Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters what is the most important development for Hunters in the last 50 years.

MD -

50 yrs ago I was 15 but knew quite a few folk who deer hunted. I did not know 1 person who used a winch per hunting.

I also agree that hunting clothes have improved so much that THEN they didn't compare. I actually told my Dad I wasn't going to deer hunt anymore because actually warm clothes, outside of wool, didn't exist that I knew.

Beside, the OP excluded 'clothing'.

Most of the terrain I have hunted isn't open enuff for 'serious'
binos.

I really like and use my LRF, but most of the time it's not to determine the distance before shooting.

It seems to me that RIFLE SCOPES have developed so much more than even rifles and maybe bullets.

At 65 being 'far' sighted, iron sights are useless to me SO....

I could not do w/o a quality scope.

I shot my first deer in 1958 and bought my first big game rifle in 1961. A year later, I bought a 4X Bausch and Lomb scope and a 7x35 porro-prism binocular (I think that it was a Bushnell). As just about everyone has pointed out, since that time gear, clothing, camp stuff, transportation, etc. have all morphed, multiplied and improved. However, I could still hunt everything that I hunt today with that same rifle (which I still have today) and the same scope. Probably the only things that I wouldn't want to do without are the bullets that we have today, whether they are components in hand loads or loaded in factory ammo.

It may be the increasing numbers of women getting involved in hunting and the shooting sports. Time may tell the tale.

This is likely the most important practical development of the last 50 years, hunting clothing has gotten a LOT better than what we used to have.

The other thing is not an actual object but rather a practice, that's game management practices by state game departments. Scientific game management practices have improved the quality of hunting across the nation. I know in Mississippi that every time I go deer hunting I now have a chance to kill bucks of the quality that I could only dream about 20 years ago. I see and pass on deer almost every time I go hunting that I would have crapped myself over 20 years ago, and the chance to see a "buck of a lifetime" is actually there. The change has been gradual but when you really think about it this really is the golden age of hunting from a quality standpoint, at least where I am.

Laser rangefinders are fun toys and combined with good repeatable turrets they have improved precision shooting, but in practicality they affect most people's hunting very little. I'll bet 98% of the hunting kills would have happened just as easily without a laser rangefinder. Maybe out west the numbers might be a little different, but I still doubt they've made that much difference. They've brought a lot of guys into precision shooting, but their affect on hunting in reality hasn't been that much. They've probably done a lot more for bowhunters than rifle hunters.

Rhino's gps radios that communicate position have made "parking" the mule in the timber and hunting till dark unbelievably easy.

The Laser rangefinder helps bow hunting immeasurably.

The motorcycle tie down eliminates the need for a diamond hitch.

Whiskey in plastic bottles make packing green mules easier.

Sorry no lists......U pick!

The clothing take on things is a damn good point.

I can quite easily remember the days of cotton long johns, poorly insulated boots, and piling on as many clothes as you could in order to stay warm. Oh, and rain gear that got you just as wet on the inside as none at all if it actually worked (and a lot didn't).

I'd also say that the advances in game management over the last 50 years where back then in many states you were lucky to actually see a legal deer to shoot was something and to get one was just about a front page paper event in most small towns. Now, in many states, the limits are multiple deer per year (if not per day) and we actively manage for herd size, health, trophy class deer, etc.

I can honestly say there has been no piece of equipment introduced in the last fifty years which has changed my hunting experience in the least. I don't use a rangefinder or GPS. I hope to never own a cell phone. I wear better boots than I used to and I having some cooking gear which is pretty good. I have a lightweight stove but usually carry the old heavy one because I like it. My binoculars are better but my eyes are worse so that's a wash!
I agree with Jim re the ATVs and consider them to be an instrument of the devil. GD

disposable hand warmers

Great posts, lots of suggestions.

Maybe it's the whole picture of better stuff all the way around from bullets to barrels, from binocs, to rangefinders, clothes, ATV's, better game management, etc., etc.

We are blessed, for sure...

DF

Actually he said "in the last 50 years." Last time I checked, that included 30-40 years ago.

Internet

Good one, Ed.

Without the Internet, we wouldn't have the Campfire.

Without the Fire, only a select few would know about a .223 AI wearing an FX-3 6x42 with M1 in Talley LW rings, all pillared, glassed and free floated in a McM Flame stock. Throw in a Jewell trigger...

DF

-or- The tale of the triumphs, travails of two stalwart campfire elk hunters

I am going to go with AFFORDABLE good optics.

Sure there were some decent binos available in 1965, and some decent rifle scopes. But they were primarily property of the aristocracy in the early sixties. I remember WW II surplus binoculars for sale, and even they demanded a handsome price.

I remember when Dad bought a decent scope for his 760. It was a Bushnell Scopecheif IV in 3-9x40. And it was a great scope. I currently have it mounted on a Savage bolt rifle in 17 HMR. Every time I pick it up, I am totally amazed at the clarity and resolution of that old glass.

But that scope cost my Dad a weeks wages. He was bucking bales of hay for the local farmers for a nickel a bale in 1965. I, as an eight year old tractor driver, was the other half of the stacking team.

I recently purchased a pair of Bushnell Elite 4200's in 3-9x40 from Cabela's. They cost me three hours wages each.

Binos???? Same story. Dad never could afford a decent pair of binoculars. The ones he could afford, were not worth carrying around the mountain. So, of course, he used his rifle scope to look game over after he spotted it.

Last summer, at Cabelas, I picked up a pair of Nikon Monarch 7 10x42 binos for $350 out the door. That is a day and a half at the factory for me.

I hunt in Florida: Thermacell.

Digital timers with solar battery chargers on the 500lb capacity feeder.

Batteries and corn lasts through most of the season.





Hey, I live in Texas, what can I say??

That's a good one too!

In my little world it would have to be a good dependable scope....50 years ago scopes were nowhere as good as they are now...obviously. My opinion only...

GoDogs>> You aren't alone.

A different take, and probably not the most important, but those dang game cameras that leave you laying awake at night wondering...

The cameras have been a real game changer for many hunters.