Watch: How to Silence a Recurve Bow

It takes Lilly a little while to get to the point in this video; after all, she’s catering to the manufacturer of the bow, which sponsored the video. Finally at about 2:42, she starts talking about how loud the bow is.

Once she gets down to business, she discovers a hollow (and some looseness) in the riser’s limb pockets. Some application of cotton & fabric takes care of that.

Afterward, the bow is quieter, and she even says it is more accurate.

Some strips of beaver pelt are applied to dampen string noise. The end result looked a lot better than I’d expected; she did a good job.

She calls the bowstring the sinew, although it’s surely not made of sinew. Come to think of it, it’s probably not made of string, either.

Then she glues some fuzzy velcro onto the bow limbs where the string rides against them.

The net result is impressive.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.