deer hunting evolution

[Doc]

Those that have been deer hunting for a bunch of years have likely noticed changes in the way hunters hunt. What are the hunting and preparation methods or changes in priorities and that you have noticed that have changed over the years.

[helmut in the bush]

Technology has come a long way to help improve hunting equipment, the bad thing is I think I have missed a number of opportunities due to spending too much time looking at my stupid phone.

[Rattler]

For the most part, I still hunt with the same folks I've hunted with for decades.  So we have not really changed much as far as how we hunt.  What I have noticed is far fewer hunters in the woods these days, which has advantages and disadvantages.  I also am pleased to have a cell phone with me when hunting now.  That really makes hunting alone safer and allows me to keep in touch with other stand hunters while deer hunting.  We can make changes in plans due to weather or whatever and I can know quickly what is going down when I hear someone take a shot.

[G-Man]

drives are thing of past, most people just sit and wait.. still hunting is almist impossible as properties are all posted or to small where you cant follow it. and people dont play euchre they want to play some crazy wierd form of poker.. ugh

[Jeremy K]

Much harder property lines then I remember 25 years ago. The term MY deer is new as well.

[Larry]

Years ago deer drives was the way to go you may sit for a few hours in the morning. Then it was deer drive time in the afternoon with us young guys doing most of the driving and the old guys on stand. Now we are mostly sitters. Sometime I miss those days it was just plain fun.

We bow hunted mostly off the ground till the Baker tree stand came along I started with a recurve till the Bear White tail came along.

[grampy]

Just a few things off the top of my head, that are different now, from when I started deer huning 45 years ago. Not better, not worse, just different. 

Goretex, and other high tech boots and clothing.

Cell phones, with apps that show stand locations and wind direction. 

Food plots, specifically for deer.

Pop up tent blinds. And climbing tree stands.

Low budget rifles, that shoot better then the customs of years ago.

Compounds and Crossbows.

ANY deer used to be a trophy. Most hunters shot what they liked, and liked what they shot.

Posted signs.

ATV's.

Large deer drives, are a thing of the past.

Party Permits, where you had to have three or four hunters to shoot one doe.

Public land parking lots are much less crowded now.

Never had problems with things being stolen, or tresspassers.

Used to be many more shots heard at first light, on opening morning. 

Many more young hunters, back in the day.

Opening day was on a Monday. Lots of hunters would be "sick" that day.

 

[Northcountryman]

I’m some ways, those that do hunt though learn from mags and hunting shows and has become “gimmicky”. I saw a guy last year with an estrous can , grunt tube and rattle bag and he was doing all 3 every few minutes lol. 

[Hunter007]

The use of Gps and cams 

Edited August 13, 2018 by Storm914

[Lawdwaz]

9 hours ago, grampy said:

Just a few things off the top of my head, that are different now, from when I started deer huning 45 years ago. Not better, not worse, just different. 

Goretex, and other high tech boots and clothing.

Cell phones, with apps that show stand locations and wind direction. 

Food plots, specifically for deer.

Pop up tent blinds. And climbing tree stands.

Low budget rifles, that shoot better then the customs of years ago.

Compounds and Crossbows.

ANY deer used to be a trophy. Most hunters shot what they liked, and liked what they shot.

Posted signs.

ATV's.

Large deer drives, are a thing of the past.

Party Permits, where you had to have three or four hunters to shoot one doe.

Public land parking lots are much less crowded now.

Never had problems with things being stolen, or tresspassers.

Used to be many more shots heard at first light, on opening morning. 

Many more young hunters, back in the day.

Opening day was on a Monday. Lots of hunters would be "sick" that day.

 

You started just a couple/three years before I did and have nailed it with your list.

One thing I could add to your list is scents for attractant and cover ups.  Yea, I guess Tink's 69 and some skunk scent were around but heck if I remember much else back in the late 70's-early 80's.

[The_Field_Ager]

11 hours ago, Rattler said:

For the most part, I still hunt with the same folks I've hunted with for decades.  So we have not really changed much as far as how we hunt.  What I have noticed is far fewer hunters in the woods these days, which has advantages and disadvantages.  I also am pleased to have a cell phone with me when hunting now.  That really makes hunting alone safer and allows me to keep in touch with other stand hunters while deer hunting.  We can make changes in plans due to weather or whatever and I can know quickly what is going down when I hear someone take a shot.

I rather embarrassingly got turned around on a neighbors property recently. It is part of a large tract of woods near my house.It didn't take much either. I ended up having to use google maps to get me back to my car. 

[The_Field_Ager]

11 hours ago, Jeremy K said:

Much harder property lines then I remember 25 years ago. The term MY deer is new as well.

Technically they all belong to the King...err...Governor of NY. 

[The_Field_Ager]

9 hours ago, grampy said:

 

Never had problems with things being stolen, or tresspassers

 

Interesting. So hunter numbers are down but tresspassing is a bigger issue. What drives this?

[grampy]

35 minutes ago, Papist said:

Interesting. So hunter numbers are down but tresspassing is a bigger issue. What drives this?

Mountain bikers, bird watchers, hikers, weed planters, photographers, ginsing root seekers, dog walkers, "lost" people, atv riders, mushroom hunters, christmas tree seekers, and yes, even some who think my land holds better deer than theirs.......just to name a few. And yup, seen all of these! I could list more, but I think you got the point.

[grampy]

1 hour ago, Lawdwaz said:

You started just a couple/three years before I did and have nailed it with your list.

One thing I could add to your list is scents for attractant and cover ups.  Yea, I guess Tink's 69 and some skunk scent were around but heck if I remember much else back in the late 70's-early 80's.

Oh man, how did I forget the skunk cover scent, we got from the trapper supply? That was THE most foul stuff I ever used! 

[Larry]

I remember that skunk sent some guy at Kodak threw it in his boss’s office. It stunk up the whole building they never caught the guy

[Rattler]

I started out using Pete Rickard's Indian Buck Lure.  I still use it when I can find it and I really believe it works.

[nyslowhand]

When did leasing hunting property evolve? Use to be... everyone living within a mile or two knew each other and it was sort of unspoken that all land was free to roam, even w/o permission. Of course, back then no one locked their doors either!

Main complaint I have about how hunting has evolved pertains to Jeremy K's post - MY DEER. Back in the day ... there were no "hit lists", "top 10s", named BBs, etc. Yeah, way before cell phones, social media and trail cams, so you basically spent more time scouting,  used past year's sightings and hoped for the best. In today's world, hunting mature bucks has evoked into a form of sport, ranking or competition where recognition is important to the person harvesting a BB. This I just don't get!?! I'm a decent hunter and feel the only one I need to impress is myself. Is this just an old fart hunter's pet peeve?

[Robhuntandfish]

I would say the good ole days are ok but al lot of the good days are now.   Gotta love rangefinders and how accuratte the new bows and sights are.  Better equipment means better deer hunting and better shot placement.  Also like having a cell phone in the stand and be able to talk to my buddies i am hunting with and of course this site too!  makes for a better experience.  And warmer clothes and handwarmers and better boots etc.  Love trail cams they are just fun and make pre season more exciting and to see what might come by even if it doesnt.  The reason hunting has evolved is because US hunters wanted to make it better.  I think the good ole days are now.   

[rob-c]

6 hours ago, nyslowhand said:

When did leasing hunting property evolve? Use to be... everyone living within a mile or two knew each other and it was sort of unspoken that all land was free to roam, even w/o permission. Of course, back then no one locked their doors either!

Main complaint I have about how hunting has evolved pertains to Jeremy K's post - MY DEER. Back in the day ... there were no "hit lists", "top 10s", named BBs, etc. Yeah, way before cell phones, social media and trail cams, so you basically spent more time scouting,  used past year's sightings and hoped for the best. In today's world, hunting mature bucks has evoked into a form of sport, ranking or competition where recognition is important to the person harvesting a BB. This I just don't get!?! I'm a decent hunter and feel the only one I need to impress is myself. Is this just an old fart hunter's pet peeve?

Your 100% right on the MY DEER comment. The trophy buck craze has done more to hurt hunting than help. 

The things that have changed in my 33 years of hunting.....

slug gun to rifles -plus

deer drives to stand hunting - has positives and negatives .

hunting clothes have improved tremendously - big positive 

compound bow technology - big plus

deer camps seem to be on the decline - negative 

lack of land access - huge negative

younger generation not exposed or interested in hunting - biggest negative of all  

[The_Real_TCIII]

Ive said this so many times I'm sure its annoying but the Saturday gun opener killed deer camp around my area at least. Used to be we'd all take Friday off, bowhunt if we had tags, go out to dinner and a few beers Friday night. Same thing Saturday and Sunday, hunt early, move a stand or two for Monday. Sunday night we take it easy, play some cards or whatever and hunt all day Monday. Now its all business because you get down there and Saturday is go time. The bars and restaurants are dead all weekend now too. I dont think moving it to Saturday had the effect they hoped for in license sales/new hunters anyway. I'm not saying this from a selfish bowhunter standpoint, I absolutely love opening day of gun season.

[grampy]

37 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Ive said this so many times I'm sure its annoying but the Saturday gun opener killed deer camp around my area at least. Used to be we'd all take Friday off, bowhunt if we had tags, go out to dinner and a few beers Friday night. Same thing Saturday and Sunday, hunt early, move a stand or two for Monday. Sunday night we take it easy, play some cards or whatever and hunt all day Monday. Now its all business because you get down there and Saturday is go time. The bars and restaurants are dead all weekend now too. I dont think moving it to Saturday had the effect they hoped for in license sales/new hunters anyway. I'm not saying this from a selfish bowhunter standpoint, I absolutely love opening day of gun season.

I killed a couple of my best bow bucks, the weekend before opening day, when it fell on Monday. Always saw deer that weekend!!! As they were pushed around by neighboring hunters, sighting in their guns, placing stands, walking around looking for the "perfect" morning spot, loud BS'ing, slamming doors, and loud laughing.  I still say, that was always the best bowhunting weekend of the season!

[Jeremy K]

56 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

Ive said this so many times I'm sure its annoying but the Saturday gun opener killed deer camp around my area at least. Used to be we'd all take Friday off, bowhunt if we had tags, go out to dinner and a few beers Friday night. Same thing Saturday and Sunday, hunt early, move a stand or two for Monday. Sunday night we take it easy, play some cards or whatever and hunt all day Monday. Now its all business because you get down there and Saturday is go time. The bars and restaurants are dead all weekend now too. I dont think moving it to Saturday had the effect they hoped for in license sales/new hunters anyway. I'm not saying this from a selfish bowhunter standpoint, I absolutely love opening day of gun season.

Friday evening sounds like war around our hunting spot ,all the camps around us fill up and wait til the day before to make sure the gun is good to go.

[The_Real_TCIII]

21 minutes ago, grampy said:

I killed a couple of my best bow bucks, the weekend before opening day, when it fell on Monday. Always saw deer that weekend!!! As they were pushed around by neighboring hunters, sighting in their guns, placing stands, walking around looking for the "perfect" morning spot, loud BS'ing, slamming doors, and loud laughing.  I still say, that was always the best bowhunting weekend of the season!

Exactly right, id trade the first three weeks of October to get it back

[Doc]

My almost 60 years of deerhunting life has revolved primarily around bowhunting. So my observations are going to be about the evolution of bow hunting through my years of hunting.

Some of the biggest changes in hunting have happened at work. I remember how a bunch of us bowhunters would spend the early hours of Monday morning gathered in one of the cubicles discussing the weekend's hunt. The hot topics back in the 60's revolved around even seeing a deer or a good track and occasionally a rub or scrape. And once in a while, someone would get a shot (almost always a miss). And sometimes a very rare event when somebody actually got a deer and had to recite every little detail of the whole hunt right from the time they crawled out of the sack in the morning to the final recovery of the deer.

Today the Monday morning conversations at work involve a lot smaller group of people. Someone will talk about a deer that they got and the first thing that is asked is, "What did it score?"  If you want to tell the story to somebody that is interested, the score had better be adequate. Never mind trying to raise a conversation about getting a doe. Nobody cares, and that will usually send everybody immediately back to their desk to begin the work of the day....lol. A lot of the conversation today involves the ag practices of food-plotting or other things done to train the deer to avail themselves to weaknesses in our hunting prowess. Instead of finding the deer (hunting), we strive to perfect our abilities to "attract" deer into posing themselves to be more easily shot. Food plots, fake scrapes, sex attractants and such are what hunting is about today. Also, there is an interest in using equipment that allows longer shots rather than honing our woods-lore and knowledge of the prey to get closer shots. Technology now rules hunting and success is more and more dependent on some mechanical or electro-mechanical designer slaving away in his cubicle at some bow manufacturer's engineering department to enhance our success rates. Where will the hunting evolution take us? ...... Where ever technology can lead us to an easier kill.