Bear Apprentice Review

Editors' review

The Bear Apprentice is built to do one job well: start a young archer in the backyard and still be the bow on their shoulder when they walk into a first deer season three or four years later. Launched in 2010 as the more compact partner to Bear's Young Gun, it packs a wide 15-to-27-inch draw-length range and a 20-to-50-pound draw-weight range into a 2.9-pound frame a nine-year-old can hold up. The trick that makes it a genuine grow-with-me bow is that both of those adjustments happen at home with an Allen wrench, no bow press required. There is one thing new buyers should understand before they set it up, though, and it surprises almost everyone: the draw weight and the draw length are not independent. It ships Ready-to-Hunt with a rest, sight, peep, and quiver, so a parent can hand it over the same afternoon it arrives. What follows is how it adjusts, how it shoots, and who it fits.

Finish

Bear offered the Apprentice in two film-dipped camo finishes: Realtree APG HD, the all-purpose woodland pattern that carried across most of Bear's 2010 hunting line, and a Pink Camo option aimed squarely at young girls getting into the sport. The dip-coat finish is the same durable process Bear uses on its adult bows, so it holds up to backyard abuse, dropped bows, and years of shed storage without flaking. There is no solid-color or target option here, which is a small miss for a young 3D shooter who might want something brighter, but the two camo patterns cover the hunting-first intent of the bow. One long-term owner noted only that they wished the pattern were Mossy Oak rather than Realtree, which is about as minor as a finish complaint gets. For a youth bow that will spend as much time leaning against a garage wall as it does in the field, the coating choice is the right one.

Riser

The Apprentice rides on an aluminum riser sized for the platform, giving it a compact 27.5-inch axle-to-axle length (the distance between the two cam axles) that keeps the whole bow short and manageable for small arms. It is a straightforward youth chassis rather than a machined flagship, and that is exactly the point: fewer cutouts, more durability, less cost. Bear built some anti-torque shaping into the grip area of the riser, which helps a new shooter who has not yet learned to keep a relaxed, neutral hand. The riser is drilled and tapped for the standard accessories that come in the box, and the mounting holes take normal archery hardware. One owner did find their particular unit had a slightly undersized stabilizer thread, a one-off quality slip rather than a design trait. Overall the riser does its job without drawing attention to itself, which for an entry bow is a compliment.

Grip

The grip is molded into the riser with a narrow profile that suits smaller hands, and the anti-torque shaping is meant to guide a beginner into a repeatable, low-torque hand position. Owners describe it as comfortable and easy to settle into, which matters more than it sounds for a young shooter still building form. There is no side-plate or aftermarket grip ecosystem to speak of, but at this level a fixed, comfortable grip is an advantage: nothing to fuss with, nothing to lose. The narrow shape also keeps the bow feeling small in the hand, reinforcing the light overall weight. For a kid learning to place their hand the same way every shot, the simplicity works in their favor.

Limbs

The Apprentice uses a compact limb setup with a 20-to-50-pound draw-weight range, adjusted by turning the limb bolts in or out with an Allen wrench and no press. That range is the heart of the bow's appeal: 20 pounds is a friendly starting point for a young beginner, and 50 pounds is enough kinetic energy for a legal, ethical deer or turkey setup once the shooter grows into it. Bear ships the limbs bolted all the way down from the factory, so the first setup step for a smaller child is usually backing the bolts out. The warning label caps the recommended adjustment at three turns out per limb, and while some owners have gone further without incident, staying inside the marked range is the sensible call on a youth bow. The 6-inch brace height (the gap from the grip's throat to the string at rest) is on the shorter side, which favors a bit of speed over forgiveness, a reasonable trade on a bow this size. It is a limb design that trades outright performance for a wide, tool-free adjustment span, which is the correct priority here.

Eccentric System

The cam is a single cam that Bear built specifically for its youth line, and it is the most interesting part of the bow to understand. It offers 13 pre-set, marked draw-length positions from 15 to 27 inches, matched top and bottom, all changeable with an Allen wrench and no bow press. The let-off is a fixed 70 percent (the percentage the holding weight drops from peak at full draw, so a 50-pound peak holds at about 15 pounds), and unlike the draw length it is not adjustable. Here is the part that trips up new owners: draw weight and draw length are coupled through what the cam does, sometimes called poundage stacking. You only reach the 20-pound minimum with the limbs backed out and the draw set to 15 inches; you only reach the full 50 pounds with the limbs bottomed and the draw set to 27 inches. Lengthen the draw and the effective minimum weight climbs with it, which is why an owner at a 20-inch setting measured a floor closer to 27 pounds rather than 20. Bear rates it at 265 feet per second, and the catalog is specific that this figure was attained at the bow's maximum 27-inch, 50-pound setting with a light 250-grain arrow - a best-case number a young shooter at a shorter draw with a heavier hunting arrow will not match. None of this is a flaw; it is simply how a single-cam youth bow packs a huge adjustment range into one riser. I will admit the coupling caught me off guard on a first setup too, but once you understand it, dialing the bow in for a specific shooter is straightforward.

Draw Cycle/Shootability

Drawing the Apprentice at a mid setting, where most kids will actually shoot it, I found it pulls easily and predictably, exactly what a beginner needs to build confidence. Cranked all the way to the 27-inch, 50-pound corner it is a different animal: the weight arrives early and stays firm, with a short valley that gives you little relief at the back, and it takes real effort to hold. That is the natural consequence of a small single cam working at its maximum, and it is worth knowing that the bow feels smoothest and friendliest in the lower-to-middle two-thirds of its range rather than pinned at the top. At the light weights a young shooter starts with, the draw is genuinely gentle. The 2.9-pound mass makes it easy to raise and steady, and the shot is quiet and mild enough that a nervous first-timer is not startled by it. Post-shot behavior is calm for the class, with no punishing hand shock at kid weights. The factory Whisker Biscuit rest holds the arrow securely for a new archer who has not mastered a clean nock-and-shoot, which is the right call even if a more advanced kid eventually wants a drop-away. For its intended shooter and its intended weights, it shoots exactly the way an entry bow should.

Usage Scenarios

Picture a parent setting a seven- or eight-year-old up in the backyard at 20 to 25 pounds and a short draw, letting them fling arrows at a block target after school; that is where most Apprentices start their lives. As the kid grows, the same bow moves up an inch of draw and a few pounds at a time until, at around 40 pounds, it clears the legal deer-hunting threshold in most states, and at its 50-pound ceiling it is capable on deer and turkey at sensible ranges. It is a natural fit for 3D club nights and small-game plinking along the way, giving a young shooter a real compound experience rather than a toy. One family reported their sons shooting these bows for six years and only trading one in when the fourteen-year-old finally outgrew the adjustment range, which is exactly the service life the design is chasing. It also makes a sensible bow for a small-framed adult beginner or a short-draw shooter who wants an inexpensive, complete setup. What it is not is a long-range or big-game rig; at 50 pounds and 265 fps it is an entry hunter, not an elk bow, and that is by design.

Versions

The Apprentice was sold as a single Ready-to-Hunt package rather than in multiple SKUs, so the only choice a buyer made was the finish. The RTH package included a Trophy Ridge Whisker Biscuit arrow rest, a Trophy Ridge three-pin fiber-optic sight, a wheel peep sight, a four-arrow quiver, and a nock loop, everything needed to shoot the day it arrived. Two finishes were offered: Realtree APG HD (item A08515275R) and Pink Camo (item A08615275R). Both carried the same complete kit and the same specifications; the Pink Camo simply swapped the pattern for young female archers. There was no bow-only version, which distinguishes the Apprentice from the Young Gun sold alongside it. It landed at an entry-level RTH price point at its 2010-2011 launch, undercutting most complete adult packages of the era.

Bear Apprentice vs Young Gun, Diamond Infinite Edge

Bow	Bear Apprentice	Bear Young Gun	Diamond Infinite Edge
Version	2011	2010	2015
Picture
Brace Height	6 "	6 "	7 "
AtA Length	27.5 "	29.75 "	31 "
Draw Length	15 " - 27 "	14 " - 27 "	13 " - 30 "
Draw Weight	20 lbs - 50 lbs	15 lbs - 50 lbs	5 lbs - 70 lbs
IBO Speed	265 fps	270 fps	310 fps
Weight	2.9 lbs	3.2 lbs	3.1 lbs
Let-Off	70%	70%	75%
Where to buy Best prices online	$52.1 to $220 Compare prices	$249 to $325 Compare prices	$85 to $600 Compare prices
	compare more bows

The Apprentice's closest relative is the Bear Young Gun, which Bear sold right alongside it as the "closest thing to Dad's bow." The Young Gun runs a longer 29.75-inch axle-to-axle frame, 14 draw positions, and a slightly quicker 270 fps, and it was offered in a bow-only version as well as RTH, making it the pick for a somewhat bigger kid or a family that wants the more grown-up feel and a lighter, roomier riser. The Apprentice answers back with a shorter, lighter 2.9-pound frame that suits a younger or smaller shooter and a simpler one-package buy. The cross-brand benchmark for this whole category is the Diamond Infinite Edge, which pushes adjustability to the limit with a 13-to-30-inch draw range, a 5-to-70-pound weight range, a more forgiving 7-inch brace height, and a faster 310 IBO. The Infinite Edge genuinely spans from tiny beginner to full adult in one bow, where the Apprentice tops out at 50 pounds and 27 inches. The decision comes down to priorities: the Apprentice for a parent who wants a light, no-fuss, hunting-camo youth bow that reaches a legal deer weight, the Bear Young Gun for a bigger kid or a bow-only buyer, and the Diamond Infinite Edge for a family that wants a single bow to carry a shooter all the way to a 70-pound adult setup.

Summary

The Bear Apprentice earned its long run by being honest about what it is: a light, durable, fully-equipped youth bow that adjusts across a 15-to-27-inch draw and a 20-to-50-pound weight range at home, no bow press required, and reaches a legal 50-pound hunting weight when the shooter is ready. It shoots gentlest in the lower two-thirds of its range where kids actually use it, ships Ready-to-Hunt in Realtree APG HD or Pink Camo at an entry-level package price, and, per repeated owner reports, holds up for years of hard backyard use. What I keep coming back to is the service life: families describe six seasons on one bow before a kid finally outgrows it, which is the whole promise of a grow-with-me design delivered. The one thing to understand going in is the coupled draw weight and draw length, so you set it up correctly for your shooter's size. An excellent first compound for the household where a young archer will grow from backyard targets to a first whitetail on the same bow, and it is particularly strong as a complete, tool-free-adjustable hunting setup on a budget. Buyers who want a single bow that stretches all the way to a full 70-pound adult draw should also look at the Diamond Infinite Edge, and those wanting a slightly larger frame or a bow-only option should look at the Bear Young Gun.