GRAYLING – A country boy who rose to prominence with his love of archery and the outdoors, Fred Bear was crucial to development of modern bowhunting.
Bar was born in a farmhouse in Franklin County, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1902. He grew up trapping and hunting, but it wasn’t until age 25, after watching Alaskan Adventures, the first bowhunting film, that he became passionate about archery.
This chance led him to meet Art Young, the hunter featured in the film, and their friendship sparked Bear’s initial foray into target archery. In 1935, he took his bow to the woods, successfully killing his first deer.
In 1929, during the Great Depression, a fire destroyed the building where Bear worked, leaving him and his colleague, Charles Piper, jobless. With $1,200, they founded Bear Products, a silk screen and advertising business in Detroit, Michigan, catering mainly to automobile manufacturers.
However, Bear’s obsession with archery steadily grew, and he began using the tools at his disposal to craft and sell archery gear, such as leather shooting gloves, arm guards, and finger tabs. In 1937, Bear patented an archery glove, and his innovative products started to gain popularity.
Bear’s desire to produce bows led him to hire Nels Grumley, a skilled bowyer, to help design and build bows under the Bear Products name. These bows, made from a single piece of wood, were considered rudimentary by today’s standards but were a blend of artistry and ingenuity.
Bear not only had to make products—he had to create an archery market.
To promote bowhunting, he filmed his hunts, highlighting the effectiveness of a bow in the woods. His pioneering efforts helped Michigan open the country’s first archery season in 1937, and other states soon followed. By 1940, Bear sold the advertising side of the business, renaming the company to Bear Products by Grumley and fully dedicating himself to archery.
In 1946, Bear patented an innovative quiver that was attached to the bow itself. He continued to advance archery technology and filed a patent in 1948 for fiberglass backing on bows, a design that became standard in modern archery. Another breakthrough came with the Fred Bear Razorhead, a top-selling arrowhead design.
As Bear Archery grew, the company moved to Grayling, Michigan, in 1947 to accommodate increasing demand. However, Bear and Grumley parted ways over differences in production philosophy. Bear wanted to incorporate machinery to scale production, while Grumley favored handmade methods. The company was renamed Bear Archery, and Bear’s introduction of machinery allowed his products to reach a wider audience.
Fred Bear became an archery icon, harvesting animals worldwide, including a polar bear, Bengal tiger, and world record brown bear. His hunts gained mainstream media attention, including appearances on The Tonight Show. He was inducted into the Sporting Goods and Archery Hall of Fame and opened the Fred Bear Museum in Grayling, where his world-record trophies were displayed.
Bear founded the Fred Bear Sports Club, uniting passionate hunters. The club’s quarterly newsletter, The Sky, celebrated members’ accomplishments and awarded badges for milestones like hunting elk and bear.
The club’s motto, “Hunters Respect Wildlife,” emphasized Bear’s core philosophy—respect for nature and the hunt. He believed a hunt’s success was not measured by trophies but by the experience itself.
He was admired for his humility and wisdom. He mentored archers, offering advice in a way that never diminished their own sense of achievement. His goal was to make archery accessible to everyone, regardless of income. His passion for the sport was infectious, and he devoted himself to ensuring that anyone who wanted to shoot a bow could do so.
In 1968, at the age of 66, Bear sold Bear Archery to Victor Comp Corporation, but he remained President and CEO, overseeing day-to-day operations. When the compound bow was introduced in 1970, it revolutionized the market. Despite the rise of compound bows, Bear remained a steadfast supporter of all forms of bowhunting, even shooting compound bows occasionally, though he preferred traditional ones.
Bear Archery launched its first compound bow, The Alaskan, in 1975. It wasn’t until the release of the Whitetail Hunter a year later, priced at $50, that Bear Archery saw explosive success, selling 1.5 million units. The company relocated to a 150,000 square-foot facility in Gainesville, Florida, in 1978 to keep up with demand.
Fred Bear passed away in 1988, leaving behind his wife, Henrietta, and stepdaughter. His legacy lived on through Bear Archery, which continued to thrive due to the foundation he built. Today, Bear Archery still honors his memory, reserving his parking spot at their headquarters as a tribute to the man who changed the world of archery forever.
Since 1999, “Fred Bear Day” is celebrated annually on March 5 in Grayling, MI. The Fred Bear Day celebration is currently a 3-day event that features a 21 Whistling Arrow Salute, trade show and luncheon with raffles and guest speakers.
The festivities have grown since the creation of the non-profit organization, Fred Bear Day, Inc. Their mission is to remember, honor, and keep the spirit of Fred Bear alive.
A statue honoring Bear was built at the park in downtown Grayling on Sept. 7.
Content for this article came from a variety of sources including: Mossyoak.com; Wikipedia.com; tradbow.com/fred-bear-the-early-years; fredbearday.org/home; and terrapampalodge.com
– Compiled by Mark Constance
