I've never really visited this portion of the forums in the past but I thought I would share a little story. A few weeks back I was thinking about the upcoming bowhunting season and for some reason I remembered I might have a bow still at my parents house. So I called my mom and she told me she thought she knew where the bow was. A few days later I stopped over and she had indeed found it. I had no recollection of what kind of bow it was or what it looked like. I only remember that when I was in elementary school a friend of my dads gave me a recurve. I actually know very little about traditional archery. In fact I may have exaggerated my knowledge with the term little. When I pulled the old sheet off that covered the bow I couldn't believe how beautiful this thing was. It looked almost brand new actually. The string (I believe there was a string) was nowhere to be found but the bow wasn't faded or aged at all. It turns out the bow is a Bear Kodiak. I did some research and everything I could find places it around 1967. It is a 60" bow with a draw weight of 36# I believe. I took it to my local archery shop to get it looked over and the owner was also shocked at the shape of my bow. He recommended stringing it and shooting it so it must still be in good shape mechanically. Finding this bow is like Christmas coming early. I guess now I have a reason to check out this side of the forum. Thanks for letting me share.
Thats awesome! and its one of the better bows out there too, I would get a string for it and shoot the hell out of it. I guarantee you will start shootin the compound less, stickbows are just plain badass!
Sounds like a great find.. 60" recurve bow should take a string about 4 inches shorter, say 56".. Use a stringer to string the bow, don't risk twisting a limb. Brace height should be somewhere from 7 1/2" to 8".. Make sure the string sits straight limb tip to limb tip.. I like to start out short drawing and let-down, kinda warming up the limbs. The first time I shoot it will be only a 15-20 inch draw, recheck the straightness of the tip to tip string location.. Have fun.. come back and tell us how it all works out.
