Bear Gamekeeper Jr Review

Editors' review

Buy this bow once and it can be the only one a kid needs until they are hunting deer. The Gamekeeper Jr is Bear's collaboration with Mossy Oak Gamekeepers, and underneath the Bottomland camo it is the Bear Royale chassis wearing a hunting kit: 27-inch axle-to-axle, 6-inch brace height, a 290 fps IBO rating (the industry-standard chronograph number at a fixed 30-inch, 70-pound, 350-grain setup), and a 75% let-off (the share of peak weight the hold drops to at full draw). What makes it interesting is the span it covers on a single set of limbs, adjusting from a 5-pound, 12-inch draw a five-year-old can manage all the way to a 50-pound, 27-inch setup that clears the roughly 40-pound minimum most states set for big game. It is not the accessory-light recreation bow the name "Jr" might suggest; it arrives as a full Ready-to-Hunt rig. The question this review answers is a simple one: what does the Mossy Oak badge add over the plain version of the same bow, and who should pay for it.

Finish

The Gamekeeper Jr comes in one finish, and that finish is the entire point of the model: Mossy Oak Bottomland, the same weathered, low-contrast pattern that anchors the Mossy Oak Gamekeepers brand. The dip carries onto the riser, limbs, and the matching five-arrow quiver, so the rig reads as a single coordinated hunting outfit rather than a youth bow with a camo sticker. There is no solid-color option, no alternate camo, and no seasonal palette in this line. That single-finish approach is a deliberate consequence of the collaboration, not a cost cut, but it does mean a shooter who wants a different look has to go elsewhere in the catalog. The underlying chassis is sold in a wider spread of patterns under a different name, so the palette is available, just not on the Gamekeeper Jr itself.

Riser

The riser is the compact aluminum platform Bear uses on its grow-with-me Royale chassis, sized to keep the whole bow short and light rather than to chase adult-length stability. It carries a factory offset string suppressor, a rubber-tipped post that catches the string after release to knock down noise and residual buzz before it reaches the shooter's hand, which matters more on a small bow a new archer is still learning to hold quietly. Cable and string management is kept simple and press-free by design, in keeping with a bow meant to be adjusted at the kitchen table rather than in a shop. Everything hangs off a standard accessory bed, so the included sight, rest, and quiver bolt on in their factory positions and the whole rig is one coherent package out of the box. Nothing here is trying to be a target riser; the geometry exists to make a light, forgiving-enough, easy-to-carry bow for a shooter who is growing into it.

Grip

The grip is a slim, low-profile molded grip that suits small hands first, because a narrow throat lets a child or small-framed adult wrap the bow without stretching for it, which is half the battle in building repeatable form early. A thinner grip also gives the hand less leverage to twist the riser, so torque-induced left-and-right misses are easier to keep out of a beginner's shooting. As the same shooter grows into adult-sized hands, the profile stays comfortable rather than becoming a limitation, which is the whole idea of a bow you keep for years. There is no heated debate to have here about aftermarket grip options; at this tier the molded grip is what you shoot, and it is pleasant and neutral in the hand. For a first bow, neutral and low-torque is exactly the right answer.

Limbs

The Gamekeeper Jr runs Bear's EnduraFiber limbs on the Royale platform, a lightweight composite limb that is the reason the bare bow lands so far under four pounds. The headline is the draw-weight span they cover: 5 to 50 pounds off one limb set, adjusted by turning the limb bolts, with no press or limb swap required. That range is what lets the bow start impossibly easy for a small child and finish at a genuinely hunt-legal weight for a teenager or small adult, and it is a wider bottom-end than most bows that reach 50 pounds are willing to go. Because the adjustment is done with a hex wrench, a parent can drop the weight for a younger sibling and bring it back up later without a shop visit. The limb design is shared across Bear's high-volume entry lineup, so it has a long track record at these weights. For a bow whose job is to be re-tuned repeatedly across a shooter's growth, that proven, tool-only adjustability is the limbs' real feature.

Eccentric System

This is a binary-cam bow: two identical cams, top and bottom, mechanically slaved so they stay in time with each other, with yoke tuning available on both ends. That is a step up from the single-cam-and-idler layouts common on cheaper youth bows, because slaved cams give more consistent nock travel and hold their timing better as the shooter keeps changing draw weight and length. Draw length adjusts from 12 to 27 inches, and like the weight it is done with a hex wrench rather than a press, so the bow keeps pace with a growing archer for years off one purchase. The IBO rating is 290 fps, identical to the Royale chassis it is built on, which for a compact grow-with-me bow is respectable, but that number is measured at 70 pounds and a 30-inch draw, a setup this bow's 50-pound, 27-inch ceiling never quite reaches, so real arrow speed for any young shooter will sit well below it, and lower still at a small child's settings. No independent chronograph data exists for the Jr specifically at the time of writing. The 75% let-off leaves a little more holding weight at full draw than the 80% figures on some competitors, which actually helps a beginner feel the wall and settle rather than floating in a deep, vague valley. Yoke tuning on both cams gives a shop the tools to square up arrow flight once the shooter settles on a setting.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing this bow at a mid-range setting, what strikes me is how little there is to it: the stroke is short and light, the peak barely announces itself, and it rolls into the valley without the hump a heavier hunting cam makes you fight. That is exactly what a new or small shooter needs, because nothing about the draw punishes imperfect form or discourages a second arrow. The 75% let-off puts a touch more weight in the hand at full draw than the deepest let-off bows, and on a bow this size that is a feature, giving the shooter something definite to pull into instead of a mushy back wall. Shot feel is quiet and soft for the class, helped by the offset string suppressor, so the report does not startle a beginner into flinching. Raising it myself, I found the sub-four-pound weight is the kind of thing you only appreciate after twenty arrows: the pin stays put instead of wandering as a young archer's arm tires. It is not a flagship-smooth, dead-in-the-hand experience, and it is not trying to be; it is an approachable, low-drama draw that makes the first hundred arrows fun rather than a chore. That approachability is worth more than a couple of fps to the shooter this bow is built for.

Usage Scenarios

The core scenario writes itself: a household where a kid starts in the backyard at 15 or 20 pounds and, three or four years later, is sitting in a treestand at 45 or 50 pounds with the same bow. Because the top end is genuinely hunt-capable, this is not a bow the shooter has to replace the moment they are ready to hunt, and a 12-to-14-year-old at a 24-to-26-inch draw and 45-plus pounds is set up for whitetail at practical treestand and ground-blind ranges. It doubles neatly as a small-framed adult's hunting bow: a shorter-draw adult who wants a real 50-pound setup rather than a capped rec bow fits it well. It is also the obvious matching bow in a family where a parent already shoots the full-size adult Gamekeeper and wants the youngest to carry the same look afield. Where it runs out of room is the tall or long-draw adult who needs past 27 inches, or the hunter who wants heavier draw weights and flatter trajectories for bigger game at longer range, because that shooter has outgrown the platform. For target and 3D play, backyard practice, and youth-to-first-deer hunting, it covers the whole arc.

Versions

The Gamekeeper Jr is sold as a single configuration, the Ready-to-Hunt package, at a $419.99 launch MSRP, available in both right- and left-hand and in the one Mossy Oak Bottomland finish. The RTH kit includes a Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit rest, a three-pin sight, a peep sight and D-loop, a Bottomland five-arrow quiver, a stabilizer, and a wrist sling, a complete hunting setup with nothing else to buy to start. For context on the value question, the mechanically identical Bear Royale RTH, the same 27-inch chassis, same 290 fps, same 5-to-50-pound range, launched at $379.99, so the Gamekeeper Jr's premium buys the Mossy Oak Gamekeepers collaboration, the Bottomland finish and quiver, and this specific accessory bundle rather than any change in how the bow shoots.

Bear Gamekeeper Jr vs Diamond Infinite Edge Pro, Mission Craze

Bow	Bear Gamekeeper Jr	Diamond Infinite Edge Pro	Mission Craze
Version	2026	2026 Legacy	2014
Picture
Brace Height	6 "	7 "	7.5 "
AtA Length	27 "	31 "	28 "
Draw Length	12 " - 27 "	13 " - 31 "	19 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	5 lbs - 50 lbs	5 lbs - 65 lbs	15 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	290 fps	300 fps	306 fps
Weight	2.7 lbs	3.3 lbs	3.6 lbs
Let-Off	75%	80%	80%
Where to buy Best prices online	$365.86 to $419.99 Compare prices	$125 to $900 Compare prices	$149.99 to $650 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Gamekeeper Jr's closest cross-brand rival is the Diamond Infinite Edge Pro, the bow most people mean when they say grow-with-me. At a $399 launch MSRP it too ships as a full Ready-to-Hunt package and, like the Jr, drops all the way to a 5-pound draw weight for a small child, but it stretches further at both ends, spanning 5 to 70 pounds and 13 to 31 inches with a 310 fps IBO, so it keeps pace with a taller, stronger adult that the Jr's 27-inch, 50-pound ceiling leaves behind. The Diamond Infinite Edge Pro is the pick if you want the single widest adjustment range and room to grow into a full adult draw, while the Gamekeeper Jr answers with the Mossy Oak Bottomland outfit and a shorter 27-inch axle-to-axle that a small shooter handles more easily. The Mission Craze is the other benchmark for enormous draw-weight adjustment, covering 15 to 70 pounds across a 19-to-30-inch draw, but two differences matter for this buyer: it starts at 15 pounds and a 19-inch draw rather than a small child's 5 pounds and 12 inches, and it sells as a bare bow, so you add a sight, rest, quiver, and peep before it shoots. That makes the Mission Craze a stronger fit for an older teen or adult who will build the bow up, and a weaker one for a young child than either ready-to-hunt package here. The decision comes down to priorities: the Gamekeeper Jr for the family that wants a small, hunt-ready, Mossy Oak rig for a young shooter, the Diamond Infinite Edge Pro for the widest grow-into-adult range in one ready-to-hunt bow, and the Mission Craze for the older shooter happy to accessorize a bare, heavily adjustable chassis.

Summary

The Gamekeeper Jr is one of the more honest one-bow-for-years propositions on the market: a genuinely light, easy-drawing compound that adjusts with a hex wrench from a five-year-old's 5-pound, 12-inch backyard setup to a 50-pound, 27-inch rig that will legally and effectively take a whitetail, all in a coordinated Mossy Oak Bottomland outfit that arrives ready to hunt. The binary cams and offset string suppressor make it more consistent and quieter than the single-cam youth bows a tier below, and at well under four pounds a small shooter can actually hold it on target. What I keep coming back to is that this is a Bear Royale in Mossy Oak clothing, and the $40 over the plain-chassis version buys the Gamekeeper collaboration, the Bottomland finish and quiver, and the specific hunting bundle, not a different-shooting bow, so the value call is really about whether that look and kit matter to you. At its low-$400s launch price it is an excellent grow-with-me hunting bow for the household raising a young archer toward their first deer, and especially for the family that wants the little shooter's bow to match dad's. Buyers who want the widest possible range to carry a shooter into a full adult draw should also look at the Diamond Infinite Edge Pro, and those happy to build up a bare, maximally adjustable chassis should look at the Mission Craze.