Hunting with Fred Bear

[Charlie Lamb]

We don't bash compounds here and that ain't what this one is about... Fred and company were just introducing the Bear Alaskan Compound bow and they were shooting promotional shots for the catalog and adds.

Of course Fred had his own personal left hand compound. You know what? The shelf was cut down on that bow just like his recurve. Shootin off his finger with a compound bow... kinda funny.

MAN!! I wonder where THAT bow went!

Fred was shooting a few shots with that compound and he'd raise the bow and draw just like with his recurve.
He'd just about jump out of his skin when the thing rolled over. He'd shoot and shake his head.

I asked him what he thought and he said, he had to shoot it for the promotion, but that when the wheels rolled over it really blew his aiming.
"I really don't like this thing", is what he told me.

Go figure!  

[Butts2]

This is great stuff
thanks
more more more
yes I am greedy

[Charlie Lamb]

I should add that the pics of Fred shooting his compound did come out in magazines and the catalog that year.
I don't have a pic of it myself or I show it.

Anyone got a catalog collection?

[Ray Lyon]

I remember that Bear Alaskan compound picture well. It was a over the shoulder shot of Fred at full draw in a woods setting. He has his classic red check plaid shirt on. I ALMOST bought one of those that was sitting used on the local shops shelf (I think it was around 1977/78). Instead, I set aside my recurve and bought a Howard Hill Tembo longbow.

The rest is history.

[Meathook]

I bet old Fred got back from that hunt and told the story to all his buddies.  

Probably sounded like this:

"You'll never guess who was in camp with us this week, Thats right THE Charlie Lamb.  Whoda thunk a little bowyer like me would get a chance to hunt with a guy like him."    

[Huntrdfk]

Cahrlie that is awesome, thanks for sharing this.


David

[Timo]

Cool stuff Lambo!

The first trad related pic I ever remember seeing was that of Fred draggin out a big ole michigan whitetail!

I still see that image in my head!

[Mark U]

Looking at the shelf on that bow, and then mentioning Fred Asbell reminds me of an article Asbell wrote, probably back about 1981 in Bowhunter, about shooting off the shelf.  He said that the first thing he did when he bought a new bow was to buy a new file and modify the shelf to look just like the one on Fred's bow.  I, of course, did the same with my bows.

  Yer a lucky dog, Charlie.

[Mike Bolin]

Charlie, thank you for sharing with us. You should really put your hunts/adventures down in book form. I know you'd sell at least one...to me!    Thank you-Mike

[[email protected]]

Charlie,

Thanks so much for sharing!  It's a pretty cool piece of history.

Bob

[woodsman]

Charlie

     I recently came in posession of an old Bear recurve.  The fellow that had owned it said he had the opportunity to meet and shoot with Fred Bear.  He told me of Fred's personal bow and how it was modified.  He bought this bow new and modified it exactly like Fred's bow.  It is a mint 1959 Bear Grizzly, painted camo.

     It's special to hunt with this bow simply due to the history connected to Fred and a life-time of bowhunting by it's previous owner.  

     Hearing your story adds even more credability to it's history cause I had never heard anyone else speak of Fred's special modification.

Thanks Charlie


Chris

[John/Alaska]

Thanx for sharing Charlie!

[Glenn29]

This is an awesome thread!

Mr. Lamb thank you very much for sharing your memories  

[Charlie Lamb]

I may have mentioned this before, but this hunt is where I first noticed it.

I loved Fred's hat... as many do/did. Something I noticed that I hadn't paid much attention to was a little sprig of leaves with a couple of berries tucked into the hat band.

I didn't think much about it the first day, other than I thought it was kinda neat.

Then the second day I noticed that Fred had changed the sprig for a small feather.

On the third it was something different and by now my curiosity was running wild... so I asked him. "What's up with that?"

Fred told me that each day he'd stop and pick some little something that caught his eye and put it in his hat band.
It reminded him to slow down and pay attention to the little things around him.

I adopted the habit as my own that day and have kept it. Ya know what? It works.

Fred wasn't so much the killer/hunter as he was a student of nature and the world around him.

[Charlie Lamb]

My granddad wore a hat like Fred's, as many men did years ago and I got my first one from him.

I guess I've worn "the hat" since I was about 18.

It's my constant hunting companion and keeps the sun out of my eyes and the rain off my neck.

The fact that Fred wore one like my grandad made the hat just that much cooler.

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Charlie,, Sent ya the picture, Earthlink did it's thing.

[Hutch]

Charlie, That's really neat.
I would love to hear some of these stories first hand, person to person over a camp fire sometime, and ya know, we don't live all that far apart.

Your welcome around my camp anytime sir.


Hutch

[IB]

  and I'll see ya soon.
   I KNOW THOSE GUYS WITH THE BEAR !! One Looks older NOW

[Woodduck]

This is a nice thread...thanks so much. Leaves me with a real warm feeling...or maybe I've been sittin' here too long    
'For really' thanks, Charlie, and guys. It's nice to hear the REAL inside stuff. Fred's promotional team fooled me into buying that 'Alaskan' compound. I saw in the picture that it was the one Fred was shooting...gosh, I'm gullible  

[Charlie Lamb]

Alrighty then... Ken "Earl E. November" Elshof sent me the picture of Fred and the Alaskan Compound. Doesn't show the shelf, but you can see he's got the arrow down on his knuckle.

 

Thanks much Ken!