deer hunting evolution

[GreeneHunter]

For me Trail Cams took the mystery out of " what's in these woods this year " ?

[Lawdwaz]

21 hours 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.

Pennsylvania is talking about going to a Saturday opener.  I think it'll be a hard sell to get it passed there.......

Then MAYBE they'll consider Sunday hunting!! 

[Arcade Hunter]

On 8/12/2018 at 11:50 AM, 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.

 

I do remember all of these, Grampy.  We may be of similar vintage!

[rob-c]

14 minutes ago, Arcade Hunter said:

I do remember all of these, Grampy.  We may be of similar vintage!

I am only 48 and I remember party permits , we used to sit in the morning and then put on drives all afternoon.. 

[dbHunterNY]

On 8/13/2018 at 10:32 AM, 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 used to be unsure if that was truly the effect. @G-Man brought that up in the very beginning. I'm now on board with both of you. Nobody takes off the day before like they did the day of when it was Monday. Annual hunting part at camp got moved to the weekend before and it just wasn't the same. good time to be on stand and people had stuff going on as it wasn't weekend before opening day.

[Will_C]

Clothing and gear are items that make hunting more enjoyable, but the antler craze has changed hunting. When I first hunted in late 70's and 80's, everyone was happy to kill a deer-big buck, small buck, doe. At some point it changed-shooting anything less than a slammer gets comments from many hunters.

Will

[GreeneHunter]

46 minutes ago, Will_C said:

Clothing and gear are items that make hunting more enjoyable, but the antler craze has changed hunting. When I first hunted in late 70's and 80's, everyone was happy to kill a deer-big buck, small buck, doe. At some point it changed-shooting anything less than a slammer gets comments from many hunters.

Will

I've never thought about shooting a slammer , just happy to actually see one every so often ! Its whats in your freezer that counts and the memories you've accumulated !

[Robhuntandfish]

57 minutes ago, GreeneHunter said:

I've never thought about shooting a slammer , just happy to actually see one every so often ! Its whats in your freezer that counts and the memories you've accumulated !

Agree here for sure.  With all my hunting buddies a big buck is awesome.  But we all want to be sure there is meat in the freezer, and that we have fun.  We still get the jitters over a doe.   TV isn't real life for most people, and most hunters don't have access to a lot of big bucks.  We just love to hunt a big buck is only a bonus.  

[Buckmaster7600]

My cousin that I hunt with most and I are polar opposites when it comes to hunting evolution. I’m pretty old school I wear wool clothes, usually hunt with iron sights, only technology I bring with me is a gps that I carry for emergencies. I can carry everything I need in my pockets or sometimes a very small fanny pack.

My cousin has to have the newest gadget imaginable. From Ozonics, gps, gps watch, binos, range finder, calls, scents, apps on his phone, you name it he carries it. I won’t even lift his pack into the truck let alone carry it in the woods.

When I hunt I want to keep my life as simple as possible for the most part, the deer haven’t changed why killed them 100yrs ago still works today.


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[Borngeechee]

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.

Was just on there website. Says can be used during, post, and pre rut.

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[Buckmaster7600]

When I was a young kid “won’t name the age on a public forum” at deer camp up in the ADKS, there was “camp” tags any buck shot would get tagged and it didn’t matter. There was times when 3 or 4 bucks were killed on the same drive by one guy “kid.”

These days that’s a thing if the past for this most part, back 10-15yrs ago people didn’t give a hoot who killed it they just wanted their deer for the year.

I’m glad I grew up in that era because I leaned most of what I know about hunting the big woods back in those days. I had a few hunts where I was very lucky and shot some beautiful bucks!


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[nyslowhand]

As a kid it was mainly about helping my dad put meat in the freezer, so let the lead fly! At some point it become more important to enjoy the experience. So, the up close & personal bow hunting (& ML) evolved as a more suitable style of hunting for me. Admittedly I'm guilty, to some extent. Don't consider myself a BB trophy hunter, per se! I do enjoy the anticipation and excitement of have an encounter with a big bodied, mature buck. Not to say I haven't shot a few younger 6pts, mainly because it was an exciting encounter and got my adrenaline flowing. Also only share my successful hunts with a few close friends and never via social media. If I think it was an exciting and successful hunt, that's all that matters. Not out to impress anyone other than my own ego.