Anyone mess with the real old unique compounds? I have a few.
Bear DeltaV... a heavy complicated bow.

Martin kamact... long and cables all in the handle

bear alskan ... first compound in the bear catalogs.

martin stinger It... looks more like a wrist rocket than a bow.

Had an original allen all hand made guitar tuners on the cables sold it made $$$ but wish I had it back.

still hope to find a martin dynabow, a six pulley herters perfection, an early onedia eagle. amoung a few.
anyone else have some old warriors.
Dean

Tonto,

Was over at a buddies house last year and he brought out one of the older Wooden Compounds. I believe it was made by Bear but, had a redneck camo job done on it.

He wanted to get into Bow hunting and a nice fellow gave this bow to him. It was surprisingly quiet but, slow to say the least.

He shot two deer with the bow so, yes the old ones will still do the trick.

He liked the sport so much he went a purchased a newer PSE compound. He's done well with that bow.

Beginners luck I guess, most folks I know that take up bow hunting spend several years learning the sport before they become quite successful.

I have an older model Bear Compound that has a 55lb draw. I'd say it's a 70s model so not real old.

Reloader

A 70s bear compound is old the first compound was in the 1975 catalog. the tamerlaneII and the alaskan.
Dean

I have several. Two of my favorites is a Bear recurve Take Down, the first take down recurve to be manufactured. It is like new!! I have the leather bag that it came in with the red linner and sleeves for the limbs. I even have two extra Bear strings in the plastic tubes.
I also have one of the first model of the Allen compounds.
Like you tonto, I had one way back when and sold it so I could buy a new Browning Explorer. I always regreted selling it. It took several years but I found one a couple of years ago just like the one I had and bought it!!
My real pride and joy is my fathers long bow. He bought it in the early 50's at Western Auto!!

My current hunting bow is an early 90's vintage Browning Trophy Reflex. Haven't seen anything yet that would cause me to retire it.

I have an older Jennings S-handle compound that I bought in '75 or '76. Sure did like it and killed a bunch of deer with it. Just hanging on the wall in my shop gathering dust and provoking memories.

I still have my first round-wheel compound, a Forked Lightning. It's still smooth, quiet, and accurate, though it's pretty slow.

I don't believe Bear made the first take down, there were many others. I had a Wing presentation II take down before Bear came out with theirs. The Bear was a pain! It was super slow with those Fascore limbs and the limb clamps would bend after shooting for a while. I needed 75# to equal the 62# Wing with the same arrow.
Once Fred was gone from the company, they made tons of junk.

I have an old Bear Polar (left-hand) that I need to sell. Both my rotator cuffs are finished, so the bow is useless to me now. It has sights and is in perfect shape. Anyone interested???

Boy, there's some memories in this thread!

I shot my first deer with a Bear Polar LTD. My dad was using a Bear Whitetail Hunter at the time, and I thought I was SO far ahead of him in technology. Pulleys in hangers, a swing arm adjustment for draw weight, etc. It was an antique by today's standards. I finally got tired of moving with it, and sold it a few years ago. Tore me up to get rid of it, cause I learned to bowhunt with it.

I now shoot a 1980's vintage PSE Laser Mag. Yep, still old school in today's terms, but light years ahead of that old Bear. It just shoots very well for me (no sights and a tab..), so I keep using it. It just "fits".

I'm actually planning on retiring it this year, and going back to a recurve. I've got a couple old Bear recurves, and they just seem to be more "bowhunting" to me than any current production compound. Just way too high tech for me, and I can't see using one.

For me, simpler is sometimes better...

Ever here of a Stemler.

My brother gave me one its basically a recurve with the limbs chopped off and wheels bolted on. Cool bow.
Dean

I really miss my Polar LTD. I used to love to watch the arrow fly and hit home. Now, depending on the light, I'm not sure if I even made a hit.

I have an old Martin warthog. Funny thing about it is I bought it only about 5 years ago. I always wanted one back when they were a modern bow (early 80's?) because they are so pretty. Found one in a pawn shop and got it for $35.00. I don't hunt with it (Hoyt) but target shoot with it every once in a while. 70lb. 50% letoff bow will wear you out!

I've still got my first compound, a Bear Whitetail Hunter. I bought it used in 1980 from my brother in law. Shot an 8 point buck with it the 2nd day of the first season with it. Just retired it last fall. Got me a PSE Vengeance in Nov, basically just in time for the end of the season. Already counting the days til next season.

back in '76 I shot a Pearson 6-wheeler for a year.
It seemed like every week I had it in getting it tuned so I could shoot that week. After a year the dealer gave me one of their new 4-wheelers for it and beat it into pieces with a hammer.
I wish I had that one back.
Rich
DRSS
Hill Big Five Shooter

Hanging on the wall is a 1970 Jennings 4 wheeler. This bow has a rather massive (by today's standards) wood handle. A friend went to Catalina Island in 1969 and came back babbling about these crazy bows they were using on the island to chase goats as I recall. But -- he had gone to the Jennings factory and ordered a one of the newfangled bows. Several months later it came in with a laminated handle. I shot the bow and had to have one but they would not sell me one direct as they had just signed a dealer in Denver and would be shipping some in a few weeks. They put my name on top of the list and advised the dealer to call when the shipment came in. I hunted this bow for a couple years before the Colorado Div of Wildlife recognized them and made them legal. As I recall they were not necessarily illegal - but I did receive some pretty strange looks by the fish cops. The bows we shoot today are vastly different than this old beast.

IMO...there r people who will say one fine day a compound archer will go for the stick bow someday,but not me yet.Still sticking to the technology advancement on compound.

I started archery when I was about 8yrs old my first bow was the kind you could get at the 5&10 with rubber suction cups. I took off the suction cups and put metal field points on the arrows. My friend and I used to shoot at swinging bags of sand and birds. My first compound was a Bear White Tale with fiberglass limbs I bought my father a Bear White Tale with fiberglass and wood limbs we still have these. I bought a Carroll a Wing & a Martin Cougar II from the same range. The Carroll and Martin was stole from my father’s house. I have had my eye on a Switchback for some time. I would love to take up bow hunting but with my back injuries I can’t draw back a compound without a lot of pain. One day I plan to purchase a crossbow and give it a try.