Hunting in the 1980s and 90s

[gabenzeke]

This is an awesome thread. I started in the mid to late 90s and I'm in Iowa. Duck hunting was pretty good. Deer hunting was amazing. A lot less pressure before the internet. Access was definitely easier too. That said, like all generations all I ever heard about was how much better it was in the 80s. Not as many or as big deer though. But the bird hunting was even better then and access was easier too. Plus the fur boom.

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[Spoonbill]

These aren’t mine but figured I would share. First is an elk my dad shot in Canada in the late 80s or early 90s. Second is a mule deer my granddad shot in Colorado in the mid 80s.

 

[MuleyFever]

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Treestands were crude and uncomfortable, no one wore a safety belt much less a harness w lifelines.

You reminded me of my dad's homemade stands. Made from wood and rope. The platform was enough to stand on without moving. And no safety belt. Today they would be considered child endangerment. I am still amazed my dad was comfortable putting his kid up in that thing.

 

[Mojave]

It was slightly different. Mostly people didn't do much beyond truck hunt.

Mike Eastman was the original guy that ruined Western Hunting.

 

[Contendi]

I think the 80’s was the beginning of the revolution in backpack hunting with better equipment all around and specialized rifles. Backpacks, like DANA Design, had just barely evolved into what would be familiar to many today - much more compact than aluminum external frames. Backpacking stoves, water filters, tents, sleeping bags and thermarests had barely evolved into the lightweight designs that aren’t too far from today. Goretex was just getting popular in backpacking clothing, but barely any hunting designs other than Cabelas even existed.

Rifles just barely started being offered in stainless. Custom rifles might have a custom stainless barrel, but the blued receiver was all that was available. Scopes weren’t all that much different from the 70’s - varmint hunters and silhouette shooters were some of the only ones familiar with dialing scopes, but it was rarely done big game hunting because we lacked rangefinders. Fiberglass stocks just barely became commonly available. Bullet and cartridge design had been pretty much figured out before the 80’s, but before rangefinders we heavily relied on fast cartridges.

Optics weren’t bad, definitely not as good as today, but a 1980’s compact pair of Leica binoculars wasn’t bad (the Leupold compacts of the time were rebranded Leica and we never saw Swaros - Zeiss and Leica were where it was at).

In Wyoming residents hunted the best areas of the state with over the counter general tags for elk and muledeer, and the best antelope areas were easy to draw and it was assumed every year additional doe tags would be easy to get. Previous decades had easier tags for things like sheep, moose and goats. Everyone’s source of hunting information were books and magazines (like a blog, but on paper), so if a drainage or identifiable location was talked about, that fall and maybe the year after, there would be double the normal amount of four-horse trailers at the trailhead. Eastman’s videos were just becoming popular and each one hooked a number of young hunters, if they lived in the west or not.

In that decade I never ran across many out of state hunters, other than Utah - guys from the east seemed to stop at Colorado. Few came down from Montana, why would they. I might see one other backpack hunter in a season.

I remember photos by what gear I was using - this is the first year with a custom barrel, the action was hard chrome plated and the year before upgrading to a Brown Precision Pounder stock so it must have been late 80’s. For a guy in his early twenties I felt pretty good about my setup.
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Epic shot! Just a few years before I'd be born haha.

 

[TaperPin]

Epic shot! Just a few years before I'd be born haha.

Thanks! Western Wyoming is such a pretty place, and has tremendous deer genetics - I can’t think of a better location to get a guy dreaming of big bucks.

 

[Amos Keeto]

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You reminded me of my dad's homemade stands. Made from wood and rope. The platform was enough to stand on without moving. And no safety belt. Today they would be considered child endangerment. I am still amazed my dad was comfortable putting his kid up in that thing.

NOT funny!
My dad had the shop at his job make 3'×3' angle iron frame with two braces.
Two 60d spikes driven side by side served as steps to climb 10' to 20' to get onto the platform.
That was the early 50's.
When I started hunting alone, he put me on a platform alone, wrapped in a blanket!
Can't remember the times I got sleepy and curled up on the platform to doze!
Can't tell you how many times I stood on the edge of a platform to pee!
From those days, I can remember men who died or ended up crippled for life because of those type stands!

"Blade" Young had a stand about 20 feet up in a sweetgum tree. At the time, all he had was an old H&R single shot in .45-70.
A young buck walked into his shooting lane and Blade blew him down with his .45-70.
It was Blade's first deer. He was so excited, he WALKED out of his stand!
Thankfully, the soil was deep sand. Blade only broke one leg!
Gratefully, a group of hunters in a nearby camp heard him shouting and rescued him.

My orthopedic surgeon is a hunter. He asked me if I hunted.
"Yes, sir!"
"PLEASE wear a harness and safety line! You wouldn't believe how many spines I repair each year due to falls!"
"Better'n that doc! I hunt out of a box blind!
At my age, I don't get no lower than taters or higher than corn!"