When Christ was a child

[Ucsdryder]

Let’s hear best hunting story from the good old days, when elk would come to a whistle and 200” bucks grew on trees.

My first year hunting with a rifle was 1994 in north eastern california. Saturday we saw 17 “shooters”, I can’t remember how many shots I fired but let’s say I had to refill my leather belt pouch that held 20. The biggest buck missed was closer to 40” than he was 30” wide and I missed 7 times, starting from about 20 yards.

Day 2 was saw 5 shooter bucks. I went home with a sore shoulder and no deer harmed.

I was shooting my Dad’s remington 721 or 722 in 257 Roberts that was his first gun. I believe it’s a 1952 production.

I hunted the same unit after a big fire around 2010 (guessing) and we saw 1 shooter buck in 5 days.

 

[Alder_]

The Good ole days for me are right now.

I didn't experience N. Yellowstone Elk.
I didn't experience Central Oregon Deer.
I didn't experience Kaibab Plateau Deer.
And I didn't experience the bison.
I didnt experience AK sheep in the 80s.


I can tell you I've shot more geese than my dad ever had. Bag limits of 15 vs. 1.
There are more turkeys and whitetails running around now, which don't particularly interest me.
Can still shoot 3 elk in one or two states.
Coyote hunting is plentiful.

Nothing stays the same. Taking advantage of new opportunities as they arise.

 

[Ucsdryder]

The Good ole days for me are right now.

I’ve said it on here multiple times and I agree wholeheartedly that we’ll look back in 30 years and think how good we had it!

@cnelk , start us off. Not calling you old or anything, just seasoned!

 

[mtwarden]

The good ol days there seemed to more game and definitely less hunters. But what stand out in mind was packing quarters (no one seemed to bone out meat way back when) on a WWII packboard really sucked- no waist belt, no padding in the shoulder straps- hard to describe the suck involved w/ 80-100 lbs on these frames!

 

[Ucsdryder]

The good ol days there seemed to more game and definitely less hunters. But what stand out in mind was packing quarters (no one seemed to bone out meat way back when) on a WWII packboard really sucked- no waist belt, no padding in the shoulder straps- hard to describe the suck involved w/ 80-100 lbs on these frames!

The older generation was definitely tougher, no doubt about it.

If cell phones and gps went away tomorrow the back country would be void of hunters…

 

[Customweld]

I'm in the good ole days for elk. When I first started hunting, elk numbers were pretty low. If you drew a late cow tag, that was a big deal. After you drew, it was a 2 year wait to put back in again.
Fast forward to now, I've drawn extra cow tags almost every year for the last decade.
I was in on the tail end of the good ole days for muleys as a youngster.

 

[Dos Perros]

This weekend a buddy and I stacked the squirrels with muzzleloaders. It was as fun as anything I've done in a long time. We talked about getting into more esoteric stuff, because we could probably have the woods to ourselves if we did. We would make our own good old days.

 

[gbflyer]

My dad hunted in W CO in the good old days…post WW2 starting in the 1950’s. His mentor was a mountain man who lived and trapped in that country starting in the 1900’s, he was there when they trucked off the last buffalo. There was no lack of skill. Anyway, my dad said there were no deer to speak of. Most were poached starting in the Great Depression era and through the war. He said they hunted all season for a chance at a doe, even though you could have 6 tags. Elk were mostly a novelty, the first one he saw dead was on private land in the mid 1960’s.

Theres a lot more game in that country now. I guess good old days is a matter of perspective.

 

[Customweld]

This weekend a buddy and I stacked the squirrels with muzzleloaders. It was as fun as anything I've done in a long time. We talked about getting into more esoteric stuff, because we could probably have the woods to ourselves if we did. We would make our own good old days.

Muzzy huntin' squirrels, I bet that is a kick in the pants!

 

[Marble]

Let’s hear best hunting story from the good old days, when elk would come to a whistle and 200” bucks grew on trees.

My first year hunting with a rifle was 1994 in north eastern california. Saturday we saw 17 “shooters”, I can’t remember how many shots I fired but let’s say I had to refill my leather belt pouch that held 20. The biggest buck missed was closer to 40” than he was 30” wide and I missed 7 times, starting from about 20 yards.

Day 2 was saw 5 shooter bucks. I went home with a sore shoulder and no deer harmed.

I was shooting my Dad’s remington 721 or 722 in 257 Roberts that was his first gun. I believe it’s a 1952 production.

I hunted the same unit after a big fire around 2010 (guessing) and we saw 1 shooter buck in 5 days.

I think I know what unit you are talking about (or close to it maybe) and I hunted that area from the late 80s until 1992. Then I couldn't get drawn again until 2007.

We would see so many forks and 3 points. Used to be 3 pt or better for a long time. When I returned there in 2007, I killed a good 3 pt while standing in camp. It snowed that night and the clouds were low. They lifted after the sun came up and that buck was 475 yards away. Took 2 hours to find him in the sage brush.

I hunted that same again in 2011. Killed a great 3 point, missed my opportunity at a great 180" 4x4. Hunted it again in 2013, 2015 and 2018. Every year we saw less and less deer and no big bucks.

I remember it being common to see bucks hitting close to 30" every year. I'm sure there are a few around, by it certainly isn't anything like it used to be.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Marble]

The older generation was definitely tougher, no doubt about it.

If cell phones and gps went away tomorrow the back country would be void of hunters…

I agree. Just in my time as a hunter, I have watched the progression of technology enter hunting and a lot of hunters in the woods that lack very basic skills and woodsmanship.

I think without electronics, lots of people would be lost.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Pharmseller]

Oregon deer have been in a decline for years. These ain’t the good old days.




P

 

[Wyo_hntr]

The good ol days there seemed to more game and definitely less hunters. But what stand out in mind was packing quarters (no one seemed to bone out meat way back when) on a WWII packboard really sucked- no waist belt, no padding in the shoulder straps- hard to describe the suck involved w/ 80-100 lbs on these frames!

Are you sure there were less hunters? The R3 Pimps keep telling us we need more hunters and numbers a plummeting.....


P.s. that looks like a torture device

 

[butcherboy]

We used to buy archery deer tags otc just in case we saw a buck worth shooting during the archery elk hunt. We always saw at least 2-3 200” class velvet mulies every year. Always saw lots of really nice 4X4’s and 3X4’s. Missed a lot back then because there were no rangefinders and had to judge the distance ourselves. We were pretty good to about 35-40 yds and after that it was a crap shoot. I killed a nice 6X6 elk when I was 14 and smacked a giant nontypical Mulie right in the shoulder a few days later. I almost cried on that one when I watched him bounce away unharmed. Elk were much easier to call in and I learned from an old Wayne Carlton tape. Notice I said tape and not cd or dvd. They didn’t exist.

Now I get to draw elk about every 4-5 years and I haven’t had a mule deer tag in my own state for 23 years now. Can’t draw it and it has become my nemesis.

Also, when we bought our archery deer tags it was more for the late January mule deer hunt than anything else. If you didn’t kill a deer in September then you automatically got to hunt in January.

 

[Jimbee]

About 30 years ago I was 16 and I could knock on a door and get permission to bowhunt almost anywhere in northeast Iowa.

 

[Cannonball]

A typical day for me in 1986

 

[WCB]

I was young but remember setting out 50 or so Texas rag snow decoys and throwing dirt clumps in white sand bags. Sit on a rock pile in a wheat field and fill snow goose at 20 yards....Even 20 years ago setting out a couple hundred sock snow goose decoys and an old tape player for an ecaller.

More snow geese now than then and now Im 1200 wind socks and 400 Fullbodies, with 4 wheelers, 3 ecallers, 3 rotary machines...etc.

Also, the 2004-2008 time frame bowhunting ND. Took it for granted but would easily see 75-80 deer a night and pass a dozen or so bucks almost every night. times have changed for sure.

I didn't experience it but see the mounts and here the stories AND have the actual contracts when my dad and grandpa would hunt sheep in Alaska and BC in the 1970s. $2500 for a sheep hunt...$5,000 for a Stone Sheep, Caribou, Wolf, Wolverine 15day hunt. I think a 10 day hunt was like $2500 on one of the hunts with a $250 trophy fee for a Grizz and a $400 trophy fee on a MT Goat, $500 for a Sheep.

 

[Dogone]

In the mid 70s I had two consecutive great years. Shot a wt, mule,antelope,moose and elk each year. Other years have gotten black bear and woodland caribou , but not all of the others. Elk pops are up, moose are down and woodland are closed. I certainly hit the jackpot those years. And: coyotes and wolves are up and red fox down.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

When I was growing up in southern Wis. fall rabbit and pheasants was generally a family affair. Thanksgiving morning we were sure to get together for a morning hunt. We almost always got our limits or at least had the opportunity, lots of misses for me when I was just starting. Grouse hunting was a different story. Hunting the dense brush of NW Wis. produced a lot of flushes without even seeing the bird, but even at that we generally manage to get several grouse. Now days, the bird numbers have dropped and the shots a fewer. Grouse are said to go on a ten year cycle, so it's wise to follow that cycle and pay attention to the drumming reports.

 

[RockAndSage]

The older generation was definitely tougher, no doubt about it.

If cell phones and gps went away tomorrow the back country would be void of hunters…

Especially if instagram went away...