Why did Ben Pearson stop traditional bow production?

[moleman]

As i was walking in to the house after a great practice session in which i was shooting a couple of my great shooting old Ben Pearson recurves, this question came to mind.
Just curious why they stopped there trad. line production and why with the great surge in trad. archery they dont bring a few of the greats back?
Im not sure if they still have any of the old forms or not, but if they do, it would be awesome to see a a few put back into use.
   

[mark stella]

X2. I got a predator and a Rogue. Both are shooters.

[jmrsyrs]

Still shoot my Hunter 709 on a regular basis.

[K. Mogensen]

I remember this bow coming out not too long ago. It's weird though, there are no direct links to it on their site, I had to search the bow itself on Bing to find the page...

 http://www.benpearson.com/bushmaster/bushmaster-bow.htm

[moleman]

Kiefer, i just visited the site you posted, thats a good looking bow! but it sure dont have the great lines and look of the original Bushmaster.

[K. Mogensen]

Nope. A weak attempt to get back into the trad market. Probably more a gimmick than anything.

[David Mitchell]

They stopped when many other bow companies did back when traditional archery was as good as dead in the late 60s/early 70s.  There was no market much at all back then for recurves, and longbows were almost totally off the radar. I remember walking into an archery shop and seeing racks of Bear recurves for sale for $20 and nobody wanted them. I guess now they figure it's a fairly small market, which in fact it actually is, and they don't really want to machine up and get into the market again--business decision.

[Stumpkiller]

Ben Pearson himself died in 1971.  His company was purchsed by Brunswick Co. (bowling pins & alleys) in 1972.  No one was buying traditional equipment shorty thereafter.

[joe skipp]

Pearson missed the boat many years ago. They could have brought back 3 models of recurves, dressed them up, made them ff compatible and bowhunters would have jumped at owning one.

Those who shot Pearson recurves would have lined up for a Maruader, Marauder T/D or Bushmaster. Slim the risers down a little, maybe yew under clear glass on the limbs etc...Trust me, they would have done real well. However, R&D all went into the Wheels....seems that's where all the money is today.