Feather length

[bow101]

I currently use 4" fletching, does longer fletching have any advantage.?

[Pat B]

Feathers are or steerage and steer by adding drag to the back of the arrow. Ideally you want to use as little fletching as you can and still get good arrow flight.

[DC]

I think longer has only one advantage and that's appearance. If the flight guys can get their arrows to fly straight with hummingbird feathers then bigger just adds more and more drag. If going from 4" to 5" improves the flight then your spine/balance is probably wrong.

[Dakota Kid]

I think the width of the feather plays way more into drag than the length. I actually would be willing to bet a 3" feather 1" wide creates more drag than a 5" feather of the same width. A gradual incline is more aerodynamic than a steep one.  I assume this logic applies to fletchings, but I don't have wind tunnel data to back it up so I could be wrong. 

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

In studying Asian archery, Manchu mostly, I've read that the fletching was very long, 6-8", but very narrow. Now since most Asian archery from this region whether shot from the ground or not stems from horse archery the theory goes that the somewhat shorter ranges involved in horse archery combined with the moving perpendicular to the target led to this fletching design. But again, with any Asian martial art everything must be taken with a grain of salt due to the mysticism the west seems determined to attribute to it, lol.

[bow101]

Just asking but somewhere along the way I missed the part of just enough to stabilize flight.  Thought some used longer fletching for something else besides looks.

[Pat B]

I used to use 5 1/2" high back shield cut feathers but now burn my own style but it is somewhat similar to the shield. When shooting field points smaller fletching probably works well but when shooting broadheads a little more stability is needed.

[Tower]

I shoot an eight inch fletch 1/2" high from the shaft.   I have found that it recovers quick & has no sound in flight.   I shot at the classic & several people were amazed at how quiet my arrows were.  Just my opinion. 

[DC]

I used to use 5 1/2" high back shield cut feathers but now burn my own style but it is somewhat similar to the shield. When shooting field points smaller fletching probably works well but when shooting broadheads a little more stability is needed.

I'm going to have to modify my opinion that bigger fletching just looks good. I have no experience with broadheads but I can see where they would need more stability. It's kinda like putting a canard on a Cessna.

[punch]

Large fletching will allow an arrow to recover faster.  But it also will make them slower. By large I am talking surface area.  I like to put a large feather on my arrows and trim them until I reach the point for a particular bow that I am happy with the recovery rate and arrow distance/speed