This is very hard for me, but I knew this day would come. Fred passed away peacefully Saturday night with Teresa by his side.
Teresa wanted me to thank all you for your prayers, and know that Fred loved our community. He is, and always will be, a major influence on people from all over the world.
There are so many memories…so many laughs, campfires, and hunts we shared. These will last me all the days of my life.
Please honor Teresa’s privacy as she navigates the unknown that lies ahead, and hold her in your prayers as she moves forward. She needs time, now more than ever, to be with her thoughts.
There will be no funeral, as he wanted us to remember him as our memories allow. In time, she said that our archery community will memorialize Fred in our own ways, as that was his wish. I will stay in contact with Teresa, as she and I are quite close and she will need another shoulder and ear to lean on. As always, I will relay those things as she asks me to.
I will miss you, my friend. May we share another campfire…somewhere in the Great Unknown.
Selah, Brother.
OMG what a sad sad time ! I have been one of the very many that have followed Fred, his advice and stories ever since I purchased a Custom Bighorn Bow way back in the 80’s .
That bow still hangs proudly on my wall, unused for the last few years as I am now unable to handle the weight but I see it every day and admire its shape colour and the man/company it came from.
My condolences to all who are close to him and effected by his sad passing.
Like the saying goes, (Fred) “Hasn’t gone, he has just moved deeper in to the woods ” That is how I will remember him.
Chris Payne
Queensland
Australia.
Fred Bear put millions of people in the woods, Fred Asbell helped keep them there. Fred really helped people struggling with their shot. His writings were awesome. I think it was in Instinctive 2 where he wrote about the funny guides while elk hunting. Great story! Gonna miss our occasional chats at the shows my friend. Bitten.
Rest in peace G Fred I learned a lot from you.
I enjoyed his books and watched his videos. G Fred was instrumental in my passion for Traditional archery. Thank you sir. Rest in peace!.
I’ve reached an age where more and more friends and mentors are leaving. I took up bowhuntung in the early eighties and Instinctive Shooting was a book I bought, read and reread many times. Through it it was easy to tell the kind of man Fred was. I passed that book on to a budding bowhunter just four years ago. I have enjoyed many a time in the field since with just a simple bow in hand. For some, there is just something magical about letting an arrow fly; being in a field alone without the hustle and bustle and “to do” lists. Fred-you have been a great influence to me-as a bowhunter and a man-in and for I thank you most sincerely. I pray you fly free like the arrow from a bow to that next place.
My hero has passed away, I will shoot a arrow straight up to air to honor him and thank him for his deeds. Rest in peace.
Just saw this posting and am truly saddened by Fred’s passing. I once told him at Kalamazoo that I considered him the Jack O’Connor of bowhunting writers. Like the late Mr. O’Connor (of whom I was a great devotee) Fred could tell a great story and teach you something at the same time. I believe he was touched by my comment and considered it the compliment it truly was. Fred, your arrows flew straight in this life and will do so in the next. May we meet around the celestial campfire someday.
My childhood hero. I spent many a study hall in high school with a Bowhunter magazine laid inside a notebook reading Fred’s stories. I finally got to meet him when I was a kid in the USAF stationed in Colorado and I drove up to Ft Lupton to order a bow. Now, I live blocks away from where Bighorn Bowhunting was.
I was so very fortunate to have met Mr. Asbell and his hunting partner Bob Pitt in a Colorado mule deer camp many years ago. What a fine bowhunter and even classier human being, he has been a huge influence on my bowhunting career and I’ll always treasure my Bighorn recurve purchased from him in the early 1980’s. Rest in peace Mr. Asbell.
I read many of Freds stories in Bowhunter magazine every time a new issue came out, his writings were the first thing I dug into as a rule. Loved his traditional atmosphere he presented, God bless him on his journey into the future and may he be blessed by the big campfire in the after life with the other great bow hunting family that went before him.