"BUILT: The Bear Archery Story" - Mossy Oak

Fred Bear, the man dubbed as “The Gentleman Woodsman” and “the Papa Bear of the Great Outdoors,” almost single-handedly brought about the renaissance of modern bowhunting.

Mr. Bear had grown up trapping and hunting, but his first experience with archery began at age 25 after he saw the first bow hunting film ever produced, Alaskan Adventures, at the local picture show. Of course, at the time, 1927, what we now know as traditional archery was just simply archery. Art Young, the producer and hunter in the film, and Mr. Bear later became friends by a chance encounter and the two were among the first handful of archers in the United States, Mr. Bear focusing primarily on target archery in the beginning. It didn't take long for Mr. Bear to take his bow to the woods, though, and he killed his first deer with his bow in 1935.

In 1929, the Great Depression had begun and the building in which Mr. Bear worked burned to the ground, effectively rendering his coworker Charles Piper and him unemployed. Together they pooled $1,200 together to buy sewing machines and the equipment necessary to begin Bear Products, a silk screen and print advertising business in Detroit, Michigan. Their main clients were automobile manufacturers.

Though he worked hard to keep his new advertising business profitable, Mr. Bear's mind was beginning to focus on crafting and selling archery gear. Mr. Bear had developed an obsession, one that consumed his mind and began to consume his business.

Mr. Bear began developing innovative products using scraps of leather and the sewing machines in his office to help him in tournaments and in the field. He began designing and developing leather shooting gloves, arm guards, and finger tabs to sell at competitions and local shoots.

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