How to Paper Tune a Compound Bow

Tools and supplies

Tools

• A paper frame or paper-tune stand (paper held taut in an opening)
• A safe, arrow-stopping backstop or target butt behind the paper
• Bow square (to read and set nocking-point height)
• Allen/hex wrench set that fits your rest and cam hardware

Supplies

• Sheets of paper (newsprint, butcher paper, or a paper-tune roll)

Steps

1. Build a safe paper frame with a backstop behind it

   Mount a sheet of paper taut across an opening in a frame or stand, about chest height. Place an arrow-stopping target butt a few feet behind the paper so every arrow is safely caught. Never shoot at paper without a reliable backstop, and make sure the line of fire is clear.

2. Square up your setup before shooting

   Confirm the basics first so paper tuning only has to fix small things: set the nocking point with a bow square (start level to slightly high), check that the arrow rest centershot is roughly centered to the string, and verify your arrows are a reasonable spine for your draw weight and length. Bad spine or a wildly off rest will fight you the whole time.

3. Shoot one fletched arrow through the paper from a few feet

   Stand close, roughly 4 to 8 feet from the paper, and shoot a single fletched arrow through it using your normal, relaxed shot. Standing close keeps the fletching from fully steering the arrow yet, so the tear shows what the bare arrow flight is doing right off the bow.

4. Read the tear

   Look at the hole the arrow made. The point hole is round; the slits are torn by the fletching. A clean, round hole with three small even tears around it (a 'bullet hole') means good arrow flight. A tail-high or tail-low tear points to a vertical issue (nocking point or rest height). A tail-left or tail-right tear points to a horizontal issue (rest windage/centershot, arrow spine, or cam lean).

5. Fix a vertical (tail-high or tail-low) tear

   Vertical tears are usually the nocking point or rest height. For a tail-high tear, move the nocking point DOWN a small amount (or raise the rest slightly); for a tail-low tear, move the nocking point UP. Make small moves, about 1/32 inch at a time, change only one thing, and re-shoot before changing anything else.

6. Fix a horizontal (tail-left or tail-right) tear

   Horizontal tears are usually rest windage/centershot, arrow spine, or cam lean. First adjust the rest left or right in small increments to move the tear toward center. If the tear will not clean up with reasonable rest movement, the cause may be arrow spine or cam lean — cam lean is typically corrected by yoke tuning, which is an advanced step best done by a pro shop or coach. Confirm which hand you shoot with before guessing a direction, because left/right fixes are mirror-image.

7. Make ONE adjustment, re-shoot, and repeat until you get a bullet hole

   Change a single variable, then shoot a fresh arrow through clean paper. Repeat the read-adjust-reshoot loop, always one change at a time, until the tear is a clean round bullet hole. Shoot two or three arrows at the end to confirm the result is repeatable and not a single good shot.

What paper tuning tells you

Paper tuning reads the flight of your arrow the instant it leaves the bow. You shoot a fletched arrow through a sheet of taut paper from a few feet away, and the shape of the tear shows whether the arrow is flying straight or kicking to one side. A clean, round hole with small even tears around it — a bullet hole — means the arrow is leaving the bow cleanly. Any tail tearing high, low, left, or right tells you which adjustment to make.

The reason you stand close is that, up close, the fletching has not yet fully steered the arrow back into line. So the tear reflects the arrow’s true behavior coming off the rest, not the corrected flight you would see downrange. That makes paper an excellent first-pass tuning tool.

Set up safely first

Paper tuning involves shooting at a sheet of paper, so the most important thing is what is behind it. Always place a reliable arrow-stopping target butt a few feet behind the paper, keep the line of fire completely clear, and confirm your backstop can catch every arrow. Treat the paper frame exactly as you would any other target: nobody downrange, and a backstop you trust.

Before you spend arrows chasing tears, square up the obvious things. Set your nocking point with a bow square (level to very slightly high is a normal starting point), check that the rest centershot is roughly centered to the string, and make sure your arrows are a sensible spine for your draw weight and arrow length. Paper tuning is for fine adjustments; it cannot rescue a badly mismatched arrow or a rest that is far off.

Reading the tear

The hole has two parts: the round hole punched by the point, and the slits torn by the fletching. Picture the tear as the back of the arrow telling you where it was pointing as it passed through.

• Clean round hole (bullet hole) — good arrow flight. You are done; confirm it repeats.
• Tail high — the back of the arrow kicked up. Vertical issue: nocking point too low, or rest too low.
• Tail low — the back dropped. Vertical issue: nocking point too high, or rest too high.
• Tail left / tail right — horizontal issue: rest windage/centershot, arrow spine, or cam lean. Because these are mirror-image for right- and left-handed archers, always confirm which hand you shoot before deciding which way to move.

Making adjustments — one at a time

The single most important habit in tuning is to change one variable, then re-shoot. Every adjustment moves the tear, and if you change two things at once you lose track of what did what.

For vertical tears, work the nocking point in small increments — about 1/32 inch at a time. Tail high: move the nocking point down a touch (or raise the rest). Tail low: move the nocking point up. Re-shoot a fresh arrow through clean paper after each change.

For horizontal tears, start with the rest. Move the rest left or right in small steps to walk the tear toward center. If the tear will not clean up with reasonable rest movement, the cause is more likely arrow spine or cam lean:

• Spine depends on your exact draw weight, arrow length, and point weight. Don’t guess at a spine value — confirm it against the arrow manufacturer’s spine chart or build the arrow in the Custom Arrow Builder so the numbers match your setup.
• Cam lean is corrected by yoke tuning on bows with a yoke (split-cable) system. This is an advanced adjustment that changes how the cam tracks, and getting it wrong affects how the bow shoots, so it is best done by a pro shop or under a coach’s eye rather than by trial and error.

Keep looping — read, make one small change, re-shoot — until you get a bullet hole, then shoot two or three more arrows to confirm the result is repeatable rather than one lucky shot.

When to see a coach

Tuning should make the bow easier to shoot, not harder. See a USA Archery coach or a reputable pro shop if any of these are true: you cannot reach a bullet hole after reasonable rest and nocking-point changes; a left/right tear points to spine or cam lean; you suspect the cam timing or yoke needs work; or the tear keeps changing between shots, which usually means a form inconsistency rather than an equipment one. A coach can watch your shot, rule your form in or out, and handle advanced steps like yoke tuning safely.

A quick reminder on accuracy: the directions above (tail high → nocking point down, and so on) are the standard, well-established relationships, but exact spine numbers, brace-height ranges, and yoke settings depend on your specific bow and arrows. For those, use the manufacturer’s chart, the Custom Arrow Builder, or a coach — never a guessed number.