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The Hunt Intensifies for Old Bows
by Al Reader, The Stickbowman
Reprinted with permission from Al Reader
Originally printed in Traditional Bowhunter, Dec/Jan 1997
The shot looked good all the way and in just 40 yards the small buck was down. I climbed down from my stand and as I walked up to the beautiful deer, I realized that my hunting season was coming to an end. Or was it?
One of the best times to enjoy the fall woods is during the bowhunting season. The leaves and acorns dropping along with the cooler breezes, there just isn't a better time to be in the woods. As I placed my tag on the deer I thought about what the hunt would be like tomorrow, the hunt for old bows that is!
Although my job, like others I know, severely limits my time for hunting deer, woodchucks and small game, the off season is the season for finding old bows.
I started collecting bows in 1958. At 13 years old I had saved up the $37.50 needed to buy the little Bear Kodiak bow I couldn't live without. Since that bow, my bow collecting hobby has become quite intense. At age 14 I already had as many bows and now with a few thousand come and gone there still isn't a week that goes by that a new discovery isn't made.
For sure, collecting is not for everyone. For some it can be too demanding, frustrating and too expensive. But for many others it's exciting, rewarding and a good investment.
Bowhunting is just too great a sport to be a seasonal sport. The winter season will find me making arrows and bow strings and getting in some stump shooting with friends, but tracking down old archery gear has always been one of my favorite sports. Collecting old archery equipment is nothing new as there are many outstanding archery collections and museums in the country today.
Some collectors specialize in only one type of collecting, such as old broadheads, arrows and archery books, catalogs and magazines. The American Broadhead Collectors Club (ABCC), established in 1974, is a group of very dedicated collectors and certainly the most organized. Their quarterly newsletter The Broadhead is a first class printing with well researched articles and historical data on the old heads. The stories of the members searching the countryside for good old broadheads are very interesting. Although old broadheads are their primary interest, many members have fine bow collections as well, with some extra bows available for trade on broadheads they need.
Fred Bear started collecting archery memorabilia in the late 1920's and assembled one of the greatest collections in the world today. The Fred Bear Museum is located in Gainesville, Florida, at the Bear Archery Plant. Frank Scott is the curator of the museum and was a close friend and employee of Fred for over 50 years. Frank is without a doubt one of the most knowledgeable men in the country on archery history and has done a marvelous job of arranging the Bear Museum. This museum is an absolute must see for anyone that's into the spirit of traditional equipment.
On the west coast is Northwest Archery in Seattle, Washington. Glenn St. Charles started his archery business there in the 1940's. Glenn founded the prestigious Pope and Young Club in 1961 and now semi-retired with the help of sons Joe and Jay, daughters Suzanne and Linda, they have on display one of the best quality museums in the country which includes the largest collection of authentic Art Young and Saxton Pope artifacts. Joe St. Charles is the curator of the museum and has assembled a fabulous display of early bowhunting collectibles. Another must see museum! Joe is a walking encyclopedia on old bowhunting history and equipment and is no stranger to readers of Traditional Bowhunter with his fantastic Shot From The Past column.
I'm often asked why I collect old bows like I do. I collect them because I like them. I like the beauty of the wood, fit and finish and varied designs as well as the feeling for a time when craftsmanship was more important than speed. Most of all is utility. I get to shoot them, to watch the flight of the arrow, an event that's lost with the use of most modern high-tech equipment. Whether it be one of my favorite new custom bows or my 1959 Bear Kodiak, I love shooting them both just the same. Enjoying the accumulation of more bows than I can ever use in ten lifetimes is in part a primeval instinct the bond between a man and his tools the more on hand the better. There are but few items to collect that have the utility and multi-functions of an old bow and I always feel just a little better when I find another good one.
One of the rewarding aspects of collecting is in learning about them. The serious collector first searches out the early factory catalogs like the Robin Hood Archery Co. and the Kittredge Bow Hut catalogs of the 1940's through the 1960's. Early magazines like the N.F.A.A. Archery magazine from 1944 to the late 1970's are the collectors bibles. These are as exciting to find and also as difficult as the bows. The knowledge one can get from these early publications is beyond measure. As a collector I get great pleasure sharing this knowledge with others and it often seems I learn something every other day in return.
The time has come for many to return to a simple, more basic form of shooting where nothing more than the beauty of the bent stick and string, feather and shaft are the only "aids" needed to accomplish one's deeds. Going back to shooting off the shelf, the bowman can watch the flight of his arrow sail to its mark, and the "spirit" of the arrow can be seen and felt. I've always used bright feathers to enhance this feeling.
An archery collection on display is not just some bows and arrows. It's in part a mobile museum that allows others the opportunity to learn about where traditional bowhunting came from, to learn of the pioneers of the sport and their successes and their failures in the development of the equipment we take as commonplace today. The collector can view in a moment the entire progression of one model bow, each year of its production showing the continuous upgrading in its design, quality of material and workmanship.
The three-finger shooting glove that so many of us use was patented in 1936 by Fred Bear. Fred also designed, tested and patented the "Bow Quiver" in 1946. I don't think there's a bowhunter that doesn't have or has used this most common item, yet many do not know of its beginnings.
Yes, the bow collectors of today are the historians of traditional bowhunting, constantly searching through old catalogs and building on their magazine collections to learn about the bow their father gave them or the bow they found at a garage sale last week.
When the compound bow arrived in the late 60's with all its glory, the marketers did everything possible to discredit the longbow and recurves of the day. The marketers said they stack at full draw, prone to early breakage, easily twisted limbs, poor cast, very slow and on and on. I say bull, hogwash! Unfortunately, with just about every bowhunting publication of the day hammering on with these tales of woe for the stick bow shooter, many were swung over to the more modern equipment. Most stick bow manufacturers had to get into the compound bow market to resist going out of business. By the late 70's most of the major bow catalogs were nearly void of recurves.
Well, they say things go in full circle. No doubt that time has come. Many high-tech shooters just aren't having fun shooting anymore with the self imposed pressures to excel in order to justify using the ultra modern bows and accessories. They see traditional equipment as a return to the simple way. The last few years has seen an incredible growing demand for all types of both new custom and old classic recurves and longbows. There is no doubt that some of the finest traditional bows are made today. Improvements in equipment and techniques along with the newer material and adhesives has made many of today's bows nearly indestructible.
On the other hand, some of the classic complex designs of the 50's and 60's, along with the super high grade woods used in the older bows, has now made them far too expensive to reproduce today. This has brought many of the older bows back in demand, not only to collect but to shoot as well. Early Hoyt, Damon Howatt, Black Widow, Wing and Bear made bows that are all very usable. Unless an old bow had been left up in the hot attic or over the fireplace, chances are it's as good as ever. I have found that heat is the main enemy of old bows, not time. For the majority of bows with twisted limbs, most twists can be removed with mild heat. Improper stringing is the main cause of a twisted limb. There are, however, some very rare collectible bows that are known to be fragile and should never even be strung up. Of the early Bears they are the Grumley marked longbows and static recurves, the 1949 to 1951 aluminum laminated grizzly and Kodiak static recurves, the 1959-60 crystallite clear glass Kodiak deluxe and Kodiak special deluxe and the 1963 dogleg Kodiak and Kodiak Magnum. These models are rare because many failed in service and were soon taken off the market.
Fred Bear was the greatest innovator of bow design and he was never hesitant to try something new to improve upon his line of bows. In the pioneering days, not everything worked all the time. Anything new was to some extent an experiment. The occasional failure of some designs has created a collector's utopia. There are some models, although seemingly sound in shooting ability, that have become borderline shooters due to high collector demand and thus high value. One example is the 1954 Bear Kodiak II or what we collectors like to call the compass Kodiak. Early compass K's were made with walnut handles and later production changed to maple. Any of these in excellent original condition are now possibly too valuable to risk shooting. The extremely narrow limb designs of these earlier recurves are very sensitive and somewhat fragile. Fortunately the limb designs of the 60's and 70's have proven over time to be very durable and many are in heavy use today.
Deciding what bows to collect is for the starting collector the first item of concern. For many years I had just collected bows at random. A chance visit to the Bear Archery Museum in 1978 changed my direction overnight. Fred had taken me around the museum and showed me the progression in design of one of his favorite models. I knew then that I would not rest until I had one of each year of that model! Finding one of each year of any model is the most demanding, most involved type of collecting I know and is only for the most serious collectors.
Several collectors I know have chosen the Bear Super Kodiak for this challenge. The Super Kodiak is by far the most recognized, most popular of all the older bows. Made from 1967 to 1976, over 30 thousand Super K's were made making for an easy bow to find. Fred Bear's company made more bows than most other companies combined making for a vast field of collectibles. Bear Archery made 360,000 bows in 1975 alone!
Fred devoted his lifetime to the promotion of the sport, and displaying one's collection for others to see is perhaps in a small way a continuation of the promoting of traditional bowhunting. I only wish Fred were here today to see the intense interest in his achievements. Wherever he may be, perhaps the day he had waited for is today!
I continue to research the 1950 to 1966 Bear Kodiak model bow and the 1969 to 1975 Grayling wood handle take-down. I need serial numbers, special orders, signed bows with complete I.D. on these two models only.
For anyone wanting to help it's best to write:
Al Reader,
214 North Haledon Avenue,
North Haledon, NJ 07508