Thursday, November 29, 2007

Stabilizers


One piece of equipment that is commonly overlooked is the stabilizer. Though it is not essential to have it can make a huge difference in the consistency of your shots. The job of the stabilizer is to absorb shock out of your bow and to try to balance the weight distribution throughout the bow. This can be done in many ways by having different sizes of stabilizers or different weights of stabilizers or just simply the location of the stabilizers on the bow.
When it comes to competing many archers prefer to use a long light weight stabilizer. This allow for the shock to e absorbed very well. This also balances out the bow the best because when you are competing you tend to have a lot of weight near your bow and since you want your bow to “fall” away from you when you shoot the arrow it is best to have a longer stabilizer. When hunting the most common stabilizer used is a short heavier stabilizer. This is done for two main reasons. The first is that with a short stabilizer you are less likely to hit it on a branch or other bush that you may encounter while hunting and the deer are less likely to see. The other reason is that since it is heavy it can still make your bow “fall” forward. The main reason why many archers want their bow to “fall” forward is because it is a continuous motion with the shot. If the bow did not fall forward the shot would be stagnant and many problems with form and follow through could follow.
The location of the stabilizer on the bow can have a huge impact on its function. In most competitive setting many archer prefer to have at least two stabilizers one on the front of the bow and a smaller one on the side of the bow. The one on the side of the bow allows the bow to be balanced left and right. The need for this arises when you get a larger site that is mounted on the right side of your bow you would then install a small stabilizer on the left side of your bow so it is easier to keep your bow level. In hunting this is less of a problem because many hunters don’t use large fancy sites. Instead they tend to stick with sites that weight less therefore eliminating the need for a side stabilizer.
Overall it is important to use a stabilizer whenever you are shooting your bow. The stabilizer takes out a large amount of vibrations and shock out of the bow making it much easier to hold. It is also important to remember that using a stabilizer can greatly help your form and overall shooting abilities.

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