fletching sizes- carbon arrows vs. primitive

[coyote pup]

I have a question that I can't really answer for myself, so I thought maybe someone here would know something.

First - I know that the purpose of fletching is to provide drag at the back of the arrow so that it flies straighter. And I know that spine is equally as important as fletching.

But my question is this, if you look at carbon arrows for compound bows, the plastic or vinyl fletch is extremely small. On some arrows, it's not much bigger than a quarter. Now, I always thought that the bigger and heavier the arrowhead, the bigger the fletching needs to be. And we all know how big these store-bought broadheads can be. And still these arrows have little tiny fletches. Of course I know too that these arrows are always shot from 100% center-shot bows. But still. How come none of us use fletching about 2 inches long and an inch tall??

[mullet]

 If you tune your arrows, bamboo,cedar,carbon or aluminum, you should actually need no fletching. I have friends that shoot Widows that pull out their arrow without fletching when it starts to rain. Center shot bows and different length arrows as well as weight forward, and spine all come into play when tuning an arrow for a certain bow.

[coyote pup]

Mullet,

That's my understanding too. But I keep thinking of the plain indian arrows with the super long fletches on them,and I wonder why in the world they would have used so much feather with this being the case.

[Pat B]

The longer fletchings of the Plains arrows were shorter in height than what we normally fletch with today. It is all about the surface area of the fletching and how much paradox is needed to get the arrow past the bow.

[Kegan]

As was mentioned, it's all about how well you can tune your set up. Modern bows and archers, be they recurve, longbow, or compound, usually can tune to a higher degree of precison. Even with a large head, 5" parabolic feathers are usually more than enough. Smaller fletchings fly faster though- which is what's wanted with compound bow shooters. Primitive cultures didn't have the time or materials- or need- to tune to the utmost precision or highest speed possible. They made up their arrows knowing that fletchings were simply a necessary part of the equation. If they found the arrow still didn't fly right, they  just didn't use it.

[Bluehawk]

I made arrows as a business for an archery shop for 15 years   I made arrows for compounds as well as traditional bows .  M O S T of the time the small fletching  ( plastic ) used on the carbons or aluminum or composite arrows, was to increase speed not actualy to help in the flight of the arrow.   AND in as lot of cases the arrow filght was  greatly impaired. 
    Many things    as was mentioned above    have effect on the flight of  arrows   including the alingment of the broadhead, straight on the shaft , etc. etc.   Many many times  guys came back to me to have the fletch size increased in order to get a more stable filght  AND many a compound shooter i converted to feathers over  vanes .     
   

[recurve shooter]

Ted Nugent shoots 5 inch turkey feathers on his carbons out of a compound. the guy has a little sence eh?