Thoses were the good days

[noodle one]

I remember when hunting licenses cost $1.25

Dick's Sporting goods was on upper court st. and was called Dick's sport shop and all he sold was hunting and fishing gear and a lot army surplus. If my memory is correct you could buy a surplus gun for $14.00. how times have changed.

Sears, JC Pennys, and Montgomery Wards all sold guns along with a lot of Mom and Pop shops.

A drag rope was really a rope.

Treestands were wood nailed to a tree.

Deer season was buck season.

DMP,S were doe days

iron sights is most people used and if you were lucky to have a scope it was a Weaver.

We used a hand warmer that you had to use lighter fluid, no wonder we didn't see many deer.

We shot deer slugs in our shotguns.

Woolrich suits were the de rigeur of fashion when hunting.

Fluorescent orange was unheard of.

Sandwiches wraped in waax paper.

Glass lined thermos that would break if you dropped them.

paper shot shellsgun

Deer tied to the top of cars.

Let hear what you remember about the good old days, I know some of you have a lot tell us about them.

[steve863]

There are many younger hunters who hang around here, so I don't think there are too many who can reminisce about the old days.  I have hunted for about 30 years and can say that we have better hunting today than we did 30 years ago.  Maybe I'm a bit better hunter than I was then, but I surely see way more deer today than I did 30 years ago.  Yeah, it may be harder to finding hunting spots and  these days hunting can cost you some money, but what do we get that is totally free anymore?  Just the way the world is, I guess.  I guess there is some nostalgia when you look back on how hunting used to be, but in general the HUNTING itself is better now than it ever was.  These days people can hunt longer, have more tags available to fill and yet there are plenty deer left for next year.  Quite honestly I don't know if I want to go back to the old days.

[fasteddie]

I can relate to almost all of them ...........

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I remember coming out of the woods at noon to a cast iron skillet of frying venison on an old coleman stove. rubber pack boots that were so tight you hade to put old bread bags on your feet so you could slide your feet back out. Then when you  were lucky you step up to the smowmobile boots.. I too had the Woolrich bibs and a red wollrich coat. I loved how warm they were and how nice and heavy they felt after a goot rain storm. it repelled water pretty well but once it got in it was like carrying a person on your back. how about the red or green wool hats with the fold down ear lappers.

I remember snow for shotgun season...not just a dusting....i mean real snow...knee height or higher. I remember hunting and you might not see a deer all day and then all of a sudden 10-20 would come by in single file...looking down the smooth barrel top at the single brass bead of my Montgomery Ward

eastfield" pump...just trying to grow a horn on one of them...never seemed to work. Gonna sound funny but i remember the smell of my Father's cigarettes on a zero degree day...blowing around his shoulder and it had a much different smell than normal...it smelled like hunting...wierd to talk about second hand smole fondly but some smells just bring you back.

I hope we all get a chance to sit around with a few buddies over the season and tell these type of stories....to me that is what the whole hunting experience is all about.

[fasteddie]

I remember when you use to sit on the ground with your back against a big tree . At the time , I smoked and would have does pass within 10 yards of me and probably knew I didn't have a "Party Permit" . Four hunters could apply for a permit to take one doe . The only legal shooter was the one wearing the armband .

I had and still have the Winchester 1200 pump with a Qwik-Point sight but have since replaced the modified smooth bore barrel with a rifled slug barrel .

It was common in small rural villages to see a deer hanging from a tree in a back or side yard . I don't recall anyone complaining about shooting deer .

[mossy725]

These are the best reasons I love going to hunting camp. Nothing beats coming in from a cold day in the field, and reminiscing about all of the stories of the days passed. Great times.

[steve863]

Four hunters could apply for a permit to take one doe . The only legal shooter was the one wearing the armband .

That was a bit before my time, but I remember hearing about this system.  I wonder how many in the party actually abided by the law where only armband wearer did the shooting?  I guess they made up this law to avoid the shooting of more than one doe by the party, but it sure didn't sound fair to the party members who weren't wearing the armband.  I guess the best they could hope for was to get a piece of that backstrap since huntingwise they might as well have stayed home since they weren't legally allowed to shoot.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Oh...how about those noisey hot seats....you couldn't shift your weight without making a ton of noise...good point on the hanging deer...hardly ever see them anymore. we use to drive around towm on the way home every night to the houses that had "meat poles" and see what everyone had hanging. The arm bands was a bit before me but I do remember the 4, 3, 2 guys on a party permit.

[Cabin Fever]

The good 'ole days for me meant sharing hunts with my Dad. Still sucks walking past his empty treestands... 

Enjoy 'em while you have 'em guys...

[First-light]

I just moved most of my father-in-laws stuff to my attic, two old coleman lanterns a stove and a heater that you would fill with fuel and light the top like a giant wick.

He used the stuff at Indian lake and the Catskills, I used it in the Catskills also. Cool stuff!

[Pygmy]

I went through two red checked woolrich coats and a pair of trousers that matched...

I could leave my home and walk as far as I wanted and never be on land  where I wasn't welcome...A few areas were posted, but neighbors all let thier neighbors hunt, along with most other folks who had the courtesy to ask permission...

My first hunting license cost $3.25..My first duck stamp cost $3.00.. I still have them and an old party permit armband from 1969.. It was a landowner preference permit and still required 3 people for one antlerless deer.

Hardly anybody had a scope on thier shotgun...The only guns you saw with adjustable rifle type sights were Ithaca Deerslayers...  Many , if not most hunters just used the bead on thier shotgun barrel..A few had recievers drilled for peep sights, and used the bead for a front sight..

The only shotgun slugs available were Remington, Federal or Super -X ( Winchester) Foster type slugs and Brennekes, which most guys called " German" slugs...

Most hunters drove deer..Almost everyplace got hunted..There weren't  many  unhuntable  or lightly hunted " sanctuaries " for deer to hide undisturbed in, as is the case today... You saw lots of deer....

[mossy725]

Oh...how about those noisey hot seats....you couldn't shift your weight without making a ton of noise...good point on the hanging deer...hardly ever see them anymore. we use to drive around towm on the way home every night to the houses that had "meat poles" and see what everyone had hanging. The arm bands was a bit before me but I do remember the 4, 3, 2 guys on a party permit.

My father has one of those seats. Hilarious. Bright red, all vinyl.  ;D

[steve863]

I have one VERY vivid memory of one of those hotseats.  Had to do #2 out in the woods and somehow forgot to unhook the thing from the back of my pants.  Lets just say that I hope you fellas have such good aim on a big buck this coming weekend!  Bullseye!!!

[fasteddie]

Those handwarmers that used lighter fluid were something else . Thsy ahd quite an odor and could get real hot ......

[fasteddie]

Those handwarmers that used lighter fluid were something else . They had quite an odor and could get real hot ......

[fasteddie]

Those handwarmers that used lighter fluid were something else . They had quite an odor and could get real hot ......

[Warren]

Here is an old picture of me back in 1968.

Back then we didn't worry about ticks or lyme disease.

Camo clothing was from the army surplus store.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Here is an old picture of me back in 1968.

Back then we didn't worry about ticks or lyme disease.

Camo clothing was from the army surplus store.

They have trees in NJ?  lol

how great was theh first gun you got with a sling.....my arms used to cramp up from cradling the shotgun in my arms all day.

[bushnell]

Great photo Warren. I love seeing older photos. I am not old enough to remember any of those hunting days but I hear stories.

[fasteddie]

Camp was fun at times ..............

[Mr VJP]

Warren, my first time deer hunting was in Dec of 1970 when I was 14 years old.  I went to Stokes State Forest, just across Rt 206 from the Flatbrook.  I had a Mossberg 500 in 3" mag and 00 Buck.  Remember when we couldn't use slugs back then?

Anybody else remember when everything in a hunter's closet smelled like Hoppes #9?  I still love that smell.

[Doc]

Hunting sure has changed since the days when I started. As has been mentioned already, herd sizes have grown, equipment has improved, hunter comfort has improved, and hunter success has improved. How could those days so many years ago be considered "the good ol' days"?

Well, there are some things that have not improved. Attitudes surrounding hunting have changed in ways that are not necessarily improvements in my eyes.

When I was in high school, opening day of gun season was an unofficial holiday at school that was taken advantage of by the majority of boys of deer-hunting age (don't ask - don't tell). Imagine that happening today. Hunter safety classes were conducted in the school's bus garage. Imagine that! Hunting adventures were open topics everywhere that most people were truly interested in. I can't recall an anti-hunter anywhere back then. In fact even non hunters weren't all that plentiful in rural settings. Hunting was considered an honorable activity and not something that the general society looked down their noses at as they do today. Those were the things that made those the "good ol' days". The family gatherings that revolved around hunting ..... The story telling about hunting that friends and family members actually enthusiastically participated in .... the whole atmosphere that surrounded hunting was very different than what it is today. Yes there are still little pockets of that existing today, but it has become a rare situation rather than the normal way that hunting is viewed. Instead of the youngsters hovering around trying to hear all the little tidbits of hunting talk that the adults were conversing about, today the kids all take off to some rec-room to play with their latest electronic do-dad. It's just not the same.

There are other things that are evolving in hunting and one of those is the personal attitudes toward hunting. Today hunting involves competition between hunters with scoring systems to keep track of the winners. Hunting achievement has been reduced to numbers and measurements. Money and big business has crept into hunting in a way that de-personalized the activity to a point where many hunters look for ways to buy success. Hunting success seems to come to those who can devote the most money to their sport. I could be wrong, but I don't see that as positive change. Today we idolize TV hunting stars who have learned that there is money to be made in hunting reality and simulations. Hunters now watch their hunter-heroes and develop outrageous expectations and then demand that those expectations be realized. I guess back when I was first introduced to hunting we kind of accepted the activity of hunting the way it was presented by nature, and we simply went out and did it. We didn't try to create any sort of pressure or expectations. We weren't out to set records. We weren't out to turn hunting into some kind of farming operation or genetic experimentation. The only science involved was whatever was observed or passed down from other generations. Hunting was relaxing and accepted as just something that was natural and easy-going rather than forced and demanding. Perhaps that was the key to it's lasting appeal from generation to generation in the past, and perhaps changing all that is part of hunting's undoing that we see hints of today. Time will tell.

So I think that in spite of those physical things that we find are better about hunting today, when I hear somebody talk about the "good ol' days" of hunting, I know exactly what they are talking about. I've seen the changes. Personally, I liked it the way it was, but then that's just me. Actually, as more and more of us old-timers make way for the next generations of hunters, the actual date of "The Good ol' Days" will continue to shift one generation at a time. And each hunter will decide what were their individual "good Ol' Days" for themselves. I'll bet that's the way it has gone for many years.

Doc

[Mr VJP]

Good post Doc, even though it's a real downer.

But other than society's attitude about hunting that we now have to put up with, the rest of the changes you mentioned do not have to affect us at all. 

We can choose to ignore all of that technology and competition and do it the way we did it as kids.  We have the power to reject those changes and do it the way we used to do it.  Keep it pure and simple.  So maybe, with enough determination, we can all turn this train wreck around and get it moving in the right direction again.

I think it's best we start telling all of these "good old days" stories more often and hope the younger hunters see the wisdom of it and adopt the same attitude.

Almost forgot - We didn't wear Blaze Orange back then either.

;D

Ah, the good old days.

[Paulie]

Doc, weren't you in highschool during the "Great Depression".just kidding!! Lots has change over the years. I have only been hunting 18 years and soooo much has changed!!

[fasteddie]

We had to forfeit a football game because of hunting oneseason . Several of the upper classmen decided it would be fun to take off opening day of Pheasant season . They were put on Detention and were not elligible to play that week . We didn't have enough eligible players so we had to forfeit . Students would have their shotguns in their vehicles but very few had cars ......