Hunter Interview - Troy Fowler

1. How long have you been a bowhunter?

Troy: I have been bowhunting since I was 12 years old and by now that’s pushing 40 years.  Old slow compounds, overdraws, and a decade shooting traditional including two kills with flint points.

2. Do you hunt with traditional equipment, compound, crossbow, or a combination of these?

Troy: Traditional gear years ago, mainly compound but I just got a crossbow and it’s super fun.  I may give it a go on the ranch pigs!

3. What is/are your favorite animal(s) to hunt?

Troy: Large adult boar feral hogs and elk.

4. What is/are your favorite bowhunting method(s): stands, still hunting, spot and stalk, pure stalking, or other?

Troy: Due to my being in a private land state mostly hunting out of stands.  But I prefer glassing and stalking.

5. What event(s) brought you to use Ashby-style arrow setups?

Troy: FAILURE.  I was having inconsistent lethality, tracking distances, and penetration were completely unpredictable. 90% of the shots were at feeders at a known distance and I wasn’t missing. This should be easy - right?

Especially (this is key) as the animals I hunted and focused on were larger.  For instance a 120 pound pig has no comparable physiology as a penetration medium to a 220 pound boar. They are completely different due to enlarged bone structure. Big pigs eat broadheads.  I haven’t shot an elk yet, but people tell me they are much bigger than a whitetail deer! I need to go find out!

My first kill with an “Ashby arrow” was with a 54# longbow.  I had built (I call it tinkering) the arrows back when I was still experimenting with “heavy” arrows on my compound. I was not convinced!  They just look so SSSLLOOOWWW!! Then one day I said to myself.  “Well, Troy, if you’re gonna do this let’s do this!  Let’s replicate Ed.”   (I did not know Dr Ashby at the time - just gleaned off the ashby report and figuring it out redneck style!)

So I went back to a traditional longbow, the arrow ended up 680 grains 26% FOC, hand sharpened 3:1 single bevel, intact structural integrity.  Perfect bare shaft flight with every arrow. It took me a week to build 6 of them.  This is pre internet and I had to work with bits and pieces of tuning info.

The day comes for me to test! So I grab my setup and go to the ranch looking for a “pig”. All I wanted a regular pig. But NOPE, I am easing through the brush and there, I see, the biggest pig I’ve ever seen while hunting, to date.  We play cat and mouse a bit and I end up 17 yards or so from it.  As I draw he sees me and rotates toward me to see what the heck I was doing or check my heart rate because it was racing!!!

 
Oh boy!! Quartering to with an arrow going maybe 150 FPS.  I literally said to myself, “if Ed’s right, this is gonna work”. I aimed into the shoulder junction and released my arrow “test” while fully preparing to run like hell!  At impact, I hear an almost inaudible “chut” sound and the arrow disappears into him like he wasn’t there…..I was absolutely surprised and stood there as the pig spun a bit and then he ran off, but not like his tail was on fire, just kinda running. Uncertain of the hit - I left him 4 hours.  Well, the arrow penetrated 4 feet and the broadhead popped out his ham.  Blood trail was easy.  I was amazed.  No sound on impact (hardly), 4 feet of penetration, and 100 yard blood trail.  The pig weighed 265 pounds.  My biggest pig to date and I’ve whacked a pile of them since!

6. Could you describe your typical arrow setup(s) for hunting big game?

Troy: 650 + grains, single bevel one piece broadheads hand sharpened.  Every single arrow is bare shaft, nock tuned, for perfect flight - then fletched with (4) 2” AA style feathers to max FOC.

7. Overall, what has been your experience using Ashby-style arrow setups?

Troy: Put simply. When you put in the works and build an Ashby style arrow, the only reason you don’t get your animal, you didn’t hit vital organs. It’s now my shooting mistakes or they jump the string and after the shot that makes things questionable.  The arrow system does not fail in any capacity.  The human might.  But we can have arrows bending or broadheads that dull on impact or arrows that don’t penetrate decide our hunting success.  If you mess up, it is ok.  But to have an equipment failure?  That doesn’t happen anymore to me.

8. Do you have any bowhunting tips you would like to pass along?

Troy: Perfect arrow flight is completely misunderstood and it takes a ton of work. “Spare no effort or expense to achieve perfect arrow flight” Dr Ed Ashby!!