Choosing an Arrow Rest and Sight
by Brian Wensel

Choosing a Rest
There are a multitude of options on the market today, capture rests, drop away, fall away, 2 prong, 3 prong….when will it all end?  There is no right answer.  The right answer is choosing a rest that produces consistent results and does not interfere with arrow flight after arrow release.  

I choose to use a fall away or drop away rest.  I like minimal contact with the arrow during release, simply a pet peeve and personal preference of mine.  For the beginner archer there are several capture rests that are very effective and ensure the arrow stays on the rest at all times.  There’s nothing worse than drawing on that big buck only to have your arrow bounce off the rest and fall to the ground.  In addition to a rest, attaching a D-Loop to your nock point and using a release can significantly increase your accuracy and the consistency of arrow flight.

My advice is to speak to your local pro-shop professional, understand how the different rests operate, and make the decision for yourself.  Again, there is no right or wrong answer.




Sight and Peep Selection
There are some very complex sights on the market today.  Lighted sights, holographic sights, pendulum sights, fiber pin sights, 3 pin, 5 pin, 7 pin and scopes; like rests the options are endless.  For a beginner archer who probably shouldn’t be shooting over 30 yards, there is truly no need for much more than a 3-pin sight.  With a typical 60 pound set up, a 3-pin sight provides a pin for 20, 30, and 40 yards, which is more than adequate for a beginner.  The minuscule adjustments that some of the more complex bow sights provide, quite honestly, are wasted on a beginner archer who truly has not honed his skills enough to benefit from these adjustments, so when starting out, don’t worry about getting a complex, expensive sight.  Get yourself a reasonable 3-pin fiber sight with a round housing for your first season and expand later if you feel the need.

For accuracy sake, ensure you get a peep sight for your string and have it properly installed by your local pro-shop professional.  The easiest way to explain the function of a peep sight relates to a rifle sight.  The peep sight is your rear sight and the pins are your front sight.  There are two primary methods for using a peep sight and pins.

The first method involves centering your selected pin in the peep sight and shooting.  With a large peep sight, this can be less accurate.  However, if you install a small peep sight so you can tightly wrap the peep around your selected pin, you will loose about 30 minutes of daylight on either end of your hunting day.  Yes, the smaller diameter peep allows less light to be transmitted to your eye and in that critical first and last 30 minutes of daylight, often referred to as prime time, you will not be able to see your target through your peep.

Method two is what I recommend to most new archers.  I mentioned a front sight with a round housing.  You want a peep sight aperture (the hole you look through) to be large enough so when looked through you can barely see the round front sight housing inside your peep, but it is visible.  Rather than centering your pin in the peep, you center the round housing and then simply place the desired pin on the target.  If you chose a sight that also has a bright white or orange ring painted on the face of the housing it can make it extremely easy to hold the circle in the peep with your peripheral vision, while focusing a pin on your target.  The larger peep also allows more light to pass through giving you more shooting time and the ability to see more of your target when a shot is taken.

 I won’t allow this article to become one on shooting techniques, but there are some concepts that need to be discussed to help you in your equipment selection process.  You should have some idea on your shooting/sighting method prior to choosing your sight setup.