Big buck hunters of 1915

[20ftupatree]

Here is a picture circulating around Facebook through out my friends, The pic is from 1915 and taken in my town of Whitehall, for those of you not familiar it's 5G, 5T country right on the NY/VT border. I found this picture absolutely amazing. No scent Blocker camo's, no cover scents or buck lure. No tree stands, no decoys,NONE of the things I (we) go crazy buying and testing.....and they bagged some nice bucks. I wish I saw half of those deer in a weeks time of hunting this year, They got em all in one day! Anyways just wanted to share, thought it was a very cool pic.

[Geno C]

i would look at it like throwing in a nice lure in a pond that never saw one before, the fish would go nuts for it...

deer like that could have been a dime a dozen, if hunting pressure was limited.

None of us know how the hunting was back then tho... your talking 95 years ago. Hunting pressure and deer herd could have been totally different lol. i always enjoy looking at photos like this tho! Nice find!

it is pretty neat to look at a pic like this and try to envision how hunting was way back when... cool pic!

[letinmfly]

Actually deer populations were much lower at the turn of the century than the are now, if I remember reading that correctly.

Great pic of days gone by!!

[20ftupatree]

I have thought of that Geno...and I thought about how many guys (old and young) were out hunting just for the specific reason of putting meat on the table. Pressure probably wasn't all that much different, granted there were a lot more unmolested land, more farm lands and plain ole undeveloped woods then though. BUT I do remember my gramp talking of hunting when I first started and from his stories and what I recall the heard was not at all what we have today, no regulations, and as stated before every man and child were hunting to feed the family, for my grandfathers family they raised animals for slaughter and they hunted be it deer, rabbit ect.I was just intrigued by the pic of bucks stacked like cord wood laying all over this car...for this to be a common sight is fascinating. I have always been dumbfounded how people survived then, things we take for granted, my $150 boots to keep my feet warm during my hunt, state of the art equipment and gear..I couldn't imagine life without it! Just amazing....

[letinmfly]

Here's a portion of what I was reading.

  In primitive times, there was an estimated population of 40 million white-tailed deer in the 2 million square miles (3,200,000 square km) of original range north of Mexico. The most populated regions were the Mississippi Valley and what is now the eastern United States. With settlement and conquest of the continent by Europeans, the deer population was greatly reduced. Between 1875 and 1915, deer were at their lowest level. Restocking and redistribution were begun around the turn of the century and, with added protection, the deer began to increase.  Coincident with the original population decline, the range also was altered. Because of destruction of large sections of the native forests and clearing for agriculture, considerable territory was lost in the east and center of the primitive range; but new areas to the north and northwest were made habitable by the favorable variety of plant growth which often followed clearing.

[shenders]

That is a great pic.  It's nice to look back and see what hunting was then and what it is now.

[jasons75]

Nice Pic.

It does make you realize how much modern marketing has wrapped us all up in having the latest and greatest equipment.

[Doc]

So now it's obvious what I have been doing wrong. I haven't been wearing my tie. Well, next year we'll fix that!

Doc

[ANTLERS]

Do you think they were concerned about scent control,doe pee scent waffers,trail camera's,grunt tubes,ratteling devices,etc....Just a bow tie and bowler hat.Those were real men back then.

[Helderberg Hunter]

Nice Photo

From this photo I would gather that all of the men were well off judging by their attire. Also one of them owned an automobile which would again reinforce the fact they had a buck (excuse the pun).

This looks to me that they all got back in to town and got cleaned up (notice no mud ect. on their shoes) and changed into their Sunday best and posed for the photo. A camera would be another luxury, I don't think they all had a digital mini camera in their pockets.

Obviously taken in town they must have been in a deer camp and brought the deer to town via another vehicle or more likely horse and wagon. That car is a 2 seater and you would not be driving that car up some mountain road to a hunting camp near Whitehall NY which is pretty rugged country to this day.

[Doc]

So how many deer do they have on that car? I think I count 6. I would have said 5, but I see an antler right next to the R.H. guy sitting on the running board.

[20ftupatree]

So how many deer do they have on that car? I think I count 6. I would have said 5, but I see an antler right next to the R.H. guy sitting on the running board.

There are 6. 3 on the back, 2 over the hood and 1 lying on the fender. We have identified 2 of the guys in the photo and yes they were well off, They were the one of the biggest families and very prominent in town, Kingsley is the name. But yes I also figured this was a "photo op".

[NY Trophy Hunter]

...and just think, they didn't have scent lock?  :-\

[HectorBuckBuster]

I think there is only 5 deer.Not to start a debate but click on the link below picture will enlarge it, I believe the thing you think is the antler is just the white inter part of the deers back leg and his head is up on the front fender and turned. Also look behind the head on the hood area, if there was deer there you would not see the radiator cap sticking up.Just my observation.

[jimbodwb]

Nice pic. I only count 5 deer for 5 guys. I don't use scentlok or lures or coverscents. Neither do any of the guys I hunt with and we all seem to do just fine. It is all a gimmick. Play the wind right, find a nice tree to lean against, be quiet and you should be fine.

[Daveboone]

We see these old photos and are amazed, but usually the city "sports" hired a guide, who was more than happy to be sure the hunters got their meat. Dogs were still used, as well as jacklighting from boats, and of course bait piles. Even when the populations were low, good deer could be had.