# Fred bear



## openseason (Jan 18, 2008)

Is Fred Bear the real father of bowhunting or is there another one?


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## phumb (Oct 7, 2006)

howard hill, saxton pope(pope and young) and an indian named ishi(sp?)


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## Bootch (Jan 16, 2007)

*Bowhunting..*

has been going on since the bow was invented, Fred bear and the rest all came thousands of years later.
Bowhunting as a documented sport and not really neccessary for survival would be a different thing?


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## TWO SWITCHBACKS (Jan 5, 2006)

*father of the bow*

to many robin hood was the one that inspired me after seeing errol flynn play the part, could not wait to make a stick bow and arrows, thats in the late 1940s (son!!).


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## openseason (Jan 18, 2008)

TWO SWITCHBACKS said:


> to many robin hood was the one that inspired me after seeing errol flynn play the part, could not wait to make a stick bow and arrows, thats in the late 1940s (son!!).


Geeze man just a lil ? (old man!!)


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## Jack NZ (Apr 7, 2006)

During WW1 we had all sorts of rationing in NZ and all centerfire rifles were taken by the home guard for local defence.
Nobody had any ammo because that was also handed in to the home guard or army.
As a result a lot of people were making and using bows to provide venison for their familys.
No sports hunters from anywhere had any input in this,it was simply a matter of survival.
Robin Hood was a childs myth and nobody had ever heard of Fred Bear, or Howard Hill and the pope was some italian guy.
This was of course outside of America,,,,,,,there really are such places.


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## Wolf among dogs (Jan 5, 2007)

I give credit to all of the above mentioned (Robin of Locksley is a little `iffy` for me ) But as Jack stated, it depends on your culture.There were lots of great archers/bowhunters before the commercialization of the sport.Fred Bear was an awesome buisness man, so was Ben Pearson, alot of these people helped bring archery to the masses, in one form or another. 

In America.

It depends on your culture as to who did it in that area.There are lots of greats though, many with names I cant pronounce and many I have never heard of.


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## ShakesTheClown (Jan 25, 2003)

I don't think there is a "father of bowhunting". The origins of bowhunting are of course ancient. You're probably looking for the father of modern sport bowhunting. 

You can probably trace the roots of modern bowhunting all the way back to Will & Maurice Thompson. Maurice Thompson's "The Witchery Of Archery" in the late 1800's influenced many of the early bowhunting pioneers. I'm sure many of the sports early heros like Art Young, Saxton Pope read Thompson's stories.

Dr. Saxton Pope and Arthur Young where inspired largely by Ishi, the last of the Yahi Indians found near Oroville, CA in the early 1900's. They learned bowhunting from Ishi. Although great hunters, Indian bowhunters where not great shooters and their equipment was primitive at best. Dr. Pope, therefore, patterned his bows after the English longbow. 

Fred Bear, no stranger to the outdoors and hunting before becoming interested in archery, was greatly influenced by an Art Young film he saw.

And, that changed things, forever.

All that being said, Fred Bear did more to advance and popularize archery and bowhunting than any other single human being, IMO. He was an amazing promoter of himself and of archery. He pushed for separate archery seasons and encouraged hunters to become "two-season" hunters. He took bowhunting to television. He was one of the first to mass produce archery and bowhunting gear. Bowhunting, almost certainly would not be where it is today without Fred Bear. His name at one time was on more archery related patents than anyone else and that may still be true to this day.

Bowhunting would not be where it is today if the compound bow had not been invented. But, had not Fred Bear done what he did to popularize the sport who knows if the compound would have even been invented? He certainly laid the ground work for what we have today.

So, I'm not sure if there is a single father of modern bowhunting but Fred Bear was the biggest single influence on bowhunting as we know it today.


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## Darton01 (Aug 25, 2006)

The Thompson brothers.:zip:


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## archery_hunter (Jan 25, 2004)

ShakesTheClown said:


> I don't think there is a "father of bowhunting". The origins of bowhunting are of course ancient. You're probably looking for the father of modern sport bowhunting.
> 
> You can probably trace the roots of modern bowhunting all the way back to Will & Maurice Thompson. Maurice Thompson's "The Witchery Of Archery" in the late 1800's influenced many of the early bowhunting pioneers. I'm sure many of the sports early heros like Art Young, Saxton Pope read Thompson's stories.
> 
> ...


Fred Bear surely an archery legend, but he was more the father of Modern archery commercialization in industry & showmanship (video/TV) I believe than anything else.


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## Toxophilite Phi (Sep 15, 2002)

*fathers of the bow*

Fred is said to be the the father mainly because he was probably the first to bring archery to the masses. Ben Pearson was another archer that promoted archery really well. Howard Hill done just as much to bring the sport of archery to the people. But his was mainly on his shooting ability. The Thompson Brothers, the Wilhelm Brothers, Glenn St. Charles, Pope & Young, Ishi, Chief Will Compton and many others deserve mention in this topic. Yes even Robin of Locksley, from most accounts, was a real person and his feats with a bow "may" hold some truth but after time the legend has grown. But the legend is something else, isn't it.


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## Wolf among dogs (Jan 5, 2007)

*Some cool stuff !*

Yue Fei 
Horace A. Ford 
Howard Hill 
Jumong 
Park Sung-hyun 
Minamoto no Tametomo 
Zhou Tong (archer) 
Natalia Valeeva 
Nasu no Yoichi 


Some names to start with..just google em..pretty cool stuff.! As well as cultures that have helped along the way !



Antiquity:

Armenians 
Cretans 
Getae 
Parthians 
Sarmatians 
Scythians 
Indo-Aryans 


Early Middle Ages:

Huns 
Avars 
Bulgars 
Magyars 
Cumans 
Late Middle Ages:

Welsh 
Manchu 
Mongols 
Turks



IM me if ya have any other questions...glad to help ! :wolf:


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## csinclair (Mar 16, 2008)

*Let's not forget the Emperor Jimmu*

Here's one that I think had a huge influence as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Emperor_Jimmu.jpg

All the great men of old were archers.

Craig


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## Hottarcher (Mar 18, 2008)

*Native Americans*

How many of you as a child played w/ a bow w/ suction cup arrows & pretended to be Fred Bear, Howard Hill, or the Thompson Brothers? Most kids in my neighborhood pretended we were Indians, the great native cultures of America. As children we weren't aware of these previously mentioned great archers but as we became "archers" we tend to forget about our original role models. 
I would have to say that Native Americans were the first bowhunters on our soil.


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## Mr. October (Feb 15, 2003)

Fred Bear is known as the Father of MODERN Bowhunting. God only knows what Troglodyte first managed to figure out how to launch a pointed stick with a Mammoth ligament and a bent branch. (Or substitute the proper pre-hisotoric mammal and primate here). 

Howard Hill, Saxton Pope, Art Young, and Ishi, etc. all laid the foundation for Bear. Were it not for Ishi wandering out of the hills we'd probably all have a lot more money in the bank and spend a lot more Saturdays at home in the fall. 

But Fred Bear is the one who popularized bowhunting and created the pathway for the average person to follow. He also made ready-made bows that anyone could purchase to take up the sport. It was no longer necessary to hew broadheads out of your Mother's spatulas. 

I can highly recommend Charlie Kroll's biography of Fred Bear entitled "Fred Bear". It, perhaps, is not the most exciting read (not that biographies usually are) but Charlie and Fred were good friends and had many mutual friends. It is a VERY accurate account of Fred's life and the history of Bear Archery. The book probably does a better job of detailing Fred's prowess with a bow then his own field notes since he tended to be a bit modest in them.


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## girtski (Apr 7, 2005)

*Howard Hill*

I am waiting for a video starring Howard Hill called "Hunting the Hard Way". Available through Netflix...Read somewhere prior to ordering the video that he was the fellow doing all of the shooting for Errol Flynn in those old Robin Hood movies....Kinda turned archery into a spectator sport...something it really isn't today. Kinda like watching paint dry. Trick shooting regardless of the tool is cool!.


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## mydogisscout (Jan 10, 2007)

i think you guys are all correct to a point, however Bear Archery was the first company to make bows on a production line, Available to be bought in a store set in "standard" sizes and draw weights. as well as arrows "available now" prior to bear archery, it was build your own or have them built. so I would say Fred Bear is the father of modern archery.


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## girtski (Apr 7, 2005)

*Sounds kinda like the Henry Ford of Archery!*



mydogisscout said:


> i think you guys are all correct to a point, however Bear Archery was the first company to make bows on a production line, Available to be bought in a store set in "standard" sizes and draw weights. as well as arrows "available now" prior to bear archery, it was build your own or have them built. so I would say Fred Bear is the father of modern archery.


Ford didn't invent the auto, he just brought it to the masses via production lines and cost efficiencies....


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## AKRuss (Jan 10, 2003)

*Fred Bear Bows*

When I was a little kid I REALLY wanted a Bear recurve. A number of lawns were mowed and gardens weeded with a Kodiak in mind. When I graduated High School I really wanted the then new takedown recurve. Now that I'm a grown man, I own and shoot several Bear recurves and am always keeping my eye open for another. I like the old ones and I like the new ones. It is arguable that Fred Bear was the father of archery in the US but he is certainly the one who gave me the opportunity to get a quality bow in my hands and I've never let go.


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