Help me with collecting Bears from my birth year (1968)?

[threeunder]

I've had it on my mind lately to put together a collection of Bear bows made in my birth year (1968).

Can anyone tell me about the bows offered by Bear in '68?

How about other makers I should look at?

Wondering what was available that year.  How were they, quality-wise, in the big picture of the company's history.

Not sure that it makes a difference, but I'm a lefty.  Am assuming they offered all their models in LH versions that year.

Thanks
Ken

[Blackhawk]

Great year for Bear!

My first pick is the Super Kodiak for '68.  It was the second year for the Super with that cool phenolic riser and first year to have the rosewood "horns".

Next in '68 for me is the Kodiak Hunter and the first year to be 60".

My last choice for a '68 Bear is the Grizzly which was the first year for a 56" model.

They are all available and not too hard to find, but the lefty may take a while.  Get the best one you can find and not just a junker.

[warpedarrow]

Your post motivated me to go look on the rack.  I knew that I had a lefty from about that year.  I thought that it was a Hunter but it is a quite nice 56" 47# Grizzly.  I have been meaning to pull it down and string it up for a little experiment.  I am right handed but my right eye vision is getting pretty bad.  I want to know if I have any talent at all for shooting left handed.  If I fail miserably that bow will be available.  

By 1968, Bear had pretty much perfected a lot of the issues that cropped up in earlier model bows.  They had better adhesives and glass to work with.  The woods were not as pretty as the early sixties bows but they were not plain either on the top tier bows.  The wood on my Grizzly looks pretty good and the glass has no stress at all.  I wish that I could say that about my early sixties bows.

I second the recommendation for the Super Kodiak.  They are not all that expensive at this point in time and will hold their own or outshoot many of today's custom bows.

[mangonboat]

I concur with those recommendations but also look at the Bear target bows. Bear hunting and target bows really started to diverge in design in 66 and by 68 the Kodiak Special, Polar, Tamerlane, etc. were pretty exotic recurves.

[eidsvolling]

Sold a RH 56" '68 Grizzly a couple weeks ago. It was a nice bow to shoot and a looker, but I wanted to make some room here.  Hope you find a lefty!

[threeunder]

Thanks for the input.
I'll start looking for those 3.  I know a bit about the Bear Hunting bows, but nothing about their target bows.  So will focus on those 3 first.
What about the K-mag?

[Ray Lyon]

Super Kodiak
Kodiak Magnum
Kodiak Hunter
Grizzly

The above four would be the first hunting bows I would look for in your situation. I'll have to check my Bear Catalogue, but there's probably some lower priced models that were considered 'hunting bows' by Bear in that year (like the Alaskan, ect.). Some of their advertising also presented a bow as a hunting or target bow, but as mentioned the above four would get you going.

[eidsvolling]

It was a K-Mag that I made room for here. I'd shied from them for a long time – big mistake. That is one handy bow, and the grip fits me the best of all of my bows.

[threeunder]

K-mag is my favorite of the Bears.  The Super K runs a close second though.

I'll start looking for those 4.  Would actually be very happy to have one of each in a '68.

If anyone runs across any, please keep me in mind.

[Hit-or-Miss]

I have a 68 Kodiak Hunter, beautiful Bubinga (African Rosewood), 50#, with a brass coin.....  but she isn't for sale. She has taken several deer and a wild hog. My birthday is in 1968 too, and I'm looking for a Kodiak Magnum of that year. The Hunter and the Magnum are essentially the same bow, the Hunter being the longer version (58" in 67, 60" thereafter until 78 when production ceased and Bear moved to Gainesville Fl). Good luck on your search.... 68 was a great year for Bear bows.

[Ray Lyon]

Ok I checked my 1968 catalog and the others would be the Super Magnum 48" bow, the Bearcat (considered a dual purpose low end bow) and the Tigercat which is a very nice shooter but was considered a budget model as well.

Good luck with your search.

[damascusdave]

One reason to collect Bears from that year is that

[59Alaskan]

You can find some stunning tigercats from that era.  They were "budget" but I think they used spare exotic wood

[warpedarrow]

Kmags are apparently stacked up all over America.  I get notifications from the big auction site for any Kodiaks listed, and on some days there will be six or eight new listings for Kmags.
They are a fun bow to shoot.  Hard on the fingers but their compactness just kind of makes them like the little sports car of the bow world, if you know what I mean.  You should be able to latch on to one of them in left hand without much problem.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I have a Zebra wood tiger cat soon to be for sale. 1968 Of course its a righty lol.

   

One of my favorites 1968 Grizzly

   

[threeunder]

That's a beauty CR!

[Ray Lyon]

1968 Tigercat Zebra wood in the classifieds right now. Beautiful looking bow.

[Blackhawk]

I saw that Ray and almost pulled the trigger.  It looks like a semi-recurve, so it should be plenty quiet and stable...and I love zebrawood.

Yes, a good one for a birth year example.

[Ray Lyon]

Lon, my son had a 1970 Tigercat and it was a very nice shooting bow.  Quiet and well behaved in the hand.