Equipment

I was very excited to get some waterfowl archery action with the new Zebco 733/Spiderwire setup.  My minimal tests at home showed very promising results and all I needed was a river and ducks to get the real work under way.  After a long drive and very short night, I awoke to the gloomy scene of rain pooring down in the darkness.  “So much for pictures or filming”, was my first thought that morning and unfortunately proved to be prophetic.  The rain was persistant but failed to prevent me from settling into the trees on the banks of the Snake River.  In the dim light of the morning, I froze as a couple mallards cupped their wings and glided towards a tiny spread of just over half a dozen decoys.  As the birds got closer they drifted off their perfect course to land a little up river.  After all my anticipation, I was not about to let them pass by with out get my shot off.  The twenty five yard crossing shot was improbable but impossible if I never shot.  So with little hesitation, the unfletched arrow sped from the bow and rapidly drew more and more line from the silver reel.  I watched in amazement and was distracted from the birds by the arrows impressive trajectory.  The arrow passed a couple feet behind the drake, but I was so thrilled by the arrow/line/reel combination I hardly noticed

My usual AMS Reel only had about 25 yards of line so the arrow never sailed very far before the arrow would lurch to stop and had always lost a significant of energy before hitting the end. 

But that arrow maintained an impressive trajectory and had already pulled nearly 50 yards of line before I regained the presence of mind to put a stop to it’s flight.  In the  river’s swift current it took some effort to get the arrow and line reeled in before it all became entagled in the brush and low hanging branches.

Lesson #1 – It’s important to stop the arrow as soon as it has passed the bird to minimize arrow retrieval time and risk of loosing the arrow as a result of entanglement. 

I was immediately convinced that this system was the solution I had been looking for to expand my bird bowhunting opportunites.  Big water ducks and geese here I come.  Can I really come to this conclusion after such little testing…we’ll see.

I don’t have any pictures or video because it is dark right now, but I am very excited.  I just went out and shot my Zebco 733 with the 50lb test Spiderwire and it functioned flawlessly!! The arrow flew well and seemed to have minimal energy loss especially compared to the AMS which isn’t a very fair comparison.  Now it’s time to test it on some ducks.  I’ll report later on how the field tests go.

I have struggled to find an optimal arrow retrieval system for hunting waterfowl.  For me it’s hard not to get haunted by the thought of having my arrow show up in the city park protruding from a duck or goose when I am hunting any where near populated areas.  I have spent quite a bit of time with my AMS rigging and have accepted it’s limitations.  The AMS can be an acceptable option when freezing temperatures and medium to long range shots won’t be encountered.  If you have been hunting waterfowl very long, you know that freezing temps and wary ducks and geese are the norm.  So to open up more hunting locations and opportunities my search for a better system continues. 

So my next step was to try a spincast reel.  Nearly six weeks ago I chose the Zebco 733 because of it larger line capacity.  I wish the reel wasn’t so bulky, but I think I’ll need the extra line capacity for the heavy line.  For line, I pulled off the stock 20lb monofilament and replaced it with 50lb SpiderWire EZ Braid.  SpiderWire states that it is a 12lb test diameter so I think I was able to get close to 50 yards of line on the reel (that’s just a guess).  It is a braid, but it doesn’t look or feel like it will absorb much, if any, water which is very important in freezing temperatures.  The last piece of the puzzle was the reel seat that screws into the stabilizer hole on the front of a bow’s riser.  And that is it!

 What’s my motivation to get it finished today after so many weeks you wonder?  For about six weeks now, our limited water has been frozen which pushed all the waterfowl out of the area.  After grumbling today about our short waterfowl season, I decided to make the long drive to open water to catch the last couple days of the season. 

I know this setup isn’t perfect but I think we are getting closer and Todd Davis can take some of the credit.  Todd had a great idea and commented on a previous post.  He suggested using a light line to keep the archer safe from an arrow snap back.  If the line somehow bound up during the shot, the line line would simply break and pose no risk to the shooter.  From there we came to the conclusion that it would be possible to use a heavy main line and light line tippet or leader to connect to the arrow.  This would control the amount of line lost if it were to break and also prevent the arrow from snapping back because the tippet would simply break.  Some controlled testing will have to be done to figure out the heaviest tippet possible while light enough to break when it is supposed to.  As always, I appreciate any suggestions or feedback on what might work better.

***Disclaimer 1***  Some states require “flu flus” for bowhunting birds.  These line setups will not likely meet those states requirements if you are using an unfletched arrow shaft like I do.  Double check your local regs. 

***Disclaimer 2***  Testing this stuff can get you killed!!  If you insist on testing different setups yourself, please use extreme caution! 

Give this a try to work out some of the kinks of becoming a truly well rounded aerial archer.