I just finished reading Bob Munger's book, Trailing a Bear, that allowed the reader to jouney with him and Fred on their many bow hunting adventure with lots of large and small animals killed.

I figure they were using the bear razor head on most but how about the Polor bear, brown bear, and elephant and larger animals of Africa? Same or different heads?

my best, Paul

He wrote that he preferred a 4 blade head and advised against a 2 blade. His tiger was taken with a Razorhead (with unmentioned pod) and I'm pretty sure his elephant and other African game was also taken with the Razorhead. He probably started out with something like a 4 blade Zwicky and went exclusively with his head after he developed it. I can't reach my archive, due to a sleeping cat, or I could tell you more.

Joe

Fred Bear on Arrows

Your next heading here is “arrows and broadheads.” I draw 28 inches, and my arrows are 29 inches with either the blunt field point or the broadhead attached to it, so in the case of the broadhead, I have an inch to the back of the head at my full draw length.

I am not concerned about whether my feathers are left- or right-handed, but I do like a helical fletch and I like a very large feather. I’ve never shot other than three-fletch arrows. I’m sure four-fletch has advantages. I think that they can be cut lower and stand up under wet weather probably better than three-fletch, although I’ve never used them. My fletching is 5 inches long and begins 1 1/4 inches from the very end of the nock. They are spirally fletched so that the shaft revolves in flight. Never use straight fletching on hunting arrows.

I have no particular color preference on fletching, except that I’m often making a film in which it is very important in having the camera follow the flight of the arrow. For this reason I have used rather bright-colored feathers—white and yellows, maybe with a black cock feather for a contrast, and, for some reason, my arrows are never camouflaged. The last three years I’ve been using Converta-Point Magnum® arrows, of course, and they are aluminum. This is a handicap in the woods, there’s no question about it, but it’s one of the things you have to put up with when you are in the filming business. (Author’s note: These were the “new” arrows we had introduced in our 1968 Bear Archery catalog. A special insert was designed for use with broadheads, and there were blunt, field and target points as a part of this new system, so that the archer could use the same arrow shaft and simply interchange the points for practice, hunting or field use. The shafts were especially made for us by Easton. Fred came up with this system and filed for the patent on Nov. 2, 1966, and the patent #3,401,938 was granted on Sept. 17, 1968.)

I do not use any preparation on the feathers to keep them dry. I use a plastic bag pulled over the arrows when they are in the bow quiver and held in place with a rubber band. This, of course, sometimes is a handicap, also, because if you are surprised by game it’s pretty difficult to pull this bag off without making a little rattling sound, but I’ve never found a waterproof fletching material that stood up under very much rain. (Author’s note: This was written before we introduced our Weathers®, all-weather plastic fletching material, but Fred continued to use real feathers even after we had done so.) Naturally, I don’t fletch my own arrows, and I use the Razorhead® (the Bear Razorhead, if you’ll permit me), and I always use the insert even in shooting an elephant … and there’s a reason for this. The insert opens up an “X” hole and gives better penetration because it relieves pinching on the shaft and leaves a better blood trail. I use a Razorhead® with the insert for all kinds of game. Makes no difference the weight of the bow or the size of the game.

As I said before, I like an arrow that is nine times my bow weight in grains. Penetration is a matter of kinetic energy, and it is a well-known fact that a heavy object moving at the same speed is much harder to stop than a lighter one. There’s another factor in the case of an arrow. A given bow has a certain, I’ll call it “quickness,” of return to the string from a full-draw position. A heavy bow can handle a heavier arrow with a great deal more striking energy.

love the Fratzke sweater he is wearing in his later years,, I also have that sweater, and I shoot razorheads today, I can get them scary sharp

Most, if not all of Fred's videos will have a little blurb on his choice of broadhead and it was always the Razorhead after it was introduced in the mid 50's. Wouldn't make much sense for a company that makes a signature broadhead to use something else. He was out to prove the effectiveness of what he sold under the Bear name. And they worked just fine too.

Still do!

I thought he used a Rage.

Nope, Montec G5!

He used Black Diamonds that were made for him by Zwickey before the razorhead. I have one of them.

An old friend of mine, gone for some time now, owned a sporting goods store in Fairbanks, Alaska, as well as one of the early bush pilot outfits. He flew Fred Bear in and out of many bush hunting spots, most notably the Little Delta River not far from town. One of my late friends' employees, Keith Clemons, often filled in as the guide to Fred and Glenn St. Charles, and appears on the cover of "Bows on the Little Delta." Keith is long gone now as well.

Having said all that....My friend, Dick McIntire, flew out of Barrow, Alaska, an Eskimo village on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and landed on the pack ice after spotting a huge polar bear. Dick took the #1 Polar Bear (his record was broken decades later by a compound hunter in Canada) with his recurve bow.

Hearing about this, his old time friend Fred Bear contacted him and wanted to know which bow, arrow, and broadhead he'd used so that Bear Archery could make a big deal over it. Dick told him he didn't use a Bear recurve, he'd used a Damon Howatt bow. Fred Bear was livid. He and Dick had course words, and even though Dick assured Papa Bear that he'd used a Bear arrow and razorhead broadhead, Fred hung up and didn't talk with him for many years.

I so wish I'd spent more time talking with Dick and Keith about there adventures. In 1970 when I came to live in Alaska I was surrounded by hunting legends and didn't think about writing stuff down for the re- telling in 2019.

Wonderful information, Jim. Thank you.

What great information you guys have provided. I thank you for that.

The book was an interesting read for sure. Lots of arrows shot and lots of misses at ranges we might not do today.

my best, Paul

I'm not about to tell you folks how many arrows were shot at that polar bear or anything about Dick having to run around the Super Cub. Nope. I ain't tellin.

I think the greenies are a good head...definitely easy to sharpen.

I use them mostly because of nostalgia though. Love looking down a a quiver full of razor heads. I guess I should take it a step further and use cedars but I figure aluminum works so well .....trad enuff for this cat

Geez Frisky...If you are going to shoot a Bear bow it's time you brushed up on your history!

They've always been my favorite. Put lots of venison and pork in the freezer with them.

They've always been the coolest and lethal-looking broadhead out there, especially with the insert in place. I do wonder, though, if Fred ever had a tip curl on him.

Backcountry,

Just guessing here, but someone in the St. Charles family might know this? I'm not sure who is left around my part of the country to know.

I've never curled a tip on one and I have been hunting with them since 1964.

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