Silencing my bow and it's adverse effects

[adamR]

So up until recently I just took others advise on how to set my bow up and while I could always shoot "ok" I never was happy with my shooting.  Recently I started really researching what I was doing and have changed the way I do some things and am very happy thus far. 

Currently I'm shooting a 2007 model Fred bear done deal with a 70 lb draw weight and a 28 in draw.  I'm shooting carbon express maxima hunter 350 shafts with 125 grain muzzy mx-3's, blazer vanes, I added a set screw in the insert for weight, and nocturnal nocks.  My foc is right at 12.5%.  My arrows seem to be flying great and I'm the most accurate I've ever been.

My one problem is that my bow is and has always been very loud.  I bought some carbon express cat whiskers and after opening the package today realized that they are 45 grains on my string.  Without the whiskers, running a calc my arrow speed would be close to 255 fps and 65ft/lbs.  With the whiskers, my calc drops way down to 238 fps and 57 ft/lbs.  that seems really low for elk and I feel like I should deal with the noise instead of sacrificing that much energy and speed.  Am I correct or should I go with the whiskers because I'm just over thinking it?  Is there a better way to eliminate some of that noise without sacrifing speed and energy?

[SGTDuffman]

I wouldn't worry about it. People get way too hung up on kinetic energy (ft/lbs), when that particular mechanism has absolutely nothing to do with killing via arrow. It's a good metric for firearms because much of the damage they cause relates to the transfer of kinetic energy. Arrows kill by cutting, KE has nothing to do with it. Plenty of guys have sent arrows clean through animals out of longbows and recurves slinging arrows at incredible velocities like 160fps. Would it make you feel better to know I killed a deer at 68 yards a couple years back shooting 650gr arrows out of a 54# bow at 210fps? I spent more time looking for my arrow than the deer. It was buried up to the fletches. And it was super quiet. Plenty of weight for the string to push reduces vibration and noise. Use a good, sharp, solid cut on contact head and let er rip. If you put it where it needs to be, it's only gotta have enough force to penetrate a couple balloons sandwiched between 2 steaks.

[theleo]

You might consider a set of Bowjax for the limbs or maybe another string stop like a Bow Rattler. My old bow isn't to far off speed wise from what you're looking at with yours and has done just fine on elk with a 424 grain arrow behind a Shuttle T. Speeds not everything and elk can't jump a string they can't hear. 

[demontang]

Play with speed nocks and tune you should quite it down some and pick up some speed. I would worry about you bow not being enough for elk.

[blackveltbowhunter]

  I agree. Check tune for ultimate silence but i disagree that that setup is not enough for elk. I shot a similar setup for years energy wise and killed a bunch of elk.  Try some string leaches or bowjax should quiet it down without so much speed loss. Its a trade off. Make sure everything is tight and not "rattly". Loose arrows in a quiver are often a culprit of excess bow noise. You could always install the cat whiskers and see what the real world results are. Go from there.