Thoses were the good days

[Doc]

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.

Yes, we can, but as a group we are not. The direction of hunting is set and nothing we do can change that. In fact we are accelerating all the techno-hunting and all the accompanying attitudes and activities and apparently loving it. The older generation has lost control of the sport as we eventually should. It will become what it will become regardless of what our individual choices turn out to be. It's all much bigger than the individual, and at some point we have to let it go to be guided by the younger sportsmen to shape as they want. We can try to describe "the good ol' days". Nobody may want to listen .... lol. But it's always nice to occasionally put it all in perspective and context even if it's only for our own purposes and even if we re the only ones that appreciate it.

[Mr VJP]

You really need to get a grip on your defeatist attitude and negativity Doc.

[sits in trees]

i remember driving by state land and cars parked bumper to bumper, a whole hell of alot more shooting on opening morning. hunters were younger then also. hunting camps were alot bigger with alot of drinking and card playing. you would see deer on every other car cruising along the thruway, and blaze orange was just amazing to look at. small towns crawling with hunters, and all you saw in the local diners and gin mills were hunters.

seemd like in those days it was more about luck, and today we know more, even have our deer named.

[Bleitten04]

Now I'm nowhere near the "good ol days" generation lol.  But my grandpa used to be a part of it.  I've seen some pictures of the red jackets with blue jeans and such things.  He used to be apart of a camp where all they did was push deer.  When they day was over they went back and just enjoyed life and everyones company.  I wish that is what it was like today.  I really envy you guys who still have camps.  The sport has changed a lot though.  If you watch hunting tv shows for a few years and then if you really compare the shows you will see a difference in hunting.  Everything gets "better".  I dont really see this as a bad thing though.  Everything evolves at some point in time!!!!!  I just wish I was apart of a sweet camp LOL!!!

[16. ga hunter]

i'm too young to remember the good old days but those ways of hunting you talk about are the ways we use in camp. not endless driving but no trail cams or butt loads of scent cover ect. just us and nature no going after or wanting to create huge mature bucks just the guys going out to enjoy what we can and maybe get a deer these are the same ways and traditions i will be teaching my young son so doc. not all is lost in this technology craze.

[burmjohn]

Those hunting shows, although fun to watch, are not reality.  I actually wish they showed more of the other aspects of hunting.  One show I watched recently was actually pretty good, buck commander, it showed some of the other aspects of hunting.  None the less the old tops I hunt with pass along the traditions.  Although some bow hunt, they consider the gun season to be the "Real" season.  And along with that they bring the stories and memories.  I've only hunted for 17 years, however I can see the changes that have occurred.  It's not as accepted as it was then in the more urban area's, but that has no effect on us keeping the traditions going. And hopefully, once I have kids, is something I will pass on as well. 

[Bleitten04]

Buck Commander I love that show!!!  Chipper Jones is my favorite baseball player LOL!!!  Another good one is Jim Shockey the Proffesionals.  Most of the time they are successfull in their hunts.  But they show everything.  If someting goes wrong they show it.  The show is suppose to show how much work is really needed to be a big time hunter and how hard it really actually is. 

[sits in trees]

hunting has become an individualized thing. i'm not sure if thats good or bad but i still enjoy the sport as much as ever, i will be heading out with 3 guys tomorrow morning toting a rifle.

[First-light]

Doc says"society in general looks down upon hunting" and "there are still pockets that exist today" of the traditional hunting society. I agree with what he wrote but just so you guys get a sliver of another extreme. I work in the heart of NYC been there almost 20 years. In the beginning I kept my hunting talk to myself or a very few but over the years I have found out that the people I work with are either neutral or in favor of hunting. Rarely do I come across a nut that wants to jump down my throat. In fact more recently people will strike up conversations with me asking all kinds of questions. Yes I work in the publishing business but not for OL or F&S. I work on financial magazines. I don't think it is as bad as we see it (negative sentiment) sure there are all types out there but until you really talk to them you will never know.

Good hunting,

Burt

[nycoyotehounds..BUB]

I can remember my dad telling stories of when he was younger. If someone had a set of deer tracks walk through the garden everybody came just to look at them. Thats how scarce deer were.

[gundeck]

I remember school being closed the first two days of season.  I remember hunting with all of my uncles and cousins.  I remember cutting up deer in my uncle's barn while Uncle Jiggs fried up the backstraps.

[Fantail]

I swear to remember a morning dove season.

[Pygmy]

I don't think there has ever been a dove season in NY....

It has been proposed many times, but has been shot down easily by the antis, because it  has had little support by sportsman, due to the fact that there is no dove hunting tradition in New York..

I know there has not been one since I have been hunting ( early 60's)...

Are you remembering further back than that..??..

[jimbodwb]

The good ole days for me are not actually that long ago. This is my 20th season. I do remember getting to the parking area and meeting my uncles and cousins. Everyone talking and cracking jokes. Figuring out where everyone is planning to be. All of us walking in to together and one by one we would all turn off the trail to our spots. I think of hunting as a group or family event. I never go hunting alone. It just would not seem right to me. That is the closest thing I have to hunting camp because we never had our own land with a camp. Most of my uncles do not hunt anymore and I moved 100+miles away. My dad is on his way to my house right now though and we will be hunting with my buddy on his dads farm in Ilion, Herkimer county. There will be about 10 of us and I hope it reminds me of those good ole days! Good luck tomorrow everyone.

[Daveboone]

As I remember, in the late 70s (when I started hunting) the success rate for deer hunting was around 5%. My hunting outfit was dads old cotten batten lined moth eaten coat, two pairs of blue jeans pulled on over cotten long underwear, uninsulated rubber packs, mittens mom knitted, and a 36" barreled 12 gauge bolt action J.C. Higgins shotgun dad bought for 25.00 ! I shocked him when I shot a deer my first year out with it (doe on a permit with 3 other people). I remember counting four other hunters not in our party in sight from my stand...well, tree I was leaning against. I have never been as cold as I was hunting in those days.

[Brother Nature]

Those were the good ol days when you could take a small flask out with you to the woods to take a nip on when you get cold and not have to worry about people chastizing you and calling you a raging alcoholic... Back in the day, it was part of the uniform..  Gun..check, License...check..., Thermos ...Check.... Flask...Check..   

[Mr VJP]

And we just found out it still is.  The law still trusts the responsible hunter.  But woe to those who aren't.

[NYDeer]

Good post, a lot of things mentioned are familiar to me from memories or stories from family members..  I remember the metal hand heaters with the fuel bars, not fluid heaters. I still use my father in laws' gas 3 burner Coleman stove, camp oven & catalyst heaters from the 70's.  Hunting has become a more individual sport, because of society, & everyone's hectic schedules, as compared to yesteryear, when deer season superseded other things, and everyone did it..

[bubba]

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

is that a chevy vega?  I have been in this sport about 40 years or so.  My memories of the good old days were hanging out at  camp  with my family.  There was no generator or satellite tv.  we entertained ourselves by talking playing cards and telling deer stories.  My dad, uncles, aunts and cousins would get up and make deer drives.  Most of the camp ran on propane ie cooking stove lights fridge.  When we needed tank, my dad would put a 100 pounder in the trunk of the car and drive it 40 miles to camp.  Camp was a 14x28 single room that was capable of sleeing 10 with bunk beds and a fold out couch.  there was no room for modesty. Ther were no magnums just 30-30's and my dad had a model 99 300 savage. No scopes open sites.  This was smack in the middle of the dacks, so we hunted hard, saw few deer.  I remember the first party permits as they were called. It took 4 guys on a form to get one permit.  We ate well hunted hard told big stories and laughed a lot.  Man I miss those days.  Yeah, I do get more deer now, but I dont think it is any better.  We go to camp now and there are the young guys texting listenng to mp3 players, checking their face book accounts and watching 100 channels of tv.  I think no one ever just talks any more.  If I had one wish before I died, it would be to spend one more weekend at that old camp with those who have passed.  I would just sit there and listen to the stories, most of which were a stretch to say the least, but I would listen attentively like I did when I was a kid.  I would love to take the younger generation so they could see how much fun we could have technology free.  Here is apic of the old place.  It has since fallen in and we lost it due to a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. I also remember gettng toi campo friday evening after dark. You could see your breath in the camp.  You would get the fire started and shiver all night.  We were about 1/2 mile off the highway, so when you heard a vehicle, you went to the window to see who else was coming to camp.  I posted thos before reading the thread, so I apologize if I repeated a lot of memories, but I had to share mine.  I read as far as ed's pics and had to respond.  This thread made my night.

[jimbo91]

I am only nineteen years old, but i like to listen to seasoned hunters talk about the good old days, I am somewhat ashamed of my generation, and I definately think that times were better "back in the day"

[WNYBuckHunter]

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

is that a chevy vega? 

Chevette 

[RPIBuckHunter]

I am only nineteen years old, but i like to listen to seasoned hunters talk about the good old days, I am somewhat ashamed of my generation, and I definately think that times were better "back in the day"

This.

I'm 20, and this is my first year hunting.  I am being taught by my father, who started hunting back in the '60s, but hadn't been out in some 30 years before this year.  So here I am getting ready for my first deer hunt; I've got my brown pants, green coat, and my shotgun loaded with slugs.  Go in to the woods a few hours before sunset, lean against a tree, and wait for the deer.  Don't see anything, but the season is young and I am excited about future prospects.

Get home, share the experience of my first day deer hunting on some online forum.  General trend of response is, 'Dude!!  You're doing it wrong!!  If you're not 20 ft up a tree, wearing scent control camo, in an area where you've pattern the deer with trailcams, layered with doe urine, and equipped with a .300 RUM, you ain't taking no deer!!'

Well, maybe I have to put a little more work in to do it, but I'm sure the reward will be that much better when I finally do take that first deer.

As for some good old days stories, my dad talks about how the southern zone used to be shotgun only.  He was out shopping for a slug barrel this summer and I said, 'Why? You have a perfectly good .35 Remington!' (Seriously, who uses a .35 Rem anymore?  I pretty sure you can't even buy those these days... )  I had to show him that the hunting syllabus has changed just a tad in the last 30 years.

And how about all these posted signs?  My dad took me to the area where he shot his first deer; there is a patch of state land, however, it does not extend all the way to the roadway, and there is no way to walk in to it because the entire road is posted...

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Welcome to the sport and pay no attention to the other sites....this is all you need...lol. seriously though. I have take more deer from the ground than in stand and up until i quit smoking this fall I have done it alot with a Cig hanging out of my mouth. The sport is unpredictable and the best advice anyone could give you is....don't get caught up in the gimmicks and just enjoy the experience...learn a little something....enjoy time with your Dad (by the way...the 35 is a great brush gun). Good luck

[burmjohn]

I have a 35, its an awesome walking / stalking gun.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Brown pants????????????????