Nothing has grown so fast and furious in the hobby of Archery Collecting anywhere near the growth that collecting Bear Archery memorabilia has. Posting Rights Icon Legend New Topics All registered users may post new topics in this forum. Replies All registered users may post replies in this forum. Horst Auction Center The Voices Of Experience Gun Auction June 25, 2016 9 AM. Printable Gun List. Click here for accessories list. Click here for important. Bear Kodiak Magnum bow, Serial 19832. I am not an expert on this, but will describe as best as I can. Bought it ten years ago with the intent to. Collecting Items of the Bear Archery Company. Nothing has grown so fast and furious in the hobby of Archery. Collecting anywhere near the growth that collecting Bear Archery. MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/aPUAAOSw3s1aCceH/$_1.JPG' alt='Bear Polar Recurve Bow Serial Numbers' title='Bear Polar Recurve Bow Serial Numbers' />It doesnt seem to matter what the item is. LP record albums of Fred. Bear Archery on it, someone. In this article, I will present an overview of Bear Archery. Then in later columns, we can get into the details. Kilauea Mount Etna Mount Yasur Mount Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira Piton de la Fournaise Erta Ale. Top VIdeos. Warning Invalid argument supplied for foreach in srvusersserverpilotappsjujaitalypublicindex. But for now, sit back and enjoy our time. A Brief History of the Bear Archery Company. Begun in 1. 93. 3 in a small shop in Detroit, the company was. Bear Products Company. Archery consumed. Although Fred made bows for himself and friends, it wasnt. Fred hired a very skilled woodworker from Detroit. Nels Grumley that the Bear Products Company line. By 1. 94. 0 the archery line had grown to the point where Fred. Bear. Archery Company. Times were tough, but Fred was a very good business. Detroit. to a brand new plant which Fred had completed in Grayling in. Fred sold the company in 1. Victor Comptometer so that. Even though he was not the owner any longer, Fred stayed on as. President of Bear Archery Company under Victor. The Bear Archery. Company thrived in Grayling until 1. Gainesville, Florida. Fred stayed active with the. Now that we know a little about the Companies roots, lets. Bear over the last 6. The Bows of Bear Archery. Without a doubt, Bear Archery Company has produced more traditional. In. fact, in one year alone 1. Bear Archery made over 3. Why then, if there are so many Bear bows out there, are. Wouldnt it make sense that other bow companies. Well, remember that we are talking about bowhunters here, ever. Enough said Seriously, Bear bows were the best marketed bows in the world. Most all of us who grew up in the days before. Bear ads and promotions everywhere we turned. And. as a result, many of us grew up with Bear bows in our hands for. The Pre Grayling Era Bows of Bear Archery. Freds first bowyer back in 1. Bear. Products Company first began commercially producing bows was. Nels Grumley. Nels was a fantastic. The pride in his craftsmanship is demonstrated in that each and. Nels made is either stamped or signed with his. Bear Products by Grumley. Bear Archery by Grumley. Beginning in 1. 93. Grumley bows bore the stamped mark of. Why the different means of signing the bows Well, when Nels. Fred in 1. Bear Products by Grumley. Then somewhere in the early 1. Nels simply began. Note Remember that the company was known as Bear Products. Canon A520 Remote Capture Software more. Bear Products by Grumley bows. Bear Archery by. Grumley. Nels left Bear in 1. Fred made the decision to begin. Grayling. Nels. felt strongly that bows should be individually crafted, and not. So Nels left, even though Fred tried to convince. However, his private venture into the. These Grumley. by Grumley bows are marked with a simple stamped signature. Grumley either on the limb or on the riser, and are. Not all Bear bows made in these early years were made by Nels. There were dozens of other bowyers who made Bear wooden bows. Janes Hotel Pc Game. Ranger. These. bows were simply marked Bear Archery in a written. However, in late 1. Bear began using what later became. Running Bear decal, and thus some. Models of Grumley bows. Nels made 4 basic styles of bows These bows were available primarily in one piece design. The later Grumleys also can be found in laminated. Additionally you will find. Grumleys backed with sinew, rawhide, and various types. A characteristic of Grumley bows is the trapezoidal. By this I mean that the face of the limb. Remember also that Bear would take special orders for bows. Many one of a kind Grumleys exist in collections that. Nels Grumleys. hands. But whatever the model,and whatever the wood or backing, the. Of the. bows which I have seen over the years, the only bowyer who I. Grumley would be James D. Easton. of California. The Grumley bow on the left is a Bush Bow, while the bow. Deerslayer model. Notice the different length. The Grayling Era bows of Bear Archery. Beginning in 1. 94. Bear Archery moved into a new plant in. Grayling, Michigan. Bow sales were now beginning to soar as new. Fred Bear. Fred realized that he could not meet the demand which would. Bear had been doing since its inception almost 1. So he came up with a new method of mass producing bows, finally. But Nels Grumley would. Nels left the company to go out on his. Upon Nels departure, Fred moved another employee by the name. Bob Meeker over to supervise the manufacturing of the new. Even though bows were then largely the result of machine. Bob came to be considered a fine bowyer in his own right. The Aluminum Laminated Bows. The first new bow model which was introduced in 1. Nels departure was the Grizzly. The Polar and Kodiak were. These bows of 1. 94. This aluminum was. B 1. 7 bomber airplanes of WWII, the purchase of. Glen St. Charles. The. aluminum lamination on the Kodiak and Grizzly is found only in. However, on the Polar, the aluminum is found both under a layer. In 1. 94. 9 and 1. Bear was using a bi directional glass on. Then in 1. 95. 1 Bear began using a new Uni Directional glass in. This. is a good way to tell the difference between the 1. The 1. 95. 1 Grizzly also began production with. The Kodiak was introduced in 1. Then in early 1. 95. Grizzly, the new uni directional glass was introduced. This glass change. Then in mid 1. 95. So for 1. 95. 1 you will find. Kodiaks with aluminum and bi directional glass, aluminum with. This aluminum laminated caused two problems. First, the bows. had quite a bit of handshock when shot, and as a result were. Secondly, the large amount of shock. This warranty. problem caused a substantial strain on the companies finances. Fred insisted that all bows be replaced if returned broken. The Compass Kodiaks. Another popular bow for collectors of Grayling manufactured. Kodiak II of 1. 95. Also known as the Compass Kodiak. The compass required a significant amount of wood. Again, Fred insisted that the warranty on these bows be honored. The Kodiak IIs of 1. If the riser section of. K II is very dark, then you have a walnut model. Conversely. if the riser of your K II is a light colored wood, then you have. The walnut bows were made only for the first 2 3. There were also many different lengths available in each of. But all K IIs are very collectible. Compass Kodiak The. The Bear Take Down. Fred had been tinkering with take apart and take down bows. Finally. in August 1. Bear Take Down recurve went into production. Note Although introduced in August 1. Take. Down model bow did not appear in the Bear catalogs until 1. This new model bow was manufactured in 3 different riser lengths. A, B, and C. The A riser was the shortest, and the C. B being in the middle. In this. manner, the archer could mix and match riser styles with various. Note Although officially discontinued in 1. Bear, and a few. A and B models were assembled in 1. These later assemblies can be recognized by their white. How many Bear Take Downs were actually made In the three. A models made. 8. B models made, and only 3. C models. Then why is the C the least valuable of the lot even. Take Downs Apparently. Some collectors place significance on the year of the manufacture. Actually. more than year, the collector should be referring to Type. The. first models made in 1. Type Is. Models made in 1. Type IIs, due to a change. Note The serial numbers of all the Take Downs begin. For example. and A handle will have a serial number which begins. A, a B handle will have a serial.