Here’s the end product (and a good example of a clean, respectful “hero” photo: no excessive blood or projecting arrow, tongue not hanging out and hunter posed respectfully rather than a “rodeo cowboy” sitting on animal in triumph.)

I shot this bull, above, from just 6′ as he whirled to run when I drew. Setup was Carbon Express shaft with Abowyer Brown Bear head, brass shaft insert and steel broadhead adapter, total weight 680 grains with 26%+ FoC. Bow is Shrew Classic Hunter, 55# at 28″. Arrow struck midchest and got only about 8″ penetration — a combo of “whirling effect” of the bull at impact and mostly, a rushed snap shot that was well short of full draw. (I swear, no matter how I try to get it right and beat myself up when I don’t, I will always be susceptible to “buck fever” judgment errors like this, given proper pressures — like a bull standing right over you on the last day of the season!) Arrow flopped several times as bull ran off, then the insert pulled out of the shaft and the arrow fell out leaving head and insert inside the lung. This next photo shows what that combo — shaft flopping around and head staying in — did to the lung. Neither my hunting pal T. Downing nor I have ever seen anything like it before, with rifle or bow, looked like a blob of lumpy Jello. While the bull didn’t lead a drop of blood externally, his chest cavity was full of it. “You could drown in that amount of blood,” as my observation. Note also the small knife. According to Murphy’s law I’d forgotten my belt and belt knife that morning and had to do the entire job with this little Helle. 3.5″ blade is fine but the tiny handle left my hands cramped.

Here’s the entrance hole made by the Brown Bear — huge, with a blown-apart rib strike. (I couldn’t find the head in the bloody mess and need to return to the scene once the scavengers are done to find it. I expect no tip damage.)

As promised to Ed Ashby, I took a couple of test shots on the dead animal using different heads. Most telling was a 15 yard shot purposely at a 45-degree angle into the top, heaviest portion of the right scapula. The ABS Ashby head didn’t crack the bone but it sure wedged a big hole in it — which is the idea, in order to free friction and allow deeper penetration. Even with this heavy bone impact the arrow got 18″ penetration and no damage whatsoever to the head. Next pic is the inside of the scapula, showing the large “hinge” of bone blown out by the Ashby head.

Finally, I used a Tusker Concord for a 10 yard broadside shot attempting to hit the heart. This shot missed ribs on entrance and penetrated to the nock (backed out a bit in the following photo), stopped on the other side by the ground.

Summary: Here, as with Steve Sr., Kirby and other reports so far, an Ashby set-up helped save the day after a lethal but less than perfect shot. All broadheads tested performed beautifully and I would trust any one for elk or other big game, even with a fairly light bow 50-55#. My Indian guide T. Downing enjoyed similar excellent results on his bull with a good 14 yard broadside shot that slam-dunked the bull almost instantly. Finally, my experience demonstrates that no matter how many blades your broadhead has, unless you get a really low and preferably pass-through shot on an elk, it’s likely not to bleed externally due to the huge capacity of the lung cavity to hold blood, and the tendency of elk muscle to clamp tight around a shaft and blood bleeding. That’s the basics. Not perfect but I believe made possible by a solid Ashby setup. At any rate, meat’s in the freezer. 😀 Dave