You know, that's the last thing you want is a failure. Now, very important.

Arrow Changes Mean Retune And New Tape

Zakk Plocica 20:21

We've been talking about, I've been talking about it for weeks. Arrows. If you are building a new arrow for the season, it's time to do it. Because if you're building a new arrow, that means you've got to retune the bow.

unknown 20:34

Right?

Zakk Plocica 20:34

So if you're building something new for this season, you need to get on it and get on it now. Because that means new sight tape, that means retuning the bow, that means building the arrows, making sure you've got your components and everything, or getting them built by us at Extreme Outfitters where we can custom build them for you. Whatever it is, make sure you're you're you're not late to the game with that, man. Because as you know, or if maybe you don't know, maybe you're new to this, if anytime you change arrows, whether it's you know going from different diameters to overall weight to different brands, whatever it is, you're changing knocks, it changes you need to make sure that the bow is tuned and you need to retune the bow to that arrow. And then you need to take and create a sight tape for that new arrow. So it's important that you're ahead of the game on all of this stuff. Um, because once you build that new arrow, you need to take it out, you need to test it, you need to, you know, shoot it, you need to put it through paper and make sure it's doing everything it needs to do as it's coming out of that bow and it's flying true prior to strapping a broadhead to it. Because we know that if you build an arrow and you're having issues with it, whether it's underspined, it's overspined, it does happen. When we see we have seen arrows that are too stiff not flying well for some of these bows. So you need to make sure you're choosing through the right spine based off of the amount of weight you're running up front. I wouldn't look at the manufacturer's spine chart and go from there, build around that. Um, but you need to make sure that the arrow is flying true and flying good because if If you're having issues with a field tip, it's gonna be amplified with the broad head. As soon as you put a broad head on that thing, if you have problems, they will be amplified, especially downrange. So you need to make sure that you are taking your time and you are building these arrows. One, taking your time with building your arrows, and then two, you're going through and retuning and resetting everything up for that new arrow. And it's better to be ahead of the curve so that you're not stressing and you don't lack that confidence in your equipment because you've made a change, right? It's kind of a bummer change in midseason. So I wouldn't recommend it. I know it happens. Some people do. Some people are more proficient with this stuff though, and you know, have a little bit more understanding. But the guys that just want stuff locked in and want to go into kill mode and don't want to have to worry about their equipment, do that now so that you're locked in, your confidence, and you can just focus on the hunt, not your gear. Not if I'm, oh, I need to change arrows, oh, I need to retune them. Like you shouldn't have to worry about that when the season's here. You should be set up, confident, capable, and ready to get in the game to slay some animals. So make sure your arrows are built and everything's tuned prior to you know getting out there

Lighted Nocks Fitment Risks And Testing

Zakk Plocica 23:02

and doing this. Um, the other thing, when we talk about arrows, a lot of people go to a lighted knock, right? That's popular. Personally, not a huge fan. And the reason I'm not a huge fan is the failure rate on them is there. I get it. People shoot the Amazon ones, they tell me, oh, they're so great. I've never had a problem. Like no one's having a problem until they've had a problem. I get it. And if you're comfortable, comfortable, confident with them, cool, run them, dude. I don't care. Me personally, I ain't running them. Like it's just not my thing, especially out of the higher poundage bows. If you do, don't crucify me. That's cool. I have nothing against it. It's just me personally and what I've seen through the shop and the experiences that I've seen. The biggest issue we see with these knocks and these Amazon knocks or any of these knocks is the inconsistency in the knock fitment on the serving, depending on the center serving that is on your string. Now, again, I've already referenced it. If you have an inconsistency in knock fit, it can cause inconsistencies within the arrow, which cause inconsistencies within the tune of the bow, which you'll notice once you put it through paper. Now, check that you need to shoot. If you're tuning your bow, you need to tune it with a lighted knock. You need to do that because a micro light knock, the fitment, is probably different than a halo knock, a Luminock, one of those Amazon knocks. The Fitment is different. So you need to make sure when you're doing your tuning process that you confirm that it's good, that it's flying as it should. And you need to check them all. Inconsistencies happen, especially with things that are made in China. So not a big deal. If you do it, do your due diligence, do it, test it, make sure it works, you're good. That's that's fantastic, right? Um but just make sure you are testing that and confirming that they are flying as they should downrange. That is very, very important. And then the other thing, too, when we talk about like your your four-mil micro lighted or your four mil lighted knocks, excuse me, you know, I we the material on there is much less durable. So you just need to be cautious whenever you run a lighted knock and a four-mil shaft. It can be done. There are people that do it and swear by it, but you just need to be cautious when you do it. You just need to make sure that again that they're flying as they should and you put them through paper and they're shooting like they should. The other thing, whenever you go to a lighted knock for the hunting season, you need to inspect them all the time. Always. After you shoot them, you need to run through them and make sure they're good. Check fitment on them. It's better safe than sorry because if you're at full draw on an animal on that hunt where you're only got seven to ten days and that's your season that you've paid to go out for, I would hate to go in there and be at full draw and I had a cracked knock or something like that. The throat was cracked in the knock, something along those lines because you know you didn't check your equipment. So, dude, I just can't, you know, say it enough. Inspect it. When we go to things, when we change out from factory components to things like lighted knocks, you just have to really be cautious. And like I said, it can be done. There's lots of people that do it. I see the internet too, guys. Don't yell at me. But you just need to check it. Check it all the time. You need to rotate through them all the time. You can't run these things forever. After you've shot them a handful of times, I would throw them away and buy new ones. Everyone rants and raves about how cheap they are on Amazon. If you're going to use those, throw the dang things in the trash and put new ones on. That's the safest bet, right? Why are you risking anything? It's not worth the risk for a couple bucks. Just change the knockout. As you can see, I'm passionate about that. We've just seen a lot of failures, man. So just be smart about it. And um, you know, when it comes to lighted knocks, take your time with them and just test. You need to test all of them, not one. And when you tune the bow, you need to test it with all of them just to make sure they're good and always check that fitment. That's the biggest thing, especially if you are someone that's reserving the center serving on your string. You need to reconfirm the actual fitment on those. So just keep that in mind, guys. Lighted knocks, they're not the worst thing in the world. Like, I get it. There's a lot of people that like them. That's cool. I'm just saying, just be cautious with them. And if you are going to use them, take your time, make sure they're good.

Paper Tune Checks And Sight Axis Sanity

Zakk Plocica 27:01

Next, the tuning side of things, right? Back to it after changing strings and whatnot. Even if you're not changing strings, you got strings on last year. You need to retune the bow. You need to confirm the tune of the bow. Put the bow through paper. It's better to be safe than sorry. Take it to your local shop. Or if you do it yourself, just confirm it through paper. It's never a bad idea. Like, it's never a bad idea to make sure the bow is shooting as it should. So re-put the bow through paper, make sure it's shooting well. And if it's not, make the adjustments in it. It's very easy, you know, just to go shoot the bow through paper and identify that there's an arrow, error within the bow and how it's performing. From, you know, a center shot issue to a timing issue. You want to diagnose it quick, shoot it through paper. It'll tell you everything you need to know. So I can't recommend it enough. Make sure you take that bow, put it through paper, and just confirm everything. It's it's not a bad idea to do it throughout the season, too, because we know, um, especially like when you're out in the woods, it's you're rough on your gear. Like you're a bow hunter, dude. Like, dude, you're tough. You're you're on you're hard on your equipment. That's what bow hunters are. We're not dragging a rifle through there, we're dragging a bow. Like we chose to do this. So, with that, when you're pulling it up and down a tree or you're dragging it through the mountains and bumping it on things and you know, falling down mountains or wherever you're hunting at, man, it's always a good idea throughout the season, if you have the ability to, if you hunt a lot, to just reconfirm things. Reconfirm that those axes on your site, right? Your axes are not level on your site, especially your third axis, you're hunting mountainous terrain, and you got those really steep angled shots, your shots are going to be off. It's always good to reconfirm this stuff as you're going through the season and making sure that it's still optimal and set up correctly. Because, like I said, when you bump something, bows, man, they're easy, they're easy to bump off, especially a site. Especially if you're traveling, just reconfirm your stuff. Don't have so much competence or confidence in your equipment that you become complacent that you don't go through and do your job in inspecting your equipment. You should always check your equipment realistically before and after a hunt, man. Just go back through it once over it, make sure it's good. And then throughout the season, if you have the ability to put it back through paper to make sure it's flying as it should. Now, broadheads.

Broadhead Choice Flight Testing And Vanes

Zakk Plocica 29:15

We need them. Everyone, everyone needs a broadhead if you're hunting, right? I just did an episode on the 2026 broadheads of the year, the top ones that we've seen. When it comes to broadhead selection, whatever broadhead you decide to go with, the one thing you need to do is you need to make sure it's flying true. And I would encourage you to sacrifice a broadhead, whatever it is, sacrifice one and use it to confirm it's flying true. Yes, you can use the ballistic match points that match the broadhead, but nothing is as true as the actual broadhead itself. I would encourage you to sacrifice one, shoot it down range, and confirm that it's flying as it as it should. Now, with that, we know based off all the studies for 2025 and 2026, the aeroballistic studies, that mechanical broadheads are more forgiving when we talk about flight. You have an average radius or an average group size at 70 yards with a mechanical between three and three and a half inches, I believe. Three three to four inches. With a fixed blade, it was six and a half to seven inches. Therefore, we know a mechanical broadhead is more forgiving than a fixed blade broadhead. Most people or people who don't understand tuning, broadhead tuning, don't perform well under pressure, are new to archery. I personally believe you should shoot a mechanical broadhead. I just think it's safe for you. Now, a mechanical broadhead is not the right broadhead for everybody, though. Those guys who are more experienced, understand how to tune a broadhead, broadhead tuning, tune a bow, go through the process, build an arrow, build a good arrow, build an arrow correctly, have experience with this, and want to shoot a fixed blade broadhead, want the most penetration they could potentially get, like fixed blade makes sense. Run a fixed blade. But if you are somebody who is not that, you're new to this, you don't perform well under pressure, right? You've you haven't hunted a lot, you don't understand how to tune a bow, broadhead tune a bow, your best bet is to go to with a go with a good, a good mechanical broadhead. Now I'm gonna reiterate a good one, not just a cheap one that you get off Amazon, man. Like Amazon kills me with some of this stuff. Like when we're going out and we're gonna spend all this money to go hunt, and then we cheap out on the most expensive things blows my mind. Like buy stuff that is tested. There's plenty of broadheads that have the the backing that they are quality, right? When we talk about fixed blades, I mean, there's been some really good fixed blades from the study with um uh James Yates and the guys from from uh during the aeroballistic study. Like the Iron Wheel performed exceptionally well, one of the evolution broadheads performed exceptionally well. Um the Tulu was the quietest fixed blade broadhead. You know, buy something that's good. Same thing with your mechanicals. We know the uh, I think it was the Grim, one of the Grim Reapers. Most accurate broadhead there was. Then you have the Severs, they dominate with all the Sever family. Um Mega Meats have performed exceptionally well, Dead Meats have performed exceptionally well. The Beasts were in there. I mean, all those broadheads performed extremely well. Buy something of quality so that you know you you just have you know confidence in your equipment. The companies that have built these broadheads have spent tons of money testing and building and creating. They're just not ripping off another design, packaging it, and shipping out the door. Like there's they've invested in these. I would encourage you to buy a good quality broadhead and then test the broadhead. You need to sacrifice one, in my opinion. Test it so you're confident with it that it's flying and shooting as it as it needs to be. And if it's not, you need to go back to the drawing board and retune the bow. Figure out what's wrong. Start with your field tip. If you're getting good groups, um, you know, bullet holes through paper with your uh field tip, then you need to move over to the broad head downrange and see what's happening. Compare, especially with a fixed blade, compare where your fixed blade is impacting versus your um field point. Based off the distance, you're gonna be hunting, right? You you can really most people aren't gonna be shooting animals at 70 yards. So while that study was full of great information and to really get the best of the best and tell you what van configuration and broadheads perform best at distance, most people aren't shooting that. So you have a really a lot of really great options depending on the type of hunting you're doing, the scenario that you're gonna be in. So you have, like I said, depending on the broadhead you go with, just make sure they're shooting and performing as they should. Like broadhead selection is important. When we talk about broadhead selection, you need to make sure whatever broadhead you go with, you have enough vein to steer that broadhead. That's how this works. You don't go vein, broadhead, you go broadhead vein, right? Whatever broadhead you go with, you need to make sure you have the right amount of vein on the back in order to steer this thing so that it performs best. If you need, if you know you're somebody that's not a really good shooter, you need a little bit more all the help you can get, a little bit more forgiveness. You want something with a vein with a little bit more lift that's a little bit bigger, larger profile vein in order to steer that broadhead. Yes, you sacrifice drag a little bit more, but you know, you need that thing to be accurate. So all things to consider if you have questions deep live, deep diving into broadheads or arrow building. The last three episodes, I think, were all on um vein configuration, shaft selection, and then broadhead configuration, broadhead and vein configuration for bow hunting on the Archer project. You can go back and check those episodes out. Um, we really I really went deep in those, and that was all based off the study from the James Yates Aero Ballistic study. Okay, so broadheads.

Switching Releases Without Wrecking Tune

Zakk Plocica 35:16

The other thing, too, is we have a lot of people. I'm a big believer in the two release system, shoot a hinge in the offseason, right? Target stuff, indoor stuff, and then go to a button in uh for hunting. Well, a lot of people, when you change releases, it can change the flight of that arrow or the how that arrow leaves the bow, right? Depending on how you execute that shot with that release. So, what I would do, and what I do is if you go from having your bow set up and tuned with a hinge, when you go to a button or an index release, shoot that bow through paper using that release because you may have to make some changes in the tune of that bow based off how you anchor and execute a shot. The other thing too is you may need to change the height of your peep because maybe you anchor a little bit differently. Little things to consider. So when you make a change, you just need to reconfirm everything. I always think it's best if you make any change within your bow, shoot it through paper. You change your release, shoot it through paper, right? And then you need to go and you know, reconfirm the sights because some people shoot a little bit left or a little bit right when they go from a hinge to an index release or a hinge to a thumb button. So you just need to reconfirm all those things. So reconfirm it through paper whenever you change your release, and then reconfirm your sight tape downrange, your windage, and elevation if you have to make a peepite adjustment on your sight tape downrange. It's important, man. Everything you do impacts the two the bow itself, right? Every input has an output. If you have a bad input, you're gonna get a bad output. Consistency is key. So anytime you make a change in anything, you need to just confirm that it is performing as it should. And you may need to change something within that bow, right? Something's it might be something small, but it could be lead to something bigger downrange. So it's never a bad idea if you make any changes, especially with your releases or arrows, anything like that, that you just reconfirm it through paper so that you know that the equipment is still performing as it should.

Practice Drills For Real Hunting Shots

Zakk Plocica 37:13

And then finally, the most important thing that you can possibly do is shoot your bow, right? If you're somebody that doesn't shoot all year, you don't live and breathe archery, but you pick it back up for the season, dude. You need to start shooting your bow now. You need to practice, you need to get quality reps in. And I mean quality reps, not just going out there and sending arrows downrange for the sake of sending arrows, but really make sure your, you know, your shot process is dialed in, the bow feels good, your grip, everything is repeatable and consistent because, like I said, consistency is key with archery. You've got to do it the same way every single time in order to be consistently accurate. Anything you change or any deviation you make can throw off the impact of that arrow. So quality reps, and it's good to spend that. That's why I believe I believe in shooting a bow all year. Not one, I love doing it, but two, because I feel like for me, my shot process deteriorates very, very quick and very easily as soon as I put my bow down. It's like I I have to get back in the swing of things. Whenever I take a break from my bow, it's kind of like I'm I'm not starting over again, but it takes me a little bit to get back into the groove of things. So you need to get in there and you need to build that shot process so it is just ingrained, so you don't got to think about it whenever you're at full draw on an animal. It just happens subconsciously. You just go through and you execute that shot. That's why repetition is so good because you build that in your mind, and then there's no question whenever it's game time. So quality reps are key, my friend. And one way to do that is slow everything down. If you have a dozen arrows, take three out there with you, shoot three, walk down, and get them. Shoot three, walk down, and get them, and go through and be very um, I would say, diligent and and be very intent with everything you're doing when you're shooting your bow, right? This is the time of year where everything matters. I would personally practice letting the bow down. That's another real thing. Can you can let the bow down controlled? That is super important. If you've got a uh bow that the valley is so forgiving, you're shooting like 90% let off. So you're holding like six pounds, five pounds on the back half of the bow, and you have to force that bow down. And whenever you start to force it down, it rolls over and runs away from you, and that arrow goes crazy inside the riser, making all kinds of noise. That's not good. One of the other things people forget to practice is letting the bow down because it does happen, right? You come into full draw on an animal, you're waiting, you're waiting, it just doesn't present that shot that you need. You need to be able to quietly and stealthily let that bow down. It's another skill. You got to practice it. And if you don't practice it, you know, could be bad. So practice holding the bow at full draw as well. It's another good thing, man. I mean, this is hunting. This is not, this is not a controlled environment. The animal does what the animal does, so you've got to be able to react and perform under that pressure. Holding the bow a little bit longer, building up that those muscles to prevent fatigue, right? Because we know you shoot a bow a lot. If you're not used to shooting it, you fatigue fast. Whether you realize it or not, your shot starts to break down due to fatigue. Your front shoulder starts to collapse, right? Not good. You start to hammer the trigger or, you know, all kinds of different things. Fall out of your peep sight, and then you have a bad shot. So all things you need to practice. It's good to be in the, you know, whenever the season comes, you should be ready to go, not waiting last minute, not getting on the bow right before things happen. So I would highly encourage you to take your time with it, practice those things, holding the bow longer, letting the bow down, good quality reps, focusing on that shot process. And then the other thing is shooting from those kind of awkward positions, right? Because if you're somebody that's maybe you're hunting out of a blind, right? Maybe you're sitting down, practice shooting sitting down, maybe you're hunting off the ground, practice shooting off your knees, shooting, sitting on your butt on the ground, um, out of a saddle, right? Those awkward angles. It's better to go into the woods or into the season having reenacted or done those things prior to it. So you know you're capable of doing it, right? So some things are just outside of your realm of capability. Maybe it's a crazy angle you can't do, but you know your confidence in yourself because you've practiced all these different scenarios, right? You know I can shoot off the ground. I don't got to worry about if my cam is gonna hit the ground because I've never shot sitting on my butt before, because I'm shooting a 35-inch ATA platform and I've got a shorter torso. And when I draw the bow back, my cam's buried in the dirt. You don't want to find that out on the hunt. You need to know those things now. So it's important to go through and do all those things, put yourself in those scenarios, prep yourself, prep your mind for any of these. You know the type of hunting you're gonna be doing. Prepare for it. Game plan it, man. I'm a big uh believer in, you know, thinking ahead, right? Not with what's right now, but pre-planning things. It's the same thing prepping for the season, right? Everyone wants to scout and you know, prepare and mark points and hang cameras. And well, there's the other side of things too. You need to make sure you're prepared with the the your weapon of choice and being comfortable and competent, confident and competent with your weapon of choice so that you don't go in there and botch it, right? Nothing worse than a bad shot, man, or just you know, you screwed up because you didn't check something. Hardware wasn't tight and your damn sight fell off, you know, all your arrows fell out of your quiver while you're, you know, 15, 18 feet up in a tree. All preventable things that happen year after year. And the other thing too is safety. You know, you guys hanging, hanging saddles, hanging out of stands, check your equipment. That's another part of this. Obviously, not this episode, but a good reminder. Don't fall out of your stand this year. Don't be that guy that's on the you know front page of Facebook or the news because you did something like that, guys. Prepare yourself, prepare your mind, get ready for the season, guys. Now is the time. Get the strings, get the bow retuned, get your arrows built. Anything that you're making, if you're making any changes, confirm it. Confirm your sight tapes, work us, work on your shooting, work on your shot process, shoot those crazy angles, practice quality reps, get

Final Checklist Shop Help And Listener Prompt

Zakk Plocica 43:14

it done, my friends. And if you know if you need anything, you got questions on anything, you can always reach out to us at Extreme Outfitters. Need arrows built, you need any of the latest and greatest archery equipment, hunting equipment, saddle stuff, hit the website extremeoutfitters.com. Use the code thearchery project. It's gonna save you some money, man. Anything that's ordered before 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, we ship the same day. You got questions on stuff, fit, feel, tuning, what arrow you need to build, call us. Call the guys at the shop. My text will walk you through anything. I can assure you, they better. If not, we have a real problem. No, we got good guys, man. Um, like I said, reach out if you need anything. Got any questions? I appreciate you guys. You know, thanks for listening. Drop some comments and let me know. What are you guys doing to prep for the season? What are key things that are often overlooked in your eyes that shouldn't be that you do in order to, you know, prevent failure, catastrophic failure, or some kind of issue on your hunt? Drop them, let me know. As always, I appreciate you guys following along. The season is almost here, guys. Be prepared for it. Do everything you can to prepare. Thanks for watching. We'll see you guys in the next episode.