It might seem that there is not a lot to archery equipment, in fact the equipment is simplicity itself - a bow and an arrow. To a certain extent this is true. Some archery equipment is well known and taken for granted, others are a little more mystifying for newcomers. Everyone knows what a bow and arrow look like and how they work, however the bow stabilizer is a piece of equipment that only the experienced archer will recognize. Basically, if you want to shoot accurately over a long period of time, the bow stabilizer is a highly recommended part of your equipment.
There are a couple main functions of a bow stabilizer. The first is to hold the bow steady and more stable, hence its name. The second is that your hand doesn’t suffer from as much vibration. I will explain why this is important in just a moment.

So that you can understand how the bow stabilizer works we should examine it. Before, bow stabilizers were simply metal tubes. Metal is a rather heavy material and although you want to add some weight, because this is what keeps the bow stable, you don't want to make it too heavy. Carbon or AMS (Alphamethylstyrene) plastics are preferred these days. The rigidity of carbon means that it performs properly while its light weight makes it comfortable to work with.

A dampening device lets the stabilizer to perform another function, that of reducing the vibration through the bow from the force of releasing the bowstring. The dampening device is often made of rubber although other vibration absorbent materials may be used. By positioning the dampening material away from the end of the bow their effectiveness will be maximized.

The last device you will come across on a stabilizer is a weight that sits right on the end beyond the rubber material. The bow is counterbalanced by the weight which keeps the bow stable when it is being shot. With the weight sitting at the front of the bow consistency in aiming the bow is made simpler.

When deciding on which stabilizer to use you will find that they come in a range of lengths. The length of the stabilizer you need will depend considerably on the type of archery you plan on doing. In general, the longer the stabilizer you use the more steady your bow will be and consequently, the more accurate you are likely to be. Target archers use long stabilizers. Bowhunters, on the other hand, use shorter stabilizers because of the conditions under which they will be carrying and firing their bow.

Shorter stabilizers are used with shorter framed hunting bows due to the terrain you may be required to cover, long pieces that stick out would have a tendency to snag and hinder progress and would also be more noisy. Just the same, any extra weight on the bow would be accentuated the longer the bow has to be carried to the point where it would become extremely tiring.

Finally, we come back to the importance of keeping vibration low. Any vibration experienced by the bow is going to be expressed as noise and when you are bow-hunting noise is one of your worst enemies. Vibration will also cause movement in other components on your bow which will inevitably affect accuracy. Only around 75 per cent of the energy generated in releasing the bowstring gets transferred to the arrow. The rest has to go somewhere else and that is to the only other thing touching the bow, which is you. The accumulated shock that is transferred to your bow arm during a long day of shooting will cause tiredness which will lead to shaking and reduced accuracy.

It’s important to fit a stabilizer to your bow, but just as important is using a stabilizer that suits the kind or archery you will be undertaking. The kind of archer you are and your body type will also make a difference to the type of shooting you're going to use it for. You have to weigh things up, as it were, look for quality and decide what is most suitable to you and you will be sure to be shooting quietly and accurately.

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