When looking through history at some of the greatest and most popular outdoorsman and hunters of all time, one name is almost guaranteed to come up every time. Fred Bear, often called “The Father of Bow Hunting”, is one of the most influential outdoorsman and bow hunters (or just hunter in general) in the history of the United States of America and the world. Its’s almost laughable to say that someone could be so influential this late in history with hunting being around for thousands of years, but Fred Bear may be the last hunter to revolutionize the sport of archery as much as he did. Fred brought many innovations to archery that are just as, if not more, popular today as they were 50 years ago. He is also still one of the most successful …show more content…
Its founders were Bear and Charles Piper. The initial thought was to focus on advertising for automotive companies and silk-screening. In 1938 the company expanded to offer hand-made bows. Fred Bear sold the advertising side of the Bear Products Company in 1940. The archery business was named Bear Archery. In 1947 the company moved to a new facility from Detroit to Grayling, Michigan. The move from Detroit to Grayling was made because Fred wanted to be closer to his favorite hunting and fishing hotspots. The Grayling plant focused on making and marketing bows (recurves and long bows) in a growing archery market. Bow manufacturing changed from hand-made bows made out of wood to mass production using fiberglass and other modern materials. For both Bear and his company, the '50's and '60's were years of exponential growth. In 1952, Bear Archery introduced the Grizzly bow which was the first mass-produced bow in archery history. Soon after, Bear's popular Kodiak line of bows hit the market. With the coming of the compound bows, Fred knew he needed to enter that game to remain relevant in the archery industry. Bear introduced the famous Whitetail Hunter model and the fame of the company grew greatly. Fred Bear sold the company to Victor Comptometer in 1968, but remained the president of Bear Archery. Bear Archery moved manufacturing from Michigan to Gainesville, Florida in 1978. Over the next 30 years Bear Archery changed ownership in a series of mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs from Victor Comptometer to Walter Kidde & Co, Hanson PLC, U.S. Industries, Fenway Partners, and the North American Archery Group. In 2003 Escalade Sports bought the North American Archery Group and currently does business as Bear Archery