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Oct. 1, opening day of Oklahoma’s
2023 black bear archery season, CALEB FLIES/FACEBOOK
found 26-year-old Caleb Flies in a
tree stand an hour before first light.
He wanted to be set in his spot well
before shooting time, to let the
woods settle.
He’d had a bad case of the nerves
since the previous day, and he awoke
at 4 that morning to begin his quest.
Months of preparation had led him to
this point.
For Flies (a name of German origin,
pronounced “Fleece”), fishing and
hunting had played big roles in his
upbringing. He became interested
in archery as a youngster, watching
movies such as “Lord of the Rings”
and “Robin Hood.” And it was tradi-
tional archery that especially piqued
his interest.

“When it all comes together, it.” For him, that meant much more “Still trying to process the fact that this actually
just happened today. Oklahoma black bear with
it’s the most rewarding work than the run-of-the-mill mod- full primitive bow, string, arrow, and stone point.
A great hunt, came in uphill next to me about 7
experience I could ever ern-day hunter. It meant spending yards away. I thankfully made a great shot ... . I
used only natural materials to make this setup. ...
countless hours and thousands of
Could be the first primitive bear kill here in over
imagine in hunting .” miles over the previous couple of bear a hundred years.”
seasons, making sure his feeders were
“After I got my first deer with a full and his archery
longbow, I sold the compound and gear was just right.
I never really even took the rifle out He began hand- CALEB FLIES/FACEBOOK
after that, either.” crafting his selfbow
On this autumn day, he was pur- earlier in the spring.
suing a longtime bear-hunting goal: His selfbow is a sin-
“I was going for strictly primitive, no gle piece of bois
modern materials.” d’arc that he cut,
In his tree stand with him was his with no enhance-
handmade longbow of Osage orange ments. A decorative
wood and twisted flax fiber string, with wrap of copperhead
beaver tail leather grip, and Douglas skin, and a carved
fir arrows fletched with turkey feathers silhouette of a bear
and tipped with an obsidian point that paw inlaid with tur-
Flies knapped himself. quoise dust lend to
“It’s not easy to go out and take a its personality. “Lots
black bear,” he said. “Putting in the of work goes into it,
Closeup of a Douglas fir arrow and obsidian arrowhead that Flies
work every year is the biggest part of from A to Z.” knapped, with his Arkansas black bear he took Sept. 18, 2023.

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