has anybody shot or own a Fred Bear Grizzly recurve?

These are fine bows of the best quality. I have owned mine since 1974 and still use it for target shooting. You will be very happy to own and use this bow. There are many being sold on ebay for very reasonable prices, $200 to $300 should get you a very good bow used, they are about $400 new I recollect.

Grizzlies are tough and their skulls are very thick. History: When the Mountain Men (1800-1840) left the civilized world (St Louis) they discovered this continent was infested with Grizzly bears. They were everywhere. The Mountain Men had what today we would call a squirrel gun, and being a muzzle-loader, they only had one shot. They developed a technique for bears. The trick is to wait until the bear gets close enough to shoot it in the mouth. The shot would either go up into the brain or tear out the spine. If that didn't work, they had a tomahawk ;) So really, it's all about range. If a bear is rushing forward for an attack and I have a 12 gauge riot gun with 00Buck, I need to wait until it is close enough to where I can tear its face off. A grizzly could soak up quite a few deer slugs from the side, but if you can see its side, it is not heading toward you.