Front Porch Discussion with Dr. Ed Ashby (A Deep Dive Into the Ashby Reports)

We had the privilege of meeting with Dr. Ed Ashby to discuss his interesting history in bowhunting and the studies he conducted. In this interview we learned about his interesting life and discussed the Ashby Reports. This interview is both educating and entertaining. If you enjoy bow hunting, you will enjoy this interview.
To learn more about the Ashby Bowhunting Foundation click the link below: www.ashbybowhu...
Dr. Ed Ashby invested 27 years in the study of arrow performance and broadhead lethality. Starting in 1981, while working as a PH in Zimbabwe, Dr. Ashby was recruited by the Mkuzi Game Reserve head Game Ranger Tony Tomkinson to assist in a bowhunting research study. At the time bowhunting was not legal in South Africa. The government commissioned a study to determine if African game could be ethically and humanely harvested with the bow and arrow. Four years later, Dr. Ashby and his team published what has come to be known as the “Natal Study.” The research was based not on the scientific method but outcome driven experimentation. Arrow penetration tests were conducted on hundreds of freshly culled animals and results were meticulously recorded and documented.
In 1986, based on Dr. Ashby’s Natal Study, the South African government legalized bowhunting. Legalization in South Africa acted as the catalyst to open bowhunting in many other Sub-Saharan countries. The Natal Study was the definitive document used to successfully lobby for bowhunting legalization.
Upon completion of the Natal Study, Dr. Ashby continued his arrow and broadhead penetration research for another three decades. His research has led to empirical findings in arrow lethality, revealing the 650 grain heavy bone threshold, the 19% FOC (Forward of Center) threshold, and the effectiveness of single bevel broadheads on breaking bone as well as increasing soft tissue damage.

[@SiriusTV1]

LISTEN TO OUR PODCAST! LINKS BELOW Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sirius-talk/id1644958809 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7f9sKTTsJwlB21eaXe6DzA?si=AYGDn605SniPN9hVGPksbA

[@ScottWConvid19]

Dr. Ed Ashby, if you read the comments, thank you for making the time to collect the data and for passing your information along through the foundation and especially for befriending that crazy Texan that loves science and loves to help people become more successful. Your labor has been a huge blessing to me and my sons as we have transitioned to more lethal arrows and won't be going back. The honor and praise belongs to you (and that Troy dude lol)

[@RWILLHOME]

I love how Dr. Ashby kindly shares his experiences and detailed studies to improve our arrow setups!

[@ryanburns3921]

So glad you guys could set this up. The only thing that could make it better would be to see him and Troy together. It would likely be an all day conversation. But I doubt anybody would be bothered by that.

[@markwarner.03]

Absolutely love this! Thankfull that you were able to sit down with a real archery legend!

[@bradsperanza3727]

This was a great interview guys!!!! The amount of betterment through knowledge Dr. Ashby has brought to our community is amazing!

[@ZJ_Rubicon]

I have been following Ranch Fairy for a couple years now and am on my journey to shooting adult arrows. It is amazing hearing the information and stories strait from Dr. Ashby. Everything they have found out makes so much sense when you think about it and I don't know why it's "taboo" in the archery community to use high FOC and more robust heads. I want to prepare for the worst case and hope for the best.

[@TheOtherGuybo]

Really enjoyed listening to this. Thanks for taking the time for sitting down with this legend.

[@twc6771]

Very good information that people that bowhunt need to soak up which in return make them a better hunter.

[@albinoblacksheep7826]

When stuff like this is for free such a wealth of knowledge I am so grateful to live in this time. Thanks everyone.

[@SiriusTV1]

Thank you for watching! Good luck this season!

[@ryanclark4872]

Great Content - what a resource of practical experience and history - need to soak up as much as this info whilst we can with the good DR.. Thank you for sharing

[@rdude1184]

What a great and wonderful asset of a man and a teacher to the Hunting community. Thank you Sir,

[@BlackMagicArchery-mg4hh]

What an amazing interview. Totally made my day

[@SiriusTV1]

Thank you for watching!

[@justinsalzl1517]

Dr. Ashby and Seth - great job. Thank you for putting this together. This is such a valuable discussion for the sport of archery.

[@wharfrat7128]

came across a video of troy talking to the hunting public guys which led me to The Ranch fairy channel which led me to reading The Ashby reports and now seeing this interview puts it all together. Thank you for your 30 yrs of research. Ethically killing animals is the most important part of hunting for me, the new setup I'm running this season has already proven to be way more reliable. thank you!

[@theodebeer3473]

Thank you Dr Ashby for sharing your vast knowledge and interesting findings. It was an absolutely eye-opening experience. All the best with the continued research! Theo, South Africa.

[@faltbubba3330]

Glad you were able to make it out and have this discussion Seth. Great work!

[@justafan5179]

Wonderful video! Sir, you are incredible. I cannot wait to see what you and the Ashby Foundation do in the future.

[@bradmalone2541]

A treasure of information that will live on beyond his days. Thank you.

[@Longbeard2212]

Amazing amount of experience and knowledge. Thanks for the interview. Much respect Mr.Ashby.

[@samivey8416]

This is AWESOME

[@robertstokes3645]

Really good interview with a truly experienced and studied bowhunter. I wish my track record on recovered and lost animals was as good as Dr Ashby's is. Unfortunately I have failed to recover two elk out of the last five I shot. These poor performances have me looking for a better solution which led me to a 650 grain, 3/1 single bevel broadhead set up for this year. I'm a little worried about the rainbow trajectory but willing to give it a try. This video only reinforces my decision to do so, in spite of the advice I receive from the proshop.

[@mrdg]

What sort of results you been getting? Got an update?

[@andrewsandage6778]

Awesome knowledge. Enjoyed this video a lot.

[@tomfleisher90]

Outstanding discussion with some valuable information!! Well done!!

[@daveruston1354]

What an epic interview! Thankyou Ted Ashby for your massive contribution to the science of archery. Thanks also to the Sirius team for supporting the cutting edge of archery development. I have read the Ashby reports and seeing it brought to life is a read privilege.

[@brace1007]

Great chat guys!

[@jesse4530]

I skipped over this multiple times due to the length, thinking it's as long as a movie, but turns out it was enjoyable to watch the whole way through. I appreciate the scientific approach to tinkering, to see as many results as possible to compare.

[@SiriusTV1]

Thank you for watching!!

[@RobertKearl-Outdoor-Adventures]

This is amazing info I'm glad I started along these lines of heavy arrows and cut on contact heads

[@gibsonlife573]

Mr. Ashby I just want to say thank you for all you've done for the art tree foot community be I don't know your faith or not but that sure does sound like God put you in the right place at the right time like you said you had forgotten All about where they denied you to come over there and hunt and now they're reaching back out to you seems like The God had his hand upon you

[@paulheberling2750]

57:44 gold! That’s why crossbows lose at the end of the day to heavy compound arrows! And thank you Dr. Ashby for all your hard work and research!

[@rogerarmendariz7633]

I just found this video . Great work and dedication from Dr Ashby. Funny thing is today a lot of compound shooters try to disprove his findings by faster lighter is better. I find it disappointing trying to take steps backwards after all the data was collected to move forward.

[@benathens3294]

Excellent Interview and Information. Thank you!

[@colbykinney5633]

absolutely fantastic!

[@tradrodsandcustoms]

Wow, such an interesting watch!

[@hawknives]

Thank You Dr. Ed Ashby! All of us Hunters Thank You! Christ bless!

[@Jimbowiejr]

Glad he explained it like he did, wonderful information

[@camerannC]

This is so awesome. Thank you.

[@browningmontec]

This was excellent! Very informative

[@TheTylerKline]

Thank you for this!

[@dcon9708]

I love what I was able to learn from this man and the people he us influenced. I’ve taken deer I otherwise wouldn’t have. I like Spyderco knives bc I can sample exotic steels with good heat treating at different edge angles and refinement polishes. Would any of the now available powdered tool steels be a good fit for broadheads? I’ve seen a video of k390 being stabbed into a concrete block till he could pick up the block and no tip breakedge.

[@HouseBladeDesign]

great video

[@TradTech]

Awesome interview.

[@glennl9630]

Love it!!

[@mikeguy9668]

Absolute stud

[@deeprootstexas]

Can you please ask Dr. Ashby to do a video about that favorite bow he talked about?

[@shooter2843]

The one thing I don’t understand: the bevel getting more rotation. Is a Grizzly better than a short tuffhead?

[@jameshagerman7681]

The only factor I have problems implementing is the high FOC. I shoot a recurve and my draw length is just a hair under 33 inches which necessitates the use of a very long shaft with relatively low total weight up front.

[@jake4194]

Just be happy you have a long draw length to get lots of extra speed. Trad bows are pretty slow at 27" draw length

[@davida.4933]

The only factor not well discussed is the stiffness of the arrow shaft on impact. This is one advantage of carbon shafts, but it also a function of arrow length.

[@claymac7895]

I like to think of it as an axe 🪓, splitting wood. The blade of an axe or hatchet is essentially a single bevel.

[@04702c]

1st….what an interesting man… I’d love to be one of his grandchildren with story’s. 2nd- 115 pound/98 pound long Bow???? I would hate for him to snatch you up 😂😂😂

[@ripfletching]

You know I have been keeping up with this for decades in the one thing I don’t understand when I was a tournament shooter I use the turbo knock which spun by arrow at about 6 to 9000 RPMs straight off the string my average score went up 20 points due to it’s perfectly straight trajectory the high rate of spin gets that arrow pointed where needs to go immediately I don’t know why Dr. Ed and his team have not evaluated the turbo knock system and if any of you would like to give me a call or PM me on my KZbin channel I can get you what you need

[@sinepari9160]

156 animals in 30 days??? :0 This man is an encyclopedia of trad bowhunting and African game. I hope he passes on all the knowledge before he dies. What a life he's lived. What is a PH? Some type of physician so he could work, live, and hunt in these places? What I would liked to know is what RANGES he's killed these animals at. I would think he was in a blind in Africa and Australia under 30 yards. We know about momentum now but there's a sweet spot of range/momentum and we shoot 60 yards+ out here in the western US. I know the answer, get closer :)

[@BiggerAlan]

A PH is a Professional Hunter.

[@greysigma]

Guys, have I heard correctly, 40 pounds recurve punctured Daga boy at twenty yards?

[@jeromymixon11]

their full of the cocka,

[@Trickydickysticky]

1:01:15 This statement bothers me profoundly. Obviously i dont have the experience and data of Ed. But i think this needs to be fleshed out more. At what point does FOC outperform arrow weight overall? Would a hypoyhetical 500grain higher foc arrow outperform a 1000grain slightly or even significantly lower FOC arrow? I doubt it i feel like overall momentum is gonna be a bigger factor than sheer weight distribution. That sort of thing seems like it would be rated on a bell curve. Ill delete this comment if this is fleshed out later in the video. So far im very much enjoying this interview.

[@Trickydickysticky]

@EdAshby I did. I came to a conclusion. It's isnt about FOC is about arrow rigidity. FOC shortens the forward lever arm and therefore reduces loss of penetration upon impact yes? Think of a crossbow bolt instead of an arrow... No flex... But still the same amount of kinetic energy and momentum. So a balances crossbow bolt vs a high foc arrow with the same KE and momentum.. The crossbow bolt wins (assuming all other factors controlled for) So FOC helps and my answer would be the higher FOC arrow of the same weight- but NOT because of the balance point it because of the reduces flex on impact. So it's stiffness that matters ultimately... Not balance. That's a subjectively truth not and objective one. There would be a point where the weight of a low foc arrow would outperform the lesser weight of a high foc arrow I'm sure- but foc increases the efficiency of penetration and that's not quote mapped out vs. total weight.

[@baloneylorddonkeyhammer2273]

Dr Ashby application of the physic doest take in to account one very simple factor gravity and it's effect on mass and loss of momentum that why the same 2 arrows he talk about and their abilty to penatrate might be true at 20 to say 40 yard on todays bows yard but past that the heavy arrow will drop faster and lose velocity which then decreases momentum. And the bottom line is there is a balance to every piece of equipment and to the hunting situations you put your self in . How bout instead of spending time trying to quantify pentration on a bad shot . You spend the time practicing to be the best shot you can be in your hunting situations that you could be put in because a good archer with a 40lb trad set up is far deadly and more ethical hunter than trying find some magic arrow build to make for your lack of preparation and poor shot placement.

[@jhuntley575]

Awesome to listen to what a great guy Dr Ashby is. Sadly the interviewer did a bad job. Asking if he got an email multiple times in the early 80s like what lol. Ok no problem but here's the deal breaker. At the very end dr Ashby is telling this epic hunting story. He's just about to the climax when the interviewer cuts him off mid sentence to ask " did you get him?" Like come on dude he's just about there. Story suspense ruined. Oh well

[@patmaples5096]

is this Troy's dad - looks just like Ranch Fairy

[@whilomforge3402]

This guy has some courage to hang around in Rhodesia after the black murderers took over…

[@longshotdiedtired1582]

Oh yeah those black murders are way worse than those other colored murders way rather be murdered by a nazi you know

[@sinepari9160]

Well they did inform him day one and gave him a whole 24 hours to GTFO lol