N1 N-tune nock tuning arrow wrap on arrow in target

Should I Use Arrow Wraps? | Here’s What To Consider

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?

N1 Outdoors N-Tune nock tuning arrow wraps on arrows

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Help With Nock Tuning: Some wraps help with nock tuning your arrows by providing reference points for turning the nocks when nock tuning. The N-Tune Nock Tuning Arrow Wraps and Tracers do just that.
Do you know your arrow’s kinetic energy?

>> Check out eye-popping arrow wrap pad designs HERE!

Cons of Using Arrow Wraps

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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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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.

Whether you decide to use wraps or not, enjoy the awesome sport of archery!

slick trick standard review header image2

These are Super Slick! [Slick Trick Broadheads Review]

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…

slick trick standard profile

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!

slick trick standard short profile

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.

slick trick standard blade sharpness

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…

Slick Trick 125 Flight Test

In this test I shot 1 field point and one broadhead from 30 yards, using a Killer Instinct SWAT X1 Crossbow and 375 gr Bishop Bolt at 300 fps):  

slick trick standard flight test field point

Here’s the shot with the field point…

slick trick standard flight test broadhead

And here’s Slick Trick Standard… a bulls-eye!

THESE tips will make you a deer hunting ninja!

Initial Sharpness Test

In this sharpness test, I check to see how many grams of force it takes to cut a copolymer wire.

slick trick standard sharpness test 1

It took 166 grams of force to cut through the wire which is a 10 on a 10-point scale!

How do I know which broadhead I should use? [answers HERE!]

Penetration Test 1 – (2/3″ rubber foam mat, 1/2″ MDF, FBI Gel):   

slick trick standard ballistic gel mdf test

The Slick Trick Standard penetrated 9-1/4″, which is one of the deepest I can remember, especially when the blades are so close to the tip.

Slick Trick Broadhead 1 1/8" Magnum 4 Count (Pack of 1)
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Edge Test 2, Edge Retention (sharpness after Penetration Test 1):

slick trick standard sharpness test 2

It took an additional 82 grams of force to cut through the wire, which is an 8.36 on a 10-point scale.

Penetration Test 2, (layered cardboard):

slick trick standard layered cardboard test

The Slick Trick Standard penetrated through 61 layers of cardboard.

Durability Test 1, (3 shots 1/2″ MDF):

slick trick standard 3 shots into mdf

The head is in excellent shape after the three shots through the MDF.

Bowhunter’s knowledge test [parts of a compound bow]

Durability Test 2 – (2 shots 22 gauge steel plate):

slick trick standard after steel plate test

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):

slick trick standard after concrete block test

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.

Get more awesome arrow wraps like these HERE!

Should you use arrow wraps? [pros and cons HERE!]

Final Thoughts on Slick Trick 125 grain Broadhead

So, what do you think of the Slick Trick 125-grain broadheads?

Man, these are awesome heads!

slick trick standard lusk scorecard

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!

John Lusk archery goat
John Lusk of Lusk Archery Adventures

Lone Wolf Crossover Climber Review Header Pic

Lone Wolf Custom Gear Crossover Climber Review [Crazy Light!]

Have you ever been lugging a heavy tree climbing stand through the woods and wondered, “is all this sweat and being out of breath really worth it?”

If you’re like me, you’re often wanting to know, “what’s the lightest climbing stand I can get?”

Thankfully, in the mid-2000s, I discovered the Lone Wolf Hand Climber and my days of struggling through the woods with a heavy (and loud) stand on my back were over.

But then, in late 2023, Lone Wolf Custom Gear announced the new Crossover Climber and I just had to find out how they possibly could have improved on what I felt was likely the best and most innovating climbing stand ever for deer hunting.

Lone Wolf Custom Gear’s Crossover Climber (The Details)

Talk about light!

The Crossover Climber from Lone Wolf Custom Gear weighs in at only 11.5 pounds, which is really amazing for a climbing stand. In addition, has a packed profile thickness of only 1-7/8 inches!

Lone wolf Crossover Climber unboxing

The platform dimensions of the Crossover Climber are 24″ x 16-1/2″ and the seat dimensions are 17″ x 13″. It will fit trees from 6 to 18 inches in diameter, and it was a weight rating of 250 pounds. It carries a lifetime transferrable warranty and it’s manufactured right here in the USA.

Crossover Climber logo built into platform

It’s evident right away that the creativity and craftsmanship that went into the Crossover Climber is top notch!

Key Features

So, let’s take a look at some of the features of this Lone Wolf Custom Gear Crossover Climber…

Crossover Climber packed profile

The Crossover Climber has an incredibly slim profile!

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Razor Sharp Teeth (WOW!)

Crossover Cimber cover for teeth

This cover does not come with a stand. It is is something that I made and I will tell you why I did that in a minute. But, it’s just a piece of pipe insulation that I wrapped with some camo tape and attached it with some line to cover the teeth of the stand.

I made the above cover for the teeth because a couple of different times over the years, using the old Lone Wolf Hand Climber, I fell down in the woods while walking with the stand on my back. And, if I didn’t have those shoulder straps cinched all the way tight down on my shoulders, when I fell, that stand slid up my back and those teeth hit me in the back of the head. With the pad, if I were to fall, I wouldn’t be injured by those sharp teeth!

walking through the woods with crossover climber

I learned the lesson when I got this stand that I do not want these teeth ever coming in contact with my head for any reason. And so, I made that cover so that if for some reason, I would fall in the woods, the padded cover is what’s going to hit the back of my head.

Lone Wolf Custom Gear Crossover Climber packed thickness

Now, as for the teeth… super important! If you have used the old Lone Wolf Hand Climber in the past, you will know that the teeth are different than this and the teeth on that stand were great. But they are nowhere near as sharp as the teeth on this stand. These teeth are razor sharp. And when I said they are razor sharp, they are razor sharp! If you press or run your finger too hard on one of these, you could definitely cut yourself open. So, be careful with the teeth!

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The Seat

Crossover Climber Crescent shaped seat

If you are used to the old Hand Climber from Lone Wolf, you will know that this new seat platform on the new Crossover Climber is where they’ve trimmed off some of the weight out of the seat. So now, you’ve got this crescent-shaped seat and a strap seat. As a result, a good bit of the metal frame has been removed (as well as the weight). The foot platform is also smaller on the Crossover Climber than on previous versions of the Lone Wolf Hand Climber.

Crossover Climber locking knob

The key to this stand holding together (as you can see the profile is super thin at 1-7/8 inches), is this knob right here.

Should you have a higher FOC on your arrow?
Lone Wolf crossover climber locking key

And on the back here, you can see where the key cinches down in this groove. So, you unscrew this knob, push the key in, turn it vertically, and you can then separate the two pieces.

Now, when I am approaching my stand location or where I’m going to climb, I’m always trying to get there as quietly as possible. So, I will mention that the key sometimes it gets stuck and when you pull the two pieces apart, it can make a little bit of noise. I don’t love that. But, I think that’s something that will probably get better as I get used to using it more.

So, if I had to just mention one little con of the key, that would probably be it. But again, it’s not something I can’t work around. And so, as I use this more, I’ll figure out a way to be better at that.

The XOP Ambush Evolution Sit and Climb Review HERE!

Using The Crossover Climber

Once you separate your platform using the knob and key, you will loosen the knobs on the platforms and raise the arms to their furthest point and tighten the knobs back. And to break it back down, you loosen your knobs, flatten it back down and tighten your knobs.

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Rejuvinate tired muscles after wilderness hunts in THIS!

Then, take one side of the cable out (you want to be sure that you don’t go past the orange warning markings on the cables). Wrap the cable around the tree and insert the other end into the other tube and lock down the lever.

Always wear a safety harness when using any tree stand!

Once the stand is secured by the cables to the tree, you’re ready to start climbing. Insert your feet into the openings in the foot platform.

crossover climber straps

The straps, in addition to holding the two pieces together when you’re transporting, are also what keep the bottom portion of the stand and the top portion connected while you climb because you don’t want to for some reason drop the bottom of your stand down the tree and now in you’re in trouble because you had no way to get down!

Be sure to connect the straps to the knobs on the seat portion of the stand. You can loosen them to give you the proper slack so that you can climb. Once you reach your desired height on the tree, tighten those straps down. It will cinch the two parts of the stand down very snugly against the tree and you’ll feel very secure up there.

THESE hunting boots are a different kind of trophy…
climbing in the crossover climber

This is the bar that will lean back against and actually sit on as you climb. And of course, the cam levers operate the same way on the hand portion as they do on the foot portion.

You will slowly advance up the tree using the hand and foot portions of the stand. Remember, the object is not to get to your desired height there super fast. The object is to get there safely!

When you reach your desired height, snug down the straps. You can then fold the climbing bar under the seat if desired. You can then sit down (you can sit on the strap seat or you can sit on the seat pad. Or, you can flip the pad up and use it as pad to lean against the tree.

Top-notch tips for bowhunters HERE!
crossover climber sitting down

If you are a little wider of a guy or lady, then you might not love this crescent seat. That’s one thing you need to think about. But for me, I’m used to sitting on small seats like this with the old Lone Wolf Hand Climber.

Fresh arrow wrap designs that also help you nock tune!

When you’re ready to climb down, loosen the straps, flip the bar back up and start your descent in the same way you climbed.

Well, we hope you’ve enjoyed our review of the Lone Wolf Custom Gear Crossover Climber. Best of luck in your hunting adventures!

Check out the full review of the Crossover Climber on the N1 Outdoors YouTube channel!