Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Think the past was great??

On the OP, I'd grant that clothing's improved greatly. I used to wear ex-army woolen pants and coat in cold weather, and that stuff got heavy and smelly in wet weather. Oiled japara was no match for modern rain gear either.

However I'd happily go back to it, in return for being able to have the same freedom to shoot pretty much wherever, and to go into a shop - not even necessarily a gunshop - and say "I'll have that one please" and walk out with it without our current system of licences and so on. I bought myself my first new gun when I was 14, a semiauto shotgun, and all it took was for my father to be in the shop and nod at the appropriate moment as I handed over the money. I'd stuff my pockets with shells and go out by myself and shoot, and no one had a problem with it. The local cop turned a blind eye to us kids driving the backroads too. It seems like a different country now.

Now that brings back memories.

I assume you kept your pocket knife in an old paper shottie shell as well.

I use Coleman Biowipes and bury them in a cat hole.

Coleman Biowipes:

- 8" x 10" premoistened all purpose wipes in a resealable package
- 100% Biodegradable in 21 days
- Fragrance free and non toxic
- 30 wipes

Gringo...you may want to bury a couple in your backyard for a test.

To me the good ole days were when someone's old grandma gave you a hug and something popped up on its own!!

I have hunted through the years with a Charlie ONeil 333 OKH. It's a 1917 action, built in 1918

I remember the past and the Polio epidemic on the 1940's. I had several friends who had Polio and one died. Lots of medical advances since then.

I'm a relative newcomer to hunting. I started back during the first Reagan administration. However, the good old days seem just as bleak.

Back in the early 80's, the closest action for deer and turkey was 3 hours away. I was hunting in mil-surp wool and leaky boots, and a Jon-E Handwarmer with the buck lure attachment.

The biggest difference for me, then and now is the availability of game. Back in the early 80's just hearing a turkey gobble was a triumph. I would go an entire season not seeing a buck. Nowadays? Saturday night I had a 10 point buck walk out about 50 yards from the house and watch me enjoying my evening cocktail. In the past three months I've had both deer and turkeys come up and stick their head in the bedroom- window. Elk are bedding in one of the pastures.

Footwear? Finding boots that would keep me warm and dry were a huge boon. However, it took decades of experimentation. For deer hunting I finally opted for boot blankets in the stand about a decade ago. Turkey hunting was a bigger problem. I finally found the solution just this past year. I started with 'Nam-era jungle boots in the 80's. I tried probably a dozen different boots since, and finally found an ankle-high rubber bottom boot that does not leak and keeps me warm.

I've started using a lighter fluid handwarmer again. For early season turkey hunting they're great. I keep it in my chest pocket under my coat, and it lets me save a layer or two. After it warms up in the morning, I can just put it out.

Toilet paper? That's a must have for me, but I went one step beyond. Between a few of my favorite deer stands I built an outhouse. I also have a funnel attached to a garden hose at a couple of my luxury boxes.

But my knees were not made of steel, had no arthritis, had no back pain, could run 10 miles if I wanted to, eyes needed no enhancement, I could hear very well out of both my ears, and I could get up 2 hours before dawn after drinking a 12 pack the night before...

Yeh, the good old days

A 12 pack in Wisconsin is called breakfast.

I remember having the cotton thermals and no Gore Tex type clothing. Getting wet and shivering the rest of the day was not fun. Also, nothing was made in a tall or for someone who doesn't have a 40" waist. I don't miss those days.

So many of my problems in the good old days were matters of ignorance and lack of experience. It took a couple of seasons to figure out what those strange snorting sounds were in the woods. After that it took another couple of seasons to figure out the deer were taking offense to the moth balls that I used to protect my wool hunting clothes in the off-season. Somehow, a sprinkle of fox urine on my boots was supposed to take care of all that.

Love my choppers with their wool liners......because they are easier and faster to remove than the new-fangled, hi-tech stuff, and the liners never get pulled out of the fingers.

I don't know which is really best
I grew up in Chicago lived there till I was 26 didn't know my Azz from a hole in the ground never had a Dad Grandpa or mentor that taught me to hunt.Froze horribly in Northern Wisconsin and wandered in Southern Illinois.
Moved to MI had some mentors and learned a bit but still not Kurt Goudy. I had very basic gear and now really appreciate warmer lighter gear.

But today I have to admitt it's fun to be part of so many hunts through the wonders of text. The guys I hunt with what they see hear etc. Other friends hunting in the state and the country. We typically have radio silence opening day but as season goes on its kind of fun keeping up

I still like my old school Stanley thermos

Hank

Sure there are a lot of things to not miss about back in the day but I miss all my loved ones that are no longer here that we shared some wonderful times together and the love we had for each other. Fishing on lake Pond 'O Rielle for bluebacks and Kamloops.My Dad was a golfer not a hunter but he took me out to the local happy hunting grounds anyway. Never shot a bird but he always threw the clay birds for me so we could have some fun together and end things on a positive note. Having a shotgun in the cab of your truck and not be treated as terrorist. Those memories give me comfort as well as sadness in this world gone insane. I cling to the good days so I don't lose my mind now. I long for the day the toughest decision I had to make was what shirt and pants I had to wear. I miss having pheasants to hunt that were wild and self sustaining populations. Now if you don't get there to the state release site in time you'll never get a bird because the coyotes will get them. I like to reconnect with those happier days. It makes me happy.

My grandfather told me something to the effect that "the people who wish for the good old days are the ones that never watched their little brother die because there was no such thing as antibiotics".

My dad was the same way, perhaps because he was part of the 60% among his siblings who survived childhood. He had plenty of perspectives that reflected that.

Spending the night with friends and seeing their mothers mix oatmeal with hamburger meat.

A LOT of things are light years better today including clothing, bullets,scopes, medical treatment, cheap air conditioning etc. vehicles are a lot more reliable.

The deer herd is huge now compared to those days. As a kid it was news when anyone in the area got a buck (does were restricted to one day of the season) Today I can legally kill 6 deer if I have the freezer space.

But, There are a lot of things I miss about growing up in the 1960's and 70's.

Being able to say what's on your mind without first checking to see if it's on the list of "What we're offended by today."

High school parking lots with pickup truck gun racks sporting a .22 rifle, shotgun, or deer rifle and no one giving it a second thought. Never heard of a school shooting then.

Everybody knew which bathroom to use.

Hunting land,both public and private was everywhere and just about everybody would give you permission to hunt their place.

Quail! We had scads of quail on the ranch and so did everyone else. Getting a limit of Bobwhites was a given.
They are gone now. I've seen exactly 3 quail this season which is 3 more than last year.

A kid could strap a .22 rifle to his bike and head off to a friends house to squirrel hunt and no one batted an eye. Today, SWAT teams would roll out in response.

And most of all, One more hunt with my Dad and uncles. I'd happily give up all the modern advancements for that.