Hunting in the 1980s and 90s

[Pacific_Fork]

Wyoming

What in the holy hell, how have I never heard of this? And I leave for WY tomorrow lol. I don’t believe my google!

 

[Davyalabama]

I’ve got so many memories of the 70’s-present. I miss the people the most! They are the ones that made hunting special to me and why I still do it. I miss the freedom of unburdened time and just the thrill of going. I miss the health of my teens and twenty’s. If you ask me why I rise before dawn and sometimes drag my old, tired butt in after dark, I’m spending time with old family and friends that are no longer here.
Get you some books by Gene Hill, Ed Zern and Ted Trueblood.
Go make some memories of your own my friend, today is the best day, one isn’t guaranteed tomorrow.

 

[TheTone]

I was a kid in camp in the 80’s and early 90’s. The hunting my dad, uncle and grandpa had was world class compared to those same spots today. It wasn’t a matter of if they would see elk but how many they would see. I think my dad still kicks himself some for not passing small bulls because better ones were around but he was a dedicated meat hunter. That country is basically devoid of elk now. Used to have hundreds of cow tags and now it’s just a tiny amount around farms

Areas they mule deer hunted on general tags are now controlled hunts with less deer now. You could hunt almost anywhere including big private ranches. Those ranches now are incredibly well posted and either high, high dollar outfitter operation's or have been bought up as playgrounds for a few rich guys to hunt

About the only hunting I’ve seen really improve in my lifetime is turkeys

 

[KurtR]

In the 80's you had to have a tag to shoot one goose and now we kill 15 early season and 8 all regular season. Duck season was maybe 45 days at best on the points system now over 100 day season for central flyway. Late 70's to early 80's deer hunting storis my dad tells me they were happy to kill a couple deer in a group of 10. Now multiple tags over multiple seasons and killing a deer isnt hard. I would say 2004-18 were the good ol days for us in Sodak. Lots of water at times and all time high of crp.

As for clothes i got to wear enough garbage as kid and bread sacks in my boots freezing my ass off. I will take the clothes of today

 

[Amos Keeto]

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.

Crossbows were common back in Medieval times. Why are crossbows not considered "primitive" arms?
I'd wager >95% of "bow hunters" use compound bows!
BECAUSE.....
the "wheels" give the bow a mechanical advantage.
Then why shouldn't crossbow users not take advantage of the crossbow's mechanical aspect?
Crossbows aren't more accurate.
Crossbows aren't faster.
Crossbows don't increase "effective" range.

 

[Amos Keeto]

I was a kid in camp in the 80’s and early 90’s. The hunting my dad, uncle and grandpa had was world class compared to those same spots today. It wasn’t a matter of if they would see elk but how many they would see. I think my dad still kicks himself some for not passing small bulls because better ones were around but he was a dedicated meat hunter. That country is basically devoid of elk now. Used to have hundreds of cow tags and now it’s just a tiny amount around farms

Areas they mule deer hunted on general tags are now controlled hunts with less deer now. You could hunt almost anywhere including big private ranches. Those ranches now are incredibly well posted and either high, high dollar outfitter operation's or have been bought up as playgrounds for a few rich guys to hunt

About the only hunting I’ve seen really improve in my lifetime is turkeys

Where I grew up hunting as a kid, the county had signs up that proclaimed, "The deerest county in Texas".
That was the late 50's, early 60's.
The county was under the old Texas Game & Fish Commission.
Texas G&F soon became Texas Parks and Wildlife.
The antiquated rules of the Texas G&F didn't allow hunters to take does or spikes.
The new Texas P&W rules did.
Each county was offered the choice to stay with Texas G&F or come under the newer Texas P&W rules.
Older landowners threw a fit! Killing does and spikes just hurt the deer herd!
Years later when TPW counties had large, healthy deer herds, the old TGF counties had scrawny, unhealthy and sparse deer herds.
By the late 70's, the sign should have been changed to "The deerless county in Texas"! LOL!
Since the TPW took over deer management, there has been a vast turnaround.....but it wasn't overnight!

 

[TaperPin]

As a teenager with friends on our first backpacking trip I can remember a lot of candy bars and canned food warmed up on a fire. Vienna sausage, pork and beans, spaghetti O’s, spam. Lol

 

[JeffRaines]

Crossbows were common back in Medieval times. Why are crossbows not considered "primitive" arms?
I'd wager >95% of "bow hunters" use compound bows!
BECAUSE.....
the "wheels" give the bow a mechanical advantage.
Then why shouldn't crossbow users not take advantage of the crossbow's mechanical aspect?
Crossbows aren't more accurate.
Crossbows aren't faster.
Crossbows don't increase "effective" range.

I don't know what crossbow you have, but maybe its an older model or something as most of the ones I see advertised are 450fps+ - and while I'm sure they suffer the same "inflation" as do compounds, even still they're 100fps faster. They're easier to shoot, and they can be scoped.

IMO I don't think they belong in an archery season. I could see the argument that they could be included in a muzzleloader season, but archery? Nah.

 

[MallardSX2]

Crossbows aren't more accurate.
Crossbows aren't faster.
Crossbows don't increase "effective" range.

Whatever you got to tell yourself to justify it and not feel guilty about the use of them during archery seasons bro.

 

[ddd-shooter]

Crossbows aren't more accurate.
Crossbows aren't faster.
Crossbows don't increase "effective" range.

Don’t want to derail, but this is just factually incorrect.
I had a friend buy a ravin last year. Never shot any archery whatsoever. After five minutes, he was grouping under 2” at 40 yards.
They advertise 1” groups at 100 yards. They shoot nearly 500 fps.
Not a compound in the world that’ll do that.

 

[MallardSX2]

Don’t want to derail, but this is just factually incorrect.
I had a friend buy a ravin last year. Never shot any archery whatsoever. After five minutes, he was grouping under 2” at 40 yards.
They advertise 1” groups at 100 yards. They shoot nearly 500 fps.
Not a compound in the world that’ll do that.

There is no reasoning with a diehard crossgun shooter. It's like trying to have a civil political discussion with a democrat. lol

 

[southLA]

Hunting wasn't invented until the internet was.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

In the early 80s, as Dad used to tell the stories, he and his buddy would take buddy's K5 blazer to Lusk, WY, buy a week's groceries, antelope, and mule deer tags OTC, and head to a customer's ranch. They'd exhcange pleasantries after arrival, and then drive through the gate in the blazer, and continue for a few miles across the sage until they found a good camping spot. They'd pitch tents and spend the next several days hunting. Dad toted his Remington 7400 with Weaver scope (with shoot through rings), and both 150 grain (for antelope) and 220 grain (for mulies) rounds for his .30-06. POI for both was actually not terribly diffferent if I recall.

Dad shot a couple nice antelope during this time, and his buddy always seemed to fill a mule deer tag, although no big bucks that I remember.

They wore jeans, flannel, army surplus boots, wool socks, and surplus parkas if it got cold.

 

[EdP]

I wasn't serious about hunting until the late 90's. Before that most of my outdoor activity was hiking/backpacking. In the 80's and most of the 90's I lived in SC and hiked often in the Mt Rogers NRA in southwest Va where I now live and hunt. Back then deer firearm season was Thanksgiving week and the woods were crawling with hunters. Every trailhead parking area or pulloff had a homemade camper with a wood stove, plus there were a lot of hunters staying in the local campground. In the high country when you looked off in the distance you could spot hunter orange here and there. In my mind the season was too short pushing too many hunters into the woods at the same time. Other methods of limiting the harvest could have been implemented.

Now there are fewer deer by far on public ground than back in the '80s due to habitat degradation, and significantly fewer hunters. Large (by eastern standards) sections of The National Forest have been designated "wilderness areas" and can't be managed for timber or wildlife. Va Dept of Wildlife Resources recognizes the issue in their Deer Management Plan and indicates that the situation is not expected to improve. There is nothing they can do to improve the habitat. What I see is an overabundance of beech trees with the stands expanding. Beech nuts are good forage but it's just one source available for a short period. A more diverse habitat is needed but won't happen without timber harvesting or fire.

From the 2024 Deer Season Forecast published by VDWR on 9/4:
...the biggest challenge in deer management in western Virginia over the past 20 to 30 years has been, and continues to be, the public land deer management situation. Over the past 25 plus years there has been an approximately 40% decline in the number of deer hunters on western public lands (primarily National Forest) and a corresponding 66% decline in the deer kill. To address this decline, the number of either-sex deer hunting days on western public lands has been reduced significantly over the past decade or more. These changes have been successful in reducing the female deer kill. While we’ve reduced female harvest on public lands, the western public land deer population has not and is not expected to recover to past deer population levels unless there is a significant change/major improvement in deer habitat conditions.

 

[timekiller13]

Live and hunted in NC for over 30 yrs.

Pretty much everything is better now than it was in the 1990s.

More and bigger deer. Bear season open statewide with huntable populations in over half the state.

Turkeys are booming.

Public land hunting pressure is almost zero compared to 90s. I might see 5 hunters all season. I used to see 5-10 hunters every hunt!!

Only thing that is worse is the quail and grouse and it’s more difficult to obtain private land.

 

[rodney482]

bowhunting in the 80’s , my entire bow setup w gamegetter arrows was $100

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

we would see tons of does and seldom see a nice buck.

there was still a group of trad guys at the clubhouse who made fun of our compounds… I was shooting a york.

hunting clothes, mostly cotton… OG treebark was coming on the market. I wore my dads mickey mouse boots (white) that I painted camo lol.

kill a deer you took it to a check in station and they aged it, weighed it and gave you a metal tag for it.

i miss every bit of it.

 

[Beendare]

I started hunting out of state in the early 80's; a couple rifle seasons and there were a fair amount of guys in the woods- rifle hunting was still popular back then but then I moved to bowhunting and it was like we had the woods to ourselves even in OTC Co.

I remember guys talking about whether you could actually kill a big critter with a bow and whether it was ethical- hunters were still skeptical about bows and arrows.

I would draw a good mule deer tag as a Non Res every year without fail. I drew Arizona elk something like 3 times in a 10 year period as a non res.

When we heard another bugle, we never even considered that it was really another hunter. We had days on OTC where we would get 3 bulls come charging in to a call- from a Gas pipe!

 

[Bluethunder8]

Deer hunting in the late 70’s and thru the 80’s was a lot of fun. You killed whatever bucks came by. You took them to a checking station which usually was country store and everyone came out and bragged on your kill.

 

[buffybr]

I started hunting in 1965 with one of my college roommates and I still lived in Colorado. Almost all deer, elk, and bear tags were OTC, and permission to hunt private land was easy to get. My first year hunting I shot a little mule deer buck and the next year I shot my first elk, a 5x5 bull.

When I got out of the Army in '71, I went back to Colorado and started a long string of years of getting a buck and bull elk every year.

I moved to Montana in '75 and hunting here then was just short of phenomenal. I continued to get my deer, elk, and also an antelope or two every year. The first year that I applied for a mountain goat tag I drew one in a unit with a 25% chance of drawing. We also had OTC grizzly tags and Unlimited Area bighorn sheep tags for $25 each...and no 7 year wait if we were successful!

The late '70s gave me my best 6x6 bull elk (on a DIY public land hunt,

and a mountain goat.

I didn't know how great it was back then and I didn't hunt either species as hard as I should have. I would buy a grizzly tag every year, just in case I would find a bear on my elk gut pile, which didn't. I only went sheep hunting opening weekend every yearr of a 3 month season. I did hunt late one year and found this ram almost down on his winter range. My camo was my Vietnam army jacket and my pants were Army Navy surplus store wool.

Montana hunting in the '80s was very good for me. I was able to kill 2 more rams in the Unlimited Units,

2 Shiras bull mooose,

Note my high tech camo.

I was also a lot younger back then.

Then in the '90s (1999) I went on my first international hunt and that led to a whole new great story...

 

[Timplant]

I started hunting in 1965 with one of my college roommates and I still lived in Colorado. Almost all deer, elk, and bear tags were OTC, and permission to hunt private land was easy to get. My first year hunting I shot a little mule deer buck and the next year I shot my first elk, a 5x5 bull.

When I got out of the Army in '71, I went back to Colorado and started a long string of years of getting a buck and bull elk every year.

I moved to Montana in '75 and hunting here then was just short of phenomenal. I continued to get my deer, elk, and also an antelope or two every year. The first year that I applied for a mountain goat tag I drew one in a unit with a 25% chance of drawing. We also had OTC grizzly tags and Unlimited Area bighorn sheep tags for $25 each...and no 7 year wait if we were successful!

The late '70s gave me my best 6x6 bull elk (on a DIY public land hunt,

and a mountain goat.

I didn't know how great it was back then and I didn't hunt either species as hard as I should have. I would buy a grizzly tag every year, just in case I would find a bear on my elk gut pile, which didn't. I only went sheep hunting opening weekend every yearr of a 3 month season. I did hunt late one year and found this ram almost down on his winter range. My camo was my Vietnam army jacket and my pants were Army Navy surplus store wool.

Montana hunting in the '80s was very good for me. I was able to kill 2 more rams in the Unlimited Units,

2 Shiras bull mooose,

Note my high tech camo.

I was also a lot younger back then.

Then in the '90s (1999) I went on my first international hunt and that led to a whole new great story...

You seem like the kinda guy who's got some stories to tell. Where are ya now?