FEATHERS

For 11,000 years, natural feathers have been the choice for fletching arrows as they are extremely light weight, high strength with fold down forgiveness and aerodynamic "grip". Trueflight feathers bases are ground and cleaned, so no other preparation is needed before you fletch your arrow. No man-made vane comes even close.

For over 50 years, Trueflight feathers have been the world leader and the finest available. Every Trueflight feather is a real, domestic turkey primary wing feather (Meleagris gallopavo), sourced from US turkey plants and carefully cleaned and is free of all animal tissue and other extraneous matter, processed, dyed, ground, trimmed and finished entirely in the USA and certified pure and clean by the US Government's Department of Agriculture (USDA) against hazardous viruses including avian flu, diseases, bugs, insects, larvae or eggs. All dyes and chemicals used in processing are non-toxic, non-hazardous and environmentally friendly. Trueflight are subject to regular and exhaustive checks by the USDA.

The raw feathers that Trueflight receive are anything but uniform - short, stained, damaged and normally less than 50% of these can be used. Incredibly, Trueflight are only able to use 1 to 2 feathers from each turkey wing and a typical 5 inch feather may need to be cut and could end up as a 2.5 inch with the rest discarded. Feathers must be carefully cut with bases accurately hand ground and inspected several times during processing. Producing quality feathers is difficult, time consuming and labour intensive, but the results are worth it! Feathers get sorted by hand and every solid colour die cut feather has been individually handled as many as 5 times by some very skilled and dedicated staff before leaving the plant. Most customers have no idea of the amount of time and effort it takes to produce that end result.

Archers and bowhunters shoot with feathers because feathers work better. Using feathers results in higher arrow velocities, greater stability, better guidance, higher accuracy and more forgiving flight. Feathers are faster as they weigh much less than plastic vanes - as much as 700% less which means less mass to accelerate and less energy wasted. Feathers typically save 40 grains over plastic. This is a lot of surplus mass - 30% on a typical 125 grain steel head. Feathers produce less friction, as they travel over the arrow rest and that means higher speed. The superior guidance of feathers prevents yawing and fishtailing of arrows which adds drag and slows arrow speed. Independent tests have consistently shown feathers produce a 5 feet per second gain and feathers are still faster down range. Feathers give better guidance as the surface of a feather has a slight roughness which helps "grip" the air flow. When the arrow yaws, this added grip helps realign it quickly and efficiently and the huge weight saving with feathers also helps stability. Any weight added to the rear of an arrow (like plastic vanes), makes the arrow less stable. Add too much weight on the rear and the arrow will try to swap ends. As the feather crosses the arrow rest on release, feathers simply fold down out of the way, then pop back up. Plastic vanes bounce the rear of the arrow far out of alignment and this large deflection causes a substantial arrow "swing" which is only aggravated by the weight of plastic vanes and their lack of "grip".

Are there any disadvantages to feathers? Feathers do cost more. No doubt about it, it is easier and cheaper to mass produce plastic vanes. A feather gives you all the advantages. The whole object in archery is to hit where you aim. If you can't depend on that, then everything else is wasted. Compared with the costs of shafts, bows, licenses, travel, the cost of feathers is insignificant. In Europe, Barred feathers represent 20% of sales, whereas in the USA it is only 10% of sales - similar to our sales in Australia. Trueflight feathers featured in films like Brave Heart, Lord of the Rings and Timeline. In Australia, arrows are fletched with right wing feathers, i.e. feathers from the right wing of the turkey but right wing feathers can be used by right or left hand shooters. There are other feathers out there that are, well, not Trueflight feathers. Why a Trueflight? Trueflight feathers are cut by sharp, distinct cutting blades that are regularly serviced whereas other feather competitors cut corners - not feathers, by irregularly replacing blades, so their old blades produce a sloppy cut. Competitors process their feathers in China and Mexico and environmental, health and product safety standards are not the same and workers' health, safety and wages are low priority. Those bowhunters who shoot feathers will tell you there is no substitute for quality Trueflight Feathers. Go first class and hit where you aim!

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