Bear Archery

The name Bear Archery is synonymous with archery world wide. You would be hard pressed to find any single person who did more to advance the sport of archery and bow hunting than Fred Bear, the founder of the company. For more than 90 years Bear Archery has lead the way for traditional and now modern archery. Manufacturing and selling archery bows and equipment, from the most modern and advanced compound bow to price conscious beginner’s bows, Bear Archery is known for quality and reliability.

Bullseye X Youth Recurve

Overview

The Bullseye X is a price conscious youth or beginners bow. The bow comes in three sizes: 48″ with a draw weight of 15 lbs, 54″ with a draw weight of 24 lbs, and 62″ with a draw weight of 26 lbs. It is only available in a right-hand version, meaning you hold the bow with your left hand and draw the bowstring with your right hand. Intended for a right-eyed dominant shooter. We tested the 54″ version.

Construction

A three piece take-down bow, the bow consists of a hardwood riser and two limbs. The riser is laminated hardwood, constructed from upgraded woods when compared to other bows in this category. Although the manufacturer doesn’t specifically state so, I believe the accent woods are Paduk and Wenge, which make for a striking color combination and a very solid riser. The riser has threaded inserts in place for a stabilizer, plunger and sights should you want to upgrade the bow, but they are not included.

The limbs are of a fiberglass/wood/fiberglass lamination design. This has been an industry standard design for recurve bows since Fred Bear patented the design in the early days of Bear Archery. This limb construction offers good performance and incredible longevity, if properly cared for. The limbs attach to the riser at the limb pockets by means of the included limb bolts.

Included With The Bow

Included with the bow are a bow string, bow stringer and arrow rest. The bowstring is a Dacron continuous loop string, with center serving, including an arrow nock in the proper position. The arrow rest has already been mounted on the riser, again, in the proper position. The bow stringer is capable of safely stringing and unstringing the bow without damage to the bow or the archer.

Performance

The Bear Archery Bullseye X did exactly what it was supposed to do. The limbs stored energy evenly and transferred that energy to the arrow efficiently. In other words, the bow shot well. There were no indications that the bow would not perform as intended for years to come. We used a 900 spine carbon arrow for testing and it was well suited to the bow.

This bow is marked at a 24lbs. draw weight. At 28″ it weighed just over 28 lbs, which is 4 lbs. over the marked draw weight. I suspect this size bow was measured at 26″ of draw length because it weighed right at 24 lbs. when I checked it at 26”. As is the case with youth bows, they can often be measured at less than 28″, because they aren’t designed to be drawn to that far. For comparison purposes I weighed the bow at different lengths as shown below. As you can tell from the almost 4 lbs. increase in draw weight between 26″ and 28″, the bow starts to stack after 26″. Another indicator that the bow is only meant to be pulled to 26″.

Is This The Bow For You?

The Pros

The Bear Archery Bullseye X youth recurve bow is a well made bow that comes with everything you need for the bow to be ready to shoot. The string nock is already placed on the string and in the correct position. The arrow rest is also pre-mounted correctly on the bow. Most bows in this category come with these things, but require you to put them on.

The Cons

All three bows are only available in a right-handed version, if you are left-eyed dominant you will have to make a different choice. Each size is only available in one draw weight. Draw weight is not a “one-size fits-all” situation. If the draw weight doesn’t suit your ability, again, you will have to make another choice. I believe the draw weight for this bow to be slightly heavier than what a young beginner archer should choose.

With a draw weight a little on the heavy side, the 54″ version would be well suited to a pre-teen or older archer with a draw length of less than 26″. For younger and smaller archers the 48″ version would be the better choice. The 62″ version will work for archers with a draw length 26″ or greater. With proper care, these bows will last a lifetime and can be handed down to the next young archer time and time again. But only if they are right handed.

Further Your Archery Experience

• Where To Start When Buying Your First Archery Bow
• 3 Ways To Determine Eye Dominance in Archery And Why It’s Important
• 3 Ways To Determine Your Archery Bow Draw Length
• Archery Basics: How to Determine What Draw Weight Is Right For You
• How To Determine What Size Archery Bow You Need