I read the specs on this and it rang a bell. Here in PA for some reason you can’t use a broadhead longer than 3 inches. These are too long for Pennsylvania.

Might be time to try some. My old grizzlies started out at 160 gr. many years ago. But with all the sharpening they are down to about 120 gr. Plus it is too hard to find grizzlies anymore.

Very exciting! Thanks for sharing, Steve Sr. If a product doesn’t advertise in TBM, the only way I’ll find out about it is from other trad bowhunters. I just toured the website, and if you click around it’s a very impressive overall presentation. I’d love to try some. My only concerns are that even though it’s right on the money for MA, it’s a very big head, and the wider a head the greater the chance of hitting ribs, which is a 50-50 chance broadside and increases with angled shots. Also, the ferrule interior is 23/64, while most wood shafts are 11/32 and some 21/64. The website shows how a screw-in insert fits inside the ferrule leaving a bit of open space at the back end. That’s fine. But I’m thinking an 11/32 shaft might be a bit loose and a 21/64 unusable? Am I seeing this incorrectly? I didn’t get to the price. But again, all things considered, these folks are really trying to hit as many details of Ashby’s guidelines as possible. I just wish they’d held it to 3″ x 1″ and used an 11/32 ferrule. This would have cost them a little weight, but that can be compensated for with extra thickness. Oh well, I’m still awaiting my order of Werewolf heads and intend to use them for elk this year (but they’d best show up fast so I have time to tune ’em up). I look forward to several of you trying these earnest new efforts and discussing the pros and cons here. Dave

Oh those broadheads look sweet. Does anyone here have any direct experience with them? I wonder how they perform…

These broadheads are made by Joe Furlong, a custom bowyer who made the Black Rhino youth bows and more recently the Bowtote. He’s a great guy. The new ad for this broadhead is in the next issue. I don’t know any more than you guys about the broadheads, but I do know Joe and his wife, Janice, are good people who have been involved in traditional archery for a long time.

Amigos y amiga — I have spoken to Joe and here’s a bit of background info on his new Tuffheads: He is 72 and a one-man operation and clearly not in this for the money. The labor involved in this new generation of Ashby-inspired heads is intense, and high quality materials are expensive, thus the high prices. Worth it? That’s an individual decision. Joe is also working on a 300+ grain glue on, very exciting for the EFOC crowd, including me. Basically, he studied Ashby’s findings and set out to design a head that incorporates as many penetration-enhancing features as possible.

I also just spoke with Dr.Ashby, who is settled in to his new one-room cabin home in Texas, just got hooked up with internet and if we’re lucky, will soon be joining our conversations again. Ed said he has some prototype Tuffheads, which he’s not yet been able to test but seems very impressed so far. I have ordered a 3-pack and will let you know what I think (don’t I always? :shock:). I may wind up hunting this year with the new Werewolf on carbons for EFOC, and the Tuffhead on Surewoods or pine hex shafts. While I respect the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” outlook to bowhunting, I find experimenting with new broadheads, new shaft woods, etc. all quite fun for the off-season. And I’ll never stop searching for the “perfect” arrow set-up that will allow me to take a shot at a big bull elk with a low-50s# longbow, have the animal move just as I release so that the hit is in the massive lower shoulder blade, and still see the arrow pass through and sail over the horizon. It can be done, and my search is driven by the fact that at my age, having bowhunted for almost exactly 50 years now, I’ve had my fill of “well, sooner or later it happens to everyone” wounded and unrecovered game.

Steve Sr. — I too am always broke, and this year will be hunting with severe tennis elbow in both arms, wearing braces and doped-up on ibuprofen. Maybe we should get compound contraptions with 80% let-off and the dozens of gadgets necessary to support their function, and ATVs to haul it all right up to the automatic bait feeder. 😛 Dave

Well, I still pack mine out, fingers crossed. But I always hunt uphill to facilitate that. If I could ever get the endless cabin-upgrades finished, I think my elbows would be OK. Something about the combo of holding a big belt sander overhead for hours at a time, endless pounding with a hammer, carrying heavy 4×8 sheets of lumber up steep stairs alone, when combined with perhaps too much daily archery … well, something has to give. Too late, alas, to train my 102-pound wife in the use of power tools. I’ve gone and spoilt her. 😆

I can appreciate the cost of research, materials and manufacture but for 3 heads these are too pricey for me. If they were packaged by 6 I would jump all over them. With a fixed income I have to be a bit choosy. My wife says I’m cheap.:)

When you have tried these out let us know what you think.

Polar Bear, I’m with you, also on a fixed and shrinking income, only lacking your willpower. 😳 I believe I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread that this quest for the most lethal and bulletproof possible broadhead for really heavy game under all shot circumstances, need not be for everyone. But it’s for me, being primarily an elk hunter. And, frankly, I am into it partially in order to help facilitate such interesting public conversations as this one. And like Ashby, I don’t allow manufacturers to give me their products for testing, though I see nothing wrong with that up to a point. Happily, there is still a solid middle ground for those who want to get into the cutting-edge single-bevel game (pun intended, sorry) without blowing their kids’ college fund. I have long said that I think the Abowyer Brown Bear is the best single-bevel on the market for the money. I’ve heard that they recently raised prices significantly but haven’t looked into it to confirm how much. If the BB has priced itself out of the market for many, the honor of best bet for the bucks, IMHO, falls to the Tusker Concord. I’ve tested both these heads on elk with just as excellent outcomes as I got with the Grizzly (which increasingly is allowing itself to be displaced as market leader) and the premiere ABS Ashby. I’ve never tried Silver Flames, however, another top-ender so I hear. We have endless choices, ain’t it great. Dave

I can only HOPE that I’ll get to try out the Tuffhead this year. There’s plenty of animals here on the property, but none really worthy of a challange to the broadhead’s potential. Haven’t seen a hog nearly big enough yet. To top that off, I’ve only gotten so far as to get a target stuffed and ready to use; haven’t fired an arrow on the property yet.

My recovery is far from complete and, unless things improve a lot, I won’t be able to do any stalking, which is my favored way to hunt. Now, I would be able to shoot some animals right off the front porch. In just a couple of weeks the animals have come to accept me sitting on the porch in the evenings, and some have fed up to within 10 feet. They even ignore my scent now, and that of my pipe. I can even go in and out of the cabin without spooking the deer out of the yard BUT … I won’t even attempt a shot until I have myself back into shooting form where I can be certain that the arrow is going pretty near where I intend … not to say that the animal will still be in that exact spot when the arrow arrives. And I need time to work up and tune the arrows … and have more than a few rather urgent things that neede doing on the property here.

All that notwithstanding, I’m might glad to finally see a heavy, glue on broadhead with these design features. It should help a lot in getting the EFOC I’m looking for. We’re making substantial progress in the options available in great single-bevel broadheads.

Ed

Welcome back Ed. It’s so good to have you chatting with us again.

I guess I need to post more often too if folks think they are in trouble when I chime in. Besides, if anyone is “in trouble” I try to handle it privately. 😉

Thanks Robin, It’s awfully good to be able to be back. Eight surgeries and a course of radiation treatments in less than a three year span is more than enough for me. I sure hope there aren’t any more!

Ed

Glad to have you back. I really enjoy reading your work.

Steve and Mark, thanks for the well wishes. I need all those I can get! My body hurts terrably most every day but being out here I feel a lot better than I have in many moons. Never closer to God than when I’m in the wilds. I need His help too!

Ed

Good to “see” you here on the forum Dr. Ashby!

Thanks for the heads up on those heads Steve. I had not heard of them until now.