Tips & Tactics

Illuminated Nock Trick

Illuminated Nock Trick

By Susan and Rob Hagan

To my fellow Buckmasters fans, I’d like to pass on a useful tip for utilizing illuminated arrow nocks in a way you might not have thought of.

A few years ago, my husband and I came up with this idea while tracking a doe in the pitch-black darkness. 

After my husband arrowed the doe, it ran down into a large gully. The deer gained a lot of momentum as it barreled downhill and traveled about 75 yards from where the shot occurred. 

Now, 75 yards doesn't seem very far in broad daylight, but it seems like a VERY long distance when traipsing through the woods over fallen trees, across ditches and through thick brambles in complete darkness.

It wouldn't take long for even the most experienced hunter to become disoriented in the dark and get lost, especially on a moonless night.

Illuminated Nock TrickSince we use illuminated nocks on our arrows, I lit them up and placed them in a manner in which we could not only keep track of the blood trail, but also to allow my husband and I to keep our bearings in order to relocate our main trail on the hike back out.

You can lay the arrows on the ground, but it’s easier to see them if you stick them into the earth with the nock pointing straight up.

If you decide to stick the arrow into the ground, make sure to remove your broadheads so they won’t get dull. Replacing them with field tips only takes a minute or two and will keep dirt out of the insert.

If you don’t have field tips, you can usually prop the arrow against some brush so it stands up.

Our trail of lights made the entire tracking ordeal much easier and safer, and it didn’t take long to have fresh backstraps to show for it.

Without the illuminated nocks, we would have had to recover the doe after daylight the next morning.

Sorry coyotes, no fresh meat for you!

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