Too bad someone decided to do this to an otherwise perfectly good shape 1957 Bear Kodiak.

Looks to me like they made a recess possibly to mount a bristle/brush rest flush with the riser.
This was hidden under the Calf hair strike plate that was there. Notice the two small cracks on either sides of the recess. They are not deep at all, at least they don't seem to be but it does give me cause for concern. Wondering if I were to fill the void with smooth-on would you think that would salvage this bow or do you think it's not worth the risk.

Fill it with epoxy.  It will be good to go.  I'm always amazed at the various ways folks can butcher a bow. 

Thanks for your opinion and that is what I will do, fill with epoxy. It's not too deep, maybe 1/8"~3/16"ths

I would use superglue and sawdust for a filler, put in a couple drops of superglue, sprinkle in some sawdust to fil the hole, soak the sawdust with superglue add more sawdust to make a mound and pack the mixture in with a popsicle stick to where it is packed in tight and above the hole. Let the patch cure for and hour or so and file or sand it back down to the normal contour.

I just filled this hole yesterday, I had some rotten wood on the side of an osage billet I spliced up. I thought I would be out of it as I shaped the handle but it was still there, I made a super glue sawdust patch to fill the area. I use the same stuff to fill a variety of voids I encounter in my bow building.



Not bow related but on my latest flintlock build I really slopped up the nose cap fit, I rebuilt the lost wood with superglue and sawdust and started over. My patch is probably 10 times stronger than the original wood.

Hope your repair is successful...

I have a Cub that someone did that to but even worse. The groove looks like it was made using a chain saw file and goes in about 1/4" otherwise  this bow would be flawless. What a dumb thing to do to a beautiful bow.  Don't know how to post up photo's on here or I would show you.

Thanks for the insight Eric.
I'm thinking maybe make it a design feature and put a simple inlay of maybe a walnut arrowhead or something to that effect.