(- Feathers are glued on arrows in a slight spiral to assure true flight. 



Bear quietly slipped inland, edged along behind the brush, and 

 waited. The moose came into range twenty-five yards away and 

 the bowstring twanged. The animal ran fifty feet, half turned, 

 and sank into the shallows, as the exasperated guides, who had 

 seen and heard nothing, came charging up demanding where it 

 had gone. Fifteen hundred pounds of meat lay at their feet and 

 two more skeptics were converted to bow hunting. 



That was several years ago. Fred Bear has scarcely been out 

 of Grayling since, because he's been too busy making bows and 

 arrows for other people to use. That's no hardship, however. 

 In the off-season he can look out the windows of his Bear Archery 

 Company and watch deer among the white pines and maples. 

 Come hunting time, he doesn't have to go far to get his buck. 



In the past twenty-odd years, over 40,000 hunters in the 

 United States have forsaken the gun for the bow. Most hunt in 

 Michigan or Wisconsin, but there are many in California, 

 Washington, Pennsylvania, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, New Hamp- 

 shire. They like to hunt this harder way because it's more fun. 



To the man with a rifle any buck in sight is a target. His 

 bullet, traveling about 2,500 to 3,000 feet per second, kills by 

 shock, even if it doesn't hit a vital spot. But an arrow travels only 

 175 to 200 feet per second. It has little shocking power, but great 

 penetration, and its sharp broadhead brings down the game 

 by causing internal hemorrhage. Archers claim that if the animal 

 is not killed, the arrow shaft, unlike a bullet, works itself out, 

 leaving a clean wound that heals more easily. 



Against the bow a deer has more than a sporting chance. The 

 bowman must creep to within sixty yards for good aiming; the 

 average is thirty-five yards. The hunter's best bet is to aim 

 before the deer sees him, but this is difficult when the woods 

 are dry and consequently noisy, and the leaves cut down visibil- 

 ity. And even the twang of the bowstring can send the quarry 

 out of range before the released arrow finds its mark. 



Ten years ago one bow hunter in a hundred got his deer. 

 Today it's about one in twenty and one in three or four among 

 gun hunters. The improved score is due partly to liberalized 

 state game laws, which give bow hunters special seasons or 



- Testing a ff Grizzly" bow at the Bear Archery Company. *93 



