By Damon Bungard
Traditional bows are not only fun to shoot, but they are truly works of art. There’s a wide spectrum from self-bows crafted from a single stave of osage, to modern recurves with machined risers and advanced composite limbs. What they share in common are beautiful flowing lines, a zen-like simplicity, classic heritage, a fun challenge to shoot and hunt with.
Mossy Oak and Bear Archery, two classic and iconic brands themselves, fittingly teamed up with a new take on a modern classic with the release of the Bear Take Down, Fred Eichler Signature Series Riser in Bottomland for this season. A modern machined aluminum riser, paired with a patented latch system from the ‘70s, and a timeless pattern introduced in the ‘80s. I loved the style and stories behind it all, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on one to build, customize and create some stories of my own.
Like many hunters or archery enthusiasts, I grew up shooting bear bows. If you really want to see what style looks like, check out this photo from the early ‘80s. Bear bows and moon boots, was where it was at. I’ll never forget the first time I was able to pull back my grandfather’s, Daddy John’s, Bear bow.
Times have changed a lot, and my moon boots have become knee boots and camo, but I still tend to have my Bear bow in hand, most often some version of a Bear Take Down. I’ve always liked how easy they are to take apart and travel with, set up, and how tailorable they are to a season or target species by changing the limbs to different lengths or draw weights. In the case of the Eichler Signature Riser, you can build a 58”, 60”, or 62” bow depending on #1, #2, or #3 limbs respectively, at whatever draw weight you prefer from 30-70 lbs. I tend to set up all of mine up around 50# limbs, and 60” is my overall length of choice. I find 50# to be a good weight for both backyard practice and 3D shoots, easy to shoot all day, accurately, and a legal and capable hunting weight. The 60” length has proven to be a nice balance for a smooth, more buttery draw, and still not so long that you hit your limb tips in ground blinds (but do buy taller ground blinds than you’d use with a compound).
As for custom details, here’s a breakdown and a video of what I did for some personal touches.
- Bottomland Limb Wrap. Adding a pattern to the face of the limbs can both personalize them, and help keep them from standing out in a tree. The obvious choice for a Bottomland riser, is a Bottomland vinyl wrap for the limbs too. I used leftover material from Mossy Oak Graphics from my Bottomland canoe wrap project. Just prep the limb surface with alcohol, peel, stick, and run a sharp razor blade along the edge of the limb to trim the excess away.
- Bottomland Stabilizer Wrap. The front of the Eichler riser is drilled and tapped to accept modern bow stabilizers. Or in my case, my Tactacam camera stabilizer. Again using leftover vinyl from other projects and trimming excess away with a razor blade blends it right into the riser.
- Bottomland Quiver Hood. All versions of the Take Down have threaded inserts for a screw in quiver system that is very easy to install and remove. Bear and Selway Archery teamed up for a Bear Edition of their Grayling Side-Mount Quiver. I chose to also add vinyl wrap the hood of the brown version to create a Mossy Oak X Bear X Selway Edition.
- Custom Endless String. ‘Endless’ or ‘Continuous Loop’ strings were standard fare on early traditional bows, and still favored by many. I had a custom string made for me by Jeff Nowak at Northern Michigan Archery in olive and black to match the colors in the Bottomland pattern. I simply add a brass nock and rubber ‘wishbone’ silencers to my string which girth hitch around it.
- Personalized Nameplate. Fred Eichler is an extremely accomplished traditional bow hunter and helped Bear develop his signature riser, with the highest level of tune-ability of any of the Take Down riser versions. His signature nameplate is on the riser, and while I’d love to hunt with him regularly, my wingman and hunting buddy is my tracking dog, Jaeger (@jaegertracks). Jaeger can’t climb a tree with me, but I like to think he’s hunting with me in spirit helping me make a good shot, and he’s certainly always there to help on recoveries. I put his sticker on the back of my upper limbs, and replaced the nameplate with a laser cut acrylic one made for me by Nick Smith. I hit with a gold paint Sharpie to help it contrast, and match with the gold Bear emblem embedded in the riser
