Bowyer indicate that only a minority of men in these cultures ever made bows. In the United States, many bowyers were inspired by Ishi, the last member of the Yahi, who lived most of his life outside modern culture. Ishi first contacted US citizens in 1911. His friend Saxton Pope learned some of his skills and spread them to bowyers including Howard Hill, Ben Pearson and Fred Bear. Bowyer A bowyer is someone who makes bows. Bows are used for hunting and for archery. The development of gunpowder and muskets slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war
Bear Archery new facility in Grayling, Michigan. The Grayling plant focused on making and marketing recurve bows and longbows in a growing archery market. Bow manufacturing changed from hand-made bows to mass production using fiberglass and other modern materials. Fred Bear sold the company to Victor Comptometer in 1968, but remained the president of Bear Archery. Bear Archery was not one of the first compound bow manufacturers, but eventually found success with early models like the Whitetail Hunter. Bear Archery moved manufacturing from Michigan to Gainesville, Florida in 1978. Over the next three decades Bear Archery changed hands in a series of