Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good Ole' Days Stories

Hello everyone - while reading another post about Wal-marts decision to end gun sales in many stores it got me thinking about when I was a kid back in the 70s. - - I remember ordering a rifle from Sears mailorder catalog and that guys would bring their shotguns to highschool leaving them in the gunracks of their pick-ups (or trunks of their cars) to use for goose & duck hunting after school got out. I also remember that we'd often bring a rifle or shotgun into shop class so we could refinish the stock. - - - I had no idea at the time that I was living in the 'good ole days' (and at the time would often roll my eyes when my Dad or uncles used this term regarding their memories of the past) but now I know what they were talking about ! Do you have any 'good ole' days' stories to tell of how things were in the past versus how they are now ? Would love to hear them (from anyone, but especially from older pre Baby Boomer gents). Regards, - -

70s - Refinishing rifles and shotguns in HS Woodshop and Metalshop, mounting birds in Wildlife II and hunting pheasants after school. Also Senior ditch day out in the country - a keg of beer, girls and muscle car drag races (not a good combo).

MtnHtr

Beer and girls and cars were good enough for me. Come to think of it.....

Anyway, my kids went to high school in the more or less early PC days of the late 80's. One of his shop projects was to make a pair of target grips for a Ruger Standard Model .22 pistol. Wonder what they'd say now?

I fondly remember gas wars where it got to be $.17/gal, avoiding the new "radar" cuz the bears had to have their trunk open..a '66 GTO ragtop the neighbors hated..beautiful tan girls w/extra tight daisy dukes everywhere, and nobody had AIDs..If I had a time machine...Sorry it's not a story, just fond memories. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yep and the days when every boy and about half the girls in school had a pocket knife in their pocket.

When you could eat a good lunch at almost any country store for two bits.

And two bit hamburgers and nickel cokes.

But you know what is frightening? In fifty years our kids and grandkids will be calling these the good old days. I shudder.


BCR

I was just remembering to my wife and daughters the other day about the days in the late 50's when Dad was teaching me to hunt how we never locked the truck when we left to go for a stalk, and that the keys were in it, the chainsaw was in the back and likely a spare rifle and ammunition as well. Parked on public land. NEVER had a thing stolen. People had more respect for your property back then.

I can remember one time when we came back from a stalk, and there was a note and a $5 bill on the dash of the truck. The note was written with the lead tip of a bullet on the inside of an empty ammo box.

"Bob, Bummed saw to cut poles. Was stuck. $5 is for gas." And he put his name at the bottom.

Now you're lucky if your spare tire and tailgate aren't gone when you get back. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Drive in movies, roller skating rinks, Sadie Hawkin's dances and the lost tradition of family sit down dinners---Every night!!!

I was raised in New Orleans but spent every weekend I could with my grandparents who lived in the "country". I'd take the city bus, toting my Browning 22, to the end of the line at the Huey Long Bridge and have a ride to Raceland or Lockport before I started up the bridge. I was 11 when I started doing this. All through JR and SR high school I'd bring that Browning, brake it down to fit in my locked and leave from school on Fridays. Unthinkable today on a number of levels. My spirit weeps for my great grandchildren.

When I was in HS (91-95) we used to have guns in the trucks and go hunting after school or leave for the woods on a friday. Ammo on the seat/dash and all. Monday morning it was mando to take a ride thru the parking lot to see who had blood on the tailgate. There were about 5 of us like that in a school of 900. Mostly rich kids and we were the only normal ones who liked shooting and hunting. Well us and the physics teacher - we used to hang out in the parking lot and go over goose calls and when Mr. Kaiser shot geese before school he would have them in the back of his Saab.

Doubt that happens anymore.

'Gun Show Tailgating'

On Saturday mornings before the show started, the sellers would gather in the parking lot to sort through each other's hardware and make deals. Firearms of all descriptions would be scattered over pickup boxes and across hoods - right in the middle of town.

Everybody makes fun of our childhood! Comedians joke.
Grandkids snicker. Twenty-something's shudder and say
"Eeeew!" But was our childhood really all that bad? Judge for
yourself:

In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million... Yet you
knew more people then, and knew them better... And that was
good.

The average annual salary was under $3,000...Yet our parents
could put some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent
life... And that was good.

A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents... But it was safe for a
five-year-old to skate to the store and buy one... And that was
good.

Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and
Lassie... So nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was
good.

We didn't have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed up and
half a dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike...
And that was good.

Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr.
Adkins... But not Ms Becky or Mr.Dan... And that was good.

The only hazardous material you knew about...Was a patch of
grassburrs around the light pole at the corner... And that was
good.

You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried
on the clothesline... And that was good.

People generally lived in the same hometown with their
relatives... So "child care" meant grandparents or aunts and
uncles... And that was good.

Parents were respected and their rules were law.... Children did
not talk back..... and that was good.

TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious
color....And that was certainly good.

Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor... And the
Dad next door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs... And that
was very good.

Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard...And chickens
behind the garage... And that was definitely good.

And just when you were about to do something really bad...
Chances were you'd run into your Dad's high school coach... Or
the nosy old lady from up the street... Or your little sister's piano
teacher... Or somebody from Church... ALL of whom knew your
parents' phone number...And YOUR first name... And even THAT
was good! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REMEMBER....

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Close your eyes.....And go back....Before the Internet or the MAC,
Before semi automatics and crack, Before SEGA or Super Nintendo.
Way back........
I'm talkin' bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sittin' on the porch, Hot
bread and butter. The Good Humor man, Red light, Green light.
Chocolate milk, Lunch tickets, Penny candy in a brown paper bag.
Playin' Pinball in the corner store.
Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, Jacks, kickball, dodgeball,
y'all! Mother May I? Red Rover and Roly Poly, Hula Hoops and
Sunflower Seeds, Banana Splits, Wax Lips and Mustaches. Running
through the sprinkler
The smell of the sun and lickin' salty lips....

Wait......
Watchin' Saturday Morning TV, The Three Stooges, Roy Rogers and
Dale Evans, Hopalong Cassidy, Lash La Rue, Gene Autry, The Cisco
Kid, Kukla Fran and Ollie how about Howdy Doodie and Cowboy Bob.
Or back further, listening to Superman, The Inner Sanctum, The Green
Hornet, The Shadow or Tales of the Highway Patrol on the radio....
Catchin' lightening bugs in a jar, Playin sling shot.
When around the corner seemed far away,
And going downtown seemed like going somewhere.
Bedtime, Climbing trees, an ice cream cone on a warm summer night
chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe butter pecan.
A cherry coke or ice cream soda from the fountain at the corner drug
store, A million mosquito bites and sticky fingers, Cops and Robbers,
Cowboys and Indians, Sittin on the curb, Jumpin down the steps,
Jumpin on the bed. Pillow fights, Runnin till you were out of breath,
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt. Being tired from playin'....
Remember that?
I ain't finished just yet...Eating Kool-aid powder with sugar out of the
packet.



Remember when...
When there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds
& PF Flyers) and the only time you wore them at school, was for "gym."
When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up, if you even had
one, When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got
there.
When nobody owned a purebred dog. When a quarter was a decent
allowance, and another quarter a miracle. When milk went up one cent
and everyone talked about it for weeks? When you'd reach into a
muddy gutter for a penny.
When girls neither dated nor kissed until late high school, if then.
When women wore nylons that came in two pieces.
When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had
their hair done, everyday. When you got your windshield cleaned, oil
checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. And,
you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot!
When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels
hidden inside the box.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him
to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of
it.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to
dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed ...
and did!
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared
to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of
drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents
were a much bigger threat! and some of us are still afraid of em!!!

Didn't that feel good.. just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!"

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly."

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening.

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best friends."

Being old referred to anyone over 20.

The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and
rules didn't matter.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.

It was unbelievable that dodgeball wasn't an Olympic event.

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.

Nobody was prettier than Mom.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides
at the amusement park.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare."

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute ads for action figures.

No shopping trip was complete unless a new toy was brought home.

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense.

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

War was a card game.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin.

Ice cream was considered a basic food group.

You guys have stirred up a few more memories <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> - such as riding our bikes as kids with my brother, friends, & cousin all over town without any worries about 'being abducted' or helmets and pads either (we did fine - what company got them on that kick?) - - And running around with our BB guns (no safety glasses - I actually think its better to wear them though) playing war or cowboys & indians before it was politically incorrect - - Later running all over the place hunting small game with our .22 rifles with my brother and cousin, but no adults. We ranged in age from 10 to 13. Of course we knew all about gun safety and respected that, having been taught by our fathers and a courses in markmanship from the NRA and Boy Scouts. We lived on a farm (for part of my youth) and shooting/hunting was one of the things we did after finishing our chores. - - And later, I remember working with my best friend from high school on his GTO while listening to music and thinking about girls. My buddy had found a tri-power carb to bolt on to the car. Gas was dirt cheap and power was everything then ! D*mned I think those cars are collectors items now and can cost tons of money.

Point..,

A guy made wooden grips for a .25 auto in shop class. There was an after hours shop class for assembling muzzel loader kits at the high school. And every boy carried a pocket knife from about 4th grade on.

Don't know exactly where I fall here, HS was 79/83.

Always had a pocket knife though it was not legal.

Used Ag class to make deer feeders(1st place ribbon at the livestock show), used it to make feeder timers, homemade knives(2nd place ribbon) homemade recurve bow. Arrows.

We all had guns, but had to park off premises even back then. Worked at a gun shop those years after school, summer and weekends.

Made a "zip gun" for a speech class project and the teacher allowed the "gun" to class, with a dummy round and the speech.

Now i'm always nervous when I lock my truck at the football field with my CHL weapon in there when I lift weights in the evenings.

Jeff

T Lee,
Don't know how you compiled all of my childhood, but thanks, the only thing missing was the little blue lights that guided cars in/out of the drive-in movies...and maybe starting off to the lake on a bike, pole stuck in the seat springs to hold it, and winding up with 5 friends (picked up along the way) when you finally got there..there's more, but it would fill pages!
Kids nowadays will never know what true, unstructured, un-electronic enjoyment really is.

I remember the gas wars, beer in steel cans, drug store soda shops, leaving the car unlocked, no air conditioning, county fairs, stick shifts on the column, fights were with fists, high school football, drive-ins, movie theaters that only ran one movie, nickel cokes....

I kept a shotgun in my college dorm room during hunting season.

Seems like things took a decided downturn after 1970, a nation of innocents lost it's innocence....

On the plus side, there have never been more whitetails ... God's gift to the average hunter (like me).

More whitetails, more elk in my area (my favorite kind of hunting). Less pheasants because they farm fence post to fence post and there's not enough cover. (I hear its great back in the Dakotas though. I gotta get back there.) More quail. Tons more turkey - didn't have any when I was a kid in my state. Waterfowling is good, but its been a little warm the last few winters and the birds have stayed up in Alaska & Canada longer - - - Overall hunting is very, very good now.

I remember my uncle telling me about when he bought candy as a kid and got a whole bag full for a nickel (he was a WWII vet and a young man during the Depression). We kids rolled our eyes and thought he was making it up. That was back in the 70s when a candy bar was 10 cents and my uncle couldn't believe how much they were charging. Of course now I tell kids about that dime price and they think I'm the one making it up ! Theyll probably be paying 5 bucks when they get around to telling this story <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Point,
It's true..I had to collect a lot of coke bottles to pay for a 50 cent candy bar that had the greatest looking wrapper on it...wanted it real bad, but turned out to be one of my first lessons on "what looks good on the outside...." at the time, gumballs were 2 for penny, a Mounds bar, which was bigger then, was a dime.
And you got your "Cokes", which included RCs,Frosty root beer,Nehi's & that grapefruit thing nobody liked, out of a Coca Cola cooler that was 2 ft deep in ice water..funny that the water was never changed, to my recollection, and nobody ever got sick. The caps on the bottles rusted sometimes..so you had to dig around in it to find what you wanted, and your arm tingled when you brought the bottle out.

[color:"brown"]WOW!!! Great post, T LEE and others, too!!!

JB said that things turned down after 1970. In truth, things started going to "pot" (literally to "pot"!!!) in the early 1960's.

The "flower children" and "hippies" came out of the woodwork, John Kennedy was asassinated and the drug culture started up in earnest... and would eventually become an acceptable way of life for the "fringe people" in what seemed like a short time. Things spiraled down from there and the rest is "history".

My 4 children (born from 1960 through 1964) got a "taste" of what my wife and I always called "our normal life"... the life we lived in the 1940's & 1950's". Our whole family, my wife... a "stay-at-home-mom" which was normal back then, our four children and me, sat down together to dinner EVERY night and, living out in kinda the "country", we were fortunate that we weren't touched very much by the things the "city kids" were doing... the "gangs", the "busing" and all those things that added to the confusion and helped to break-down our society.

While my own children got a "taste" of what it was like back in the '40's & '50's because we lived much as my parents and I had lived when I was a teenager in the 1950's. We were kinda lucky because my wife, our children and I were isolated enough during the 1960's that the negative things in our society didn't really "touch" us as much as it did some folks. And so, our "family values" were maintained to a greater degree than most, I guess.

Certainly my Grandkids haven't seen and will never see the freedom, joy and happiness we had as children in the 1940's and as teenagers in the 1950's, truly the "Age of Innocence"... truly a time like that was the "model" and was depicted on TV shows like "Happy Days", "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It To Beaver".

Butttttt... we can't "live-in-the-past"... and hoping "what was" will "BE" once again doesn't "get it" either. So we have to do the best we can with the society and "tools" we have now.

Like "they say", "If wishes were reality, all men would be kings and all women would be queens!"... and that ain't far from right!


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.