Watch Fred Bear Hunt Kodiak Bear With a Recurve Bow
Russ Chastain 10.30.19
If you like archery and hunting, you know Fred Bear’s name. He was an archery evangelist who spread the bowhunting gospel while he used a recurve bow & arrow to take all kinds of animals, including dangerous game. This video is about him hunting Kodiak Bear in the 1950s.
The series is “Fred Bear World of Adventure” and this episode is called Kodiak Country.
They set out on a boat — wearing suits and ties. How times have changed.
Along the way, they practice archery; they toss floating targets overboard from the Valiant Maid and shoot them with floating arrows, then gather up the arrows and do it again.
They do a little goose hunting on the side — using shotguns.
I thought it was interesting the narrator said 50 yards or less is “within range” for these archers. You’d think the range would have to be considerably shorter than 50 yards with a recurve bow.
We don’t get a good view of the kill shot at 6:45, but we’re told it was a clean lung shot and the bruin doesn’t go far. On the premise that the bear was too small to suit Bear, they return the following spring to hunt again with the Valiant Maid.
They see a lot of different wildlife, including elk, whale, sea otters, sea lions, and more.
Around 16:15, we get some fun of my sort: Shooting an M1 carbine. While I don’t like the breaking of bottles and slinging the glass into the sea, it’s pretty impressive to see the boat’s captain shooting moving targets while they are still airborne.
Around 18:25, they hunt crows with arrows! You don’t see that every day.
Not long after, they finally spot a big bear track and get after it.
This is a truly impressive hunt, as the hunter ends up about 20 feet from a huge bruin when he takes the shot with the recurve bow. The beefy beast goes less than 100 yards before falling, less than 15 seconds after being arrowed.
It’s a cool blast from the past, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
