A frequent topic among a couple friends is the particular bow ole Fred used in taking some of his great trophies.  

We know he took his tiger in India with the '63 Kodiak dogleg and pretty sure he bagged that big Alaskan Brown bear with a '62 Kodiak.  

Did he take an elephant with a '65 Kodiak?

What about his cape buffalo?

What did he use on the Little Delta hunts?

Anyway, if you have a list or have knowledge of which model bow that Fred used, fill us in.  Inquiring minds want (or need) to know.

I won't venture too far out here and share what I think as I might be way wrong. What I will say is that when watching the "new" Fred Bear DVD collection you do get alot of cool shots of his equipment. Neat to see what he was using all the way around.

I am certain others know for certain but alot of info in Fred's movies.

When reading his Field Notes as well as Bob Munger's Trailing a Bear, the specific year/model used is rather vague or nonexistant.

Many of us believe that the bow used in a particular hunt was the new model for the current or next year.

I have a LH 59'Kodiak 48# 60"  I have talked myself into believing Fred used this bow on every hunt he went on. (LOL)

doug77

I think he used my 58' sowbelly kodiak 55@28 64" It's got good mojo.

On his Little Delta hunts Fred used a '57 Kodiak.  To kill the cape buffalo he used an experimental takedown which he didn't produce for the public because it was too expensive to make.  He later developed the t/d that we know of.

Freds bows were the Kodiaks. His favorite lenght was 60". And, according to what I've read most were 65#'s. I think I remember reading the elephant was killed with a 70# bow.

I just found out that the elephant was killed with a 64" Kodiak bow that was 73lbs.

From what I have read in "The Archer's Bible" (by Fred), and an odd article or two he wrote, he stated he used a 75# recurve and a single arrow to take that Bull Elephant. Not sure of bow length, but I'm guessing 60", based on info below from Lattimer's book.

In the American  Sportsman "Canadian Grizzly Hunt",(mid 1960's) he used a 70# recurve, That is what he told Fess Parker.

Aside from the above two bows, most of the time, it appears he uses a 65# recurve of current production. In the older films, Static recurves, and working recurves later on. He was not only hunting, but demonstrating and advertising his bows. 65# was the weight he used most often, even for small game, and he wrote in later years that he liked the 60" length.

Those old static recurves were the coolest looking bows!

In Dick Lattimer's book, "I Remember Papa Bear" there are quotes from Fred on his equipment in chapter 4, and he said he liked the 60" 65# recurve, and that he used the 60" length for over 30 years. It's a great book and I'm reading it now for the 3rd time in a year.