Does a Whisker Biscuit Slow down an Arrow?

A whisker biscuit, especially when out in the field bowhunting, can serve as an arrow rest while you wait for the prey to show up. The usefulness of it has helped the whisker biscuit to sell millions to bowhunters in the last two decades. With that said, you may be wondering how much a whisker biscuit slows the speed and if it will hurt your hunting.

Does a whisker biscuit slow down an arrow? Most experts say that the whisker biscuit slows down the arrow from 3 to 6 fps. Usually, it won’t slow the arrow down more than 3 fps, however, which isn’t noticeable enough to make a difference. People who chronograph their bow with the whisker biscuit usually only notice a 3 fps difference.

If you’d like to learn more about the whisker biscuit’s arrow speed and if it slows it down enough to matter, keep reading. We will look at normal bow speed to determine how much the speed matters.

Whisker Biscuit: Does the Slower Speed Matter?

We need to look at how fast a bow normally shoots to learn more if the slower 3 fps matters. Most bows shoot between 300 and 340 fps. With that in mind, a 3 fps loss doesn’t look harmful at all. Recurve bows normally shoot at 225 fps while compound bows shoot at 300 fps.

Let’s put this into further perspective to show you why 3 fps doesn’t matter. You have one bow that shoots at 240 fps, which at 20 yards, translates to 0.25 seconds. Now, if you had a bow with 255 fps, the speed for 20 yards would sit at 0.236 seconds. Even with a 15 fps difference in speed, you only shaved 0.014 seconds off the timer—hardly worth worrying about. Now, take 3 fps, and the difference in speed looks less than that.

Putting on a whisker biscuit hardly matters because it won’t hurt the speed. You can still kill your prey with the biscuit without losing anything.

Speed Matters but Not in the Small Picture

A few fps less because of the whisker biscuit won’t have a live or die difference. If you want to know what matters most, arrow placement will have a far greater impact. Focus on your accuracy, and you will see a big difference. If you’re wondering whether the whisker biscuit has a negative impact on accuracy, I wrote an article about that here.

It doesn’t mean you don’t want higher fps because it does matter, but the difference wouldn’t justify not installing a whisker biscuit, and if the fps difference in a bow looks like 15 fps, you probably don’t need the upgrade. Focus more on your shot placement because that will increase your effectiveness more.

The higher momentum and speed will never be a bad thing, but a small difference like with a whisker biscuit isn’t too much to worry about.

What Does Higher Speed Impact?

Higher fps on your bow will impact the noise from the bow. It makes it a quieter shot, which matters when hunting. It will also impact the speed of the arrow that reaches the target. To a degree that matters, but recurve bows have significantly fewer fps than compound bows, and you will find that it kills the little critters all the same. They’ll be just as allergic to a bow with 250 fps as what they would a bow with 340 fps. Don’t buy into the hype of fps too much. For the most part, it won’t cause you to miss your shots if you put a whisker biscuit on and lose 3 fps.

Again, I would like to emphasize that shot placement matters more than the speed of your arrows. I’ve never done it, but I heard of someone who would shoot a 160 fps recurve bow, and it blows through the whitetail and pronghorns all the same. If you feel concerned about the speed, put a broadhead on the arrow to make it deadlier and aim for the lethal points of your prey.

What if You Want Every Ounce of FPS and Accuracy?

For those who still believe that they need to squeeze every ounce out of the fps and accuracy, I would advise that you choose the fall-away rest over the whisker biscuit. The fall-away rest gives you greater speed and accuracy when shooting. It won’t make a big difference in hunting, but for perfectionists, they might choose to go this route.

If you’re interested in a good fall-away rest, check out the Trophy Ridge Sync Drop Away Right Hand Arrow Rest. You may also want to try a fall-away arrow rest as a way to experiment and see whether you prefer the whisker biscuit or the fall away. This boils down to the archer’s preference when shooting.

Does a whisker biscuit affect arrow flight? If the arrows fit too tightly in the biscuit before shooting, it can impact its flight. The whisker biscuit can slow down the arrow because of the whiskers on the biscuit, but if set up correctly, it won’t impact it more than 3 to 6 fps, hardly worth worrying about.

Which is better whisker biscuit or a drop away? The whisker biscuit works its best when hunting, and the drop away performs better in places where every ounce of accuracy matters. Whisker biscuits don’t work well on recurve bows, however, and you may want to avoid them if you use a recurve.

Conclusion

Make no mistake that a whisker biscuit will slow the arrow, but it won’t do it to where it makes a big difference. An arrow with 3 fps less because of a biscuit will still kill your target with equal efficiency as an arrow not slowed by that much. Don’t focus as much on arrow speed—focus on shot placement.

Good accuracy and hitting the right point on your target will make a much bigger difference. With that said, shooting with a biscuit at archery competitions doesn’t make much sense because they didn’t make it for that purpose.