Eventually the museum's collection represented the largest privately held collection of archery artifacts in the world. The Fred Bear Museum originated in Grayling, Michigan in 1967. Fred Bear Museum Fred Bear Museum Established Grayling, Michigan was home to Fred Bear and Bear Archery Company. Fred Bear was also a popular contributing author for magazines such as Outdoor Life and Archery Magazine. (USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database: US002665678).īear has been immortalized in the song 'Fred Bear' from the album Spirit of the Wild by hard rock musician Ted Nugent, who was Bear's friend. On January 12, 1954, Patent 2,665,678 was issued for the Composite Archery Bow. Bear applied for a Patent on April 21, 1950. His body was cremated, and his ashes spread near the AuSable River in Northern Lower Michigan, where Fred had liked to flyfish.į.B. He remained in the hospital for a month, and died after another heart attack on April 27, 1988. In 1978, following a strike and continuing labor problems, the Bear Archery manufacturing operation was relocated to Gainesville, Florida.īear struggled with chronic emphysema later on in life, and suffered a heart attack while living in Florida and was admitted to a hospital in Gainesville. He also produced several films of bowhunting around the world.īear sold controlling interest in his company in 1968, but continued on with the title of chairman. His television debut was made on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, with later appearances on The American Sportsman and The Tonight Show. In the ensuing years, he traveled the world with his bow and appeared before thousands of bowhunters promoting and teaching the sport. Bear's first bowhunting trophy was a Michigan whitetail taken in 1935. The following years proved prosperous however, as more states permitted bow hunting and the sport's growth steadily increased.īear's interest in bowhunting was stimulated by another legend, Art Young of the Pope & Young Club, whom Bear met in Michigan in the late 1920s and often called his hero. Even as late as 1961, it was difficult making ends meet for Bear. In 1947, Bear and his wife moved to Grayling, Michigan, where they lived in a tent along a river to keep their personal expenses down while trying to make a go of their bow business. Bear Archery Company was thus founded in 1933. With a partner named Chuck who had worked at the same plant, they put together $1,200 to open his bow business in a garage. In an interview, he mentioned operating a plant from 1929-1933, during the Great Depression, that caught fire, thus rendering him unemployed. He also worked for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit as a wood carver, making cabinets for the radios/dashboards. Įarly on, Bear worked as a glue maker for the Chrysler Company in Detroit. His heritage was English, Dutch, Swiss and German. Bear was born in a farmhouse in Franklin County, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1902, the second of three children.

Old fred bear compound bows