# A tour of the Bear Archery factory



## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

When Mike Huston (4nolz) put together Penny Banks birthday hunt the big suprise was a tour of the Bear Factory in Gainesville, FL. . This was an awesome tour!!!!!!!!!! To say i was impressed is an understatement. Bear still uses most of the same forms from the Grayling days and nothing is done by CNC machines.....WOW ........all bows are built by hand one at a time (just by several differant folks. The following is a little tour of the plant.


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

Here is what greets you when you pull in to park.












Step thru the doors and you see this






here are some of the forms


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

a few more of the machines


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

some riser's ready to glue limbs onto.


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

some of the bows in differant stages of compleation.


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

this is a demo longbow they built in gainesville and are sending it to the head-quarters for the final say so........

Hey T-bug think you might like to order one in Pank ????????


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

this was a sample bow, but dang they wouldn't let us have any.......LOL






more sample bows


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

we also got to tour the compound side too ........but i didn't take any pics of that part......


as you leave the plant this little sign says it all.


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

I hope everyone enjoys the photo's. I know i enjoyed the tour. Again i just wana say thanks to 4nolz for putting on this hunt for one of his best friends 65th birthday. Mike is a whale of a guy that has a heart as big as Texas and i am honored to call him a friend.


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## SELFBOW (Oct 20, 2009)

Nice and Thanks for showing!


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## MudDucker (Oct 20, 2009)

Someone told me that they had moved the museum out of Gainesville.  I went before it was moved and it was an awesome testament to old Fred.


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## gblrklr (Oct 20, 2009)

Great post John!



MudDucker said:


> Someone told me that they had moved the museum out of Gainesville.  I went before it was moved and it was an awesome testament to old Fred.



Definitely gone, I think the stuff was sold to Basspro?.  I was able to see it while it was in Gainesville too, and it was great.


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## hogdgz (Oct 20, 2009)

Cool!!!


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## HighyellerLab (Oct 20, 2009)

That was very cool!


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## gregg dudley (Oct 20, 2009)

Bear still makes quality traditional bows and backs their products.  I wish you could have seen the place beofre they sold the Fred Bear Museum to Bass Pro Shop.  It was truly impressive.  I have fond memories of visiting during my time in Gainesville as a student at UF.  Fred Bear had passed away, but Frank Scott was still there and he was a fine gentleman and a true ambassador of the sport.

Thanks for sharing.

Gregg


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## John Cooper (Oct 20, 2009)

i got to go to the museum when i lived in FL.(way back when) and it was awesome!!!!!!!!! i thought this was cool cause it was like a guided tour with just us folks down for the hunt.


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## SOS (Oct 20, 2009)

Wonder how may bows have come out of those presses?


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