The Reinvention Of Archery ©
By Frank H. Scott
The North American Archery Group, LLC & The Fred Bear Museum

    The quiver, simply stated, is the container the archer carries arrows in, and has been around for hundreds of years. Quivers have been made of every kind of material one can imagine, from sections of bamboo to wicker to animal skins. These quivers are usually hung from the waist on a belt or over the archer's shoulder. Any bowhunter who has ever hunted using a belt or shoulder quiver will tell you such quivers present problems. They are noisy and they seem to tangle on every bush the archer walks by.

    Primitive bowhunters solved these problems by not using a quiver at all. They carried a supply of arrows in the same hand that held the bow. I recall a picture of Ishi, the last surviving member of the Yana Indian tribe in northern California, shooting a bow and holding a spare arrow with the little finger of his drawing hand. If we use our imagination a little, these primitive archers holding arrows in their bow hands could be considered the inventors of the bow quiver.

    The first evidence I have of a bow being modified to accommodate holding an arrow is a bow used by Fred Bear in 1933. This bow in Figure 1, has a groove cut in the back of the handle into which Fred pressed a spare arrow, using his finger to hold it in place. This, of course, had some shortcomings. It gave Mr. Bear only two arrows, one ready to be nocked on the string and one on the back of the handle.

    The bow quiver, like many inventions, was not perfected in one try. Inventions seem to go through a series of trial-and-error prototypes, with each prototype being an improvement over the last. Figure 2 illustrates the first known device designed to carry a supply of arrows for ready use by the archer. Mr. Bear designed this first bow quiver in 1935. It held three arrows in leather sleeves held together by a wire frame. It was held in the bow hand or it was taped to the back of the bow. During the late 1930s and early 1940s several prototypes of this bow quiver were field tested by Fred Bear and some close friends.

    In 1947 Bear Archery produced the first bow quiver, Figure 3, to be marketed to the archery consumer. A patent was issued for this quiver in 1949. This version held three arrows with the broadheads embedded in sponge rubber and the arrow shaft held in place by rubber grippers. Though patented, it was far from perfect. The broadheads were exposed, which invited hunters to cut themselves on their own broadheads. The quiver held only three arrows, which seemed hardly enough for a full day afield. In addition, it was necessary to drill a hole in the bow handle to receive a brass bushing into which the bow quiver was attached. (See Figure 1.)

    In 1956 the quiver was modified to accommodate four arrows, Figure 4, and a metal hood was provided to cover the broadheads. During the 1940s and early 1950s bows were handmade of various woods; osage, yew, hickory, etc. We found the archer was very reluctant to drill a hole in the handle in order to use the bow quiver. This reluctance resulted in still another change in 1957.

    Figure 5 is a tape-on quiver that required no holes drilled in the bow handle. However, this quiver had short-lived popularity. About the time Bear Archery introduced this tape-on quiver, the state of Michigan as well as other states, in order to discourage "road hunting", passed laws requiring that all bows must be unstrung and in cases when being transported in automobiles. Because bow cases of that time were cloth tubes with a drawstring at one end, they would not accommodate the bow with bow quiver attached. The bowhunter had to tape and untape the quiver each time the bow was put in a bow case.

    In 1962 Fred Bear developed the "snap-on" bow quiver, Figure 6, which required no holes be drilled or tape to be used. The quiver came in both four and eight arrow configurations. The quiver was held to the bow by steel spring wires that snapped over the limbs of the bow. Because bows were various lengths, the quiver was made in three lengths to fit all bows. By the time the bow quiver in Figure 7 was developed in 1982, the compound bow was in widespread use, and all such bows came predrilled for sights, bow quivers and other accessories. This was a good, solid quiver and came in both four and eight arrow versions. It was fully adjustable for bow handles of various lengths.

    Figure 8 is our latest "Bear Hug" bow quiver. It carries seven arrows and comes in a variety of camo patterns. It is held to the bow by means of a quick-connect adapter bracket, Figure 8A, that fastens to the bow in the sight screw holes but still allows use of the sight. It readily snaps on and off without the need for tools and can be used for right or left handed bows.

    Stay tuned for next month's article.