heavyweight Bear bows let see them

[yellow bow]

great pics.

[virgil.v]

  Buckhorn Museum/ San Antonio

 

   

[Wade Phillips]

virgil.v, Nice photographs of the wall in the saloon. I am assuming that Fred's 10 to 1 inscription on the bow is the one on the wall.

If so that bow does not appear to be a wedge sight window when I blew up the photograph 500% but it is very grainy...

Just reduced the enlargement to 200% and it does appear to be a wedge sight window...

Did you turn the bow over to take a photograph of the other side with the markings on it?

Fred made 5 1957 Kodiaks for Negley. One broke.

[virgil.v]

Hello Wade I am not the person who took the pictures at the museum, so i'm going to ask my freind if is got some more pics of the bow.

One question for you Wade do you Recognize the man on the far left ?


 

[Yule08]

While we look back nostalgically at Negley's accomplisments, they were not without their controversy in their day from his fellow bowhunters.....

 


This editorial appeared in The National Bowhunter magazine, July 1957 issue.  Carl Hulbert was the editor.

Yule

[highlife]

Good article ... I personally think that hunting an elephant with a bow or any other type of weapon is ... well, lets just say, Its not for me.

[Wade Phillips]

virgil.v - The distinguished looking gentleman on the left looks a lot like a very nice fellow I met at Compton this year.. However, I do not remember his name, shame on me. Is that fellow in the middle the famous Englishman/Bowman/Author?

[Wade Phillips]

Back to the mystery of figuring out which bow Negley used to kill his 1957 elephant...

Everything after this paragraph is from "An Archer in Africa", beginning with the last paragraph on page 31 and continuing through to the first second paragraph of page 33, Bill Negley wrote...

“ … the hundred-pounder was on order and arrived about mid-January.

 

In fact it was a double package. Two bows- one was a ninety-six pounder, and the second was a one-hundred-two-pounder.

I promptly tested the one-hundred-two pounder and found it even more exciting than the ninety-pounder had been. One hundred pounds had a reassuring ring to it. And this one carried two extra pounds for good measure. This was like going through the sound barrier. All the articles by the archery editors and assorted sages that I had studied seemed to hint that the new worlds begin at one hundred pounds.

   The brightly varnished limbs on this bow were visibly thicker than its forerunners: the twenty-four-strand darcon string smelled of fresh beeswax and again was much thicker than anything I have worked with up till today. Arch and I recalled how appalled we had been seven months or so ago when we first strung and tried to draw the old hundred-pounder from the back closet.

This beautiful thing had a fresh, clean leather wrapping on the perfectly-formed grip, and on the broad surface just above the grip, in black india ink, and electric message: “To Bill Negley-Made especially to kill an elephant-Fred Bear”. At this moment, the whole prospect seemed much more reasonable than at any moment up to now."

[Wade Phillips]

Page 79 “Archer in Africa” printed - 1989

What appears to be a photograph taken with the ivory still attached to the elephant, shows a 1957 Kodiak with no inscription above the grip and opposite the shelf…

The five 1957 Kodiaks that Fred made for Negley were...

73#
78# broken while shooting, and went into the trash
90#
96#
102# inscribed “To Bill Negley-Made especially to kill an elephant-Fred Bear”

Which of the other three bows, 73#, 90# or 96# is inscribed “I’m betting 10 to 1 that you will kill Tembo - Fred Bear” ???

From this photograph, the implication is that Negely used a bow that was not inscribed ...

   

[d. ward]

wow now thats a trip wonder how many of those bows there really are ?????? bd

[marlon]

Who knows only a few. Who can draw and shoot bows in 100# and above.in the uk huge bows are making a big come back.

[Wade Phillips]

Doc, There were 5 Negley 1957 Kodiaks, but one was broken and thrown in the trash, leaving 4.

From the book, I haven't positively figured out which weight bow he actaully used to kill the 1957 elephant.

Remember, he killed the first elephant in 1957, and the book was published 32 years later in 1989...

Would be interesting to find out the weight of the bow inscribed “I’m betting 10 to 1 that you will kill Tembo - Fred Bear”. Obviously from the words on the inscription, Fred inscribed the text before Negley killed the first elephant. Logically, Fred inscribed bow before it was mailed to Negley.

If I were guessing, I'd guess the 96# has the “I’m betting 10 to 1" inscription, simply because Negley said the 96# and 102# were shipped together. One would logically assume Fred would not inscribe the 102# and leave the 96# without some type of inscription.

I saw the 102# in the Bear Museum. In the 1999-2001 period, I twice saw either the 73#, 90# or 96#, but can not remember which one. I never took any photographs. It is in the collection of a collector and I don't remember it being inscribed.

73#
78# broken while shooting, and went into the trash
90#
96#
102# inscribed “To Bill Negley-Made especially to kill an elephant-Fred Bear”

[marlon]

Who knows only a few. Who can draw and shoot bows in 100# and above.in the uk huge bows are making a big come back.

[marlon]

Who knows only a few. Who can draw and shoot bows in 100# and above.in the uk huge bows are making a big come back.

[d. ward]

now its getting iteresting.bd

[4runr]

Here are pics from Joe (azdriheat).

 
 
 
 

[marlon]

Yes that bow is a burry. Bow doc did a very nice job.

[Falk]

Great pictures - great stories!

Here is my own little strongbow, whom I call Moskito - as its tiny and stings. An 80# Super Magnum 48
 
 
 
Shot it for some time but the deep grip is not well suited for my style. An other problem is that even my 2317s are to weak in spine.

[Cody Roiter]

Falk, Would you happen to have any photo's of you drawing that bow ?.. Very nice bow by the the way...

[virgil.v]

Originally posted by Wade Phillips:
virgil.v - The distinguished looking gentleman on the left looks a lot like a very nice fellow I met at Compton this year.. However, I do not remember his name, shame on me. Is that fellow in the middle the famous Englishman/Bowman/Author?

Wade, the man on the left is François d’Elbée the PH who guide William Negley on is last(?) elephant hunt in 1985 in Tanzania.
The man in the middle is a special man for me and a lot of use back in France.
Is name wath Michel Deramond, Michel wath one of the first French bowhunter and the one how create with fews other the first french bowhunting association back in 1969.