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

While reading the posts on what did we do before we had???

#! Freezing ass off with bulky layers of cotton cause we could not afford wool which was heavy and made you sweat.
#2 Spent 3 days trying to water proof leather boots using ,mink oil,seal blubber,bear fat,paraffin wax,first creek you walk through your feet are soaking wet.
#3 Buying leather boots two sizes too big so you could wear extra socks and still get frost bit toes.
#4 Every other scope on the market would fog inside as soon as you saw a buck.
#5 Wearing a rubber rain suit when it rained.
#6 Wearing choppers to keep your hands warm and trying to get them off when you see a deer.
#7 being the youngest in deer camp you got to do all the drives.
#8 Wipeing your ass with a newspaper cause the Old Man did not want to waste Toilet paper.
#9 having no idea how far a deer was on you first trip "Out West"
#10 hand warmers that used lighter fluid as fuel,stunk like hell and went out after 5 minutes.

Yeah, I yearn for those days.Now I wear light weight waterproof clothes and boots that are comfortable,and warm.My undies wick my sweat away.I know how far deer are.My scope does not fog and I wipe my ass with toilet paper.Just sayin ,Huntz

A gentleman we used to get hunting permission from years ago was once in the Calgary Stampede parade as the oldest living child of a settler; he often said the only good thing about the good old days is that they are gone. Wool, waterproof down, fleece, breathable waterproofs, yeah life is great.

Good post.

It's really been tuff for me the last 15 years. In the old days, they used to drive me to the stand, drop me off, and pick me up--along with several does.

Now I have to walk a 150 yards or so to the stand--up hill both ways--in temperatures usually beteen 30-60 degrees F--barefoot, and in overhauls.

The good ole days are gone for good I fear.

I miss seeing dead deer strapped across the hood of a car as the Hunter was driving home. I'm sure the heat from the motor made the venison taste better - not.

There was a cheap and easy solution to #8: bring your own toilet paper. But with progress, we now have bio-wipes.

Yes, things are much better now. But there is something to be said about hiring someone to milk the cows, putting on your work clothes, packing a couple of sandwiches and a Mason jar full of ice, slipping half a box of 30-30 shells in your pocket, and slipping out well before dawn for a day of hunting. It was, and still can be, a lot simpler and less expensive than we sometimes make it.

On the other hand, I did take a couple of my grandsons on the muzzle loader hunt a couple of years ago.

We "camped" in a bed and breakfast, and got up early to be at our site before dawn. We stomped around in the bushes for a couple of hours, discovered that the main canyon we were watching had just been visited by about 300 sheep, then went back to the B&B for waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage, and OJ. We played pool at the B&B for an hour or two, drove down The Malt Shop in Ephriam. In the evening, we hit a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner, where I introduced the boys to Jarritos pop. They loved it.

The problem is, they think that's how deer hunting is done.

I still have the scope I bought 45 years ago and it has never fogged inside or cost me an animal. Neither have any of the couple dozen I have bought since then.
I wear leather boots and wool underwear and sleep under a tarp. I am impressed with some modern gear but fail to see the advantage to much of it. Do like those baby weipes though! GD

All things being equal, I'll deal with shivering and lighter fluid over Black Lives Matter, Obama and Muslims at every intersection.

Being tough had its merits.

YMMV

On a whole yes;

Less people.
Less law looking over shoulder.
More hair on my head.


Offset somewhat by my having much nicer toys now.

Better stuff, nicer toys, greater complacency

Yes, that about covers it.

Seems people have more time to be offended by everything when they don't have to worry about how they are going to feed themselves or being chased by T-Rex.

Being able to hunt the majority of places around home and out-of-state by simply asking permission. OTC tags or easier draws. Yeah, it sucked it back in the day.

At least you had paper, we only had leaves

BTW, if you are still wiping your a$$ with toilet paper, let me introduce you to diaper wipes....

Now is the golden age for deer hunters in this country as there are more available in more locations than ever before, furthermore there is much more information about such as well.

Pfft, try tickling your anus over a bidet.

A man would have to have one of those Eberlestock packs to carry a bidet into the field, would he not?

Your point is not lost, however.

Yeah I do.

I got to hunt with my Father.
my best friend.

and Driver, the best bird dog I ever owned.

I still have the gear and the guns, buy all the new stuff
sure I am more comfortable.

or am I?

Ingwe...is that you?

Yes. Fewer opportunities today. Way more draws. More land under lease or off limits.There was far more opportunity years back and it was more affordable as well in may parts of the West.

Here in New England I would say nothing has really changed. I can deer hunt about anywhere I please in Maine or NH. No problems with tags or access.

Other than underwear, I see no major differences. I had good gear and rifles then and have them now. Gear never broke a hunt on me.

Ingwe started out with flint.

The past?

Getting to spend time with my Dad ONE more time.
Getting to listen to him and my uncles talk about times when they were growing up.
My Grandmother and her cinnamon rolls
Wearing enough clothes to keep a good-sized family warm.
Hearing the advice from my Dad to 'squeeze that trigger like a tit' one more time.

Just spending time with my Dad

Yeah, I'd take the 'good old days' over the crap now.

Eventually used live pole cats, which explains why they smell to this day...

And fire appeared shortly there after.

Yes, it was..

Hunting doesn't have much to do with stuff really and I have some modern stuff.I still wear wools,felt and much of our gear is still leather. I long for the wildness of the Rockies we used know,there are now roads into most drainages around here I predate atv's and still hunt horseback.No,it was much better 40 years ago,but we're not getting it back but at least I lived it.Cheers

Never had a scope fog in the old days cuz all my deer guns had iron sights. Couldn't figure why anybody'd need a scope to shoot a great big critter like a deer.

Some of the items made then are missed, like the leather Thermos carriers, instead of that vinyl pretend-leather crap.





Some of my most prized possessions.

Been there, done most of all this, did not care for the Tee shirt.

My father, born in 1917, who started out as a ranch hand when things were done in the traditional way, used to say, " I had enough of the good old days, back in the good old days."

He built Mom and himself a really nice house in the late sixties. He told the builder to delete the fireplace. When asked why, he responded that he had cut all the firewood that he ever intended to cut. I tend to agree. Gas logs in mine.

Nostalgic thread,,nice.

Jack

I wasn't around back in the real good 'ol days...just the transition days...turned old enough to hunt in 1992.

I do like a lot of the more advanced equipment that is available today, but am pretty old school with other things.

I hunt off foot or horseback-have an ATV and a dirt bike, but rarely use them for hunting
I wear wool (merino wool is nice, I must admit) and have no Sitka/Kuiu stuff
I hunt with lots of different rifles, but quite often revert back to original Savage 1899s, and old Springfield 1898 Krag, and most definitely prefer revolvers to autos.

On the flip side, I do dearly love my Havalon Piranha, McMilan Stocks and ultra high end optics.

I'll let adult diaper wipes wait until I have to wear adult diapers.

An 06 with a K4 and modified stock, two pair blue jean 4 buckle over shoes. Add packed lunch and warm water or whatever.
Walk to the half mile line and back to get you 5 roosters and two hens. Hunting at relatives and friends places.
The old men in the neighborhood would want to borrow your rifle with a scope or ask if you could hit that crow way out there (100+ yards) Hunting with friends and relatives (now all gone).

Yeh the good old days were good. My deer rifle now is prettier and has a more expensive scope. I have long underwear now too.

I'd be so happy to do those days again! No question about it!

Heck Ingwe, since the rest of us weren't there to see that happen we will just have to take your word for it.

Technology advanced while society declined.

Oh well, can't go back.

The LongJohns are better now and are the Boots but still hunt with savage 1899s 303s & 22Hps wear wool, no Ill take the old days, very few No Hunting signs, you could Trust Folks, Hunted not sitting over Bait piles, If you did meet a Hunter in the woods He was a Hunter Not some Ahole with a Black Rifle! I have one also! but dont hunt with it!

As a kid I used to have to look after the furnace in the winter. Haul coal from the corner of the cellar, feed the furnace, remove and dispose of ashes. Start over again. I can remember what an advancement I thought it was when we had oil heating installed. Set heat with a dial on the wall. Oh heaven!

Split kindling in the cellar, take it upstairs for my mother to use in starting a fire in the kitchen stove in the morning. Then there was the electric elements to cook on.

Getting up one morning and my mother telling me not to bother looking for the rabbit in the garden anymore. Dad had borrowed my .22 and shot him early that morning because he was starting to eat the lettuce in the garden. (Maybe not so much different today as a local cottontail or two eats the flowers off my wifes pansies on the back deck. Except it is in the city so I don't dare shoot them.)

Jim

I definitely think there were better "woodsmen/hunters" back in the old days. Something of a lost art as many have retreated back to the trees to kill deer in an evolutionary reversal.


Some younger folks may not even know what they are...but some of the older lumberjacks from Maine would qualify today. Those guys knew the woods and how to hunt.

I'd take those days back in a second.

I would willingly go back to those days if I could have a couple modern amenities (such as better footgear than the cotton socks/rubber boots I froze inside of back in the 60's).

I miss the people and attitudes. I miss the smell and noise of my uncle's old Willys CJ. I miss the excitement of being a teenage kid lying awake the night before opening day.

I don't miss the fact that the Eastern deer herd was maybe 1/5th the size it is today.

But most of all, I would willingly go back 45-50 years if but just for one day- if I could spend that day hunting with my old man one more time.

Yep, cotton socks, leather boots, bee's wax, war surplus gear, rusty iron cookware, canvas tents and cots that reeked of mildew, the old scout hut where weekly meetings were basically boxing and wrestling matches.

As Far As I'm Concerned (AFAIC), I so much prefer hunting and equipment TODAY over tgod (the good ole days). As others have already mentioned,
Clothing
Optics
BULLETS
Powder
--some rifles-
et.al. are better now than in the70-80s.

We also have many Xs the no. of deer & other game animals than there were.

Our deer season is MUCH longer than it was.
Our bag limit is TRIPLE what it was.

You get my drift ??

OTOH I do miss getting to hunt/fish with my Dad and a few friends that are no longer with us. We must admitt that family & friends pass regardless of all other circumstances.


Jerry

The things I miss the most about the good old days are. Unposted property all over the place that could be hunted freely. Nine dollar muskrat pelts at a time when a new Marlin 60 could be had for 49.00 and a brick of .22LR's was 5.99 on sale. Fifty dollar jumbo coon and 25.00 mediums when a good night with the hounds could equal a weeks pay at the plant. Woodchucks in every hay field. Saturday afternoons spent driving around the back roads shooting woodchucks out the window of your pickup and nobody cared because everybody wasn't an uptight azzhole and you knew all the farmers personally anyway and had their blessings. Better hunting today ? Not by a longshot !

Parts of it were excellent.

What I miss most, aside from my eyes, legs, and lungs, is the great upland hunting we used to enjoy in Adams County, PA. Wild ringnecks, rabbits, squirrels, woodcock, even the occasional quail were on the menu. Best of all, we could step off my grandmother's porch and be in productive cover in 30 seconds.

Whitetail hunting is clearly better today, IF you have a place to hunt, or can go deep on public land, or have deep pockets.

Yeah, I miss pheasants too. And snowshoe rabbits. Ain't hardly any of those around here anymore either. It ain't all about deer for me.

We still burn wood to heat the house-I am a hvac guy,use ponies for the backcountry and occasionally to town,wouldn't be seen in camo ,wool is just fine.Hunting wasn't a pastime,it was a way of life.Other than moose there is more game these days but much of the wildness of the mountains is tamed now and this was a vital part of things.If you didn't see this,well to bad for you.I did.

Oh yeah, and I miss the Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward fall catalogs coming in the mail every year too. Couldn't wait to look through the gun/sporting goods section. Still have two old Sears shotguns and a bolt action .22 kicking around here.

Get with it Dude. All the happening people use lamas for packing into the back country!

I was just reading a 1961 Outdoor Life and I wish I could buy some of the boots advertised in there, even for inflated dollars. Same thing with a lot of the advertised clothing. Instead, I can buy stuff sized to fit the average Chinaman.
We also heat with wood (exclusively) but now cook with propane.
Those Sears and Monkey Wards catalogs were a treasure. You could buy a lathe or an engine rebuild kit from either store. Today, a Sears catalog offers a good variety of brassieres. GD

Out here a dude is a city guy and if something is happening you happen to be doing it .My point is the western mountains before all the logging,exploration and other development was truly exceptional and for those that experienced it are very blessed.Cheers

Just messin' with you. It's hard for an old man to pass up an opportunity to be "funny".

You're right about all that great stuff that's long gone. Makes you wonder what kind of fond memories our offspring are going to have.

I guess it depends upon WHERE you lived...


Jerry

I dunno. Last year, I went deer hunting with a .30/30 and 4X scope, and had a pocketknife in my pocket, and a bit of rope in my vest pocket. No other fancy new-age gew-gaws, I even used factory ammo in the little Marlin.

No backpacks, butt-out tools, none of that stuff. Got away with it, this time.

It was more fun than the fancy scoped .270s I've been using, but I still had the same stuff in my pockets, then, too. I just don't need that stuff hunting farmland, and being within a mile or so of the house most of the time.
I can go just over the hill and down on the creek and find a deer, if I wait long enough.

That's kinda harsh, after all, they use pole cat juice for a base for perfume, don't they?

You are correct, it is the main ingredient in the muck that the blue rinse lot wear...also used in toilet deodorant/stink hider.

Yup.

Steve.

Yeah, and the way they don't break down in the environment, turning up around campsites where critters have dug them up (or where people didn't even bother to bury them). And in towns blocking sewers and treatment plants, and turning up in streams and on beaches. I'm happy not to use them.

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.

The past is great for all of us old people because most of the BS is behind us. No more getting up taking care of sick babies, no more house notes etc. I could go on and on.

You're right!