# New Old Bear Bows



## Al33 (Dec 25, 2012)

On Sept 30th I got a private message from Milkman (Marvin) letting me know he had acquired four old Bear bows he would like to see in the hands of youngsters but wasn’t certain they would be safe to shoot.  He asked if I wanted them to fix up and of course I said yes. I told Marvin if they were salvageable I would send him photo’s of the new owners with their bows once they got them. We made the shipping arrangements and it wasn’t long before I had two Minuteman bows (25 & 30#’s), one Bearcat take-down (25#), and one ‘76er (40-45#) and all 60”. 

All of these bows have the magnesium risers and slide in limbs. They looked like they were in pretty bad shape but only cosmetically speaking. I assembled all of them for closer inspection and it looked like they still had a lot of life left. I either had on hand or made strings for them and then they sat on the floor in my hobby room waiting for their make-overs but they would have to wait a good while as deer season was just starting and I was busy splitting and stacking firewood hoping for cold weather this Fall.

Around the end of November Skunkhound (David) mentioned he wanted to get his fiancé’s 11 year old daughter (Gracie) a bow for Christmas and had been shopping around. Knowing David is pretty handy fixing and building things I suggested he take one of the Minuteman bows and fix it up for her. He dropped by to check them out and decided to go with one. He would send me pic’s and reports of the progress and this bow was looking better than I ever imagined it would. Seeing some of what David was doing with it and hearing about other things he had planned for it was very encouraging and made me want to get started refurbishing one. Fast forward to Dec. 13th when I had a get-to-gether here at my place which was attended by TheAmBASSaDeer (Steve) and his girlfriend Tamirah. Tamirah had mentioned long ago she wanted me to help her learn to shoot a bow but we had not had the occasion to do so until this day. It didn’t take much shooting to get her hooked and she then wanted me to help her find a bow she could call her own. Well, just so happened……………………….  I handed her the 30# Minuteman for her to try pulling and she did not have a problem with the poundage. I told her; “Merry Christmas, it’s yours, but I will need to put some shelf material on it and a string nock before she could shoot it.” She wanted to come back the following Thursday (20th) for more lessons and to shoot her bow. I got to work on it cleaning the white limbs of a lot of mars over the years and she cleaned up quite well. Encouraged by what David was doing with the other one I decided to paint over the dull emerald green riser and the limb brackets that had rusted a bit and used red paint to do it. The riser on this bow did not have the hard rubber grip that slides onto it so I used some thick leather to build up the sides then wrapped a dark blue leather grip over them for a thicker grip. I was feeling real good about how it turned out until I saw firsthand how the one David refurbished looked. All I could say was “WOW”. The pic’s below will not likely do it justice but it truly looks awesome.

Tamirah arrived on the 20th to pick up a gift for Steve and I showed her the Minuteman I had reworked. I didn’t tell her I had redone it, I just asked her if she wanted this one instead of the one I had offered her a week earlier. She was afraid to answer “Yes” not wanting to take advantage of a good thing so I had to quickly tell her the bow was the same one with a new paint job. She was tickled and so was I. I’m certain Marvin will be tickled too when he sees the beautiful smiles on these two ladies faces. With the 3D shoot schedules about to get started for 2013 I’m certain you all will be seeing a lot more of these ladies with their bows in the near future.

BTW, the quiver David is sporting was made by Doug Bell and given to David to give to Gracie. Very generous of Doug, but I have come to expect that from him.


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## dm/wolfskin (Dec 25, 2012)




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## Skunkhound (Dec 26, 2012)

Yes, Al comes through again. I can't thank you enough for your continued generosity. And Dougs quiver is truly a work of art. I think Gracie's face says it all. She was so happy, and is so excited to go to her first shoot, and meet all the other great folks I've been telling her about. 
 Al Chapman- making the world a better place, one bow at a time


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## jerry russell (Dec 26, 2012)

Great stuff right there


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## charlie 2 arrow (Dec 26, 2012)

awesome!


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## longbowdave1 (Dec 26, 2012)

Great work guys, those bows turned out real nice!


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## JustUs4All (Dec 26, 2012)

I like it when a plan comes together.  Way to go Al and Marvin.


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## The AmBASSaDEER (Dec 26, 2012)

I would like to send a big THANK YOU to Al and the Milkman for making this possible! She loves her bow! I will be contacting BigJim to order her some arra's, first of the year. Hopefully by next deer season with enuff practice and some guidance from Al, she can leave the gun and take her bow to the woods. Thanks again and Merry Christmas and Happy New Years yall!


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## 2wheelfoster (Dec 26, 2012)

Way to go guys!


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## whossbows (Dec 26, 2012)

You the man Al


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## Al33 (Dec 26, 2012)

Finished up bow #3 and it now belongs to 12 year old Ian Cooley. He is planning on taking a tom with it this Spring.


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## longbowdave1 (Dec 26, 2012)

Another fine job on that one Al.


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## Munkywrench (Dec 26, 2012)

Wow Al, that's awesome for many reasons. A. Because some people would have tossed those bows and B. because you didn't have to do any of that. I hope you had a great Christmas sir


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## Milkman (Jan 3, 2013)

Glad to see those bows made some folks happy.  I knew when I saw those bows Al would be the man to make it happen. He did good it in a grand way and got them into the hands of some deserving owners.  The smiles on those new owners faces says it all.


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