A bow stabilizer is a good option for both target and hunting archers. It helps you counteract the wind with extra weight and balance, and it improves your aim on any given shot. We’ll give you some background on bow stabilizers and explain to you the two goals of using one – and how a good stabilizer accomplishes both.
In the past, stabilizers were made of metal. This worked well, because the metal was heavy, making the bow less prone to the wind and more stable overall. However, especially for hunters, it could make the bow too heavy, not to mention more difficult to carry. Modern stabilizers are often made of carbon or AMS plastics. Both materials are durable, lightweight, and still rigid enough to add balance to your bow. This is especially great for bow hunters.
There are two tasks for a stabilizer to accomplish: first, it needs to hold the bow steady to improve your aim, and second, it needs to reduce shock and vibrations from taking the shot. To steady a shot, you add weight and rigidity to balance the bow and improve stability, but you always need to remember that a bow should be portable, especially if you’re hunting with it. Don’t make your stabilizer so heavy that it becomes clunky and unwieldy in the wild.
To minimize the vibrations that come from releasing a shot, stabilizers have dampening devices, often made of rubber and placed within the stabilizer as far from the bow as possible. These reduce vibrations when firing off an arrow, making the task easier on your hands and keeping your aim steady throughout the shot, so you can work faster and shoot for longer. This is obviously great for both target archery and bow hunting.
If you’re a bow hunter or a target archer, you definitely need a stabilizer. These will differ based on what kind of archery you do, but either way, you need to get yourself one – probably made of plastic – that will steady your shot and minimize after-shocks.
