On the brink of my final November hunt, I decided to take a break from hanging stands, checking cameras and sitting 20 feet above the earth and give my new-for-2016 Elite Impulse 31 a little TLC. This rig will be making the 800-mile trip to south Texas with me for my final whitetail sojourn of the season, and as I do with all my bows, I wanted to make sure it was driving tacks before flying the friendly skies.
Before slipping my Impulse 31 into my Last Chance Archery EZ Deluxe Press, I loosened the four pocket set screws one full turn and backed out the limb bolts one full turn. (Note: Elite doesn’t call for the draw weight to be dropped before pressing; it’s just a habit of mine. Never back out Elite limb bolts more than two full turns per the manufacturer’s instructions.) The bow pressed easily, and within minutes I had my G5 peep and QAD Ultra-Rest HDX installed.
Watch a review of Last Chance Archery's EZ Deluxe Press
My first arrow through paper – shot at a distance of 7 yards – was nearly perfect. The slight left tear told me there was room for improvement, and after making the necessary adjustment, my second arrow was bullet-hole perfect.
Though I hadn’t taken the bow out of my garage testing area, I could tell the new Impulse was faster than the previous Elite models I’d handled. You can just feel it, but not in a negative way. This bow is dead in the hand and whisper quiet. Of course, the shorter brace height – 6 inches as opposed to Elite’s more traditional 7 inches – helps the rig hit a higher RPM rating.
I love the bow’s thin, flat-backed, angled grip. It melted into my palm-swell area. Plus, it’s a nightmare on torque. In addition, the grip itself is just sexy – the Elite-branded wood side-plates jump out at you. As for the draw cycle, it’s generally smooth with no humps or bumps, and transition to letoff isn’t at all abrupt. The draw stops engage the inside of the bow’s top and bottom limb and create a wide valley. I felt like I could hold this bow back at full draw forever. The Impulse isn’t itching to jump forward, and my shoulder and back muscles didn’t start to quiver after only a few seconds. This feature is sure to be appreciated in the hunting woods when the bowhunter must hold back on his/her quarry for an extended period of time.
Once I was satisfied with my paper tuning process, I headed to my backyard range. After shooting a few arrows at 10 yards and getting my Black Gold somewhat close, I backed up to 20 yards and put a fletched arrow (three-degree right helical) in the bull’s-eye on my Rinehart RhinoBlock Target. I followed that arrow with an unfletched (bare shaft) Carbon Express Maxima Blu RZ 350 arrow. The result: The point on the unfletched arrow cut a fletching off the fletched arrow. Yep, this 4.2-pound rig was tuned. It became very evident throughout testing that the shorter brace height and faster fps rating (303 fps/#3 Mod/387-grain arrow) on Elite’s new flagship didn’t affect the manufacturer’s “shootability” mantra one bit. This is without question one of the most accurate rigs I’ve ever shot. The bow balances well at full draw and seems to sit rock solid on the target. Currently, I have the bow dialed to 50 yards and will be extending its range in the coming days.
The new Elite Impulse is available in Realtree Xtra, Realtree Max-1, Realtree AP, Snow, KUIU Vias and KUIU Verde.
