Bowhunting.net EXCLUSIVE – Dick Lattimers’ New Book "I REMEMBER PAPPA BEAR™
I Remember Papa Bear, by Dick Lattimer
Fred
Bear was the best-known hunter and outdoorsman of the second half of
the 20th century, and I was devastated when he died, and remain so to
this day. He was my best friend, mentor and father figure for several
decades. He was kind to me in so very many ways over the years—gentle
in his criticism of my writing and ideas, supportive of my
advertising/sales promotion strategy for our products, and, without
saying anything, he took over my dad's place in my life when Dad
suddenly died of pancreatic cancer. He had done the same for Frank
Scott when his father died, former astronaut Gen. Joe Henry Engle when
his father passed away, and Dick Mauch when his dad died.
We
four became the "Adopted Sons of Fred Bear" and still remain close,
although we suddenly lost our oldest "brother," Frank Scott, recently.
Scotty, Joe and I did the eulogies at Fred's funeral.
Following
Fred's death, Mrs. Bear and her daughter, Julia Kroll, asked me to take
his ashes up to the Grayling, Michigan area where we had lived before
moving to Florida in 1978. They requested that I place Fred's ashes
alongside his beloved Au Sable River where he had so often fished.
Flyfishing
was his second passion, next to bowhunting. And he and I had often
flyfished there together over the years, as had some of his other
friends at the old Bear Archery. Fred loved to see a brown trout rise
to his caddis fly. It was the water equivalent of hunting with the bow
and arrow. I'll tell you more about that poignant day later in this
book.
Knowing of my close association with Fred, numerous
people over the ensuing years have asked me when I would write a book
about Fred and my years with him. I'd declined to do so for many years,
fearing that it would seem to be self-serving since so much of my own
life would have to be included in the book in order to recount those
years that I worked with him between 1966 and 1988 when he died.
Recently,
however, Jeff Waring, an editor at Bowhunter magazine, reminded me that
the current generation of new hunters really didn't know Fred's story.
Jeff suggested that I'd be helping to keep his memory alive by putting
my memories down. I still wavered.
Then my old friend, Sherwood
Schoch, former Bear Archery salesman and the first salesman for
compound bows for Tom Jennings, wrote to me. Here's what Sherwood had
to say: "You expressed a fear that you may be putting too much of
yourself into the book on Fred. I said then and I will say now, I don't
think you could put too much of yourself into it. You were there, you
are the authority, only you know what took place. Anything less than
that might take credibility away from the information. You are the only
living truth on the subject and you need to express it from that point
of view."
So, if there is too much of Dick Lattimer in this
book, I apologize, but it was the only way I could tell the story of
the tremendous influence Fred Bear had on conservation, hunting and the
outdoor life during the second half of the 20th century. I was his
alter ego in those days. I went where he sent me and championed the
causes that he felt were important.
And, of course, you need to
read the Fred Bear biography that Charlie Kroll and I produced back in
the 1980s, along with the "Fred Bear's Field Notes" book that I also
helped Fred produce. There you'll find the stories of many of Fred's
famous hunts and adventures around the world. In this book you'll learn
more about what Fred's life was like when he was out of the spotlight;
when he wasn't in front of a camera or on a national radio or
television show.
You'll learn about the first promotional
years of his archery life and the last 20 years of his life—his
triumphs, his frustrations, his heartbreak and a lot about his everyday
life that is not found in the other books we did in those days.
Knowing
my own frustration with the sudden and unexpected death of Frank Scott,
I decided to take a chance and offer you these pages. "Scotty," as most
of us knew him by, was the director of the Fred Bear Museum, following
a long career as a Bear Archery salesman—the first Fred ever hired in
1939.
After I retired in 2000 from running AMO, the archery
trade association, Scotty wanted me to become more involved with the
Fred Bear Museum as I had been in the past. He was ready to scale back.
So it was that he and I talked on a Monday evening about getting
together Tuesday noon for lunch to talk more about it. I told him I'd
see him the next day, and he replied, "It's a deal!" Shortly after he
hung up the phone that evening he took ill. By Friday he was dead. All
the rich memories of Bear Archery, Fred Bear and our sport of archery
that he carried inside him died with him. I had been bugging him for
almost 20 years to put it all down on paper. Now I wish I had just
taken over the job and twisted his arm to work with me on it. But I
didn't.
So I feel that it is my duty to Fred Bear's memory, to
Frank Scott's, to Bob Kelly's, and to our family of millions of
bowhunters, recreational archers and firearms hunters around the world
who have heard of Fred Bear, but don't know that much about him, and to
those who may someday decide to take up our ancient and honorable
sports, to write this book.
Fred and I were especially fond
of Teddy Roosevelt and that for which he stood. "The Roughrider" once
said, "Far better it is to dare mighty things ... even though checkered
with failure, than to ... live in the grey twilight that knows not
victory nor defeat." Both Fred and I lived our lives with that
admonition in mind, and I hope you are, too. Do not take your dreams to
your grave!
Any errors that you find here are mine and mine
alone, and I accept full responsibility. Memories fade, so do dates,
people and events. But I have tried to be as accurate as possible about
what you will learn and have checked with others of the old Bear
Archery family countless times while working on this book about what is
in these pages. I hope you enjoy the book and that you feel like you
know our Papa Bear better when you have read the final page. He was
quite a gentle man.
