Old Archery Bible by Fred Bear

My sis was going through some boxes. She found my old Fred Bear Archery Bible from 1968. I purchased it at a school book fare. Heading on a business trip tomorrow, it will provide me with some good reading on the plane.

Good old Fred Bear.

Those old guys pretty much had to learn everything by trial and error. The entire traditional archery world owes them a huge debt.


Little known fact: Fred Bear was a user and proponent of poison pods. Felt it was more ethical to use them, but would result in just about any hit outside of hoof or horn being lethal.

You're correct on that. I'm sure many of their principles still apply today. I had no idea about the poison part. I learned something new.

those were legal for years in Mississippi, might still be. They work, I know one deer that was shot low but caught the leg muscle below the chest killed the deer within 100 yards. The drug used is also used on people for some things to relax internal muscles, or that was the drug used in the 80s. I had some back then and pods to use it but never got a shot at a deer I wanted to shoot when hunting with it.

We as archers today we owe a lot to those men and not just the Trad archery group, some like Fred bear were supporters of the compound though he never switched from the Traditional archery. Part of their goal was to grow the sport. A lot of the Fred Bear video collection was put on Youtube.

I see Fred Bear and immediately crank this to volume 11 in my head.....



Thank you, Motor City Madman.

Mississippi it is still legal to use pods, Its legal to possess the drug but not legal to buy or sell it.....they have to go to another state to purchase it and then can cross back in.

I have friends who hunt with pods in MS....its def. effective. On the one hand, it will result in a marginally hit deer dying very quickly, on the other, it allows a hunter to take a marginal shot with lethality. I watched a video of Fred Bear in Africa and although it was not specified that he was using pods, Its obvious, he shot a Waterbuck in the ham and they found it dead about 60 yards from the initial spot. Lots of controversy surrounding the use of pods back then.

Can someone post a picture of these pods?

The ones pictured in the link are what I had in the 80s. https://www.bowhunting.com/article/why-are-poison-tipped-arrows-still-legal-in-this-state/

The trick in Mississippi the medication that was used in them you could not get without a prescription back then so you could buy pods at archery shops but not the drug to go inside. That required a trip to Alabama back then or the little i had came from a friend that gave me some after his trip there.

In the mid 80s the question came up about dangers using them. That cam up when a man was killed by a pod tipped arrow while hunting, the thing is did the poison on the arrow kill him or the broadhead tipped arrow that went through his heart do it.

I haven't had one or hunted with one since 1984 in Mississippi.

Unreal, out of all my years of bow hunting I had no idea!

They kinda makes sense. I’m thinking of the deer I’ve shot with a rifle that I’ve never found.