If you participate in the sport of archery or bowhunting, at some point you may wonder, “should I use arrow wraps or not?”
Well, you’re certainly not alone. Arrow wraps have been a topic of discussion by archers and bowhunters for years.
Wraps are typically used to add visual appeal to arrows… but what else are they good for? Is there a downside to using them?
If you’re currently trying to decide whether or not to use them, you may want to explore the pros and cons of wraps and consider how they impact your arrows visually, as well as their potential impact on performance, how they affect visibility and how they could potentially affect your arrow’s performance.
So let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using arrow wraps!
Pros of Using Arrow Wraps
Enhanced Visibility: Arrow wraps come in and endless array of colors and designs. Choosing a bright, or high visibility arrow wrap or tracer can make it much easier to spot your arrows in the field, especially in areas of tall grass or brush. After all, arrows are expensive! This can also be particularly useful in hunting scenarios where quick recovery of arrows is crucial to properly trailing and harvesting your game animal. Arrow wraps and tracers can be made in fluorescent and even reflective material, making it much easier to find your arrow, even in low-light conditions.
Easy Customization: With wraps, you can easily customize your arrows to reflect the bowhunter’s personal style. You can also use them to match a particular color pattern or look of your target archery or bowhunting setup. Customization can also help in distinguishing your arrows from other shooters’ arrows when shooting in a group setting.
Improved Arrow Durability: Wraps can help protect your arrow shaft from scratches, dents, and other damage that can occur during shooting or in the harvesting of a deer or other animal. This can prolong the life of your arrows and keep them in better condition for longer.
Faster Fletching Replacement: If you need to replace or adjust your fletching, having an arrow wrap can make this process quicker and cleaner. If you don’t use wraps, you may end up frustrated from having to scrape the glue from the previous fletchings from your arrow shaft. (arrow shafts are expensive, remember?) Wraps can be replaced without damaging the underlying arrow shaft, and they often provide a clean surface for reapplying fletching, which is a huge benefit.
Added Weight: Depending on the material and thickness, wraps can add weight to the back of the arrow. This could affect the arrow’s FOC.
Adhesion Issues: Sometimes, wraps can peel or come loose if not properly applied or when exposed to extreme conditions. So, it’s important to always take time to apply arrow wraps correctly.
Increased Cost: While not overly expensive, wraps are an additional cost. For archers and bowhunters on a tight budget, this could be a consideration, especially if outfitting multiple arrows.
Maintenance Considerations: Over time, wraps can accumulate dirt or become scuffed or worn. Some bowhunters and archers may not enjoy removing them and reapplying and refletching, just to keep the arrows looking good.
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11/20/2024 11:32 pm GMT
Final Thoughts
Arrow wraps can offer significant benefits in terms of visibility, customization, and shaft protection, but they also come with potential drawbacks related to weight, adhesion, and cost.
The decision to use them will depend on individual preferences, shooting conditions, and specific needs of the bowhunter or archer. As with many archery accessories, the key is to weigh the pros and cons in the context of your own shooting style and objectives.
In this review, I test a classic… It’s a broadhead that hunted with many years ago, many, many times. I’ve taken quite a few animals with it.
But, I realized I had never done an official test on it, and that is the Slick Trick Standard.
So, let’s dig on into it and I’ll show you all the features and then we’ll test it!
For this test, I used the Elite Era bow for most of the shooting. For the flight test, I used the Killer Instict SWAT X1 crossbow. And, then, I used Bishop FOC King Arrows for most of the shooting and Bishop FAD Eliminators for the really hard impact shots. [And for the crossbow stuff, I used the Bishop Bolt called the GOAT.]
Slick Trick Standard 125-grain Broadhead
Let’s take an up close look at the Slick Trick Standard 125 grain head…
Here’s a good look at the Slick Trick Standard. And man, this is just a nice-looking broadhead. It’s hard to believe this was kind of revolutionary when it first came out with its super short design as it is, but so much to like about this broadhead!
First of all, the materials, you’ve a one piece steel ferrule. They call it a super steel. It’s like this super hardened steel there. And then you got the blades that are 0.035″ thick. The cutting diameter is 1″ so pretty small cutting diameter. But you got 4 blades so you’re getting 2 total inches of cut. Really short design. That was what was kind of revolutionary in the beginning. Its length beyond the edge of the arrow is 1.1″. That’s just going to aid in flight as well as penetration.
For resharpening these blades, the best way to resharpen them is to use a Stay Sharp Guide replaceable blade sharpener. And you can use that for pretty much all of the Slick Trick replaceable blades. They work really well with that.
Man, the Slick Trick Standard 125-grain head is just a no-nonsense design. Typically, these fly very well, penetrate very well, and hold up really well in durability. But I was eager to put this to the test and see how it performed…
Durability Test 2 – (2 shots 22 gauge steel plate):
And here it is after the two shots through a steel plate. It’s just in perfect condition, except the tip got slightly blunted there.
Durability Test 3 – (1 shot into cinder block):
Here’s the Slick Trick Standard after all the durability testing, and it did just very well as expected. Did very well through the MDF and then very well through the steel plate, and very well into the cinder block as well. Still spins very well.
So, what do you think of the Slick Trick 125-grain broadheads?
Man, these are awesome heads!
Check out the score for the Slick Trick 125 grain head… 10 golden arrows… wow!
I mean, no wonder I used it for so many years out in the field. It just performed extremely well in every area and it got one of the highest scores of any head I’ve tested, and close to the the highest of any fixed blade head. Really, really impressive!
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