Hunting in the 1980s and 90s

[wapitibob]

In the early to mid 70’s We saw monster bucks in the Cascades with regularity. Elk hunting was interesting as we were just learning to call. Lots more animals for the most part. We just didn’t know wth we were doing but it sure was fun.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I'd agree with that black bear assessment. I would also say we are in the glory days of elk hunting in certain parts of Idaho.

In fairness though, as a general rule even with far more elk they are less accessible to the public land hunter than 40 years ago.

 

[Customweld]

In fairness though, as a general rule even with far more elk they are less accessible to the public land hunter than 40 years ago.

That's for dang sure.

 

[LookinforDirt]

In the late 90's when I killed my first elk at age 14, my dad and his friend - an outfitter - let me drink several shots of whiskey which ended rather poorly for me. Not sure that style of parenting is still practiced much these days.

Kids these days think alcohol is gross. They’d rather puff strawberry flavored marijuana out of a usb-c charged eThingy.

 

[LookinforDirt]

Not sure about this as a ubiquitous statement. Some areas have far more elk than they used to. Certainly not so for mule deer, but some areas also have far more whitetail deer than 40 years ago.

We probably are in the glory days of black bear hunting.

Shhhh…

 

[IDVortex]

Kids these days think alcohol is gross. They’d rather puff strawberry flavored marijuana out of a usb-c charged eThingy.

Both are gross.

 

[Boarmaster]

In hunted deer late 80s -90s on federal ground in southern
Ohio. Fricking crowded. There was an orange vest every 300 yards down every ridge. Tons of deer killed the first three days of the season. When the shooting started just before sunrise and didnt stop until late afternoon. A shot every minute. Deer got jumped up and they ran until they either got killed or it got dark.
The woods there was pristine on the first morning. Not any bow hunting going on to speak of. We shot slugs for many years until straightwall opened up. Killed many deer there. Place is pretty much deserted these days. At least the last time we were down which is about three years ago. We got old. We now hunt a private farm in NW Ohio instead if the big timber down south. We complained about the amount of hunters there but we killed less deer as the number of hunters dwindled. So many guys kept them up and moving. Heck of an era.

In contrast I also hunted during that time primarily on my hunting lease in Southwest Florida. My old lease is currently developed Gulf Coast University and many warehouses , hotels, residential subdivisions and oddly a huge shopping center with a Bass Pro Shop. It was 12k acres of wilderness at the time. But only 15 minutes from my place in town. Not many deer but full of wild hogs and turkeys. Some quail and ducks. We did rifle , shotgun and archery hunting there.

Back then you learned as you went by hunting. No internet. No cell phone intel. No gps info.

There might have been better equipment than we knew about or could afford. Mostly a lot of junk.
Starting off clothing was bought at the army surplus. Woodland camo. Into the late 80s and thru the 90s
We waited anxiously for the Cabelas and Gander Mountain catalogs for clothing and gear. Different camo became available popular and everything you had for gear even down to your flashlight had to be camo.
A Leopold or Bushnel scope was the top of the line if you could afford one. Remington , Ruger and Winchester ruled the firearm market. I shot a ruger m77 tanger in 30-06. It shot Remington green box coreloks. If I had 5 rounds of the same grain ammo I was in high cotton.

Speaking of cotton, we wore it. Some wool.

My first waterproof breathable gear was some polypropalene base layers, Cabelas dry plus bibs and parka. A huge step up from my m85 surplus field coat. But noisey as heck. Sounded like you had on a tinfoil suit. For rain gear in Florida and before dry plus I carried a army poncho.

My binos were the best in camp. $100 simmons auto focus 10x42s. The other guys had $15 compact Busnells.

Like the old cigarette ad used to say”We’ve come a long way Baby”.

 

[doc holiday13]

I wore a lot of cotton camo and found out that Thinsulate was more thin than it was insulate

 

[Jason Snyder]

Shhhh…

Ha! The Gritty Clowns have spoiled that secret.

 

[IDVortex]

Hey...... at least not as big of clowns as MF.

Ha! The Gritty Clowns have spoiled that secret.

 

[Macintosh]

Couple thoughts in no particular order. Based on growing up hunting in Northern NY and VT. Pretty sure I did my hunters safety course in 1984, bowhunting in 85. So i cant comment on the 70's and earlier, and I was pretty young so I also dont rely on my knowledge of all the various opportunities and regulations. I hunted a lot through the early 90's when I got really into climbing and really came back to it 10 years later in the early 2000's.

What I can say is that in the 80's there were still a ton of farms reverting to brush and young forest from when they went out of business in the 50's and 60's and 70's as small dairies werent able to invest in refrigeration, kids werent interested in taking over, along with some other local pressures. My dad would take me out hunting but he wasnt a hunter himself, a colleague of his took me out and a lot of my first hunting lessons, as well as some of my access, came from him.

Most of the areas we hunted are now suburban developments and strip malls. The areas that are left are mostly crap middle-aged pole-sized forest that really has very little wildlife value. Lots more posted land has the pressure we do have more concentrated, but luckily access can still be had for the asking across much of the area I hunt in Vermont and Northern NY.

I grew up on a river in midstate NY. We wouldnt even dream of eating fish out of that river, and most folks wouldnt swim in it. The river had numerous PCB spills and hazardous waste sites getting cleaned up in the 70's and 80's, water quality was crap then. Today lots of people do eat fish out of the river. It's not the cleanest river around, but lets just say it no longer has an oily sheen to it. When I was a kid we used to bass fish on lakes in the adirondacks. it was nothing to catch 100+ good sized bass on a good day tossing a spinnerbait from the canoe while my dad or mom paddled to keep us moving, and I recall many days scraping my thumbs till they bled from lipping fish. Today most of those lakes are overrun with milfoil and the fishing is nowhere near as good as it used to be, despite upgrading to a bass boat and spending an inordinate amount of energy chasing green fish.

In Vermont where I now live, Turkeys were almost or completely eliminated and had to be reintroduced in the 1960's, and until the mid 70's there wasnt even a turkey season. My understanding is that the population was about 20% of current level until the late 90's, and it really took off in the 2000's, so when I started hunting again in earnest in the early 2000's I had never turkey hunted...it just wasnt nearly the thing it is now, and that's a good opportunity I have now that virtually didnt exist back in the 80's.

Deer are another change. Deer wete almost exterminated from vt in the 1800’s, got reintroduced in the early 1900’s. Both of those sttes where I'm most familiar had a boom in the 60's through the 80's as hunting practices favored rapid population growth and cover was plentiful, but by the 60s that population was very high compared to the available forage and we used to have terrible winter kills. The population we have now is lower, but its way more stable.

Moose are another change. Moose eere also totally gone after the 1800’s. NY never had a moose season (and still doesnt), but moose were so uncommon there that when a single moose flew the coop from neighboring VT when I was a kid and went gallavanting around midstate NY, it made the national news. Today, we see moose tracks fairly regularly where I hunt in NY, enough that while there still isnt a season it is not uncommon to see sign. here in VT they held their first modern moose season in 1993. I was a co-hunter on a tag in 2005, which was during a time when VT fish and wildlife was trying to reduce the herd a bit in NE VT. At that time moose were plentiful and it was a rare day bird hunting in tht area that we wouldnt flush at least one moose out of an alder bottom. Today, with the increase in winter ticks, the moose population across most of vermont is really hurting and tags have been massively reduced as a result.

Hunting pressure was much, much higher in the 80's and 90's here as well. In Vermont where I live, the highest one-year hunting license sales was 147000 in 1987. In 2020 that number was 74,000, which was the "covid spike", but that number has been flat or declining steadily since the peak. In NY I dont have the historical info before 2006, but just in those last 15ish years hunting license sales have declined about 10%, and the downward trend has been very consistent. My understanding from talking to the guy at VT F&W who compiles license data is that far more hunters hunt more than one season today though--so rather than just hunting the opening weekend of deer rifle season, more people hunt rifle, archery and muzzleloader. Even then, I usually dont run into other hunters on public land.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

The 90's were the best years for bowhunting.

Crossbows were not allowed in 95% of archery seasons and most people had the attitude that if you were using a crossbow that you were a handicap.

Now, bow season is a freaking free-for-all.

Where in the west can you use a crossbow during archery? Genuine question…

 

[Customweld]

Where in the west can you use a crossbow during archery? Genuine question…

You can get a permit to use one in Idaho if you have a disability.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

You can get a permit to use one in Idaho if you have a disability.

Yea I know the disabled can use them in certain states but don’t view that as a “free for all”

 

[Customweld]

Yea I know the disabled can use them in certain states but don’t view that as a “free for all”

I guess it depends on how free wheeling state agencies are at handing out disability waivers!

 

[IDVortex]

I guess it depends on how free wheeling state agencies are at handing out disability waivers!

If one's disability is sucking as a hunter, you think that quailifys? Asking for a friend.

 

[cnelk]

Where in the west can you use a crossbow during archery? Genuine question…

Wyoming

 

[Orlando]

Growing up in Kansas and starting hunting in the 70's, I have seen a lot of changes. First, if you drew a deer tag, it was a buck only tag and deer population was minimal. Small game/ pheasant and quail hunting was great with access to a lot of acres. No leasing was happening. Opening weekend of bird season was crazy busy. All the motels were booked a year ahead.
80's - the deer population increased greatly. I started bow hunting '84 and had more land than time to hunt as there were very few bowhunters. Still minimal leasing happening. Bird hunting still great. Firearms deer season got really busy.
90's - still great bird and deer hunting.
2000's - great hunting but land starting to get sucked up by leases. I remember someone told me Kansas is becoming Texas - referring to all the leasing. They were right.
2010's - still lots of deer. But, much more difficult to get land to hunt due to leasing by outfitters. Many more bowhunters...possibly more than rifle hunters. Pheasant and quail populations plummeted.
Today - quail population has rebounded. Pheasants have not. Deer population appears fairly stable. Much of the land is still leased by outfitters.
I think there are still great opportunities to hunt successfully. Just may have to work a little harder/smarter. The first of November will certainly find me in a tree stand.

My 2 cents.

 

[Customweld]

If one's disability is sucking as a hunter, you think that quailifys? Asking for a friend.

If being a terrible hunter is all you have to, I'm a shoe in!

 

[cb2176]

Simpler times.